We investigate the impact of threading dislocation density on the reliability of 1.3 lm InAs quantum dot lasers epitaxially grown on Si. A reduction in the threading dislocation density from 2.8 Â 10 8 cm À2 to 7.3 Â 10 6 cm À2 has improved the laser lifetime by about five orders of magnitude when aged continuous-wave near room temperature (35 C). We have achieved extrapolated lifetimes (time to double initial threshold) more than 10 Â 10 6 h. An accelerated laser aging test at an elevated temperature (60 C) reveals that p-modulation doped quantum dot lasers on Si retain superior reliability over unintentionally doped ones. These results suggest that epitaxially grown quantum dot lasers could be a viable approach to realize a reliable, scalable, and efficient light source on Si.

Monolithic integration of quantum dot (QD) gain materials onto Si photonic platforms via direct epitaxial growth is a promising solution for on-chip light sources. Recent developments have demonstrated superior device reliability in blanket hetero-epitaxy of III–V devices on Si at elevated temperatures. Yet, thick, defect management epi designs prevent vertical light coupling from the gain region to the Si-on-Insulator waveguides. Here, we demonstrate the first electrically pumped QD lasers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a 300 mm patterned (001) Si wafer with a butt-coupled configuration. Unique growth and fabrication challenges imposed by the template architecture have been resolved, contributing to continuous wave lasing to 60 °C and a maximum double-side output power of 126.6 mW at 20 °C with a double-side wall-plug efficiency of 8.6%. The potential for robust on-chip laser operation and efficient low-loss light coupling to Si photonic circuits makes this heteroepitaxial integration platform on Si promising for scalable and low-cost mass production.

Integrating quantum dot (QD) gain elements onto Si photonic platforms via direct epitaxial growth is the ultimate solution for realizing on‐chip light sources. Tremendous improvements in device performance and reliability have been demonstrated in devices grown on planar Si substrates in the last few years. Recently, electrically pumped QD lasers deposited in narrow oxide pockets in a butt‐coupled configuration and on‐chip coupling have been realized on patterned Si photonic wafers. However, the device yield and reliability, which ultimately determines the scalability of such technology, are limited by material uniformity. Here, detailed analysis is performed, both experimentally and theoretically, on the material asymmetry induced by the pocket geometry and provides unambiguous evidence suggesting that all pockets should be aligned to the [1 ] direction of the III‐V crystal for high yield, high performance, and scalable on‐chip light sources at 300 mm scale.

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Quantum dot (QD) lasers epitaxially grown on Si have already been demonstrated to show record low threshold, high temperature tolerance, and low feedback sensitivity. When grown on the silicon photonic chip and integrated with Si waveguides (WGs), QD lasers offer considerable economical and foundry‐scalable solutions to on‐chip light sources. Yet, a technology that enables both growth and integration of QD lasers on a silicon photonic chip has not been demonstrated. Herein, a novel device platform which enables integration of the QD active region with passive WG structures is designed. By doing so, complex and high‐performance lasers such as distributed Bragg reflector lasers, mode‐locked lasers, and sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector tunable lasers are demonstrated in this platform. The same laser epitaxial stack can be easily grown on the substrate of a silicon photonic chip to allow light coupling from QD laser cavities to the silicon WGs.