Integration of silicon nitride waveguide in Ge-on-insulator substrates for monolithic solutions in optoelectronics

This work presents a novel process to manufacture advanced Germanium-On-Insulator with integrated Silicon Nitride (GOIN) stripes as light waveguide for Ge photonic devices. Through the integration of GOIN stripes, larger tensile strain could be imposed to the bonded Ge layer which may could be used to tailor the bandgap of Ge material for short wave length infrared application. The successful fabrication of advanced GOIN substrate makes the opportunity for monolithic integration of high-performance Ge-based high mobility transistors with photonic components where silicon nitride is the waveguide with low optical loss.