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

目的：本项目的目标是基于氮化硅光子材料系统，研制新型的硅基电泵浦光发射器和放大器。智力价值：近年来，硅光子学的研究受到了极大的关注，因为它具有利用成熟的硅加工技术的潜力。到目前为止，硅光子学面临的最大挑战是制造电动泵浦光源和放大器的难度。我们建议在硅上开发新型的光发射器和放大器。我们的方法是在III-氮化物半导体中利用Er(Er)掺杂，并基于我们通过MOCVD在硅上成功地合成了掺Er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主要的所需光发射。其技术目标是进一步发展MOCVD生长技术和器件制造技术，以便在硅基上生长的III-氮化物器件结构中原位掺入Er，从而实现1.5微米有源的掺Er氮化物光学放大器和发射器。更广泛的影响：对掺Er III-氮化物材料的基本了解以及此类材料在大面积硅衬底上的生长具有打开前所未有的应用的潜力，因为这种硅上氮化物光子材料系统将与标准的CMOS工艺兼容。研究生将积极参与一项具有高度跨学科性质的研究项目，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，再到纳米级光子/光电子器件的制造。

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.