ABSTRACT
Optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) is an integrated circuit that consists of different types of optoelectronic and electronic devices on a common substrate, and, in a narrower sense, a monolithic chip integrating optoelectronic and electronic devices on a common semiconductor substrate. OEIC for long-wavelength optical communications was first demonstrated by an InGaAs/InP PIN-photodiode/field-effect transistor optical receiver chip as reported by R. Leheny. The advantages of OEICs include improvement of various properties of optoelectronic devices such as performance, functionality, compactness, reliability, manufacturability, and cost-effectiveness. The chapter introduces some representative examples of OEICs with a focus on the application to optical communication and interconnection systems, in order to illustrate the capability already demonstrated and technical issues to be challenged in the future. The most difficult issue in fabricating OEICs on single semiconductor substrates has been the fabrication process to merge different devices such as lasers, photodiodes, and transistors, which have vastly different layer thicknesses and structures.
