Time-resolved photoluminescence characterization of InGaAs/GaAs nano-ridges monolithically grown on 300 mm Si substrates

The monolithic growth of III–V materials directly on Si substrates provides a promising integration approach for passive and active silicon photonic integrated circuits but still faces great challenges in crystal quality due to misfit defect formation. Nano-ridge engineering is a new approach that enables the integration of III–V based devices on trench-patterned Si substrates with very high crystal quality. Using selective area growth, the III–V material is deposited into narrow trenches to reduce the dislocation defect density by aspect ratio trapping. The growth is continued out of the trench pattern and a box-shaped III–V nano-ridge is engineered by adjusting the growth parameters. A flat (001) GaAs nano-ridge surface enables the epitaxial integration of a common InGaAs/GaAs multi-quantum-well (MQW) structure as an optical gain medium to build a laser diode. In this study, a clear correlation is found between the photoluminescence (PL) lifetime, extracted from time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurements, with the InGaAs/GaAs nano-ridge size and defect density, which are both predefined by the nano-ridge related pattern trench width. Through the addition of an InGaP passivation layer, a MQW PL lifetime of up to 800 ps and 1000 ps is measured when pumped at 900 nm (only QWs were excited) and 800 nm (QWs + barrier excited), respectively. The addition of a bottom carrier blocking layer further increases this lifetime to ∼2.5ns (pumped at 800 nm), which clearly demonstrates the high crystal quality of the nano-ridge material. These TRPL measurements not only deliver quick and valuable feedback about the III–V material quality but also provide an important understanding for the heterostructure design and carrier confinement of the nano-ridge laser diode.