The deployment of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) necessitates an integration platform that is scalable, high-throughput, cost-effective, and power-efficient. Here we present a monolithic InP on SOI platform to synergize the advantages of two mainstream photonic integration platforms: Si photonics and InP photonics. This monolithic InP/SOI platform is realized through the selective growth of both InP sub-micron wires and large dimension InP membranes on industry-standard (001)-oriented silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. The epitaxial InP is in-plane, dislocation-free, site-controlled, intimately positioned with the Si device layer, and placed right on top of the buried oxide layer to form “InP-on-insulator”. These attributes allow for the realization of various photonic functionalities using the epitaxial InP, with efficient light interfacing between the III–V devices and the Si-based waveguides. We exemplify the potential of this InP/SOI platform for integrated photonics through the demonstration of lasers with different cavity designs including subwavelength wires, square cavities, and micro-disks. Our results here mark a critical step forward towards fully-integrated Si-based PICs.

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Realization of fully integrated silicon photonics has been handicapped by the lack of a reliable and efficient III-V light source on Si. Specifically, electrically pumped continuous wave (CW) lasing and operation sustainable at high temperatures are critical for practical applications. Here, we present the first electrically pumped room temperature (RT) CW lasing results of 1.55 μm quantum dash (QDash) lasers directly grown on patterned on-axis (001) Si using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Adopting a dash-in-well structure as the active medium, the growth of QDash was optimized on an InP on Si template. Incorporating the advantages of the optimized material growth and device fabrication, good laser performance including a low threshold current of 50 mA, a threshold current density of 1.3 kA/cm2 and operation at elevated temperature up to 59 °C in CW mode was achieved. Comparison of lasers grown on Si and native InP substrates in the same growth run was made. Based on the laser characteristics measured at room temperature and elevated temperatures, the QDash quality on the two substrates is comparable. These results suggest that MOCVD is a viable technique for lasers on Si growth and represent an advance towards silicon-based photonic-electronic integration and manufacturing.

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Photodetectors on Si with high responsivity, large bandwidth, and multispectral operation are required for high data rate communications using Si photonics. We report characteristics of InP-based quantum dash (QDash) photodetectors with a p-i-n structure directly grown on (001) Si. Three layers of quantum dashes were grown on InP on Si templates and fabricated into waveguide photodetectors. The QDash photodetectors can operate from 1240 nm to 1640 nm, covering the entire telecommunication band. A low dark current density of 2.1 × 10−6 A/cm2, responsivities of 0.35 ± 0.05 A/W at 1550 nm and 0.94 ± 0.05 A/W at 1310 nm, and a 3-dB bandwidth of 10.3 GHz were demonstrated. Our results show that the QDash photodetectors grown on Si hold great potential for on-chip integration in Si-photonics.

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SiO2 was deposited on GaN by radio-frequency sputtering to fabricate metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitors. Before the deposition, an ultrathin GaOxnormalNy interlayer was thermally grown on the GaN wafer to improve the quality of the insulator/ GaN interface. The interface-trap density at 0.4eV below the conduction bandedge was reduced by one order compared with that of a sample without the GaOxnormalNy interlayer. Annealing in NO gas at 800°C was conducted on both samples, and turned out to greatly suppress their oxide charges. The NO -annealed sample with the GaOxnormalNy interlayer achieved the lowest oxide-charge density of 1.7×1011cm−2 , as compared to 9.5×1011cm−2 for its counterpart without the GaOxnormalNy interlayer and about 8.0×1012cm−2 for the two nonannealed samples. Moreover, the NO annealing was found to effectively reduce border traps. Secondary-ion mass spectrometry analysis was performed to explain how the GaOxnormalNy interlayer and NO annealing affect the performance of the GaN MIS capacitors.

Quantum-dot (QD) and quantum-dash (QDash) have been shown to be promising gain materials for lasers directly grown on Si due to their better tolerance to crystal defects and thermal stability. Here we report optically pumped InP-based InAs QDash microdisk lasers (MDLs) directly grown on on-axis (001) Si. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of room-temperature continuous-wave lasing of a QDash MDL on Si in the C band and L band. To the best of our knowledge, the lowest threshold of around 400 µW and highest operation temperature of 323 K have been achieved. An analysis of experimental results shows that the dominant lasing wavelength of MDLs varies with the thickness and diameter of the MDLs. Our demonstration shows potential application of MDLs for multi-channel operation in densely integrated Si-photonics.