Large scale 2D material - active silicon photonics

Abstract

The field of silicon photonics has become a thriving technology enabling light-weight, high-speed and CMOS compatible photonic transceivers. However, the components’ bandwidth and operation power are fundamentally limited by the active on-chip components for generation, amplification, modulation and detection of optical signals. Introducing new materials onto an active silicon nanomanufacturing platform is a promising solution for advancing those optical components’ performance matrix. The goal of this project is to utilize the active silicon nanomanufacturing platform provided by AIM Photonics, and ‘bond’ two-dimensional (2D) materials onto a hexagonal planar silicon photonic crystal platform through van der Waals contact, for simultaneous control of the optical coupling and carrier densities in 2D material layers through silicon photonic substrates. Preliminary results have suggested that (1) Through post-processing the foundry processed silicon photonic devices, it is possible to achieve efficient carrier transfer through the 2D material-silicon heterojunctions, assisted by built-in electric field; (2) The high precision and scalable foundry process enables ultrahigh-Q/V resonators and slow-light waveguides defined in a planar photonic crystal photonic bandgap structure. The substrate defined optical modes can evanescently coupleto a continuous film of 2D materials, with minimal edge scattering loss; (3) The in-plane lateral p-i-njunctions can effectively inject and deplete carriers in subwavelength localized resonators or waveguides, with superior quantum efficiency and speed; (4) Orders of magnitude higher nonlinear coefficient in 2D materials reduces the threshold power of on-chip Raman lasers and coherent parametric amplifiers, especially with removal of free carrier absorption through reversely biased p-i-n junctions.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Apr 09, 2018
Source ID
FA95501810300

Entities

People

  • Tingyi Gu

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • United States Air Force
  • University of Delaware

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.
  • Microwave Engineering.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Quantum Computing