'Like a field plowed prior to planting': Researchers want to grow lasers, yes lasers, on material commonly found in sand

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Existing methods require bonding these materials onto silicon, a process thats both costly and wasteful.

Gallium arsenide is then deposited into these trenches, where it only makes contact with silicon at the bottom.

A 300 mm silicon wafer containing thousands of GaAs devices with a close-up of multiple dies and a scanning electron micrograph of a GaAs nano-ridge array after epitaxy

This placement keeps any defects buried within the trench and prevents them from spreading into the laser material above.