Imec demonstrates 28Gb/s photonics platform
III-V laser integration still in the laboratory
Imec has reached some key development milestones for its silicon photonics platform (iSiPP25G) by extending the performance towards 28Gb/s and beyond.
At wafer-scale, it has demonstrated a ring-based wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) filter with a thermo-optic tuning efficiency better than 1nm/mW per channel; a thermally tunable 28Gb/s ring modulator with an efficiency of 260pm/mW; and a high-speed germanium photodetector achieving an average responsitivity of 0.85A/W, and opto-electrical bandwidth of 50GHz with dark currents at -1.0V below 50nA.
Silicon photonics holds the promise of converging electronics and photonics, but a key component still missing within such a platform is a low-cost high-performance laser. IMEC is considering adding III-V lasers to the platform in the future by hybrid approaches such as flip-chip bonding. It is also exploring adding monolithically integrated lasers using InP-nanowires lasers and colloidal quantum dots.
Last year, researchers from IMEC and the University of Ghent presented the first room-temperature operation of an ultra-short InP nanowire laser that is epitaxially grown on an exactly [001] oriented silicon substrate. In May 2014, the team gave a paper at the International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials(IPRM) showing an improvement of the device with ultra low threshold performance.
'An Ultra-Short InP Nanowire Laser Monolithic Integrated on (001) Silicon Substrate', by Z. Wang et al was presented at IEEE summer topicals 2013.
'InP Nanowire lasers Epitaxially Grwnn on (001) Silicon 'V- groove' templates', by B. Tian et al was presented at the International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials(IPRM) 2014.
