Unlocking the monolithic integration scenario: optical coupling between GaSb diode lasers epitaxially grown on patterned Si substrates and passive SiN waveguides

Abstract

Silicon (Si) photonics has recently emerged as a key enabling technology in many application fields thanks to the mature Si process technology, the large silicon wafer size, and promising Si optical properties. The monolithic integration by direct epitaxy of III–V lasers and Si photonic devices on the same Si substrate has been considered for decades as the main obstacle to the realization of dense photonics chips. Despite considerable progress in the last decade, only discrete III–V lasers grown on bare Si wafers have been reported, whatever the wavelength and laser technology. Here we demonstrate the first semiconductor laser grown on a patterned Si photonics platform with light coupled into a waveguide. A mid-IR GaSb-based diode laser was directly grown on a pre-patterned Si photonics wafer equipped with SiN waveguides clad by SiO2. Growth and device fabrication challenges, arising from the template architecture, were overcome to demonstrate more than 10 mW outpower of emitted light in continuous wave operation at room temperature. In addition, around 10% of the light was coupled into the SiN waveguides, in good agreement with theoretical calculations for this butt-coupling configuration. This work lift an important building block and it paves the way for future low-cost, large-scale, fully integrated photonic chips.

Highly efficient and selective integrated directional couplers for multigas sensing applications

“…Total output transmittance obtained for the bare input waveguide at wavelength λ 1 and λ 2 are 92% and 94%, respectively. These results provide valuable insights into the strategic design decision made for the input waveguide 22 , 23 . The simulations only consider the TE mode throughout the simulations, in anticipation of future diode laser integration that will operate in the TE mode.…”

Recent progress in epitaxial growth of dislocation tolerant and dislocation free III–V lasers on silicon

“…Wei et al designed a fork-shaped edge coupler and measured output power of a few mW coupled out of the Si waveguide, yielding an estimated coupling efficiency of approximately −6.7 dB [75]. Remis et al demonstrated the 2.3 µm GaSb-based diode lasers grown in the recess of pre-patterned Si photonic substrates (figure 10(c)) [77]. These GaSb-based laser, with dry-etched facets, were butt-coupled to SiN waveguides with around 10% light coupling efficiency.…”

Efficient Integrated Amplifier-Assisted Laser on Erbium-Doped Lithium Niobate

“…The requirements of ideal chip-scale lasers include sufficient large power with high power efficiency, continuous-wave emission in fiber-based communication bands, compatibility with CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) processes, and so on . Taking silicon-based PIC as an example, Group III–V lasers have been commercialized for a long time and have been explored extensively to combine with silicon photonics using hybrid and heterogeneous integration. − Meanwhile, silicon-based Raman lasers, silicon quantum dots lasers, and other Group IV lasers that could be monolithically integrated with silicon photonics are attracting researchers’ attention.…”