Monolithic integration of III–V materials and devices on CMOS compatible on‐axis Si (001) substrates enables a route of low‐cost and high‐density Si‐based photonic integrated circuits. Inversion boundaries (IBs) are defects that arise from the interface between III–V materials and Si, which significantly lowers the quality of III–V materials on Si. Here, a novel technique to achieve IB‐free GaAs monolithically grown on on‐axis Si (001) substrates by realizing the alternating straight and meandering single atomic steps on Si surface has been introduced via all-molecular beam epitaxy approach without the use of double Si atomic steps, which was previously believed to be the key for IB‐free III–V growth on Si. The periodic straight and meandering single atomic steps on Si surface are results of high‐temperature annealing of Si buffer layer. As a demonstration, an electrically pumped InAs quantum‐dot laser has been fabricated based on this IB‐free GaAs/Si platform with a maximum operating temperature of 120 °C. These results can be a major step towards monolithic integration of III–V materials and devices with the mature CMOS technology.
The growth of reliable III-V quantum well (QW) lasers on silicon remains a challenge as yet unmastered due to the issue of carrier migration into dislocations. We have recently compared the functionality of quantum dots (QDs) and QWs in the presence of high dislocation densities using rate equation travelling-wave simulations, which were based on 10-μm large spatial steps, and thus only allowed the use of effective laser parameters to model the performance degradation resulting from dislocation-induced carrier loss. Here we increase the resolution to the sub-micrometer level to enable the spatially resolved simulation of individual dislocations placed along the longitudinal cavity direction in order to study the physical mechanisms behind the characteristics of monolithic 980 nm In(Ga)As/GaAs QW and 1.3 μm QD lasers on silicon. Our simulations point out the role of diffusion-assisted carrier loss, which enables carrier migration into defect states resulting in highly absorptive regions over several micrometers in QW structures, whereas QD active regions with their efficient carrier capture and hence naturally reduced diffusion length show a higher immunity to defects. An additional interesting finding not accessible in a lower-resolution approach is that areas of locally reduced gain need to be compensated for in dislocation-free regions, which may lead to increased gain compression effects in silicon-based QD lasers with limited modal gain.
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