The Future of Quantum Dot Photonic Integrated Circuits
Abstract
Quantum dot lasers, amplifiers, modulators and photodetectors epitaxially grown on silicon (Si) are promising for photonic integrated circuits on silicon. Laser performance is improving rapidly with continuous-wave threshold currents below 1 mA, injection efficiency of 87% and output powers of 185 mW at 20°C. The problem with epitaxial growth has always been poor lifetime due to threading dislocations, but there has recently been tremendous progress in reducing threading dislocation density and now 1500-hour reliability tests at 35°C show an extrapolated mean-time-to-failure of more than a million hours. This represents a significant stride toward efficient, scalable, and reliable III-V lasers on on-axis Si substrates for photonic integrate circuits that are fully compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) foundries.
About the speaker
Prof. John Bowers received his MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University. After working for AT&T Bell Laboratories and Honeywell, he moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1987. He is currently the Fred Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology, Director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency, Deputy CEO of the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics, and a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UCSB.
Prof. Bowers is a world-leading researcher in the areas of silicon photonics, optoelectronics, energy efficiency and the development of novel low power optoelectronic devices for the next generation of optical networks. His research interests include silicon photonics and integrated circuits, fiber optic networks, thermoelectrics, high efficiency solar cells, and optical switching.
Prof. Bowers was elected a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the US National Academy of Inventors. He was also elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), The Optical Society of America (OSA) and the American Physical Society. He received numerous awards including the Photonics Award (2017) & LEOS William Streifer Award (1996) by IEEE, the John Tyndall Award (2012) & Nick Holonyak Jr. Award (2009) by OSA, and the South Coast Business and Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara (2001). He and his co-workers were the award recipients of the EE Times Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Award for Most Promising Technology for the hybrid silicon laser in 2007.
