Applications of Silicon-Based Optoelectronics
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rizon. The optoelectronic wafers include bulk Si, silicon-on-insulator (SOI), silicon on sapphire (SOS), and silicon on epitaxial insulator in which the buried layer is crystalline 7-AI2O3 or CeO2. Currently, III-V semiconductor light sources are preeminent in optoelectronics with II-VI devices and organic LEDs playing secondary roles. Also wellentrenched are III-V photodetectors. Silicon sources and detectors are not likely to upstage III-Vs any time soon, so an "all-silicon" technology is unlikely to capture prime areas of commercial photonics in the near term. Nevertheless because of recent progress, especially in heterogeneous integration on Si, it seems realistic to say that silicon could become a major player in a few areas and a minor player in most others. The goal is to have Si-based optoelectronics participate in every applications area of the global photonics industry—communications; computing; information displays; opticaland-infrared imaging; medicine; optical printing; optical command and control; optical sensing of physical, chemical, or biological inputs; optical signal processing; optical storage; and optical control of microwave devices or systems. Today silicon operates well in niche areas. This article gives an overview of recent developments, commercial applications, and pending applications. Representative examples of newly made OEICs, PICs, optical receivers, transmitters, photodetectors, switches, modulators, MOEMs, LEDs, and nanophotonic components will be discussed. The examples comprise an update of earlier reviews.2 3 Finally some speculation on silicon lasers will be offered. Commercial Applications Commercial success continues for SiOEIC image sensors: charge-coupled-
device, charge-injection-device, and Image CMOS chips. A recent commercial OEIC entry is Texas Instrument's digital micromirror device, a high-resolution full-color video-projection display utilizing MOEM-on-CMOS integration. Bookham Technology Ltd. is marketing an SOI-waveguide-motherboard singlefiber dual-wavelength duplex optical transceiver.4 Kopin Corporaton sells a liquid-crystal microdisplay, an OEIC lifted off from SOI onto glass.5 Displaytech Inc. sells a 640 X 480 miniature ferroelectric liquid crystal on CMOS color-sequential display.6 Photonic Integration Research Inc. markets P-doped silica-on-silicon waveguide PICs. Lockheed-Martin manufactures a heterogeneous OEIC chip for 3-5-fim imaging aboard oceangoing tankers: a 640 X 480 array of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well infrared detectors (QWIPs) flip-chip-bonded to CMOS processors. Several companies make uncooled Si-based thermal imagers. Silicon Light Machines' has an innovative grating-light-valve microelectromechanical display. Pending Applications Hybrid integration of III-V photonics with Si VLSI has received the lion's share of R&D investment in the Si optoelectronics arena. Several of these hybrid OEICs, notably the two-dimensional smart-pixel arrays, appear ready for the transition from the laboratory environment to the commercial world. Lucent Technologies h
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