Researchers of Intel Corporation and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) have built the world's first electrically powered Hybrid Silicon Laser using standard silicon manufacturing processes. This breakthrough addresses one of the last major barriers to produce low-cost, high-bandwidth silicon photonics devices for using inside and around future computers and datacenters.

The researchers were able to combine the light-emitting properties of Indium phosphide with the light-routing capabilities of silicon into a single hybrid chip. When voltage is applied, light generated in indium phosphide enters the silicon waveguide to create a continuous laser beam that can be used to drive other silicon photonic devices. A laser based on silicon could drive wider use of photonics in computers because the cost can be greatly reduced by using high-volume silicon manufacturing techniques.

“This could bring low-cost, terabit-level optical 'data pipes' inside future computers and help make possible a new era of high-performance computing applications,” said Mario Paniccia, Director-Photonics Technology Lab, Intel. “While still far from becoming a commercial product, we believe dozens, may be even hundreds of hybrid silicon lasers could be integrated with other silicon photonic components onto a single silicon chip.”

“Our research program with Intel highlights how industry and academia can work together to advance the state of science and technology,” said John Bowers, Professor-Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC Santa Barbara. “By combining UCSB's expertise with indium phosphide and Intel's silicon photonics expertise, we have demonstrated a novel laser structure based on a bonding method that can be used at the wafer-partial-wafer or die-level, and could be a solution for large-scale optical integration onto a silicon platform. This marks the beginning of highly integrated silicon photonic chips that can be mass produced at low-cost.”

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