Antimony based mid-infrared semiconductor materials and devices monolithically grown on silicon substrates

Abstract

III-V semiconductor heterostructures grown on GaSb and InAs substrates are widely used to produce high performance optoelectronic devices operating in the technologically important mid-infrared spectral range. However, these substrates are expensive, only available in small sizes and have low thermal conductivity. Integration of III-Vs onto silicon substrates offers the opportunity to overcome these shortcomings and opens the possibility of new applications in lab-on-chip MIR photonic integrated circuits. However, the unusual III-V/Si interface and large lattice mismatch presents challenges to epitaxial growth. Here, we report on novel techniques employed to grow high quality Sb-based optoelectronic devices on silicon using molecular beam epitaxy.