Group IV Photonics

Given that todays micro- and nano-electronic circuits are largely based on very mature silicon CMOS technology, it is natural to aim at extending this technology to totally monolithic optoelectronic integrated circuits that seamlessly combine photonics and electronics (and potentially even plasmonics). As silicon is a notoriously bad light emitter, this requires to expand traditional silicon photonics to include active devices based on binary and ternary alloys of group IV elements. The substantial group of elemental, binary and ternary materials that fall into the category of group IV photonics such as Si, Ge, Diamond, SiC, GeSn, SiSn, SiGeSn, and Graphene allow for novel electronic components.

​ ​Architecture and performance of a SiGeSn-based multiple-quantum-well photodiode (adapted from Optics Express 23, 25048 (2015)).

Specifically, we are concerned with modeling the physical properties of the alloys of Si, Ge, and Sn. Notably, the ternary alloys Si1-x-yGexSny were found to be direct semiconductors for certain compositional ranges. In addition, we work on the the characterization and design of group IV optoelectronic devices based on those alloys.

In this quest, we utilize the following methods:

  • k.p-Theory
  • Empirical Pseudo-Potential Band Structure Computations
  • Density Functional Theory
  • Strain Computations

Publications

Composition analysis and transition energies of ultrathin Sn-rich GeSn quantum wells
I.A. Fischer, C.J. Clausen, D. Schwarz, P. Zaumseil, G. Capellini, M. Virgilio, M.C. da Silva Figueira, S. Birner, S. Koelling, P.M. Koenraad, M.R.S. Huang, C.T. Koch, T. Wendav, K. Busch, and J. Schulze (2020)
Physical Review Materials 4:024601
Design study of random spectrometers for applications at optical frequencies
P. Varytis, D. Huynh, W. Hartmann, W. Pernice, and K. Busch (2018)
Optics Letters 43:3180
Device performance tuning of Ge gate-all-around tunneling field effect transistors by means of GeSn: Potential and challenges
E.G. Rolseth, A. Blech, I.A. Fischer, Y. Hashad, R. Koerner, K. Kostecki, A. Kruglov, V.S. Senthil Srinivasan, M. Weiser, T. Wendav, K. Busch, and J. Schulze (2017)
IEEE Conference on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO) 2017:57
Photoluminescence from ultrathin Ge-rich multiple quantum wells observed up to room temperature: Experiments and modeling
T. Wendav, I.A. Fischer, M. Virgilio, G. Capellini, F. Oliveira, M.F. Cerqueira, A. Benedetti, S. Chiussi, P. Zaumseil, B. Schwartz, K. Busch, and J. Schulze (2016)
Physical Review B 94:245304
Compositonal dependence of the band-gap of Ge(1-x-y) Si(x) Sn(y) alloys
Wendav, T, Fischer, IA, Montanari, M, Zoellner, MH, Klesse, W, Capellini, G, von_den_Driesch, N, Oehme, M, Buca, D, Busch, K, and Schulze, J (2016)
Applied Physics Letters 108:242104
Growth and characterization of SiGeSn quantum well photodiodes
Fischer, I, Wendav, T, Augel, L, Jitpakdeebodin, S, Oliveira, F, Benedetti, A, Stefanov, S, Chiussi, S, Capellini, G, Busch, K, and Schulze, J (2015)
Optics Express 23:25048
Electroluminescence of GeSn/Ge MQW LEDs on Si substrate
Bernhard Schwartz, Michael Oehme, Konrad Kostecki, Daniel Widmann, Martin Gollhofer, Roman Koerner, Stefan Bechler, Inga A. Fischer, Torsten Wendav, Erich Kasper, Jörg Schulze, and Martin Kittler (2015)
Optics Letters 40:3209