Full-duplex ultraviolet light communication network for space-chip interconnection
Qi Z Q, Xie M Y, Wang L N, et al
Sci China Inf Sci, 2025, 68(10): 209301
Silicon-based photonic integrated on-chip interconnects enable miniaturized, high-density, and cost-effective photonic integration, which is an ideal solution to address the power consumption, bandwidth, and latency challenges faced by integrated circuit technology in the post-Moore era. However, since silicon cannot emit light independently, it hinders the development of silicon photonic integration. Gallium nitride (GaN) materials have been widely used in energy-efficient and high-power light-emitting diode (LED) fabrication in recent years, and the emerging GaN-on-silicon platform has great potential in photonic integration. Owing to the spectral overlap between the electroluminescence (EL) and responsivity (RS) spectra, III-nitride multiple quantum well (MQW) diodes can function not only as light transmitters to emit light but also as light receivers to detect light from light sources that have the same MQW structure. Therefore, when linked by a waveguide, a multifunctional photonic integrated circuit (PIC) can be developed by integrating multiple MQW devices with the same MQW structure on a tiny silicon-substrated chip without high-cost and complex heterogeneous integration processes.