Analysis of simulation of multiterminal electro-optic modulator based on p-n junction in reverse bias

Abstract

A study of a silicon metal oxide semiconductor (MOS)-type light-emitting device (LED) in which the p–n junction works under a reverse bias and the gate voltage is applied to modulate the electric field distribution from the p+ region through the n region. The use of gate voltage could result in the generation of a field-induced junction which leads to a decrease of the operating voltage of the LED compared to the two terminal p–n junction LED. The dynamics of the photonic emission in the structure and its related response time, and then a more detailed theoretical and simulation understanding of the photonic emission is achieved, which definitively demonstrates the capability of the device in which a reverse-bias region showing light modulation with multi-GHz bandwidth and gigabit-per-second data rate at near-infrared wavelength. Although the emitted optical power is weak, it is advantageous to utilize the device in all-silicon optoelectronic integrated circuits, especially for short-distance on-chip optical interconnects achieved by standard complementary MOS technology.