抄録
Integration of silicon light sources on a Si chip is one of milestone to establish new paradigm of LSI systems, so-called “silicon photonics” . In recent years remarkable progress has been made in the Si wire waveguide technologies for optical interconnection on a Si chip. This paper reviews Si-related optical materials and their light emitting devices from a viewpoint of compatibility with Si wire waveguide. An ErSiO superlattice crystal that we have newly developed is introduced as one candidate of the light source material for silicon photonics. To mention the particular features, this material has a superlattice structure with 0.86-nm period and a large amount of Er (-15 %) as its constituent. In addition, the ErSiO superlattice crystal behaves as a semiconductor and the Er 4f-electrons are excitable by electron-hole pairs in the host. These show the possibilities of high optical gain and its electrical control in Er-doped waveguide amplifier (EDWA).
