7 May 2012

CEA-Leti and III-V Lab report results from first year of partnership

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.”

See related items:

CEA-Leti and III-V lab demo fully integrated silicon photonics transmitter

France’s CEA-Leti joins III-V Lab

Tags: CEA-Leti III-V Lab

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