theoretical-calculation-experimental-verification-for-dislocation

Theoretical Calculation and Experimental Verification for Dislocation Reduction in Germanium Epitaxial Layers with Semicylindrical Voids on Silicon

Reduction of threading dislocation density (TDD) in epitaxial germanium (Ge) on silicon (Si) has been one of the most important challenges for the ...

The University of Tokyo

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

the university of tokyo

We propose a new class of optoelectronic devices in which the optical properties of the active material is enhanced by strain generated from micromechanical structures. As a concrete example, we modeled the emission efficiency of strained germanium supported by a cantilever-like platform. Our simulations indicate that net optical gain is obtainable even in indirect germanium under a substrate biaxial tensile strain of about 1.75% with an electron-hole injection concentration of 9 x 10(18) cm(-3) while direct bandgap germanium becomes available at a strain of 2%. A large wavelength tuning span of 300 nm in the mid-IR range also opens up the possibility of a tunable on-chip germanium biomedical light source.

Enhanced direct bandgap emission in germanium by micromechanical strain engineering.

We have demonstrated that bandgap energy of Si can be controlled by micro-mechanically structured Si beams (250 nm thick, 3 μm wide, and 15 μm long) elastically deformed by an external force. Microscopic photoluminescence spectroscopy reveals that downward bending of the beam by 3 μm reveals a red shift in the peak from ~1100 nm up to ~1300 nm. It is found from calculations based on deformation potentials and finite element method that tensile strain as large as ~1.5% is generated in the top surface of the deformed beam and responsible for the red shift of the peak. The presented result should be a proof of concept to cancel wavelength fluctuation unavoidably occurring on uncooled LSIs in terms of stress application, and thereby an enabler of wavelength division multiplexing implementation on a chip. The applications of other beam materials such as Ge and GaAs are discussed.

Bandgap control using strained beam structures for Si photonic devices.

We propose an approach for tuning a gain spectrum of semiconductor lasers under temperature fluctuations, where the heat-induced effect is dynamically compensated using a mechanical stressing. By stressing GaAs/Ge/Si microbeams, emission wavelength tuning is experimentally demonstrated for the overlying GaAs layers as a proof-of-concept, and the results are followed by theoretical calculations. It is discussed that this approach is effective to cancel the gain spectrum shift and will be indispensable to the integration of light sources toward WDM systems on a chip.

Emission wavelength tuning by mechanical stressing of GaAs/Ge/Si microbeams.

Optical circuits are low power consumption and fast speed alternatives for the current information processing based on transistor circuits. However, because of no transistor function available in optics, the architecture for optical computing should be chosen that optics prefers. One of which is Binary Decision Diagram (BDD), where signal is processed by sending an optical signal from the root through a serial of switching nodes to the leaf (terminal). Speed of optical computing is limited by either transmission time of optical signals from the root to the leaf or switching time of a node. We have designed and experimentally demonstrated 1-bit and 2-bit adders based on the BDD architecture. The switching nodes are silicon ring resonators with a modulation depth of 10 dB and the states are changed by the plasma dispersion effect. The quality, Q of the rings designed is 1500, which allows fast transmission of signal, e.g., 1.3 ps calculated by a photon escaping time. A total processing time is thus analyzed to be ~9 ps for a 2-bit adder and would scales linearly with the number of bit. It is two orders of magnitude faster than the conventional CMOS circuitry, ~ns scale of delay. The presented results show the potential of fast speed optical computing circuits.

Demonstration of optical computing logics based on binary decision diagram.

We present a study of the influence of high strain on the bandgap and the refractive index of silicon. The results of photoluminescence show that with the strain applied, the silicon bandgap can be adjusted to 0.84 eV and the refractive index of silicon increases significantly. 1.4% change of refractive index of silicon was observed. The strain-induced bandgap shrinkage and absorption coefficient change of silicon are considered as the main cause of the significant refractive index change. The present work indicates that the application of strain is promising to control the refractive index of silicon in devices so that applications such as compensation of thermal effect in optical devices can be achieved.

Strain induced bandgap and refractive index variation of silicon.

Focus on silicon photonics.

By way of a brief review of Si photonics technology, we show that significant improvements in device performance are necessary for practical telecommunications applications. In order to improve device performance in Si photonics, we have developed a Si-Ge-silica monolithic integration platform, on which compact Si-Ge-based modulators/detectors and silica-based high-performance wavelength filters are monolithically integrated. The platform features low-temperature silica film deposition, which cannot damage Si-Ge-based active devices. Using this platform, we have developed various integrated photonic devices for broadband telecommunications applications.

Kazumi Wada

Department of Materials Engineering

The University of Tokyo

Theoretical Calculation and Experimental Verification for Dislocation Reduction in Germanium Epitaxial Layers with Semicylindrical Voids on Silicon