Introduction to the Issue on Optoelectronic Materials and Processing and Nanostructures

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Optoelectronic devices find an increasingly broad range of applications beyond the traditional markets such as optical communications. With new applications and demand for higher performance, new challenges arise to develop novel devices. Advances in optoelectronic devices directly rely on research and development of new materials and processing techniques.Novelmaterialsandgrowthmethodologiesallowfornot only higher performance operation but also enable development of devices operating in new spectral regions. The devices are increasingly more complex and, thus, the fabrication processes are critical to meet the demands for higher performance levels. With the advent of nanotechnology tools there are opportunities as well as challenges in optoelectronic processing. Many new applications require combinations of heterogeneous integration of optoelectronic devices with microelectronics as well as innovations in packaging. In this issue of the IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, we consider a sample of current research into optoelectronic materials and processing technologies, and the resulting novel devices and integration techniques. Monolithic integration of photonic and electronic devices promises cost-effective manufacturability for photonic circuits with complex functionality. Two articles in this issue focus on integration reporting chip-scale photonic circuits and monolithic integration of GaAs devices with Si CMOS circuits. Nanotechnology tools such as focused ion beam present new opportunities in optoelectronic device fabrication. Two papers report on fabrication of nanostructured optoelectronic devices. Other papers focus on packaging of optical switches and fabrication methods based on wet oxidation for waveguide devices.