On-chip silicon light source: from photonics to plasmonics

doi:10.1007/s12200-012-0221-x

Front Optoelec

0, Vol.

Issue () : 3-6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-012-0221-x

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On-chip silicon light source: from photonics to plasmonics

Guangzhao RAN(

), Hongqiang LI, Chong WANG

School of Physics and State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

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Abstract

Practical silicon photonic interconnects become possible nowadays after the realization of the practical silicon light sources, where the hybrid integrations of III-V semiconductors and silicon by bonding play a fundamental role. Photonic interconnects dissipate substantially less power and offer a significantly greater information bandwidth than those of electronic interconnects; however, one emerging problem is the size mismatch between photonic and electronic components when integrated on a chip. Therefore, surface plasmonic source with deeply sub-wavelength size is under intense investigation as the next generation Si-based light source for on-chip interconnects. In this paper, we shall review some of the latest achievements on this topic.

Keywords surface plasmon (SP) silicon photonics photonic interconnect surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (SPASER)

Corresponding Author(s): RAN Guangzhao,Email:rangz@pku.edu.cn

Issue Date: 05 March 2012

Cite this article:

Guangzhao RAN,Hongqiang LI,Chong WANG. On-chip silicon light source: from photonics to plasmonics[J]. Front Optoelec, 0, (): 3-6.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/10.1007/s12200-012-0221-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/Y0/V/I/3

Fig.1 Hybrid integration by bonding III-V semiconductors on silicon. When there is no insertion between them, it is known as direct bonding; for indirect bonding, polymer or metal is frequently chosen as an insertion material. But, polymer bonding results in an electrically insulating layer; and metallic bonding in an optically insulating layer. A transparent and conducting insertion is an interesting alternative in some cases

Fig.2 For light coupling, the metal crossing light coupling area has to be removed, that is, selective area metallic bonding, the expense of which is the alignment-caused low yield. But this bonding method separates III-V process from CMOS process, and so there is no process-compatible problem

Fig.3 (a) Conceptual diagram of an electric excitation SP source, consisting of an active layer and a noble metal layer at least. A pair of index matching layers is added for generating higher fraction of SPs. Coupling between a SP source and a SP waveguide is also depicted, with a very high coupling efficiency. The total thickness between the two metal layers should be sufficiently thin, so it supports SP modes only; (b) operation principal for an SP (laser) diode. Radiation or injection excites a transition into electron-hole (e-h) pairs (vertical blue arrow). The e-h pairs recombine nonradiatively and transfer energy to the plasmon excitation of the metal nano-cavity through resonant coupled transitions (red line). (b) is redrawn after Ref. []. For a SPASER, the active (gain) layer is in population inversion state, and the SP mode gain distributed from the gain media must exceed the SP mode loss, which is usually a very large value.

Fig.4 A typical power dissipation spectrum for the emitter in the middle of the active layer for a metal cladding structure

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