Silicon Photonic Research Articles

Leakage mechanisms of sub-pA InGaAs/GaAs nano-ridge waveguide photodetectors monolithically integrated on a 300-mm Si wafer

We report on a comprehensive temperature dependent dark current study of high-quality InGaAs/GaAs multi quantum well waveguide photodetectors monolithically integrated on silicon. They are integrated through metalorganic vapor-phase selective-area epitaxial growth in a 300 mm CMOS pilot line. Defects resulting from the metamorphic growth of III-V devices on Si make these devices susceptible to different leakage mechanisms at higher operating temperatures. For the high-temperature operation of complex photonics-electronics integrations, understanding the leakage mechanisms of the devices has critical significance. This will help to optimize designs promptly and ensure the reliability and longevity of such devices under extreme operating conditions. The photodetector devices exhibit dark currents below 1 pA, at room temperature and −1 V bias voltage, limited by the noise floor of the measurement setup. To resolve the different leakage mechanisms contributing to the dark current, the devices were measured at elevated temperatures and the results were cross-validated with device simulations. The devices exhibited very low dark currents, with a median below 0.1 nA at 195 °C, suggesting very high-quality material growth. Through device models, leakage mechanisms related to Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination at bulk volume defects are found to be the main factor contributing to the dark current. The surface SRH recombination is found to be limited, yet affecting the forward bias dark current due to the shortening of the diffusion paths of the majority carriers. Also, the device model shows that the actual dark currents at room temperature can be as low as 0.01 pA, more than 1-order lower than the measured levels. This study emphasizes the high quality of the III-V nano-ridge waveguide devices grown on Si, which can potentially expand the capabilities of silicon photonics platforms further.

Design of high power evanescent quantum dot distributed feedback lasers on Si

Great advancements in III–V/Si epitaxy have pushed quantum dot lasers to the forefront of silicon photonics. In this work, we designed the structures of evanescent coupled quantum dot distributed feedback lasers with asymmetric gratings, which made significant improvement in on-chip output power while maintaining single-longitudinal-mode stability. The optimal λ/4 phase-shift position (the ratio of the grating length from the rear-end of λ/4 phase-shift to the total grating length) from conventional position of 0.50 to 0.64 allows the ratio of the output power at both sides of silicon waveguide to be increased from 1.0 to 5.9. Moreover, the optimal duty cycle at one side of the phase-shift from 0.50 to 0.8 allows the ratio to be increased from 1.0 to 3.7. Meanwhile, the ratio could be dramatically improved from 1.0 to 9.2 by changed the duty cycle at one side of phase-shift to 0.7 while maintaining the phase-shift position of 0.64. With those designed structures, evanescent coupled quantum dot lasers could challenge the state-of-the-art bonded quantum well lasers and may eventually become ubiquitous and affordable for future commercial production.

Experimental demonstration of a silicon four-mode (de)multiplexer based on cascaded triple-waveguide couplers

Silicon photonics based on-chip mode-division multiplexing (MDM) is an appealing technology for enhancing the interconnect capacity in both short- and long-haul optical communication. Here, a silicon four-mode (de)multiplexer [(De)MUX] is proposed, optimized, fabricated, and characterized for on-chip MDM systems, based on three cascaded triple-waveguide couplers (TWCs), with coupling lengths below 24.25 µm. A four-mode MDM-link consisting of two back-to-back mode-(De)MUXs was fabricated and measured, yielding a crosstalk of less than −15.0dB over a bandwidth wider than 72.6 nm for four modes. In addition, the TWC based mode (De)MUX demonstrates a 1-dB bandwidth greater than 40 nm, and can be considered as a robust component for multimode on-chip networks.

Testing silicon photonic Mach–Zehnder modulators versus total ionizing dose

Silicon photonics is emerging as a key technology for developing radiation-tolerant optical transceivers. In this work, we present the electro-optical characterization of two radiation-hardened shallow-etched Mach–Zehnder modulators with different doping configurations when exposed to 1.2 Grad(SiO2) total ionizing dose. The trade-offs between radiation hardness and nominal performance metrics are highlighted to provide insights for optimizing SiPh devices for high-energy physics applications.

