Study on the electrical and optical characteristics of a silicon electro-optic waveguide modulator using MOS configuration

Abstract

Active (or tunable) waveguide devices are essential elements to control light for information processing (e.g., coding-decoding, routing, multiplexing, timing, logic operations, etc.) in high-density integrated-optic circuits. In these devices, the complex effective refractive index of the structure is varied in order to produce a phase or intensity modulation. In this paper we study a micron-size metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)-based high index-contrast SOI waveguide for highspeed electro-optic modulation on strong light confinement. The light confinement enhances the effect of small index changes on the transmission of the device, enabling an ultracompact structure with high modulation depth. We study the electrical and optical characteristics of this type of silicon electro-optic waveguide modulator using a MOS configuration, and calculate the device's performance for electro-optic modulation with high frequency under different modes of operation of the MOS diode and gate oxide thickness. The studied core Si electro-optic modulation device with high frequency will bring big improvement in the field of optic communication and optic calculation.