Photonics and Electronics Integration

Different ways to merge photonics devices on an electronic circuit with microelectronics tools on large-size wafers are addressed. This full integration enables improvement of either the functionalities of the electronic circuits or the miniaturization of optical functions. The above-integrated-circuit fabrication is preferred to a combined fabrication process, with two options ruled by thermal constraints. The high-temperature option is based on wafer bonding on an optical silicon-on-insulator module, and the low temperature option relies on the heterogeneous integration of III–V devices. Compatible with these options, several silicon-based building blocks have been developed, such as slightly etched rib waveguides with low propagation loss (0.1 dB/cm), crystalline and amorphous waveguides, efficient fiber couplers, a 42-GHz Ge integrated photodetector, and a 15-GHz Si modulator. Using molecular bonding of InP dice and processing in a microelectronics environment, InP laser sources have been achieved on silicon.