Hybrid III-V Silicon Photonic Crystal Cavity Emitting at Telecom Wavelengths

Photonic crystal (PhC) cavities are promising candidates for Si photonics integrated circuits due to their ultrahigh quality (Q)-factors and small mode volumes. Here, we demonstrate a novel concept of a one-dimensional hybrid III-V/Si PhC cavity which exploits a combination of standard silicon-on-insulator technology and active III-V materials. Using template-assisted selective epitaxy, the central part of a Si PhC lattice is locally replaced with III-V gain material. The III-V material is placed to overlap with the maximum of the cavity mode field profile, while keeping the major part of the PhC in Si. The selective epitaxy process enables growth parallel to the substrate, and hence in-plane integration with Si, and in-situ in-plane homo- and heterojunctions. The fabricated hybrid III-V/Si PhCs show emission over the entire telecommunication band from 1.2 to 1.6 μm at room temperature validating the device concept and its potential towards fully integrated light sources on silicon.