Ion Mixing As A Processing Technique For Monolithic And And Array Integration of Photonic Devices

光子器件的集成是近年来研究的热点，因为它对光通信系统具有重要的意义。然而，涉及光子集成的制造工艺的发展并不是微不足道的，这主要是由于各种光子器件的功能以及由此产生的操作模式的多样性。由于这些要求，许多光子器件结构对单片制造的兼容性很差。开发更好的大规模可制造工艺以促进光子集成是一个重要的需要。我们建议将离子混合作为由量子阱和超晶格结构组成的光子器件的平面集成过程来研究。作为一种处理技术，离子混合提供了许多优点：(I)该处理可以在足够低的温度下进行以允许自对准处理，(Ii)用于自对准目的的金属离子掩模可以用作器件的电极，(Iii)容易获得的稀有气体离子在引起无序方面与原子质量相近的浅掺杂离子一样有效，以及(Iv)精心选择的离子可用于诱导无序和改善器件隔离。然而，在离子混合成为有用的光子集成过程之前，有几个问题需要解决。第一个问题是在微观水平上了解混合过程，以便将半导体材料的混合与它们的带隙、光学折射率等性质联系起来，无论是否涉及应变。第二个问题与离子辐照引起的材料损伤有关，离子辐照会影响材料的输运和光学性质。在这项研究中，将研究将这种损害降低到光子集成可接受的水平的方法。第三个问题是研究如何将离子混合用于形成激光波导，这是光子技术的关键部件。第四个问题是研究离子混合在异质结双极晶体管改进中的应用。为了解决这些问题，拟议的方案有以下目标：(I)研究离子混合的过程控制，特别是将离子辐照损害减少到光子器件可接受的水平，(Ii)通过与初始离子混合使器件平坦化(2)如果要制造平面条形折射率制导激光器，(3)离子混合单片器件集成，向调制器/激光器和激光/HBT集成方向发展。

Integration of photonic devices has been the subject of much research interest in recent years due to its implications for optical communication systems. However, the development of the fabrication processes involved in photonic integration has not been trivial due largely to the diversity in functions and consequently modes of operation of various photonic devices. Because of these requirements, many photonic device structures have poor compatibility for monolithic fabrication. There is an important need to develop better large scale manufacturable processes to facilitate photonic integration. We propose to investigate ion mixing as a process for planar integration of photonic devices made of quantum-well and superlattice structures. As a processing technique, ion mixing offers many advantages: (i) the process can be carried out at sufficiently low temperatures to allow for a self-aligned process, (ii) metallic ion masks for self-alignment purposes can serve as electrodes for devices, (iii) readily available noble gas ions are just as efficient as shallow dopant ions with similar atomic mass in causing disordering, and (iv) judiciously chosen ions can be used to induce disordering and to improve device isolation simultaneously. However, there are several issues that need to be resolved before ion-mixing becomes a useful process for photonic integration. The first issue is to understand the mixing process at a microscopic level so as to relate the intermixing of semiconductor materials and their properties such as bandgap, optical index, with or without strain involved. The second has to do with the material damage caused by ion-irradiation which can affect both the transport and the optical properties. Approaches to reduce this damage to a level acceptable to photonic integration will be investigated in this study. The third issue is to study how ion-mixing can be used in the formation of laser waveguide, a critical component of photonic technology. A fourth issue is to investigate the use of ion mixing in the improvement of heterojunction bipolar transistors. To address these issues, the proposed program has the following objectives: (i) investigation of process control of ion mixing, particularly the reduction of ion irradiation damage to a level acceptable for photonic devices, (ii) the planarization of devices by ion mixing with an initial (2) goal if fabricating planar stripe index guided lasers, and (iii) monolithic device integration by ion mixing, driving toward modulator/laser and laser/HBT integration.