Abstract
We demonstrate a high-efficiency silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator with U-shaped PN junctions. The depletion region of the U-shaped PN junction has a large overlap with the waveguide optical mode, leading to a low drive voltage. The calculated modulation efficiency is 0.33 V·cm at 0 V bias and 0.55 V·cm at −2 V bias. On-off keying (OOK) modulation and four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-4) are achieved at 32 Gb/s and 64 Gb/s data rates under 2 V drive voltage, respectively. The bit error rate for the PAM-4 modulation is below the hard-decision forward error correction threshold of 3.8 × 10−3.
Highlights
In recent years, silicon photonics has developed rapidly, due to its compatibility with low-cost complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing processes
We demonstrate a high-efficiency silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator with Ushaped PN junctions
For Mach-Zehnder modulators with carrier-depletion-based PN junctions, in order to get a high modulation efficiency, we should enlarge the overlap between the optical modal field and the carrier depletion region
Summary
Silicon photonics has developed rapidly, due to its compatibility with low-cost complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing processes. It has great potential for monolithic photonics-electronic integration. Among various silicon photonics devices, high-speed silicon electro-optic (EO) modulators have been extensively investigated, since they are the core devices in optical transmitters [1]. Refractive index modulations based on carrier depletion, carrier injection, and carrier accumulation are three key methods to realize EO modulators on the silicon photonics platform. Carrier-injection-based modulators enabled by PIN junctions offer high modulation efficiency. Modulators based on the carrier-accumulation effect possess both high modulation efficiency and high bandwidth [5]–[7].
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