TECHNOLOGY AND DEVICES FOR HYBRID AND MONOLITHICALLY INTEGRATED OPTICAL SENSORS

Many types of optical sensors stand to benefit from monolithic integration through the use of semiconductor technology; improvements in performance, size, flexibility and price are expected. The application of III-V optoelectronic devices and processing technology to the fabrication of both monolithically and hybridly integrated optical sensors have been discussed. The fabrication of lasers, waveguides, modulators and detectors in the GaAs/AlGaAs material system is outlined. The monolithic integration of these optoelectronic components into a passive Mach-Zehnder interferometer sensor platform are presented as well as the issues of sensor layer design, integration and sensitivity.