Physical Properties and Characteristics of III-V Lasers on Silicon

The development of laser technology based on silicon continues to be of key importance for the advancement of electronic-photonic integration offering the potential for high data rates and reduced energy consumption. Progress was initially hindered due to the inherent indirect band gap of silicon. However, there has been considerable progress in developing ways of incorporating high gain III-V based direct band gap materials onto silicon, bringing about the advantages of both materials. In this paper, we introduce the need for lasers on silicon and review some of the main approaches for the integration of III-V active regions, including direct epitaxial growth, hybrid integration, defect blocking layers and quantum dots. We then discuss the roles of different carrier recombination processes on the performance of devices formed using both wafer fusion and direct epitaxial approaches.