III-V quantum-dot lasers monolithically grown on silicon

Abstract

The monolithic growth of III-V semiconductor lasers on Si remains the 'holy grail' for full-scale deployment of Si photonics with reduced cost and added flexibility. Semiconductor lasers with active regions made from quantum dots (QDs) have shown superior device performance over conventional quantum well (QW) counterparts and offer new functionalities. Furthermore, there are other advantages of QDs for monolithic III-V-on-Si integration over QWs, such as QD devices being less sensitive to defects. It is, therefore, not surprising that the past decade has seen rapid progress in research on monolithic III-V QD lasers on Si, with a view to leveraging the benefits of QD gain region technology while benefitting from the economics of scale enabled by monolithic growth. This review has a special focus on O-band III-V QD lasers monolithically grown on Si for Si photonic optical interconnects, including Fabry-Perot lasers, distributed-feedback laser array, and micro-lasers. The successes and challenges for developing monolithic III-V lasers on Si are discussed.