Coaxial GaAs/(In,Ga)As dot-in-a-well nanowire heterostructures for electrically driven infrared light generation on Si in the telecommunication O band

TL;DR

This paper reports the development of GaAs/(In,Ga)As dot-in-a-well nanowire heterostructures that emit in the telecommunication O band at room temperature, demonstrating their potential as electrically driven light sources integrated on silicon.

Contribution

The paper introduces and fabricates a novel coaxial nanowire heterostructure achieving room-temperature emission in the Si transparency window, with demonstration of an electrically driven light-emitting diode.

Findings

Achieved room-temperature emission at 1.27 μm in the O band.

Structural evidence of quantum dots in heterostructures.

Fabricated a working light-emitting diode with electroluminescence at 1.26 μm.

Abstract

Core-shell GaAs-based nanowires monolithically integrated on Si constitute a promising class of nanostructures that could enable light emitters for fast inter- and intrachip optical connections. We introduce and fabricate a novel coaxial GaAs/(In,Ga)As dot-in-a-well nanowire heterostructure to reach spontaneous emission in the Si transparent region, which is crucial for applications in Si photonics. Specifically, we achieve room temperature emission at 1.27 $\mu$m in the telecommunication O band. The presence of quantum dots in the heterostructure is evidenced by a structural analysis based on scanning transmission electron microscopy. The spontaneous emission of these nanowire structures is investigated by cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Thermal redistribution of charge carriers to larger quantum dots explains the long wavelength emission achieved at room temperature. Finally, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the presented nanowire heterostructures as electrically driven light emitters monolithically integrated on Si, a light emitting diode is fabricated exhibiting room-temperature electroluminescence at 1.26 $\mu$m.