Porous silicon multiplexers and demultiplexers

Abstract

In the last ten years the interest in porous silicon electro-optics devices has been growing due to the promise to integrate VLSI silicon technology with optical input and output signals. The optical signals that do not have the delays of the RC electrical wires could help the VLSI chip to communicate much faster with its adjacent chips. The monolithic integration of the opto-electronic interface is a big challenge but would have the advantage of creating a complete system on the chip. The ability to control the refractive index of the porous silicon both in the lateral and in the longitudinal direction makes the material very attractive for electro-optics components like: filters, mirrors, wave-guides, and couplers. The multiplexers and demultiplexers being exhibited here are applications that could be used for example in VLSI for distributing synchronizing clocks without RC delay or focusing more then one signal to a single detector. The usage of porous silicon in the standard VLSI technology allows the designer more flexibility in choosing the optical properties of the required layers in a specific application.