Silicon's Achilles Heel is that its indirect bandgap prevents the implementation of high performance integrated lasers which are much desired in photonic integrated circuits.
+1. I found the paper from IMEC particularly interesting. I also wonder how the necessary changes in manufacturing to enable backside power delivery could also be helpful here? Those drastic changes might be an opportunity to revisit ways to put III-IV materials directly on silicon.
The technologies which enable backside power were largely developed for other purposes and reuse for optics is already possible.
Cost is a large barrier for optics in applications that on-chip lasers would be suitable for. Existing optics use unusual processes in low volume already with a consequent problem of high price. This, and reliability, are now more important to solve than simply higher performance.
Damn, finally got some insight into phonons. It would be great if you can write an exclusive article just on Phonons. A term which I keep hearing from Optics people and Physicists, but being in Electronics undergrad, I was never exposed to this.
Nice explanations! It has been a real problem.
Here is a review article on ways to try to put III-V materials together with Si. I think the monolithic trick at end, with trenches, is promising:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/lasers-on-silicon
Another trenching approach, also reported in 2023 is here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41377-023-01128-z.pdf
Looks like trenching will be a thing one way or another, more than one team seems close.
+1. I found the paper from IMEC particularly interesting. I also wonder how the necessary changes in manufacturing to enable backside power delivery could also be helpful here? Those drastic changes might be an opportunity to revisit ways to put III-IV materials directly on silicon.
The technologies which enable backside power were largely developed for other purposes and reuse for optics is already possible.
Cost is a large barrier for optics in applications that on-chip lasers would be suitable for. Existing optics use unusual processes in low volume already with a consequent problem of high price. This, and reliability, are now more important to solve than simply higher performance.
I went down a lasers rabbit holes based on your earlier links. Todays post should cover some of it :)
Thanks for the resources! I do want to go into how exactly lasers are implemented in the future.
Damn, finally got some insight into phonons. It would be great if you can write an exclusive article just on Phonons. A term which I keep hearing from Optics people and Physicists, but being in Electronics undergrad, I was never exposed to this.