High optical gain in InP-based quantum-dot material monolithically grown on silicon emitting at telecom wavelengths

We describe the fabrication process and properties of an InP based quantum dot (QD) laser structure grown on a 5 degrees off-cut silicon substrate. Several layers of QD-based dislocation filters embedded in GaAs and InP were used to minimize the defect density in the QD active region which comprised eight emitting dot layers. The structure was analyzed using high resolution transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence. The epitaxial stack was used to fabricate optical amplifiers which exhibit electroluminescence spectra that are typical of conventional InAs QD amplifiers grown on InP substrates. The amplifiers avail up to 20 dB of optical gain, which is equivalent to a modal gain of 46 cm(-1).