Low Threshold Light Emission from Reverse-Rib n+ Ge Cavity Made by P Diffusion

Abstract

Strain-tensile n+ Ge is an enabler of monolithically integrated light sources on a Si chip. The challenges are (1) high lasing thresholds and (2) n+ doping methods. (1) The threshold currents reported for electrically pumped Ge lasers are 280 and 510 kA/cm2 [1, 2]; much higher than III-V lasers (less than 1 kA/cm2) and even theoretical prediction of the Ge laser (~6 kA/cm2) [3]. (2) Ge can be used as photodetectors (PDs) and modulators (MODs), which need different in-depth dopant profiles. Ge epitaxy cannot control in-plane P concentration locally unless otherwise one performs multiple epitaxy. In the present study we tried to reduce the threshold using specific epi-structures and to diffuse Phosphorus (P) to make n+ Ge, and successfully observed a threshold in light emission using P diffusion for the first time. We have reported that a reverse-rib structure can be made using the epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) technique [4], and can effectively isolate light modes from Si substrate. It further reduces light scattering at the Ge/SiO2 sidewall formed by dry etching as shown in Fig. 1 [5], some of which should decrease the optical net gain. In addition, our group reported that the Ge/Si interfaces if located in the pn junction enhance significantly non-radiative recombination [6]. Thus, n+ Ge was grown on n+ Si. P diffusion was employed to achieve 1 × 1019 P/cm3 both in the reverse-rib and the blanket Ge epilayers using a well-controlled diffusion method [7]. Optical pumping was used to excite the structure. 40-nm thick SiO2 was formed by thermal oxidation on an n+ Si wafer and patterned in line-and-space shape along [110] orientation by electron beam lithography followed by a wet etching. Epitaxial Ge layers were grown on the wafer using ultra high vacuum chemical vapor deposition (UHVCVD) at 700 ˚C. The epilayers were 1 µm thick at reverse-rib areas, while 1.8 µm thick at blanket areas. P diffusion was performed at 850 ˚C for 5 minutes, which achieves uniform P concentration of 1 × 1019 /cm3 through these Ge epilayers. Schematic of the measurement system is shown in Fig. 2. A continuous wave YAG:Nd laser (wavelength: 1.07 µm, power: ~kW/cm2) was used for optical pumping and a Ge PD was used to measure the relation of light emission and optical pumping. The effective input power density should be actually smaller than the set value since the reverse-rib Ge epilayer (300 µm wide and 3 mm long) is wider than the pumping laser (30 µm wide and 4 mm long), causing out-diffusion of photo-excited minority carriers (holes) to non-pumped areas. The measurements were carried out at room temperature. Figure 3 shows a cross sectional TEM image of the as-grown reverse-rib Ge. The air semi-cylinders are observed over the SiO2 masks (invisible in this image) since Ge will not grow on SiO2 in this condition. The air semi-cylinders are 150 nm high and 450 nm wide, which is big enough to isolate light modes from the Si substrate according to a mode solver simulation. Raman scattering spectroscopy reveals 0.17 % tensile strain at the top surface of the reverse-rib Ge while there should be strain relaxation around the air semi-cylinders. The results of the optical pumping measurements are summarized in Fig. 4. Light emission from the reverse-rib Ge shows a sharp threshold at the input power density of 8 kW/cm2 (set value). The results can be understood as either amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) or lasing. We will soon report the spectra to identify the results. Assuming lasing, the threshold of 8 kW/cm2 is very small compared to the value reported (30 kW/cm2) [8].