Abdelrahman Al-Attili

Whispering gallery mode resonances from Ge micro-disks on suspended beams

Ge is considered to be one of the most promising materials for realizing full monolithic integration of a light source on a silicon (Si) photonic chip. Tensile-strain is required to convert Ge into an optical gain material and to reduce the pumping required for population inversion. Several methods of strain application to Ge are proposed in literature, of which the use of free-standing beams fabricated by micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) processes are capable of delivering very high strain values. However, it is challenging to make an optical cavity within free-standing Ge beams, and here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a simple cavity while imposing tensile strain by suspension using Ge-On-Insulator (GOI) wafers. Ge micro-disks are made on top of suspended SiO

Group IV light sources to enable the convergence of photonics and electronics

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Towards monolithic integration of germanium light sources on silicon chips

beams by partially removing the supporting Si substrate. According to Raman spectroscopy, a slight tensile strain was applied to the Ge disks through the bending of the SiO2 beams. Whispering-Gallery-Mode (WGM) resonances were observed from a disk with a diameter of 3um, consistent with the finite-domain time-difference simulations. The quality (Q) factor was 192, and upon increasing the pumping power, the Q-factor was degraded due to the red-shift of Ge direct-gap absorption edge caused by heating.

Low-Loss Silicon Waveguides and Grating Couplers Fabricated Using Anisotropic Wet Etching Technique

Group IV lasers are expected to revolutionize chip-to-chip optical communications in terms of cost, scalability, yield, and compatibility to the existing infrastructure of silicon industries for mass production. Here, we review the current state-of-the-art developments of silicon and germanium light sources towards monolithic integration. Quantum confinement of electrons and holes in nano-structures has been the primary route for light emission from silicon, and we can use advanced silicon technologies using top-down patterning processes to fabricate these nano-structures, including fin-type vertical multiple quantum wells. Moreover, the electromagnetic environment can also be manipulated in a photonic crystal nano-cavity to enhance the efficiency of light extraction and emission by the Purcell effect. Germanium is also widely investigated as an active material in Group IV photonics, and novel epitaxial growth technologies are being developed to make a high quality germanium layer on a silicon substrate. To develop a practical germanium laser, various technologies are employed for tensile-stress engineering and high electron doping to compensate the indirect valleys in the conduction band. These challenges are aiming to contribute towards the convergence of electronics and photonics on a silicon chip.

Spin-on doping of germanium-on-insulator wafers for monolithic light sources on silicon

Germanium (Ge) is a group-IV indirect band gap semiconductor, and therefore bulk Ge cannot emit light efficiently. However, the direct band gap energy is close to the indirect one, and significant engineering efforts are being made to convert Ge into an efficient gain material monolithically integrated on a Si chip. In this article, we will review the engineering challenges of developing Ge light sources fabricated using nano-fabrication technologies compatible with Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) processes. In particular, we review recent progress in applying high-tensile strain to Ge to reduce the direct band gap. Another important technique is doping Ge with donor impurities to fill the indirect band gap valleys in the conduction band. Realization of carrier confinement structures and suitable optical cavities will be discussed. Finally, we will discuss possible applications of Ge light sources in potential photonics-electronics convergent systems.

Photonic crystal waveguides on silicon rich nitride platform

We report low-loss silicon waveguides and efficient grating coupler to couple light into them. By using anisotropic wet etching technique, we reduced the side wall roughness down to 1.2nm. The waveguides were patterned along the [112] direction on a [110] SOI substrate. The waveguide boundaries are decided by the [111] planes which are normal to the [110] surface. Fabricated waveguides show minimum propagation loss of 0.85 dB/cm for TE polarization and 1.08dB/cm for TM polarization. The fabricated grating couplers show coupling efficiency of -4.16dB at 1570nm with 3dB bandwidth of 46nm.

Tensile strain engineering of germanium micro-disks on free-standing SiO2 beams

High electron doping of germanium (Ge) is considered to be an important process to convert Ge into an optical gain material and realize a monolithic light source integrated on a silicon chip. Spin-on doping is a method that offers the potential to achieve high doping concentrations without affecting crystalline qualities over other methods such as ion implantation and in-situ doping during material growth. However, a standard spin-on doping recipe satisfying these requirements is not yet available. In this paper we examine spin-on doping of Ge-on-insulator (GOI) wafers. Several issues were identified during the spin-on doping process and specifically the adhesion between Ge and the oxide, surface oxidation during activation, and the stress created in the layers due to annealing. In order to mitigate these problems, Ge disks were first patterned by dry etching followed by spin-on doping. Even by using this method to reduce the stress, local peeling of Ge could still be identified by optical microscope imaging. Nevertheless, most of the Ge disks remained after the removal of the glass. According to the Raman data, we could not identify broadening of the lineshape which shows a good crystalline quality, while the stress is slightly relaxed. We also determined the linear increase of the photoluminescence intensity by increasing the optical pumping power for the doped sample, which implies a direct population and recombination at the gamma valley.

Tunable index back end of line platform for enhanced integrated photonics

We demonstrate design, fabrication, and characterization of two-dimensional photonic crystal (PhC) waveguides on a suspended silicon rich nitride (SRN) platform for applications at telecom wavelengths. Simulation results suggest that a 210 nm photonic band gap can be achieved in such PhC structures. We also developed a fabrication process to realize suspended PhC waveguides with a transmission bandwidth of 20 nm for a W1 PhC waveguide and over 70 nm for a W0.7 PhC waveguide. Using the Fabry-Pérot oscillations of the transmission spectrum we estimated a group index of over 110 for W1 PhC waveguides. For a W1 waveguide we estimated a propagation loss of 53 dB/cm for a group index of 37 and for a W0.7 waveguide the lowest propagation was 4.6 dB/cm.

Strain-engineering in Germanium membranes towards light sources on Silicon

Tensile strain is required to enhance light-emitting direct-gap recombinations in germanium (Ge), which is a promising group IV material for realizing a monolithic light source on Si. Ge micro-disks on free-standing SiO2 beams were fabricated using Ge-on-Insulator wafers for applying tensile strain to Ge in a structure compatible with an optical confinement. We have studied the nature of the strain by Raman spectroscopy in comparison with finite-element computer simulations. We show the impacts of the beam design on the corresponding strain value, orientation, and uniformity, which can be exploited for Ge light emission applications. It was found that the tensile strain values are larger if the length of the beam is smaller. We confirmed that both uniaxial and biaxial strain can be applied to Ge disks, and maximum strain values of 1.1 and 0.6% have been achieved, as confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. From the photoluminescence spectra of Ge micro-disks, we have also found a larger energy splitting between the light-hole and the heavy-hole bands in shorter beams, indicating the impact of tensile strain.

Enhanced light emission from improved homogeneity in biaxially suspended Germanium membranes from curvature optimization

We demonstrate a back end of line compatible SiN based material with tunable refractive index enabling low optical loss, high non-linear Kerr response, low index photonic crystals, high efficiency couplers, low loss waveguides and temperature tolerant MUX for DWDM.