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

小型企业技术转移研究(STTR)第一阶段项目将开发金属-有机化学气相沉积(MOCVD)生长技术，用于在硅衬底上生长的III-氮化物外延层和器件结构中原位掺入Er。通过对Er3+发射的光学表征，将确定在所需的光通信波长(1.55微米)获得具有增强发射的器件结构的最佳生长条件。如果成功，这些材料可能会导致新型的电泵浦波导光放大器，它既具有半导体光放大器(体积小、电泵浦、光子集成能力等)和掺Er光纤放大器(波分复用(WDM)光网络中不同波长通道之间的串扰最小)的优点。基于掺Er半导体的光学放大器的实现将允许将功能光学器件(光源、波长路由器、光开关、探测器等)单片集成在单芯片上，形成具有独特功能的光子集成电路。如果掺Er的III-氮化物材料能够在大面积的硅衬底上生长，那么这一前景就变得特别有吸引力，因为这种氮化物-硅材料光子材料体系将完全与制造硅计算机芯片的标准工艺兼容，并可能开辟包括硅光子学在内的前所未有的应用。

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.