Photonic crystal emitters in heterogeneously bonded membranes
Photonic crystal (PhC) membrane lasers are good candidates for future photonic integrated circuit applications, including chip-to-chip and on-chip optical interconnects. This is due to their small size, lithographically tunable emission wavelength, and potential for low power operation. In order to be practical, PhC membrane lasers must operate continuous wave (CW) under electrical injection at room temperature and be manufactured by reproducible methods. To date, no PhC membrane design has met all of these criteria. In this dissertation, a novel PhC membrane device that combines heterogeneous bonding and lateral current injection is proposed, fabricated, and tested. For these devices, a lateral electrical junction diode is created in a semiconductor membrane via ion implantation of dopants. Bonding to foreign substrates is accomplished using a unique post-process method that allows all diode and PhC fabrication, including high temperature anneals, to be performed on the native semiconductor substrate. The thermal and electrical properties of doped membranes bonded to thermally conductive, electrically insulating substrates are also examined using finite element simulations to improve device performance. Experimental results show CW optically pumped PhC lasers on both sapphire and metal-backed SiO2 substrates. Optical amplification due to electrical injection is also demonstrated in PhC devices bonded to sapphire, including line defect designs. Finally, evidence of modified electroluminescence is found in a line defect PhC device bonded to metal-backed SiO2. Analysis shows that electrically injected lasing should be possible if manufacturing methods are improved to enable shorter diode intrinsic region lengths.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign