InAs/GaAs Quantum Dot Microlasers Formed on Silicon Using Monolithic and Hybrid Integration Methods

• Published in: Materials Vol. 13; no. 10; p. 2315
• Main Authors: Zhukov, Alexey E, Kryzhanovskaya, Natalia V, Moiseev, Eduard I, Dragunova, Anna S, Tang, Mingchu, Chen, Siming, Liu, Huiyun, Kulagina, Marina M, Kadinskaya, Svetlana A, Zubov, Fedor I, Mozharov, Alexey M, Maximov, Mikhail V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 18-05-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Bonded joints; Continuous radiation; Current density; Electric contacts; Epitaxial growth; Gallium arsenide; Heat sinks; Heterostructures; High temperature; III–V on Si; Indium arsenides; Indium gallium arsenides; Lasers; microdisk laser; Microlasers; Microscopy; Molecular beam epitaxy; Photolithography; Quantum dot lasers; Quantum dots; Room temperature; semiconductor laser; Silicon substrates; Silicon wafers; Thermal resistance; Threshold currents; quantum dots; semiconductor laser; III–V on Si; microdisk laser
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma13102315

An InAs/InGaAs quantum dot laser with a heterostructure epitaxially grown on a silicon substrate was used to fabricate injection microdisk lasers of different diameters (15-31 µm). A post-growth process includes photolithography and deep dry etching. No surface protection/passivation is applied. The microlasers are capable of operating heatsink-free in a continuous-wave regime at room and elevated temperatures. A record-low threshold current density of 0.36 kA/cm
was achieved in 31 µm diameter microdisks operating uncooled. In microlasers with a diameter of 15 µm, the minimum threshold current density was found to be 0.68 kA/cm
. Thermal resistance of microdisk lasers monolithically grown on silicon agrees well with that of microdisks on GaAs substrates. The ageing test performed for microdisk lasers on silicon during 1000 h at a constant current revealed that the output power dropped by only ~9%. A preliminary estimate of the lifetime for quantum-dot (QD) microlasers on silicon (defined by a double drop of the power) is 83,000 h. Quantum dot microdisk lasers made of a heterostructure grown on GaAs were transferred onto a silicon wafer using indium bonding. Microlasers have a joint electrical contact over a residual
+ GaAs substrate, whereas their individual addressing is achieved by placing them down on a
-contact to separate contact pads. These microdisks hybridly integrated to silicon laser at room temperature in a continuous-wave mode. No effect of non-native substrate on device characteristics was found.