Integrated laser sources compatible with microelectronics represent currently one of the main challenges for silicon photonics. Using the Smart Cut^TM technology, we have fabricated for the first time 200 mm optical Germanium-On-Insulator (GeOI) substrates which consist of a thick layer of germanium (typically greater than 500 nm) on top of a thick buried oxide layer (around 1 µm). From this, we fabricated suspended microbridges with efficient Bragg mirror cavities. The high crystalline quality of the Ge layer should help to avoid mechanical failure when fabricating suspended membranes with amounts of tensile strain high enough to transform Ge into a direct bandgap material. Optical GeOI process feasibility has successfully been demonstrated, opening the way to waferscale fabrication of new light emitting devices based on highly-tensely strained (thanks to suspended membranes) and/or doped germanium.

Date Published: 27 February 2015
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9367, Silicon Photonics X, 936714 (27 February 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079393

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9367:
Silicon Photonics X
Graham T. Reed; Michael R. Watts, Editor(s)