Silicon-based silicon–germanium–tin heterostructure photonics

Abstract

The wavelength range that extends from 1550 to 5000 nm is a new regime of operation for Si-based photonic and opto-electronic integrated circuits. To actualize the new chips, heterostructure active devices employing the ternary SiGeSn alloy are proposed in this paper. Foundry-based monolithic integration is described. Opportunities and challenges abound in creating laser diodes, optical amplifiers, light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, modulators, switches and a host of high-performance passive infrared waveguided components.

Predictions of Free-Carrier Electroabsorption and Electrorefraction in Germanium

“…Typically, directness is found for a tin fraction above 9%. This materials system is the foundation of a silicon-based SiGeSn heterostructure technology in which a complete suite of integrated optical components, both active and passive, can in principle be built on silicon using these group IV alloys [46]. Single mode SiGeSn channel waveguide designs are now available for the midwave/ longwave infrared [47], and the range of transparency (high transmission) can be 2 to 20 m, for example, with the starting wavelength dependent upon bandgap ð" h!…”

High-speed detection at two micrometres with monolithic silicon photodiodes

“…A promising solution is to open new spectral regions at wavelengths near 2 μm and to exploit the long-wavelength transmission and amplification capabilities of hollowcore photonic-bandgap fibres 2,3 and the recently available thulium-doped fibre amplifiers 4 . To date, photodetector devices for this window have largely relied on III-V materials 5 or, where the benefits of integration with silicon photonics are sought, GeSn alloys, which have been demonstrated thus far with only limited utility [6][7][8][9] . Here, we describe a silicon photodiode operating at 20 Gbit s -1 in this wavelength region.…”

“…The fact that the eye is still open is a promising result, although the relative closure compared to the 20 Gbit s -1 data indicates that the detector is operating Eye diagrams for a 1-mm-long detector operating at a wavelength of 1.96 μm. The timescale is 20 ps div −1 and the pseudo-random binary sequence length is 27 -1 for all images. a, 20 Gbit s −1 at 27 V reverse bias.…”

Germanium as a material for stimulated Brillouin scattering in the mid-infrared

“…These materials are the material focus of of "group IV photonics" which is a practical siliconbased technology for high-volume photonic-circuit manufacture in a CMOS opto-electronic foundry. Along with Ge, the "Ge-rich" materials SiGe and GeSn are the most important semiconductors for migrating the near-infrared (NIR, i. e. 1.31-1.55 µm) group IV photonics into the mid-infrared (MIR) region [3][4][5], initially at wavelengths of 1.8 to 5.0 µm and eventually towards 14 µm. The migration has begun and momentum in this research area is building rapidly.…”

“…The migration has begun and momentum in this research area is building rapidly. Group IV photonics at MIR-as in the 1.3/1.6 µm telecommunications bands-has wide-ranging sensing and communications applications [3][4][5] and is CMOS-compatible.…”