Diffraction grating enhanced photoluminescence from etching-free erbium thin films.

Micro-structuration by etching is commonly used in integrated optics, adding complex and costly processing steps that can also potentially damage the device performance, owing to degradation of the etched sidewalls. For diffraction grating fabrication, different strategies have been developed to avoid etching, such as layer deposition on a structured surface or grating deposition on top of active layers. However, etching remains one of the best processes for making high aspect ratio diffraction gratings. In this work, we have developed fully structured diffraction gratings (i.e., like fully etched gratings) using lift-off based processing performed in pulsed laser deposited layers, since the combination of both techniques is of great interest for making micro-structures without etching. We have first studied the influence of the lithography doses in the lift-off process, showing that (1) micrometric spatial resolution can be achieved and (2) the sidewall angle can be controlled from 50° to 150° in 0.5 µm thick layers. Using such optimizations, we have then fabricated Er-doped Y2O3 uniaxial diffraction gratings with different periods ranging from 3 to 8 µm. The fabricated devices exhibit emission and reflectivity properties as a function of the collection angle in good agreement with the modeling, with a maximum luminescence enhancement of ×15 compared with an unstructured layer at a wavelength of 1.54 µm. This work thus highlights lift-off based processing combined with pulsed laser deposition as a promising technique for etch-free practical applications, such as luminescence enhancement in Er-doped layers.

Silicon-on-insulator spectrometers with integrated GaInAsSb photodiodes for wide-band spectroscopy from 1510 to 2300 nm.

We present a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based spectrometer platform for a wide operational wavelength range. Both planar concave grating (PCG, also known as echelle grating) and arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) spectrometer designs are explored for operation in the short-wave infrared. In addition, a total of four planar concave gratings are designed to cover parts of the wavelength range from 1510 to 2300 nm. These passive wavelength demultiplexers are combined with GaInAsSb photodiodes. These photodiodes are heterogeneously integrated on SOI with benzocyclobutene (DVS-BCB) as an adhesive bonding layer. The uniformity of the photodiode characteristics and high processing yield, indicate a robust fabrication process. We demonstrate good performance of the miniature spectrometers over all operational wavelengths which paves the way to on-chip absorption spectroscopy in this wavelength range.

GeSn/Ge heterostructure short-wave infrared photodetectors on silicon.

A surface-illuminated photoconductive detector based on Ge0.91Sn0.09 quantum wells with Ge barriers grown on a silicon substrate is demonstrated. Photodetection up to 2.2µm is achieved with a responsivity of 0.1 A/W for 5V bias. The spectral absorption characteristics are analyzed as a function of the GeSn/Ge heterostructure parameters. This work demonstrates that GeSn/Ge heterostructures can be used to developed SOI waveguide integrated photodetectors for short-wave infrared applications.