Abstract
Optofluidic manipulation mechanisms have been successfully applied to micro/nano-scale assembly and handling applications in biophysics, electronics, and photonics. Here, we extend the laser-based optofluidic microbubble manipulation technique to achieve hybrid integration of compound semiconductor microdisk lasers on the silicon photonic circuit platform. The microscale compound semiconductor block trapped on the microbubble surface can be precisely assembled on a desired position using photothermocapillary convective flows induced by focused laser beam illumination. Strong light absorption within the micro-scale compound semiconductor object allows real-time and on-demand microbubble generation. After the assembly process, we verify that electromagnetic radiation from the optically-pumped InGaAsP microdisk laser can be efficiently coupled to the single-mode silicon waveguide through vertical evanescent coupling. Our simple and accurate microbubble-based manipulation technique may provide a new pathway for realizing high precision fluidic assembly schemes for heterogeneously integrated photonic/electronic platforms as well as microelectromechanical systems.
Highlights
Silicon photonics is gaining significant momentum in chip-scale integration of photonics and electronics for high-performance low-power on-chip communication systems due to its compatibility with existing mass-producible fabrication processes[1]
We propose and demonstrate a laser-based optofluidic manipulation technique with on-demand and in-situ photothermal generation of a microbubble on the light-absorbing micro-object for pick-and-place assembly of compound semiconductor materials on the silicon photonics chip in aqueous solution
By adapting the suggested optofluidic microbubble manipulation method, we experimentally demonstrate heterogeneous assembly of III-V compound semiconductor materials onto the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic integrated circuit platform
Summary
Silicon photonics is gaining significant momentum in chip-scale integration of photonics and electronics for high-performance low-power on-chip communication systems due to its compatibility with existing mass-producible fabrication processes[1]. Wafer-scale bonding typically requires superb cleanliness and surface flatness down to the atomic scale, which is difficult to obtain with a high yield for large-area substrates Due to such stringent requirements, they still present various practical issues in the process-level reliability and fabrication cost. We propose and demonstrate a laser-based optofluidic manipulation technique with on-demand and in-situ photothermal generation of a microbubble on the light-absorbing micro-object for pick-and-place assembly of compound semiconductor materials on the silicon photonics chip in aqueous solution. When the microscale objects themselves have a relatively high photothermal conversion efficiency with a large electromagnetic absorption coefficient, additional photo-absorbing layers/structures would not be necessary for real-time in-situ microbubble generation. By comparing the lasing performance of the semiconductor microdisk lasers before and after the manipulation and assembly process, we verify that the semiconductor materials and the microdisk cavity structures are not damaged
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