Silicon integrated photonics: potentials and promises

Silicon integrated photonics has come to light after the devotion of much effort in this area. Technologically, making waveguide structures and optical components is possible based on Si-based materials, such as silicon oxynitride or doped silica using microfabrication technology. Theoretically, emitting light from Si-based materials such as Si quantum wires/dots and Si nanoclusters embedded in an insulator is also feasible. The remaining issues are to develop processes and device structures to make Si photonics economically viable with system and device performance comparable to their existing counterparts. Recent efforts have demonstrated that the light emitting efficiency can be enhanced greatly and that the lasing effect is also possible with nanostructures. This work reviews the recent developments of these aspects.