On-chip integrated photonic circuits based on two-dimensional materials and hexagonal boron nitride as the optical confinement layer

Abstract

Owing to the rapid development of data communication, there is a high demand for the large-scale integration of photonic devices into broadband communication networks. For practical integration, integrated photonic circuits are ideally fabricated on silicon platforms using processes compatible with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology. Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides are attractive candidates as on-chip emitters and absorbers due to their direct bandgaps, compatibility with miniaturization, large exciton binding energies, anisotropic polarizations, and strong light-matter interactions. Herein, a review of the current progress in the applications of two-dimensional materials as on-chip semiconductor devices is presented, as well as their prospects of integration on the silicon photonic platform. On-chip integrated photonic circuits are proposed based on heterostructures of hexagonal boron nitride and two-dimensional materials with functions of light sources, optical modulators, and photodetectors toward high-bandwidth optical interconnects.