Simultaneous optical power insensitivity and non-volatile wavelength trimming using 2D In4/3P2Se6 integration in silicon photonics

In integrated photonic circuits, microring resonators are essential building blocks but are susceptible to phase errors due to fabrication imperfections and optical power fluctuations. Conventional active phase tuning methods are power-intensive and challenging to integrate into densely packed photonic chips. This study proposes a solution by integrating a thin 2D layer of In4/3P2Se6 (InPSe) onto silicon microring resonators (Si-MRR). This approach mitigates sensitivity to laser power and achieves non-volatile wavelength trimming. Under bias voltage, the device exhibits electro-optic behavior, offering a non-volatile phase trimming rate of −2.62 pm/V to −4.62 pm/V, corresponding to InPSe thicknesses of 45 nm to 120 nm. Low optical losses of 0.0091 to 0.0361 dB/μm were also measured, corresponding to thicknesses of 30 nm to 120 nm. The devices demonstrate stable in-situ resonance wavelength stabilization and bidirectional trimming, ensuring cyclic stability for non-volatile phase control. This advancement enhances the performance of silicon photonics across diverse applications, facilitating high-capacity, high-power operation in compact designs.

On‐Chip Room‐Temperature Operated Short‐Wavelength‐Infrared Si:S Photodetector with a Vertical Junction

AbstractSilicon (Si)‐based photodetectors are cost‐effective, eco‐friendly, and compatible with on‐chip complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS) technology. However, expanding their photoresponse into the short‐wavelength‐infrared region beyond 1.1 µm remains challenging because of the intrinsic bandgap of Si. In this study, an ion implantation sulfur‐doped Si‐based infrared photodetector featuring a blocked impurity band (BIB) structure is investigated. The detector achieves an extended sub‐bandgap infrared response up to 2 µm through impurity band transitions, facilitated by the artificial creation of a deep‐level impurity band within the Si bandgap. The device exhibited a competitive photodetection effect with a high responsivity of 107.3 mA W−1 and an external quantum efficiency of 10.2%. Notably, the detector yielded an enhanced response speed with a raising time of 46 µs and a decay time of 135 µs at 1310 nm under room temperature. Finally, the versatile applications of this detector is presented in a multitude of scenarios encompassing material composition identification, multi‐band imaging, and optical communication. The proposed investigation not only proposed a method for Si‐based infrared detectors but also constituted a contribution to the advancement of silicon photonics.

Post-processing of phase change material in a zero-change commercial silicon photonic process.

Integration of phase change material (PCM) with photonic integrated circuits can transform large-scale photonic systems by providing non-volatile control over phase and amplitude. The next generation of commercial silicon photonic processes can benefit from the addition of PCM to enable ultra-low power, highly reconfigurable, and compact photonic integrated circuits for large-scale applications. Despite all the advantages of PCM-based photonics, today's commercial foundries do not provide them in their silicon photonic processes yet. We demonstrate the first-ever electrically programmable PCM device that is monolithically post-processed in a commercial foundry silicon photonics process using a few fabrication steps and coarse-resolution photolithography. These devices achieved 1.4 dB/μm of amplitude switching contrast using a thin layer of 12.5 nm GeSbTe in this work. We have also characterized the reconfiguration speed as well as repeatability of these devices over 20,000 switching cycles. Our solution enables non-volatile photonic VLSI systems that can be fabricated at low cost and high reliability in a commercial foundry process, paving the way for the development of non-volatile programmable photonic integrated circuits for a variety of emerging applications.

Infrared Interlayer Excitons in Twist-Free MoTe2/MoS2 Heterobilayers.

Excitonic devices based on interlayer excitons in van der Waals heterobilayers are a promising platform for advancing photoelectric interconnection telecommunications. However, the absence of exciton emission in the crucial telecom C-band has constrained their practical applications. Here, this limitation is addressed by reporting exciton emission at 0.8eV (1550nm) in a chemically vapor-deposited, strictly aligned MoTe2/MoS2 heterobilayer, resulting from the direct bandgap transitions of interlayer excitons as identified by momentum-space imaging of their electrons and holes. The decay mechanisms dominated by direct radiative recombination ensure constant emission quantum yields, a basic demand for efficient excitonic devices. The atomically sharp interface enables the resolution of two narrowly-splitter transitions induced by spin-orbit coupling, further distinguished through the distinct Landé g-factors as the fingerprint of spin configurations. By electrical control, the double transitions coupling into opposite circularly-polarized photon modes, preserve or reverse the helicities of the incident light with a degree of polarization up to 90%. The Stark effect tuning extends the emission energy range by over 150meV (270nm), covering the telecom C-band. The findings provide a material platform for studying the excitonic complexes and significantly boost the application prospects of excitonic devices in silicon photonics and all-optical telecommunications.

