A feasible optical interconnect on a silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor chip demands epitaxial growth and monolithic integration of diode lasers and optical detectors with guided wave components on a (001) Si wafer, with all the components preferably operating in the wavelength range of 1.3–1.55 μm at room temperature.
The work demonstrates a novel monolithic optical interconnect on a (001)Si substrate consisting of a III-nitride dot-in-nanowire array edge emitting diode laser and guided wave photodiode, with a planar SiO2/Si3N4 dielectric waveguide in between. The active devices are realized with the same nanowire heterostructure by one-step epitaxy. The structural and optical characteristics of the nanowires have been investigated. The laser, emitting at the desired wavelength of 1.3 μm, with threshold current ∼350 mA, has been characterized in detail. The detector exhibits a responsivity of ∼0.1 A/W at 1.3 μm.
- Arnab Hazari, Lifan Yan, Joanna M. Millunchick, Pallab Bhattacharya
University of Michigan
Work performed at Michigan Center for Materials Characterization and Lurie Nanofabrication Facility 
