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High-Speed Semiconductor Quantum Dot Electroabsorption ModulatorLin, Chun-Han 04 August 2010 (has links)
Quantum dot (QD) has been known as three-dimensional quantum confined structure. Thus, a delta-function type of density with three-dimensional coulomb interaction can have strong dependence on field-driven optical absorption, i.e. Quantum Confine Stark Effect (QCSE), leading to lots of advantages for applications of electroabsorption modulator (EAM). In this work, based on a GaAs substrate, a self-assembly InAs quantum dot (QD) based p-i-n heterostructure is applied for fabricating electroabsorption modulator.
The quantum dot electroabsorption modulation is fabricated by wet-etching technique, where the active region is formed by undercut wet-etching technique using selective etching solution (citric acid). In the device characterization, electro luminescence (EL) is first used to examine the optical transition of QD, showing 1280-1320 nm for ground state and 1220-1240 nm for the excite state. Using the photocurrent spectrum measurement, the red shift of 20 nm in photocurrent peaks from 0 V to 7 V is observed. Also, the peaks exhibit a quadratic relation against with bias, confirming QCSE effect of Q.D.. In the optical transmission measurement, 1300 nm light excites on a 300 £gm long device, obtaining 5 dB extinction by voltage swing of 7 V. By comparing with quantum well (QW) structure, the modulation efficient is in the same order of magnitude. However, the active region of QD volume is at least two orders less than QW, indicating strong QCSE can be obtained from QD and QD can have potential for high-efficient modulation. High-speed EO response with -3 dB bandwidth of 3.34 GHz is also obtained, where the main speed limitation is on the electrical isolation on the n-type GaAs substrate. Through optimizing Q.D. structure and also parasitic capacitance, Q.D. EAM can have a great potential for the application of high-speed optical modulation in optoelectronic fields.
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