III-V Lab(formed in 2004 as a privately held Paris-based joint venture between telecoms-focused Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs France and defense&aerospace-focused Thales Research and Technology)has reported results of its activities for the first year after micro/nanotechnology R&D center CEA-Leti of Grenoble,France joined it in March 2011.The expanded public-private partnership combines III-V compound semiconductor with CEA-Leti's silicon technologies,opening up new perspectives in research,targeting applications in telecoms,industrial control,environmental testing,defence,security and space.
To add the performance benefits of III-V components to silicon CMOS platforms,the partnership is leveraging the complementary expertise of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs France,Thales Research and Technology and CEA-Leti in silicon,microelectronics and heterogeneous integration,aiming to bring specific benefits to four primary areas of research and applications.III-V Lab says that,after a year,it has already enabled the rapid development of a common platform for the dual use optoelectronic and microelectronic technology.The first results to be unveiled are as follows:
Integrated photonic circuits that gather the active and passive functions of III-V and silicon for high-speed telecoms and data transfer.For the first time,a tunable laser source has been integrated on silicon,representing a milestone towards fully integrated transceivers.CEA-Leti and III-V Lab claim a breakthrough in its development by integrating on the same chip complex devices such as a fully integrated transmitter working above 10Gb/s or a tunable single-wavelength laser.
Thermal and near-infrared imagery for security and defence applications.III-V Lab is developing new types of detectors with increased resolution while reducing overall cost and speeding their adoption in the industrial quality control,transportation and environmental markets.
III-V Lab is developing a new generation of cost-effective,compact,ultra-sensitive,highly selective gas sensors for use in security,industrial process control,and environmental monitoring.
The enlarged partnership in III-V is working on high-power and microwave gallium nitride(GaN)-based microelectronics to increase the power density,robustness,energy efficiency and compactness of telecom,avionics,satellite,defence,energy and transport systems
The partnership in III-Vs has also demonstrated single-wavelength tunable lasers,with a 21mA threshold current at 20°C,a 45nm tuning range and a side-mode suppression ratio larger than 40dB over the tuning range.
"We have a great opportunity to work together to achieve our goals,"says Salvatore Cinà,deputy head of the Optoelectronics Department at CEA-Leti."After a year,the partnership brings some exciting cooperation opportunities,"he adds."Our cooperation has already made an important impact in optical telecommunications,providing several innovative breakthroughs."