A review of emerging trends in photonic deep learning accelerators

Deep learning has revolutionized many sectors of industry and daily life, but as application scale increases, performing training and inference with large models on massive datasets is increasingly unsustainable on existing hardware. Highly parallelized hardware like Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are now widely used to improve speed over conventional Central Processing Units (CPUs). However, Complementary Metal-oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) devices suffer from fundamental limitations relying on metallic interconnects which impose inherent constraints on bandwidth, latency, and energy efficiency. Indeed, by 2026, the projected global electricity consumption of data centers fueled by CMOS chips is expected to increase by an amount equivalent to the annual usage of an additional European country. Silicon Photonics (SiPh) devices are emerging as a promising energy-efficient CMOS-compatible alternative to electronic deep learning accelerators, using light to compute as well as communicate. In this review, we examine the prospects of photonic computing as an emerging solution for acceleration in deep learning applications. We present an overview of the photonic computing landscape, then focus in detail on SiPh integrated circuit (PIC) accelerators designed for different neural network models and applications deep learning. We categorize different devices based on their use cases and operating principles to assess relative strengths, present open challenges, and identify new directions for further research.

Distributed Bragg reflector based ASE noise removal pump wavelength filters for futuristic chip-scale quantum photonic circuits.

This article reports a novel design of a compact tunable resonance filter with a highly extinguished and ultra-broad out-of-band rejection for on-chip amplified spontaneous noise suppression from pump lasers highly demanding for generating pure/entangled photon pairs via χ(3) process in a CMOS compatible silicon photonics technology platform. The proposed device is designed with two identically apodized distributed grating structures for guided Fabry-Perot resonant transmissions in a silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide structure. The device design parameters are optimized by theoretical simulation for a low insertion loss singly-resonant transmission peak at a desired wavelength. We observed that a device length of as low as ∼ 35 µm exhibits a rejection band as large as ∼ 60 nm with an extinction of ∼ 40 dB with respect to the resonant wavelength peak at λr ∼ 1550 nm (FWHM ∼ 80 pm, IL ∼ 2 dB). The experimental results have been shown to be closely matching to our theoretical simulation and modeling results in terms of its stop bandwidth and resonance wavelength for noise suppressed pump laser wavelength filtering. As expected from the theoretical prediction, the trend pertaining to the trade-off between passive insertion loss and Q-value of the resonances has been observed depending on the device parameters. The thermo-optic tuning characteristics of resonant wavelengths have been obtained by integrating microheaters. The resonance peak could be tuned at a rate of 96 pm per mW of consumed thermal power. Noise associated with an amplified pump wavelength (λP ∼ 1550 nm) has been shown to be suppressed (∼ 40-dB), up to the detector noise floor.

Non-Sliced Optical Arbitrary Waveform Measurement (OAWM) Using a Silicon Photonic Receiver Chip

Non-Sliced Optical Arbitrary Waveform Measurement (OAWM) Using a Silicon Photonic Receiver Chip

Yellow electroluminescence from metastable zinc silicate in an electrolyte-assisted silicon semiconductor structure

Electrolyte-assisted semiconductors have garnered significant attention as a novel type of semiconductor device due to their unique properties. Notably, the electrolyte-assisted electroluminescent (EEL) device offers several advantages, including a simple structure, low operating voltage, and reduced need for band engineering compared to conventional EL devices. However, achieving practical applications for EEL devices remains challenging due to their inherent issues. In this study, we introduce a yellow-emitting EEL device that utilizes a metastable β-phase Zn2SiO4:Mn2+ film as the optically functional material. The film is prepared using a cost-effective process, optimizing both the crystallization temperature and the concentration of Mn2+. Additionally, we employ a non-toxic aqueous NaCl as the electrolyte in the device setup. The crystal phase, morphology, optical, and electrical properties, along with reliability, are comprehensively investigated in our study. The results highlight the significance of our proposed work in advancing the development of electrolyte-assisted semiconductors within the realm of silicon photonics.

Packet-optical transport network for future radio infrastructure

The advent of 6G is expected to transform connectivity by necessitating robust and scalable transport networks, capable of managing the escalating demands for enhanced bandwidth, negligible latency, and heightened network automation. The progression towards centralized radio access networks and the cloudification of network functions introduce additional requirements to the transport network. Addressing these demands, the integration of packet and optical systems combines packet flexibility with the high bandwidth and low latency of optical systems, aiming for a balance between performance, efficiency, and functionality. This process considers cost and the reuse of existing infrastructure towards a seamless transition to 6G. The concept of a Mini-ROADM, a cost-effective, energy-efficient optical switch created using silicon photonics, is presented and demonstrated in a ring network application. The role of a transport-aware end-to-end orchestrator in coordinating resources across radio, transport, and cloud domains to ensure a diverse range of quality-of-service levels is also discussed. A system demonstrator that highlights the integration of packet and optical layers and the concrete application of these concepts in a network environment is presented.

