532 research outputs found
Integrated GHz silicon photonic interconnect with micrometer-scale modulators and detectors
We report an optical link on silicon using micrometer-scale ring-resonator
enhanced silicon modulators and waveguide-integrated germanium photodetectors.
We show 3 Gbps operation of the link with 0.5 V modulator voltage swing and 1.0
V detector bias. The total energy consumption for such a link is estimated to
be ~120 fJ/bit. Such compact and low power monolithic link is an essential step
towards large-scale on-chip optical interconnects for future microprocessors
Photonics design tool for advanced CMOS nodes
Recently, the authors have demonstrated large-scale integrated systems with
several million transistors and hundreds of photonic elements. Yielding such
large-scale integrated systems requires a design-for-manufacture rigour that is
embodied in the 10 000 to 50 000 design rules that these designs must comply
within advanced complementary metal-oxide semiconductor manufacturing. Here,
the authors present a photonic design automation tool which allows automatic
generation of layouts without design-rule violations. This tool is written in
SKILL, the native language of the mainstream electric design automation
software, Cadence. This allows seamless integration of photonic and electronic
design in a single environment. The tool leverages intuitive photonic layer
definitions, allowing the designer to focus on the physical properties rather
than on technology-dependent details. For the first time the authors present an
algorithm for removal of design-rule violations from photonic layouts based on
Manhattan discretisation, Boolean and sizing operations. This algorithm is not
limited to the implementation in SKILL, and can in principle be implemented in
any scripting language. Connectivity is achieved with software-defined
waveguide ports and low-level procedures that enable auto-routing of waveguide
connections.Comment: 5 pages, 10 figure
Generation of high speed polarization modulated data using a monolithically integrated device
We report on the generation of high speed polarization modulated data via direct electrical binary data injection to the phase shifter section of a monolithically integrated laser diode integrated with a polarization controller. The device is fabricated on standard InP/AlGaInAs multiple quantum-well material and consists of a semiconductor laser, a passive polarization mode convertor and an active differential phase-shifter section. We demonstrate the generation of 300 Mbit/s Polarization Shift Keyed data
High accuracy transfer printing of single-mode membrane silicon photonic devices
A transfer printing (TP) method is presented for the micro-assembly of integrated photonic devices from suspended membrane components. Ultra thin membranes with thickness of 150nm are directly printed without the use of mechanical support and adhesion layers. By using a correlation alignment scheme vertical integration of single-mode silicon waveguides is achieved with an average placement accuracy of 100±70nm. Silicon (Si) μ-ring resonators are also fabricated and show controllable optical coupling by varying the lateral absolute position to an underlying Si bus waveguide
Coherent modulation up to 100 GBd 16QAM using silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) devices
We demonstrate the generation of higher-order modulation formats using
silicon-based inphase/quadrature (IQ) modulators at symbol rates of up to 100
GBd. Our devices exploit the advantages of silicon-organic hybrid (SOH)
integration, which combines silicon-on-insulator waveguides with highly
efficient organic electro-optic (EO) cladding materials to enable small drive
voltages and sub-millimeter device lengths. In our experiments, we use an SOH
IQ modulator with a {\pi}-voltage of 1.6 V to generate 100 GBd 16QAM signals.
This is the first time that the 100 GBd mark is reached with an IQ modulator
realized on a semiconductor substrate, leading to a single-polarization line
rate of 400 Gbit/s. The peak-to-peak drive voltages amount to 1.5 Vpp,
corresponding to an electrical energy dissipation in the modulator of only 25
fJ/bit
Silicon optical modulators
Optical technology is poised to revolutionise short reach interconnects. The leading candidate technology is silicon photonics, and the workhorse of such interconnect is the optical modulator. Modulators have been improved dramatically in recent years. Most notably the bandwidth has increased from the MHz to the multi GHz regime in little more than half a decade. However, the demands of optical interconnect are significant, and many questions remain unanswered as to whether silicon can meet the required performance metrics. Minimising metrics such as the energy per bit, and device footprint, whilst maximising bandwidth and modulation depth are non trivial demands. All of this must be achieved with acceptable thermal tolerance and optical spectral width, using CMOS compatible fabrication processes. Here we discuss the techniques that have, and will, be used to implement silicon optical modulators, as well as the outlook for these devices, and the candidate solutions of the future
Open-access silicon photonics: current status and emerging initiatives
Silicon photonics is widely acknowledged as a game-changing technology driven by the needs of datacom and telecom. Silicon photonics builds on highly capital-intensive manufacturing infrastructure, and mature open-access silicon photonics platforms are translating the technology from research fabs to industrial manufacturing levels. To meet the current market demands for silicon photonics manufacturing, a variety of open-access platforms is offered by CMOS pilot lines, R&D institutes, and commercial foundries. This paper presents an overview of existing and upcoming commercial and noncommercial open-access silicon photonics technology platforms. We also discuss the diversity in these open-access platforms and their key differentiators
High-responsivity vertical-illumination Si/Ge uni-traveling-carrier photodiodes based on silicon-on-insulator substrate
Si/Ge uni-traveling carrier photodiodes exhibit higher output current when
space-charge effects are overcome and thermal effects are suppressed, which is
highly beneficial for increasing the dynamic range of various microwave
photonic systems and simplifying high-bit-rate digital receivers in different
applications. From the point of view of packaging, detectors with
vertical-illumination configuration can be easily handled by pick-and-place
tools and are a popular choice for making photo-receiver modules. However,
vertical-illumination Si/Ge uni-traveling carrier (UTC) devices suffer from
inter-constraint between high speed and high responsivity. Here, we report a
high responsivity vertical-illumination Si/Ge UTC photodiode based on a
silicon-on-insulator substrate. The maximum absorption efficiency of the
devices was 2.4 times greater than the silicon substrate owing to constructive
interference. The Si/Ge UTC photodiode was successfully fabricated and had a
dominant responsivity at 1550 nm of 0.18 A/W, a 50% improvement even with a 25%
thinner Ge absorption layer.Comment: 5pages,2figure
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