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

目标：该项目的目标是开发基于硅基氮化物光子材料系统的新型硅电泵浦光发射器和放大器。 智力优势：近年来，硅光子学研究因其利用成熟硅加工技术的潜力而受到广泛关注。迄今为止，硅光子学面临的首要挑战是制造电泵浦光源和放大器的难度。我们建议开发新型硅光发射器和放大器。 我们的方法是利用 III 族氮化物半导体中的铒 (Er) 掺杂，并基于我们通过 MOCVD 成功合成硅上掺铒 III 族氮化物器件结构，该结构主要表现出 1.5 微米光通信所需的光发射。技术目标是进一步开发用于将铒原位掺入硅上生长的III族氮化物器件结构的MOCVD生长技术以及用于实现1.5微米活性的掺铒氮化物光学放大器和发射器的器件制造技术。 更广泛的影响：对掺铒 III 氮化物材料的基本了解以及此类材料在大面积 Si 衬底上的生长有可能开辟前所未有的应用，因为这种氮化物-Si 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的研究项目；涵盖从新型光子材料/结构的最先进的外延生长，到先进材料表征，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.