InP-on-GaAs Engineered Substrates: A Pathway Toward Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Optoelectronic Device Fabrication

Indium Phosphide (InP) plays a pivotal role in the semiconductor industry, particularly in the development of high-power, high-frequency optoelectronic devices that are essential for next-generation applications not only in telecommunications, data centers, and photonic systems but also in automotive technologies and consumer electronics. Despite its advantages, the widespread adoption of InP-based devices is hindered by high costs and limited throughput of fabrication processes. To ensure the competitiveness of InP devices in the rapidly evolving semiconductor market, it is imperative to reduce substrate costs and improve production yields. InP-on-GaAs engineered substrates offer a promising solution, provided that device requirements such as efficiency and reliability are still met. In this study, we investigate the potential of 6-in. InP-on-GaAs engineered substrates for advanced optoelectronic applications. We demonstrate epitaxial growth, fabrication, and characterization of an In0.53Ga0.47As-based photonic power converter, namely a photovoltaic cell designed for monochromatic energy conversion at 1.55 μm. The performances are on par with that of reference devices fabricated on a prime InP wafer. Our findings demonstrate that InP-on-GaAs substrates can deliver high performance metrics in terms of material quality and wafer uniformity, paving the way for the development of cost-effective InP-based optoelectronic devices.