Towards a fully integrated indium-phosphide membrane on silicon photonics platform

In this work we present an integrated platform based on an InP membrane adhesively bonded to a silicon wafer. The platform allows for flexible design of wafer scale active and passive nanophotonic circuits. Advantages of this platform are the flexible fabrication process, large variety of integrated active and passive devices in one photonic layer, high index contrast of devices and therefore small footprint of complex circuits. We demonstrated several building blocks and devices, fabricated in the platform: semiconductor optical amplifiers, lasers and several passive devices, exploiting the high index contrast. Potential of the platform offers the integration of novel high speed devices using regrowth approach

Experimental characterization of directional couplers in InP photonic membranes on silicon (IMOS)

We experimentally study the performance of directional couplers fabricated in indium-phosphide membrane on silicon (IMOS) technology. We both investigate the validity of the coupled mode theory (CMT) applied to directional coupler structures with high index contrast and study the effect of some different topological choices in device fabrication. In particular, besides the conventional curved structures, we consider ultra sharp corner bends that reduce the footprint. The effect of fabrication tolerances on the different guided mode polarizations is also discussed

InP membrane on silicon (IMOS) photonics

InP membranes have appeared in the last decade as a viable integrated photonics platform, suitable for adding photonic functions to silicon electronics. It combines the strengths of silicon photonics (high index contrasts and therefore small footprint devices) with those of generic InP-platforms (monolithic integration of active and passive devices). A range of functionalities has been developed on this platform, which goes by the name of Indium phosphide membrane on silicon (IMOS). Competitive performances have been demonstrated for lasers, fast detectors, waveguides, filters, couplers, modulators, and more. Here, we provide an overview of IMOS and describe recent developments regarding technology and devices. This includes record low propagation losses, plasmonic waveguides, a variety of laser structures, and improved wavelength demuliplexers. These developments demonstrate that IMOS has potential to deliver photonic integrated circuits to a wide variety of application fields, e.g. telecom, datacom, sensing, terahertz, and many others

A waveguide-coupled uni-traveling-carrier photodiode with a high bandwidth-efficiency product on an indium phosphide membrane

We present a waveguide-coupled uni-traveling-carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) with a 55 GHz bandwidth-efficiency product for a 10x3 μm2 UTC-PD, which is fabricated on the indium phosphide membrane-on-silicon (IMOS) platform. The highest achieved bandwidth is 92 GHz for a 5x2 μm2 UTC-PD in a separate measurement. The bandwidth and responsivity are discussed

Experimental characterization of directional couplers in InP photonic membranes on silicon (IMOS)

We experimentally study the performance of directional couplers fabricated in indium-phosphide membrane on silicon (IMOS) technology. We both investigate the validity of the coupled mode theory (CMT) applied to directional coupler structures with high index contrast and study the effect of some different topological choices in device fabrication. In particular, besides the conventional curved structures, we consider ultra sharp corner bends that reduce the footprint. The effect of fabrication tolerances on the different guided mode polarizations is also discussed

Versatile butt-joint regrowth for dense photonic integration

Butt-joint regrowth is widely used in photonic integration, but it has been challenging to break the density-quality tradeoff due to the edge growth rate enhancement (GRE) effect. In this work, we propose a scheme to circumvent this tradeoff by using large regrowth masks whose centers are exposed to epi-growth for neutralization of the excessive species. With the GRE under control, epi-stacks with arbitrarily large sizes supporting dense arrays can be butt-joint integrated with minimal compromise to their epitaxy quality. In our experiment, multi-quantum-well-based material of an exceptionally large area of 0.5 × 1.7 mm2 was epitaxially integrated with passive InP material on the same wafer. A more than 20 × reduction in edge topology compared to conventional methods was achieved

High resolution grating antennas for beam steering on the IMOS platform

We propose to use SiO2 gratings on the InP membrane on silicon (IMOS) platform to form ultra-weak grating-based antennas for generation of ultra-narrow free-space optical beams. Such long gratings can produce narrow beam widths of below 0.1°. By using selective dry etching, both the grating shape and the etch depth have been precisely controlled, yielding a highly robust fabrication process. Initial results have shown a 0.088° FWHM of the emitted beam in the far-field for a 1-mm antenna length