Developing fabrication processes for optoelectronic integration

Burman, Tristan 2024. Developing fabrication processes for optoelectronic integration. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

There is a growing demand for optoelectronic components to be integrated in monolithic integrated circuits, mirroring the developments seen in traditional electronic devices. With optoelectonic components focusing on the production, detection, and control of photons in addition to electrons, they are far more sensitive to minor manufacturing defects and thus more difficult to successfully integrate. The laser is an essential component to many optoelectronic circuits and is also widely considered to be one of the most sensitive to minor manufacturing defects due to the need for smooth, vertical, mirror like facets. These facets are typically manufactured via cleaving techniques however, this splits the material making monolithic integrated circuits impossible. Plasma etching the facets overcomes this issue at the cost of introducing a surface roughness to the laser facet, impacting its reflectivity, and device performance. There exist several theoretical models describing the relationship between facet roughness and reflectivity, with a model developed by D. A. Stocker et al. being widely used in academic and industrial circles however, these models are rarely verified on real world devices. The roughness and reflectivity of etched facet InP based, broad area Fabry–Pérot lasers operating at telecoms wavelengths are measured and compared to the D. A. Stocker et al. model. Notable results obtained during the plasma etching of InP substrate and epi-wafers are reviewed. Characterisation of the devices showed both a range of surface roughness and reflectivity however, the relation does not follow the D. A. Stocker et al. model and shows no clear trend between surface roughness and reflectivity. It was identified that no consideration was being made for the facet angle, or the non-uniform emission of light from the facet. Introducing these factors along with defining the sample area from the nearfield distribution produced a complete description of the effect of etch non-idealities on facet reflectivity, for use when optimising the plasma etching of mirrors.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Optoelectronic Intergration InP Lasers Etched Laser Facets Facet Roughness
Funders:	EPSRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 September 2024
Last Modified:	17 Sep 2024 10:43
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/172128

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