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

目的：本课题的目的是开发基于硅上氮光子材料体系的新型硅电泵浦光发射器和放大器。知识价值：硅光子学的研究近年来受到了广泛的关注，因为它有潜力利用发达的硅加工技术。硅光子学目前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 -氮化物半导体中，并基于我们成功地通过MOCVD在硅上合成了掺铒的iii -氮化物器件结构，该结构在1.5微米的光通信中表现出所需的光发射。技术目标是进一步发展原位Er掺杂到硅上生长的iii -氮化物器件结构的MOCVD生长技术和器件制造技术，以实现在1.5微米有源的Er掺杂氮化物光放大器和发射器。更广泛的影响：对er掺杂iii -氮化物材料的基本理解以及这种材料在大面积Si衬底上的生长有可能开辟前所未有的应用，因为这种Si上氮化光子材料系统将与标准CMOS工艺兼容。研究生将积极参与高度跨学科性质的研究项目；从最新的新型光子材料/结构的外延生长，到先进材料的表征，以及纳米级光子/光电器件的制造。

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.