Claims
- 1. A semiconductor waveguide modulator device comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- a quantum well structure; and
- one or two thin layers of highly tensile strained materials, wherein said one or two thin layers of highly tensile strained materials are positioned within said quantum well structure so as to introduce tensile strain to said quantum well structure so as to render said modulator device polarization insensitive at bias variations.
- 2. The device of claim 1, wherein said quantum well structure has therein one thin layer of said highly tensile strained materials positioned substantially at the center of said quantum well structure.
- 3. The device of claim 1, wherein said quantum well structure has therein two thin layers of said highly tensile strained materials, wherein said two thin layers of said highly tensile strained materials are positioned symmetrically within said quantum well structure.
- 4. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or two thin layers of highly tensile strained materials have a lattice constant smaller than the lattice constant of said substrate.
- 5. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or two thin layers of highly tensile strained materials may be composed of materials selected from the group consisting of GaAs, AlAs, GalnP and GaP.
- 6. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or two thin layers of highly tensile strained materials have a thickness of from 1 monolayer up to the critical thickness of said highly tensile strained materials.
- 7. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or two thin layers of highly tensile strained materials each have a tensile strain of approximately 1% to 4%.
- 8. The device of claim 1, wherein said semiconductor substrate is selected from Group III-V elements.
- 9. The device of claim 8, wherein said semiconductor substrate may be selected from the group consisting of InP, GaAs and GaSb.
- 10. The device of claim 1, wherein said quantum well structure is lattice matched, nominally lattice matched or non-lattice matched.
Parent Case Info
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/073,925, filed Feb. 06, 1998.
GOVERNMENT RIGHTS
The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the U.S. Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalties thereon.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (4)
Entry |
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Magari, K. et al., "Polarization Insensitive Traveling Wave Type Amplifier Using Strained Multiple Quantum Well Structure," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 2, No. 8, 556 (Aug. 1990). |
Chen, Y. et al., "Polarization Independent Strained InGaAs/InGaAlAs Quantum-Well Phase Modulators," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 4, No. 10, 1120 (Oct. 1992). |
Shen, H. et al., "Bias Independent Heavy-and Light-Hole Degeneracy in InGaAs/InGaAsP Quantum Wells," Applied Physics Letters, vol. 72, No. 6 (Feb. 1998). |