1.54 micron optical amplifiers and emitters based upon erbium doped III-nitrides grown on silicon

目的：本计画的目标是以硅上氮化物光子材料系统为基础，发展新型的电抽运光发射器与光放大器。 智力优势：近年来，硅光子学的研究受到了广泛的关注，因为它具有利用成熟的硅加工技术的潜力。到目前为止，硅光子学最大的挑战是制造电泵浦光源和放大器的困难。我们建议在硅上开发新型的光发射器和放大器。 我们的方法是利用铒（Er）掺杂在III族氮化物半导体，是基于我们成功的合成的Er掺杂III族氮化物器件结构的硅上的MOCVD主要表现出所需的光发射的光通信在1.5微米。技术目标是进一步开发MOCVD生长技术，用于将Er原位并入在硅上生长的III族氮化物器件结构中，以及开发器件制造技术，用于实现在1.5微米处起作用的Er掺杂氮化物光学放大器和发射器。 更广泛的影响：对掺Er的III族氮化物材料的基本理解以及在大面积Si衬底上生长这种材料具有开辟前所未有的应用的潜力，因为这种Si上氮化物光子材料系统将与标准CMOS工艺兼容。研究生将积极参与一个具有高度跨学科性质的研究计划;涵盖从最先进的新型光子材料/结构的外延生长，到先进的材料表征，以及纳米级光子/光电器件制造。

Objective: The objective of this project is to develop new types of electrically pumped optical emitters and amplifiers on silicon based upon nitride-on-Si photonic materials system. Intellectual Merit: Research in silicon photonics has received much attention in recent years because of its potential to utilize well developed silicon processing technology. The foremost challenge in silicon photonics so far is the difficulty of making electrically pumped light sources and amplifiers. We propose to develop new types of optical emitters and amplifiers on silicon. Our approach is to exploit erbium (Er) doping in III-nitride semiconductors and is based on our successful synthesizing by MOCVD of Er-doped III-nitride device structures on silicon that exhibit predominantly the desired optical emission for optical communication at 1.5 microns. The technical aims are to further develop the MOCVD growth technology for the in-situ Er incorporation into III-nitride device structures grown on silicon and device fabrication technology for the realization of Er-doped nitride optical amplifiers and emitters active at 1.5 microns. Broader Impacts: The fundamental understanding of Er-doped III-nitride materials and the growth of such materials on large area Si substrates have the potential to open up unprecedented applications because such nitride-on-Si photonic materials system would be compatible with the standard CMOS processes. Graduate students will be actively involved in a research program that is highly interdisciplinary in nature; covering from the state-of-the-art epitaxial growth of novel photonic materials/structures, to advanced materials characterization, and to nano-scale photonic/optoelectronic device fabrication.