Highly reliable low threshold InAs quantum dot lasers on on-axis (001) Si with 87% injection efficiency

Author(s)
D. Jung, Z. Zhang, J. Norman, R. Herrick, MJ Kennedy, P. Patel, K. Turnlund, C. Jan, Y. Wan, A. Gossard, and J. E. Bowers
Publication Image
 LIV curves versus heat sink temperatures.
Publication Date
Publication Type
Journal
Journal/Conference Name
ACS Photonics
Indexing
Vol 5, No 3, 1094-1100

Quantum dot lasers epitaxially grown on Si are promising for an efficient light source for silicon photonics. Recently, considerable progress has been made to migrate 1.3 μm quantum dot lasers from off-cut Si to on-axis (001) Si substrates. Here, we report significantly improved performance and reliability of quantum dot lasers enabled by a low threading dislocation density GaAs buffer layer. Continuous-wave threshold currents as low as 6.2 mA and output powers of 185 mW have been achieved at 20 °C. Reliability tests after 1500 h at 35 °C showed an extrapolated mean-time-to-failure of more than a million hours. Direct device transparency and amplified spontaneous emission measurements reveal an internal optical loss as low as 2.42 cm−1 and injection efficiency of 87%. This represents a significant stride toward efficient, scalable, and reliable III−V lasers on onaxis Si substrates for photonic integrate circuits that are fully compatible with CMOS foundries.

Publication File
jung17acs.pdf948.61 KB
Research Areas
Silicon Photonics