ABSTRACT
The main disadvantages associated with these systems are the difficulty in aligning and their bulky nature. In fiber optics communication, optical fiber and lenses are used but again the difficulty in aligning and integration of these systems is still unsolved. However, in integrated optics, the optical parameters of the material can be easily controlled. The source and the detector can be integrated on a single chip. Therefore, in optoelectronics technology there is need of new materials for integration. The optical interconnects have the ability to transfer large bandwidth signals over long distances while minimizing power requirements, which outweighs the complications of integrating electro-optical technologies. The example of silicon photonic integrated circuits is the hybrid integration of active components and silica-based planer light wave circuits, which provides a means for photonic component integration within a chip. In this integration, the passive components are realized by using silica waveguides while active components are hybridized within the silica. By using this approach, various photonic components have been integrated such as multiwavelength light source, optical wavelength selector, wavelength converters, all optical time division multiplexers, and so on (Kato and Tohmori 2000). A full integrated optical system based on silicon oxynitride waveguides, silicon photodetectors, and CMOS trans-impedance amplifiers has also been realized (Hilleringmann and Goser 1995). The first all silicon-integrated opto-coupler has been demonstrated whose fabrication using ion implantation into SiO2 is compatible with standard silicon technology (Rebohle et al. 2001). Silicon continues to play a key role in future nano electronic and photonic devices due to its availability of well-established technology. A full isolation by porous oxidized silicon process (FIPOS) was first reported where the porous silicon (PSi) layers were used as passivation in integrated circuits (Watanabe and Sakai 1971). Afterward, the silicon-oninsulator (SOI) in integrated circuits technology, the silicon on sapphire technology (SOS), and silicidation of PSi were reported (Takai and Itoh 1986). A low temperature photoluminescence was observed reported through electrochemically etched silicon wafers (Imai 1981; Pickering et al. 1984). Room temperature photoluminescence through PSi has boosted up the research on PSi for its potential application in silicon-based integrated optoelectronics (Canham 1990). The possibility of stimulated emission in nanostructured silicon has been demonstrated despite the severe competition with fast non-radiative processes (Pavesi et al. 2000; Khriachtchev et al. 2001; Luterova et al. 2002).
