Germanium on Silicon Modulators and Nanometallic-Enhanced Detectors for Optical Interconnects

For optical interconnect to or on the chip, very efficient optoelectronic devices are required. We discuss the physics and device structures of optical modulators using germanium quantum wells grown on silicon substrates. We also show results and prospects for nanometallics structures to concentrate light into deeply sub-micron optoelectronic devices, and discuss limits to miniaturizing optical components.