Monolithically Integrated Perovskite Semiconductor Lasers on Silicon Photonic Chips by Scalable Top-Down Fabrication

Abstract

Metal-halide perovskites are promising lasing materials for the realization of monolithically integrated laser sources, the key components of silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Perovskites can be deposited from solution and require only low-temperature processing, leading to significant cost reduction and enabling new PIC architectures compared to state-of-the-art lasers realized through the costly and inefficient hybrid integration of III−V semiconductors. Until now, however, due to the chemical sensitivity of perovskites, no microfabrication process based on optical lithography (and, therefore, on existing semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure) has been established. Here, the first methylammonium lead iodide perovskite microdisc lasers monolithically integrated into silicon nitride PICs by such a top-down process are presented. The lasers show a record low lasing threshold of 4.7 μJcm–2 at room temperature for monolithically integrated lasers, which are complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor compatible and can be integrated in the back-end-of-line processes.

Solution‐Processed Perovskite Microdisk for Coherent Light Emission

“…Semiconductor microcrystals have demonstrated great potential for optoelectronic applications for their tailorable physical and chemical properties by changing the size and morphology. Among various microcrystal morphologies, high‐quality circular semiconductor microdisks (MDs) with diameters of tens of micrometers, which could localize electromagnetic waves, are of crucial importance for realizing on‐chip coherent light sources and optical signal processing . However, such circular microdisks are typically fabricated with complex and expensive top‐down patterning or physical vapor deposition based on designed circular patterns .…”

“…Among various microcrystal morphologies, high‐quality circular semiconductor microdisks (MDs) with diameters of tens of micrometers, which could localize electromagnetic waves, are of crucial importance for realizing on‐chip coherent light sources and optical signal processing . However, such circular microdisks are typically fabricated with complex and expensive top‐down patterning or physical vapor deposition based on designed circular patterns . In addition, these fabrication techniques also require secondary treating of already formed single crystals or polycrystalline, which may damage the quality and qualification rate of the final circular‐like microdisks (CMDs).…”

Open-Access Silicon Photonics Platforms in Europe

“…The SiN platform has been used to demonstrate Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) applications [71], plasmonic sensors [72] and integrated perovskite lasers [73], [74]. Variable optical attenuators, using graphene as active material, demonstrate the platform functionality at 855 nm [71].…”

Active meta-optics and nanophotonics with halide perovskites

“…Moreover, in situ chemical variation of the perovskites band gap 24,25 and, thus, the spectrum of their luminescence, opens up unprecedented opportunities for reconfigurable nanophotonic devices not achievable with the use of the conventional GaAs platform. As a result, halide perovskite nanoparticles 26 , nanowires 27,28 , microdisks 29 , microplates 30 , nanoscale gratings 31 , and metasurfaces 32,33 are easy to fabricate and process, and they can become a convenient and cheap part of optical circuitry in the near future 34 . Nevertheless, the existing silicon-based platform is much more developed for on-chip integrated photonics 35 , but it is expected to be outperformed by the perovskites in the future.…”