The commercial success of radio-frequency acoustic filters in wireless communication systems has launched aluminum nitride (AlN) as one of the most widely used semiconductors across the globe. Over recent years, AlN has also been investigated as an attractive photonic integrated platform due to its excellent characteristics, such as enormous bandgaps (∼6.2 eV), quadratic and cubic optical nonlinearities, Pockels electro-optic effects, and compatibility with the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology. In parallel, AlN possesses outstanding piezoelectric and mechanical performances, which can provide new aspects for controlling phonons and photons at the wavelength scale using nanophotonic architectures. These characteristics pose AlN as a promising candidate to address the drawbacks in conventional silicon and silicon nitride platforms. In this review, we aim to present recent advances achieved in AlN photonic integrated circuits ranging from material processing and passive optical routing to active functionality implementation such as electro-optics, piezo-optomechanics, and all-optical nonlinear frequency conversion. Finally, we highlight the challenges and future prospects existing in AlN nanophotonic chips.

中文翻译：

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氮化铝光子集成电路：从压电光机械到非线性光学

射频声学滤波器在无线通信系统中的商业成功使氮化铝 (AlN) 成为全球使用最广泛的半导体之一。近年来，由于 AlN 具有巨大的带隙（~6.2 eV）、二次和三次光学非线性、普克尔斯电光效应以及与互补金属的兼容性等优异特性，它也被研究作为一种有吸引力的光子集成平台。氧化物半导体技术。同时，AlN 具有出色的压电和机械性能，可以为使用纳米光子结构在波长范围内控制声子和光子提供新的方面。这些特性使 AlN 成为解决传统硅和氮化硅平台缺点的有前途的候选者。在这篇综述中，我们旨在介绍 AlN 光子集成电路取得的最新进展，从材料加工和无源光路由到有源功能实现，如电光学、压电光机械和全光非线性频率转换。最后，我们强调了 AlN 纳米光子芯片中存在的挑战和未来前景。