Plasmonic quantum well laser

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10566764-B2
Application number	US-201816010865-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2018
Priority date	Jun 18, 2018
Publication date	Feb 18, 2020
Grant date	Feb 18, 2020

Abstract

A plasmonic quantum well laser may be provided. The plasmonic quantum well laser includes a plasmonic waveguide and a p-n junction structure extends orthogonally to a direction of plasmon propagation along the plasmonic waveguide. Thereby, the p-n junction is positioned atop a dielectric material having a lower refractive index than material building the p-n junction, and the quantum well laser is electrically actuated. A method for building the plasmonic quantum well laser is also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plasmonic quantum well laser comprising a plasmonic waveguide, said plasmonic quantum well laser comprising
a p-n junction structure extending orthogonally to a direction of plasmon propagation along said plasmonic waveguide,
wherein said p-n junction is positioned atop a dielectric material having a lower refractive index than material building said p-n junction, and
wherein said plasmonic quantum well laser is electrically actuated.

2. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said p-n junction extends along an entire length of said plasmonic waveguide.

3. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein an additional quantum well is positioned between a p-region and an n-region of said p-n junction.

4. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said dielectric material comprises SiO 2 positioned over a silicon substrate.

5. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said plasmonic waveguide is positioned above or atop said p-n junction.

6. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said plasmonic waveguide is positioned above or atop one of said regions of said p-n junction.

7. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said p-n junction and said plasmonic waveguide are separated by a thin dielectric material.

8. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said plasmonic waveguide is a nano-wire or a nano-tube.

9. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said plasmonic waveguide is a thin 2-D metal layer.

10. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said p-n junction structure is one selected out of a group comprising a lateral p-n junction structure, a lateral p-n-p structure, a lateral p-i-n-i-p structure, a lateral p-NBG-n structure, and a lateral p-NBG-n-NBG-p structure, wherein
p represents a p-doped semiconductor,
n represents a n-doped semiconductor
i represents an intrinsic semiconductor
NBG represents a semiconductor with a narrow band gap.

11. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 10 , wherein all junctions of said structures are oriented orthogonally to a longitudinal extension of said plasmonic waveguide.

12. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said plasmonic waveguide material comprises metal, wherein said dielectric function of said plasmonic waveguide material has a negative real portion of a related dielectric function.

13. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said plasmonic waveguide is a slot-waveguide, wherein one portion of said slot-waveguide is positioned above or atop an n-region of said p-n junction and another portion of said slot-waveguide is positioned above or atop a p-region of said p-n junction, said slot-waveguide confining an electromagnetic field to said p-n junction.

14. The plasmonic quantum well laser according to claim 1 , wherein said semiconductor quantum well laser is a result of a template assisted selective epitaxy process.

15. A method for building a plasmonic quantum well laser, said method comprising providing an SiO 2 layer over an Si bulk material, wherein an Si layer is deposited atop of said SiO 2 layer;
patterning an Si structure allotted for a gain region into said Si layer, such that said Si structure forms a pattern atop said SiO 2 layer;
covering said Si structure with an SiO 2 template layer;
building an opening in said SiO 2 template layer from one side and etching away said Si pattern, saidreby building a cavity within said SiO 2 template layer;
epitaxially growing horizontally a first semiconductor portion of a p-n junction extending from a silicon seed exposed within said SiO 2 template towards said opening until a predefined horizontal extension is reached;
growing horizontally a second portion of said p-n junction through said opening extending from an end of said predefined horizontal extension facing said opening until said cavity is filled, such that said p-n junction builds said gain region of said plasmonic quantum well laser;
depositing a dielectric material over said p-n junction; and
depositing a plasmonic waveguide over said dielectric material along a longitudinal extension of said p-n junction.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Schmid Heinz
• Mayer Benedikt F
• Wirths Stephan
• Moselund Kirsten Emilie

Classifications

• H01S5/04254

  characterised by the shape · CPC title

• H01S5/3013

  AIIIBV compounds · CPC title

• H01S5/026

  Monolithically integrated components, e.g. waveguides, monitoring photo-detectors, drivers (stabilisation of output H01S5/06) · CPC title

• H01S5/343

  in AIIIBV compounds, e.g. AlGaAs-laser {, InP-based laser} · CPC title

• H01S5/32

  comprising PN junctions, e.g. hetero- or double- heterostructures (H01S5/34, H01S5/36 take precedence) · CPC title