Advancements in transfer printing techniques and their applications in photonic integrated circuits

Transfer printing is a powerful and versatile integration method that is attracting increasing attention as regards both scientific research and industrial manufacturing. The transfer printing technique utilizes the viscoelastic properties of a stamp to pick devices (ink) from a donor substrate and print them onto a target substrate, exploiting the competition between several interfacial adhesion forces. The overall yield can be improved through the introduction of external stimuli such as light, heat, solution, pressure, and magnetic fields during the transfer printing operation. This review summarizes different transfer printing methods based on their working principles and discusses their detailed applications in photonic integrated circuits, taking lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, photodetectors, and other optical electronic elements as examples. Hence, the feasibility and viability of transfer printing are illustrated. Additionally, future challenges and opportunities for innovative development are discussed.