Monolithic Multiwavelength Materials for RF Photonic Device Integration

"The proposed Phase II SBIR program is aimed at developing a low-cost method for incorporation of lasers, amplifiers, waveguides, modulators, phase shifters and splitters on a single chip for use in microwave phased array antenna control and related RFsignal processing functions. Specific semiconductor device designs require different material properties, which normally precludes such monolithic integration. However, through innovative use of stripe-patterned selective epitaxial growth, semiconductorlayers with different strain and bandgap can be simultaneously deposited on a wafer in a single epitaxial growth operation. The Phase I work successfully demonstrated feasibility of the proposed technology by designing and growing an InGaAsP multi-quantumwell (MQW) p-i-n epitaxial structure grown on InP wafers patterned with silicon nitride stripes of different widths and stripe openings. We successfully demonstrated photoluminescence emission from MQW with different wavelengths determined by the stripegeometry.In Phase II, Spire plans to collaborate with a strong team of expert individuals and institutions to ensure successful results for the program. Under a subcontract from Spire, Prof. Sen-Fow Choa's research group at the UMBC will provide epitaxialovergrowth wafers using MOCVD technique . In a parallel effort, Spire will work with the Optoelectronics Group at the Boeing Spectrolab to provide additional MOCVD-grown wafers for co