STTR Phase I: Erbium Doped III-Nitride Materials and Photonic Structures for Optical Communications

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The Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project will develop metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth technology for the in-situ Er incorporation into III-nitride epilayers and device structures grown on Si substrates. Through optical characterization of Er3+ emissions, optimal growth conditions for obtaining device structures with enhanced emission at the desired optical communications wavelength (1.55 microns) will be identified. If successful, these materials may lead to novel electrically pumped waveguide optical amplifiers that possess advantages of both semiconductor optical amplifier (small size, electrical pumping, ability for photonic integration, etc) and Er-doped fiber amplifier (minimal crosstalk between different wavelength channels in wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks). The realization of optical amplifiers based on Er-doped semiconductors would allow the monolithic integration of functional optical devices (light sources, wavelength routers, optical switches, detectors, etc) on single chips to form photonic integrated circuits with unique features. This prospect becomes especially attractive if Er-doped III-nitride materials could be grown on large area silicon substrates because such nitride-on-Si material photonic materials system would be entirely compatible with the standard processes for making silicon computer chips and could open up unprecedented applications including those envisioned for Si photonics.