A germanium waveguide is formed from a P-type silicon substrate that is coated with a heavily-doped N-type germanium layer and a first N-type doped silicon layer. Trenches are etched into the silicon substrate to form a stack of a substrate strip, a germanium strip, and a first silicon strip. This structure is then coated with a silicon nitride layer.

A method of production of a semiconducting structure including a strained portion tied to a support layer by molecular bonding, including the steps in which a cavity is produced situated under a structured part so as to strain a central portion by lateral portions, and the structured part is placed in contact and molecularly bonded with a support layer, wherein a consolidation annealing is performed, and a distal part of the lateral portions in relation to the strained portion is etched.

In a method of forming a photonic device, a first silicon electrode is formed, and then a germanium active layer is formed on the first silicon electrode while including n-type dopant atoms in the germanium layer, during formation of the layer, to produce a background electrical dopant concentration that is greater than an intrinsic dopant concentration of germanium. A second silicon electrode is then formed on a surface of the germanium active layer. The formed germanium active layer is doped with additional dopant for supporting an electrically-pumped guided mode as a laser gain medium with an electrically-activated n-type electrical dopant concentration that is greater than the background dopant concentration to overcome electrical losses of the photonic device.

A method of production of a semiconducting structure including a strained portion tied to a support layer by molecular bonding, including the steps in which a cavity is produced situated under a structured part so as to strain a central portion by lateral portions, and the structured part is placed in contact and molecularly bonded with a support layer, wherein a consolidation annealing is performed, and a distal part of the lateral portions in relation to the strained portion is etched.

A crossed nanobeam structure for strain engineering in semiconductor devices is provided. For example, such a structure can be used for a low-threshold germanium laser. While the photonic crystal nanobeam enables light confinement in a subwavelength volume with small optical loss, another crossing nanobeam induces high tensile strain in the small region where the optical mode is tightly confined. As maintaining a small optical loss and a high tensile strain reduces the required pumping for achieving net optical gain beyond cavity losses, this technique can be used to develop an extremely low-threshold Ge laser source. Moreover, the structure can be easily integrated into electronic and photonic circuits.

Tensile strained germanium is provided that can be sufficiently strained to provide a nearly direct band gap material or a direct band gap material. Compressively stressed or tensile stressed stressor materials in contact with germanium regions induce uniaxial or biaxial tensile strain in the germanium regions. Stressor materials may include silicon nitride or silicon germanium. The resulting strained germanium structure can be used to emit or detect photons including, for example, generating photons within a resonant cavity to provide a laser.

Tensile strained germanium is provided that can be sufficiently strained to provide a nearly direct band gap material or a direct band gap material. Compressively stressed or tensile stressed stressor materials in contact with germanium regions induce uniaxial or biaxial tensile strain in the germanium regions. Stressor materials may include silicon nitride or silicon germanium. The resulting strained germanium structure can be used to emit or detect photons including, for example, generating photons within a resonant cavity to provide a laser.

A germanium waveguide is formed from a P-type silicon substrate that is coated with a heavily-doped N-type germanium layer and a first N-type doped silicon layer. Trenches are etched into the silicon substrate to form a stack of a substrate strip, a germanium strip, and a first silicon strip. This structure is then coated with a silicon nitride layer.