Work

Direct epitaxial growth and deterministic device integration of high-quality telecom O-band InGaAs quantum dots on silicon substrate

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are key building blocks for photonic quantum technologies, enabling practical sources of non-classical light. A central challenge for scalable integration is the direct epitaxial growth of high-quality emitters on industry-compatible silicon platforms. Furthermore, for long-distance fiber-based quantum communication, emission in the telecom O- or C-band is essential. Here, we demonstrate the direct growth of high-quality InGaAs/GaAs QDs emitting in the telecom O-band using a strain-reducing layer approach on silicon. The deterministic integration of individual QDs into circular Bragg grating resonators is achieved via in situ electron-beam lithography. The resulting devices exhibit strong out-coupling enhancement, with photon extraction efficiencies up to (40 ± 2)%, in excellent agreement with numerical simulations. These results highlight the high material quality of both the epitaxial platform and the photonic nanostructure, as well as the precise lateral positioning of the emitter within 20 nm of the resonator center. At cryogenic temperature (4 K) and low excitation power (0.027 × Psat), the devices show excellent single-photon purity of (99.3 ± 0.1)%. Operation at elevated temperatures of 40 and 77 K, compatible with compact Stirling cryo-coolers and liquid-nitrogen cooling, reveals robust performance, with single-photon purity maintained at (88.4 ± 0.6)% at 77 K. These results demonstrate a practical and scalable route toward silicon-based quantum light sources and provide a promising path for cost-effective fabrication and seamless integration of quantum photonics with classical electronics, representing an important step toward large-scale, chip-based quantum information systems.

Source: APL Photonics

DOI: 10.1063/5.0315913