Monolithically Integrated InGaAs Nanowires on 3D Structured Silicon-on-Insulator as a New Platform for Full Optical Links

Monolithically integrated III-V semiconductors on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform can be used as a building block for energy-efficient on-chip optical links. Epitaxial growth of III-V semiconductors on silicon, however, has been challenged by the large mismatches in lattice constants and thermal expansion coefficients between epitaxial layers and silicon substrates. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the monolithic integration of InGaAs nanowires on the SOI platform and its feasibility for photonics and optoelectronic applications. InGaAs nanowires are grown not only on a planar SOI layer but also on a 3D structured SOI layer by catalyst-free metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The precise positioning of nanowires on 3D structures, including waveguides and gratings, reveals the versatility and practicality of the proposed platform. Photoluminescence measurements exhibit that the composition of ternary InGaAs nanowires grown on the SOI layer has wide tunability covering all telecommunication wavelengths from 1.2 to 1.8 μm. We also show that the emission from an optically pumped single nanowire is effectively coupled and transmitted through an SOI waveguide, explicitly showing that this work lays the foundation for a new platform toward energy-efficient optical links.