Energy Consumption Enhancement of Reverse-Biased Silicon-Based Mach–Zehnder Modulators Using Corrugated Slow Light Waveguides

Abstract

The energy efficiency of silicon modulators can be enhanced by increasing the doping level. As an alternative solution, slow light modulators based on corrugated waveguides can also be used for improving the energy efficiency. Using numerical and analytical tools, we show that for the same level of energy consumption reduction, the loss coefficient and the loss-modulation efficiency for the slow-light modulators are smaller than those for the modulators with an increased doping level. It is shown that the slow light structures with medium slow down factors (specifically slowdown factors of less than 6) can be reasonable candidates for enhancing the modulator's energy efficiency. For example, an energy consumption of less than 100 fJ/bit can be achieved at a slow-down factor of 6, using a doping level of 5 × 1017 cm-3 for acceptors and 1 × 1018 cm-3 for donors.