Progressing in III-V Semiconductor Quantum Dot Lasers Grown Directly on Silicon: A Review

Enormous advantages can be brought by using silicon as a substrate for III-V photonic integrated circuit quantum dot (QD) lasers, such as a low cost, high bandwidth transmission data, on-chip light sources, etc. However, several difficulties arise when III-V QD lasers are grown directly on Si-substrate, mainly due to high lattice mismatching between the III-V components and the silicon wafer. In fact, a highly thermal expansion coefficient difference, threading dislocation densities (TDDs), and antiphase boundaries (APBs) are the crucial obstacles for developing a high-performance semiconductor laser on Si. In this regard, many approaches and strategies have been devoted to tolerantly grow III-V on Si. In this review, the history of QD laser diodes directly grown on Si-substrate is demonstrated. The benefits and the problems of III-V semiconductor materials epitaxially grown on Si are discussed. The recent progress in QD lasers grown in silicon is reviewed, focusing on InAs-QD lasers in terms of threshold current density, output optical power, emission wavelengths, and operation temperatures. The future of QD lasers monolithically grown on Si-substrate and their application are also discussed in this review.