Skip navigation
  • Home
  • Browse
    • Communities
      & Collections
    • Browse Items by:
    • Publication Date
    • Author
    • Title
    • Subject
    • Department
  • Sign on to:
    • My MacSphere
    • Receive email
      updates
    • Edit Profile


McMaster University Home Page
  1. MacSphere
  2. Open Access Dissertations and Theses Community
  3. Open Access Dissertations and Theses
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/25385
Title: Design and Fabrication of InGaAsP Quantum-Well Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers for Integration with Silicon Photonics
Authors: Vukovic, Matthew
Advisor: Knights, Andrew
LaPierre, Ray
Department: Engineering Physics
Keywords: laser diode;silicon photonics;III-V;semiconductor optical amplifier;fabrication
Publication Date: 2020
Abstract: Silicon photonics provides an environmentally sustainable pathway to a more robust data infrastructure. To compensate for optical power losses, methods of amplification are required; specifically, amplifiers that can fit in a small footprint for applications in data centres. Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) provide such a solution, and can be fabricated using III-V ternary or quaternary materials to enhance optical signals through a device on the scale of most CMOS components. This research sought to fabricate an InGaAsP multiple quantum well semiconductor optical amplifier using the facilities in McMaster University’s Centre for Emerging Device Technologies (CEDT). A ridge waveguide laser diode was first fabricated and validated, then altered by applying an anti-reflective coating to the waveguide facets to suppress reflections in the Fabry-Perot cavity in an attempt to create an SOA. The design process and fabrication methodology are explained, including an analysis of failed methodologies. Characterization measurement techniques are then detailed for the fabricated devices. Finally, the performance of the devices is presented, and future steps are suggested for improving the fabrication process to enhance device characteristics. The fabricated laser diodes produced an output power in excess of 20 mW at a peak wavelength near 1580 nm. The subsequently coated devices proved difficult to measure, displaying a maximum of 0 dB or 1 dB gain when checked for amplification, with suspicions that output loss (and therefore gain) was higher than measured. The coated devices exhibited gain saturation between -10 and 0 dBm of input power. Owing to the shapes of their characteristic curves, it was determined that SOA devices were successfully created.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/25385
Appears in Collections:Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Vukovic_Matthew_2020April_MASc.pdf
Open Access
5.2 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
Show full item record Statistics


Items in MacSphere are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship     McMaster University Libraries
©2022 McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8 | 905-525-9140 | Contact Us | Terms of Use & Privacy Policy | Feedback

Report Accessibility Issue