Tunable quantum emitters on large-scale foundry silicon photonics

Controlling large-scale many-body quantum systems at the level of single photons and single atomic systems is a central goal in quantum information science and technology. Intensive research and development has propelled foundry-based silicon-on-insulator photonic integrated circuits to a leading platform for large-scale optical control with individual mode programmability. However, integrating atomic quantum systems with single-emitter tunability remains an open challenge. Here, we overcome this barrier through the hybrid integration of multiple InAs/InP microchiplets containing high-brightness infrared semiconductor quantum dot single photon emitters into advanced silicon-on-insulator photonic integrated circuits fabricated in a 300 mm foundry process. With this platform, we achieve single-photon emission via resonance fluorescence and scalable emission wavelength tunability. The combined control of photonic and quantum systems opens the door to programmable quantum information processors manufactured in leading semiconductor foundries.

Scalable single-microring hybrid III-V/Si lasers for emerging narrow-linewidth applications.

Silicon photonics, compatible with large-scale silicon manufacturing, is a disruptive photonic platform that has indicated significant implications in industry and research areas (e.g., quantum, neuromorphic computing, LiDAR). Cutting-edge applications such as high-capacity coherent optical communication and heterodyne LiDAR have escalated the demand for integrated narrow-linewidth laser sources. To that effect, this work seeks to address this requirement through the development of a high-performance hybrid III-V/silicon laser. The developed integrated laser utilizes a single microring resonator (MRR), demonstrating single-mode operation with a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) exceeding 45 dB, with laser output power as high as 16.4 mW. Moving away from current hybrid/heterogeneous laser architectures that necessitate multiple complex controls, the developed laser architecture requires only two control parameters. Importantly, this serves to streamline industrial adoption by reducing the complexity involved in characterizing these lasers, at-scale. Through the succinct structure and control framework, a narrow laser linewidth of 2.79 kHz and low relative intensity noise (RIN) of -135 dB/Hz are achieved. Furthermore, optical data transmission at 12.5 Gb/s is demonstrated where a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 10 dB is measured.

Convolutional neural network classification of beam profiles from silicon photonics gratings

Convolutional neural network (CNN) models consist of CNN block(s), and dense neural network (DNN) block(s) are used to perform image classification on beam profiles in light beams coupled out from silicon photonics (SiPh) mixed-pitch gratings. The beam profiles are first simulated and segregated into three categories based on their corresponding height above the SiPh gratings. With one CNN block, one DNN block, and 128 nodes in the DNN block, classification accuracy of 98.68% is achieved when classifying 454 beam profile images to their corresponding categories. Expanding the number of CNN blocks, DNN blocks, and nodes, 64 CNN models are constructed, trained, and evaluated. Out of the 64 CNN models, 52 of them achieved classification accuracy of >95%.

Anneal-free ultra-low loss silicon nitride integrated photonics

Heterogeneous and monolithic integration of the versatile low-loss silicon nitride platform with low-temperature materials such as silicon electronics and photonics, III–V compound semiconductors, lithium niobate, organics, and glasses has been inhibited by the need for high-temperature annealing as well as the need for different process flows for thin and thick waveguides. New techniques are needed to maintain the state-of-the-art losses, nonlinear properties, and CMOS-compatible processes while enabling this next generation of 3D silicon nitride integration. We report a significant advance in silicon nitride integrated photonics, demonstrating the lowest losses to date for an anneal-free process at a maximum temperature 250 °C, with the same deuterated silane based fabrication flow, for nitride and oxide, for an order of magnitude range in nitride thickness without requiring stress mitigation or polishing. We report record low anneal-free losses for both nitride core and oxide cladding, enabling 1.77 dB m-1 loss and 14.9 million Q for 80 nm nitride core waveguides, more than half an order magnitude lower loss than previously reported sub 300 °C process. For 800 nm-thick nitride, we achieve as good as 8.66 dB m−1 loss and 4.03 million Q, the highest reported Q for a low temperature processed resonator with equivalent device area, with a median of loss and Q of 13.9 dB m−1 and 2.59 million each respectively. We demonstrate laser stabilization with over 4 orders of magnitude frequency noise reduction using a thin nitride reference cavity, and using a thick nitride micro-resonator we demonstrate OPO, over two octave supercontinuum generation, and four-wave mixing and parametric gain with the lowest reported optical parametric oscillation threshold per unit resonator length. These results represent a significant step towards a uniform ultra-low loss silicon nitride homogeneous and heterogeneous platform for both thin and thick waveguides capable of linear and nonlinear photonic circuits and integration with low-temperature materials and processes.

