InAs/GaAs Quantum-Dot Superluminescent Light-Emitting Diode Monolithically Grown on a Si Substrate

Siming Chen,Alwyn Seeds,Jiang Wu,Gregory J Salamo,Vitaliy G Dorogan,Huiyun Liu,Mourad Benamara,Mingchu Tang,Qi Jiang,Peter Smowton,Yuriy I Mazur

doi:10.1021/ph500162a

Abstract

Building optoelectronic devices on a Si platform has been the engine behind the development of Si photonics. In particular, the integration of optical interconnects onto Si substrates allows the fabrication of complex optoelectronic circuits, potentially enabling chip-to-chip and system-to-system optical communications at greatly reduced cost and size relative to hybrid solutions. Although significant effort has been devoted to Si light generation and modulation technologies, efficient and electrically pumped Si light emitters have yet to be demonstrated. In contrast, III–V semiconductor devices offer high efficiency as optical sources. Monolithic integration of III–V on the Si platform would thus be an effective approach for realizing Si-based light sources. Here, we describe the first superluminescent light-emitting diode (SLD) monolithically grown on Si substrates. The fabricated two-section InAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) SLD produces a close-to-Gaussian emission spectrum of 114 nm centered at ∼1255 nm wavelength, with a maximum output power of 2.6 mW at room temperature. This work complements our previous demonstration of an InAs/GaAs QD laser directly grown on a Si platform and paves the way for future monolithic integration of III–V light sources required for Si photonics.

Highlights

The development of Si photonics is motivated largely by the desire for more diverse, higher functionality, and low cost silicon-based photonic integrated circuits and by pin count and power dissipation for communications.[1]
We report on the demonstration of the first III−V QD superluminescent light-emitting diode (SLD) grown on a Si substrate using InAlAs/GaAs dislocation filter layers (DFLs)
Epitaxy was carried out in the following order: a 30 nm GaAs nucleation layer at 400 °C with a low growth rate of 0.1 monolayer (ML)/s, a 970 nm GaAs buffer layer with a high growth rate of 0.7 ML/s at high temperature, InAlAs/GaAs dislocation filter layers, a 100-period GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice, an undoped active region embedded between two 100 nm GaAs layers, a 50 nm AlGaAs layer grown at 610 °C, and a 50 nm GaAs cap layer

Summary

Introduction

The development of Si photonics is motivated largely by the desire for more diverse, higher functionality, and low cost silicon-based photonic integrated circuits and by pin count and power dissipation for communications.[1].

Results

Conclusion