Silicon (Si) photonics has recently emerged as a key enabling technology in many application fields thanks to the mature Si process technology, the large silicon wafer size, and Si optical properties. However, the inability of Si-based materials to efficiently emit light requires the use of other semiconductors for light sources.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: a) Illustrative view of the final device: a laser made from a III-V semiconductor layer stack grown on the Si substrate in recessed trenches emit laser light that couples into SiN waveguides, b) colored IR image of the waveguides, evidencing light exiting from a SiN waveguide, c) top view of the device showing the laser ridge perfectly aligned with the passive SiN waveguide. Credit: Andres Remis, Laura Monge-Bartolome, Michele Paparella, Audrey Gilbert, Guilhem Boissier, Marco Grande, Alan Blake, Liam O'Faolain, Laurent Cerutti, Jean-Baptiste Rodriguez, and Eric Tournié III‑V semiconductors, i.e., materials made with elements of the III- and V- columns from the periodic table of elements, are the most efficient semiconductor laser sources. Their monolithic integration on Si photonic integrated circuits (PICs) has been considered for decades as the main challenge for the realization of fully integrated, dense, Si photonics chips. Despite recent progress, only discrete III-V lasers grown on bare Si wafers have been reported so far. In a new paper published in Light Science & Application, a team of European scientists from France, Italy and Ireland, led by Professor Eric Tournié from the University of Montpellier (France), has now…