Abstract
We demonstrate a high-efficiency and CMOS-compatible silicon Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) optical modulator with Cu traveling-wave electrode and doping compensation. The measured electro-optic bandwidth at Vbias = -5 V is above 30 GHz when it is operated at 1550 nm. At a data rate of 50 Gbps, the dynamic extinction ratio is more than 7 dB. The phase shifter is composed of a 3 mm-long reverse-biased PN junction with modulation efficiency (Vπ·Lπ) of ~18.5 V·mm. Such a Cu-photonics technology provides an attractive potentiality for integration development of silicon photonics and CMOS circuits on SOI wafer in the future.
Highlights
Silicon photonics devices have a promising future in the application of optical communications, due to their low cost, high performances and compatibility with the existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology [1,2,3,4]
Small signal microwave performance in the latticed Cu electrode with 3 mm-long phase shifter was measured through Agilent N4373C Lightwave Component Analyzer (LCA) which has a maximum bandwidth of 40 GHz
We have demonstrated a CMOS-compatible silicon Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) optical modulator enabled by Cu traveling-wave electrode and doping compensation
Summary
Silicon photonics devices have a promising future in the application of optical communications, due to their low cost, high performances and compatibility with the existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology [1,2,3,4]. Our group presented a 50 Gbps silicon MZI modulator last year in which Al was used as the metal electrode [10] These silicon modulators with high data rate and low power consumption based on Al electrode have been achieved in the past few years. IMEC reported one modulator with Cu traveling-wave electrode and contact filling material of W in 2012, which has a data rate up to 40 Gbps [17]. To reduce the optical transmission loss of phase shifter caused by ion implantation while keeping the modulation efficiency and switching speed at a high level, a doping compensation method is utilized to optimize the doping level on the depletion region of the phase shift [11]. Cu application can further improve the integration of silicon photonics devices and CMOS circuits in the future
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