HYBRID III-V SILICON LASER FORMED BY DIRECT BONDING

• US 20120189317A1
• Filed: 01/20/2011
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Heck, John, Jones, Richard, Bar, Hanan, Park, Hyundai
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,164 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/141
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/021 Silicon based substrates
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0215 Bonding to the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0422 with n- and p-contacts on the same side of the active layer
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/1032 Coupling to elements comprising an optical axis that is not aligned with the optical axis of the active region
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/2004 Confining in the direction perpendicular to the layer structure
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/2205 comprising special burying or current confinement layers

Abstract

Described herein is a hybrid III-V Silicon laser comprising a first semiconductor region including layers of semiconductor materials from group III, group IV, or group V semiconductor to form an active region; and a second semiconductor region having a silicon waveguide and bonded to the first semiconductor region via direct bonding at room temperature of a layer of the first semiconductor region to a layer of the second semiconductor region.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first semiconductor region including layers of semiconductor materials from group III, group IV, or group V semiconductor to form an active region; and

a second semiconductor region having a silicon waveguide and bonded to the first semiconductor region via direct bonding of a layer of the first semiconductor region to a layer of the second semiconductor region.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the direct bonding between the layers of the first and second semiconductor regions is formed at room temperature in a vacuum.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the layer of the first semiconductor region is composed of indium phosphide (InP), wherein the layer of the second semiconductor region is composed of silicon (Si), and wherein a surface of the layer of InP is directly bonded to a surface of the layer of Si via covalent bonding of the surfaces of the layers of InP and Si.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further comprising:

a first electrical contact coupled to the active region of the first semiconductor region; and

a second electrical contact, coupled to the InP layer, of the second semiconductor region, wherein electric current flows from the first electrical contact to the second electrical contact through the InP layer.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 further comprising:

a first electrical contact coupled to the active region of the first semiconductor region; and

a second electrical contact, coupled to the Si layer, of the second semiconductor region, wherein electric current flows from the first electrical contact to the second electrical contact through the Si layer.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the silicon waveguide is configured to carry light generated from the active region of the first semiconductor region.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the semiconductor material layers of the first semiconductor region comprises:

an ohmic contact layer coupled to a first electrical contact layer;

a cladding layer coupled to the ohmic contact layer;

a separated confinement hetero-structure (SCH) layer coupled to the cladding layer;

a carrier blocking layer coupled to the SCH layer;

a multiple quantum well (MQW) layer coupled to the SCH layer; and

an indium phosphide (InP) layer coupled to the MQW layer, wherein a surface of the InP layer is connected to a surface of a layer of the second semiconductor region via direct bonding.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second semiconductor region comprises a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) region.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second semiconductor regions are devoid of any oxide layer between the layers of the first and second semiconductor regions that form a direct bond.

20. The system of claim 9, wherein the second semiconductor region comprises a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) region.

10. A system comprising:

a receiver to receive an optical signal; and

a transmitter to transmit the optical signal to the receiver over an optical waveguide, the transmitter comprising;

a hybrid silicon laser to generate a laser beam, the hybrid silicon laser including;

a first semiconductor region including layers of semiconductor materials from group III, group IV, or group V semiconductor to form an active region; and

a second semiconductor region forming a silicon waveguide and bonded to the first semiconductor region via direct bonding of a layer of the first semiconductor region to a layer of the second semiconductor region.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a modulator coupled to the hybrid silicon laser and the optical waveguide, the modulator to modulate the laser beam transmitted over the optical waveguide.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the receiver comprises a photo-detector to detect the modulated laser beam.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the direct bonding between the layers of the first and second semiconductor regions is formed at room temperature in a vacuum.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the layer of the first semiconductor region is composed of indium phosphide (InP), wherein the layer of the second semiconductor region is composed of silicon (Si), and wherein a surface of the layer of InP is directly bonded to a surface of the layer of Si via covalent bonding of the surfaces of the layers of InP and Si.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

a first electrical contact coupled to the active region of the first semiconductor region; and

a second electrical contact, coupled to the InP layer, of the second semiconductor region, wherein electric current flows from the first electrical contact to the second electrical contact through the InP layer.

16. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

a first electrical contact coupled to the active region of the first semiconductor region; and

a second electrical contact, coupled to the Si layer, of the second semiconductor region, wherein electric current flows from the first electrical contact to the second electrical contact through the Si layer.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the silicon waveguide is configured to carry light generated from the active region of the first semiconductor region.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the first and second semiconductor regions are devoid of any oxide layer between the layers of the first and second semiconductor regions that form a direct bond.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the semiconductor material layers of the first semiconductor region comprises:

an ohmic contact layer coupled to a first electrical contact layer;

a cladding layer coupled to the ohmic contact layer;

a separated confinement hetero-structure (SCH) layer coupled to the cladding layer;

a carrier blocking layer coupled to the SCH layer;

a multiple quantum well (MQW) layer coupled to the SCH layer; and

an indium phosphide (InP) layer coupled to the MQW layer, wherein a surface of the InP layer is connected to a surface of a layer of the second semiconductor region via direct bonding.