Integrated Resonant Electro‐Optic Comb Enabled by Platform‐Agnostic Laser Integration

AbstractThe field of integrated photonics has significantly impacted numerous fields including communication, sensing, and quantum physics owing to the efficiency, speed, and compactness of its devices. However, the reliance on off‐chip bulk lasers compromises the compact nature of these systems. While silicon photonics and III‐V platforms have established integrated laser technologies, emerging demands for ultra‐low optical loss, wider bandgaps, and optical nonlinearities necessitate other platforms. Developing integrated lasers on less mature platforms is arduous and costly due to limited throughput or unconventional process requirements. In response, a novel platform‐agnostic laser integration technique is proposed, utilizing a singular design and process flow, applicable without modification to a diverse range of platforms. Leveraging a two‐step micro‐transfer printing method, nearly identical laser performance is achieved across platforms with refractive indices between 1.7 and 2.5. Experimental validation demonstrates strikingly similar laser characteristics between devices processed on lithium niobate and silicon nitride platforms. Furthermore, the integration of a laser with a resonant electro‐optic comb generator on the thin‐film lithium niobate platform is showcased, producing over 80 comb lines spanning 12 nm. This versatile technique transcends platform‐specific limitations, facilitating applications like microwave photonics, handheld spectrometers, and cost‐effective Lidar systems, across multiple platforms.

Ultra-wideband mm-wave remote antenna unit for radio-over-fiber distributed antenna systems in silicon photonics.

This article presents what we believe to be a novel chip-scale 25-45-GHz re-configurable mm-wave remote antenna unit (RAU) for radio over fiber (RoF) distributed antenna systems. The proposed RAU architecture optimizes energy efficiency by operating directly at mm-wave frequencies, and spectral efficiency by selecting re-configurable RF photonic filters topology. Additionally, it achieves frequency agility by rejecting interferes and a small form factor by utilizing the SOI photonics process. Two photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that act as downlink and uplink units are presented while occupying a total area of 12.33 mm2. The downlink selects a single channel within the desired frequency range, while the uplink rejects up to four interferes. The building blocks of the proposed architecture are discussed and their design consideration and parameters are shown. Then, a comprehensive system analysis of the proposed RAU architecture including key performance indicators is presented. A scalable 5-channel system is demonstrated each with a 3-dB Bandwidth of 5-GHz. Moreover, this architecture can be continuously tuned and re-configured within a wide frequency range to cover all 5-channels. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first wideband modular and re-configurable mm-wave RAU that covers the entire mm-wave sub-45-GHz band implemented in silicon photonics.

Amorphization and Ablation of Crystalline Silicon Using Ultrafast Lasers: Dependencies on the Pulse Duration and Irradiation Wavelength

AbstractUsing lasers to achieve controlled crystallographic phase changes in silicon with high spatial precision promises new manufacturing solutions in semiconductor technologies, including silicon photonics. Recent demonstrations of improved amorphization thicknesses position ultrafast lasers as an optimum tool to meet current challenges. Here, the literature on silicon transformations is reviewed and complemented with new experimental data. This includes amorphization and ablation response as a function of pulse duration (τ = 13.9 to 134 fs at λ = 800 nm) and laser wavelength (λ = 258 to 4000 nm with τ = 200 fs pulses). For pulse duration‐dependent studies on Si(111), the amorphization fluence threshold decreases with shorter durations, emphasizing the significance of non‐linear absorption in the range of considered conditions. For wavelength‐dependent studies, the amorphization threshold increases sharply from λ = 258 to 1030 nm, followed by near‐constant behavior up to λ = 3000 nm. Conversely, the ablation threshold fluence increases in these specified ranges. Differences in the obtained amorphization thicknesses on Si(111) and Si(100) are also discussed, identifying an anomalously large fluence range for amorphization at λ = 258 nm. Finally, the question of the lateral resolution, shown as independent of the interaction nonlinearity is addressed.