13 μm submilliamp threshold quantum dot micro-lasers on Si

• DOI: 10.1364/optica.4.000940
• Publication Date: 2017-08-03T14:58:38Z
• Authors: Yating Wan; Justin Norman; Qiang Li; M. J. Kennedy; Di Liang; Chong Zhang; Duanni Huang; Zeyu Zhang; Alan Y. Liu; Alfredo Torres; Daehwan Jung; Arthur C. Gossard; Evelyn L. Hu; Kei May Lau; John E. Bowers
• Keywords: Silicon; 0103 physical sciences; 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

As a promising integration platform, silicon photonics need on-chip laser sources that dramatically improve capability, while trimming size and power dissipation in a cost-effective way for volume manufacturability. Currently, direct heteroepitaxial growth of III–V laser structures on Si using quantum dots as the active region is a vibrant field of research, with the potential to demonstrate low-cost, high-yield, long-lifetime, and high-temperature devices. Ongoing work is being conducted to reduce the power consumption, maximize the operating temperature, and switch from miscut Si substrates toward the so-called exact (001) Si substrates that are standard in microelectronics fabrication. Here, we demonstrate record-small electrically pumped micro-lasers epitaxially grown on industry standard (001) silicon substrates. Continuous-wave lasing up to 100°C was demonstrated at 1.3 μm communication wavelength. A submilliamp threshold of 0.6 mA was achieved for a micro-laser with a radius of 5 μm. The thresholds and footprints are orders of magnitude smaller than those previously reported lasers epitaxially grown on Si.