Electrically injected GeSn lasers with peak wavelength up to 2.7 μm

Yiyin Zhou, Solomon Ojo, Chen Wei Wu, Yuanhao Miao, Huong Tran, Joshua M. Grant, Grey Abernathy, Sylvester Amoah, Jake Bass, Gregory Salamo, Wei Du, Guo En Chang, Jifeng Liu, Joe Margetis, John Tolle, Yong Hang Zhang, Greg Sun, Richard A. Soref, Baohua Li, Shui Qing Yu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

GeSn lasers enable the monolithic integration of lasers on the Si platform using all-group-IV direct-bandgap material. The GeSn laser study recently moved from optical pumping into electrical injection. In this work, we present explorative investigations of GeSn heterostructure laser diodes with various layer thicknesses and material compositions. Cap layer material was studied by using Si0.03Ge0.89Sn0.08 and Ge0.95Sn0.05, and cap layer total thickness was also compared. The 190 nm SiGeSn-cap device had threshold of 0.6 kA∕cm2 at 10 K and a maximum operating temperature (T max) of 100 K, compared to 1.4 kA∕cm2 and 50 K from 150 nm SiGeSn-cap device, respectively. Furthermore, the 220 nm GeSn-cap device had 10 K threshold at 2.4 kA∕cm2 and T max at 90 K, i.e., higher threshold and lower maximal operation temperature compared to the SiGeSn cap layer, indicating that enhanced electron confinement using SiGeSn can reduce the threshold considerably. The study of the active region material showed that device gain region using Ge0.87Sn0.13 had a higher threshold and lower T max, compared to Ge0.89Sn0.11. The performance was affected by the metal absorption, free carrier absorption, and possibly defect density level. The maximum peak wavelength was measured as 2682 nm at 90 K by using Ge0.87Sn0.13 in gain regions. The investigations provide directions to the future GeSn laser diode designs toward the full integration of group-IV photonics on a Si platform.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)222-229
Number of pages8
JournalPhotonics Research
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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