The institute: Université Montpellier 2 is the scientific university of Montpellier. It has a long standing tradition of participating and/or coordinating national and european projects. The Institut d'Electronique du Sud (IES) (formerly know as "Centre d’Electronique et de Microoptoélectronique de Montpellier (CEM2)") is an important research center of Université Montpellier 2 jointly operated by CNRS, with ≈ 100 permanent staff and ≈ 50 students preparing their PhD or training in the fields of microelectronics systems, optoelectronics, and nano-technologies. In particular, IES investigates and fabricates MQW laser structures based on GaSb, InAs and AlSb compounds by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The group has been participating in several European projects completed in the field of mid-IR semiconductor Laser Diodes or VCSELs in the 2-5 µm wavelength range for applications in gas sensing technologies, such as AIR (Esprit LTR 31886), ADMIRAL (BRPR CT97 0466) or GLADIS (IST-2001-35178). It currently coordinates an IST project (DOMINO – FP6-IST-017383) devoted to the fabrication of Sb-based quantum-dot lasers.

The resources: IES resources include two MBE machines specifically devoted to the growth of GaSb-based compounds and devices, a dielectric evaporator for Bragg mirrors depositions, a clean room completely equipped with microelectronic facilities, a set of routine material characterisations (X-ray diffraction, SEM, PL), a set of device characterisations (electrical measurements, optical measurements, spectral properties), and gas analyser demonstrators able to detect species (methane, carbon monoxide) with a sensibility of the ppm order.

The role in the project: UM2 will principally be in charge of the growth (and routine characterisations) of Bragg mirrors and active zones. It will also be involved in the design, processing, and characterisations of devices. Fine studies of single frequency operation will be performed.