Photonics Research Group

http://photonics.intec.UGent.be

Silicon Photonics
Roel Baets
Ghent University IMEC
roel.baets@ugent.be
www.photonics.intec.ugent.be

ESA February 9 2006

Acknowledgements
z

The Photonic Research Group at Ghent University IMEC

The European Union

IST-PICCO
IST-PICMOS
IST-ePIXnet
z

The European Space Agency

The Belgian IAP-PHOTON network

The Flemish Institute for the industrial

advancement of Scientific and
Technological Research (IWT)

The Flemish Fund for Scientific

Research (FWO-Vlaanderen)

The Silicon Process division at IMEC

The P-line at IMEC

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Photonics Research Group

Outline
Silicon Photonics: why and how?
Passive wavelength routers in Silicon
Active photonic functions in Silicon
Silicon photonics: what for?

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Photonics Research Group

Silicon Photonics: why and how?

Why?
Functionality + performance
Technology
Cost
How?
Wafer-level fabrication
Packaging

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Photonics Research Group

Silicon photonics
Functionality and performance:
spectacular breakthroughs in last 2 years
low loss waveguides (IMEC, NTT, IBM)
compact wavelength routers (IMEC)
ultra-compact microcavities (U. Kyoto)
>>10 Gb/s receivers (LETI)
10 Gb/s modulators (INTEL, LUxtera)
Raman Silicon laser (INTEL)
(velocity tunable) slow light (IBM)
all-optical switching + -conversion (NICT+IMEC)
integration with CMOS (Luxtera)
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Photonics Research Group

DARPA: EPIC
Objectives
z

Si nanophotonics with CMOS processes

Application-specific EPIC

New photonic devices in Si

(lasers, wavelength converters, amplifiers, ...)

Partners
z

MIT

Luxtera

Sun

Freescale

Budget: 12M$
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www.darpa.mil/mto/epic
Photonics Research Group

Nanophotonic waveguides
Silicon on Insulator
z

Transparent at telecom wavelengths

(1.55m and 1.3m)

High refractive index contrast

in-plane: 3.45(Si) to 1.0 (air)

out-of-plane: 3.45 (Si) to 1.45 (SiO2)

Typical dimensions:

Thickness: 200 nm

Width: 500 nm

Required accuracy: 1-10 nm

silica
Si substrate

Compatible with CMOS processes

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Photonics Research Group

SOI-nanophotonic wires
Group

Date

h
[nm]

w
[nm]

loss
[dB/cm]

BOX
[um]

top
clad

Fab.

IMEC

Apr. '04

220

500

2.4

no

DUV

IBM

Apr. '04

220

445

3.6

no

EBeam

Cornell

Aug. '03

270

470

5.0

no

EBeam

NTT

Feb. '05

300
200

300
400

7.8
2.8

yes

EBeam

Yokohama

Dec. '02

320

400

105.0

no

EBeam

MIT

Dec. '01

200

500

32.0

yes

G-line

LETI / LPM

Apr. '05

300

300

15.0

yes

DUV

200

500

5.0

Columbia

Oct. 03

260

600

110.0

yes

EBeam

NEC

Oct. 04

300

300

19.0

yes

EBeam

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Photonics Research Group

Waveguide bends
Spirals
z

Long waveguides (up to 50mm)

Many bends (up to 560)

Excess bend loss [dB/90]

Transmission [dB]
600
-14

500

-12

# 90 bends

R = 5m
400

-10

300

-8

200

-6

100

-4

-2
0

20
40
Total length [mm]
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60

(b)

0.09dB/90
0.08
0.06
0.04

0.027dB/90
0.02
0

0.01dB/90
2

0.004dB/90
5

Photonics Research Group

Bends
Group
IBM

h
[nm]
220

w
[nm]
445

IMEC

220

500

NTT

300

300

Yokohama
MIT

320
200

400
500

LETI/LPM

220

500

Columbia

340

400

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Radius
[um]
1.0
2.0
5.0
1.0
2.0
5.0
2.0
3.0
1.0
1.0
resonant
2.0
5.0

Loss
[dB/90]
0.086
0.013
0
0.09
0.027
0.004
0.46
0.17
3
0.5
0.3
0.15
0.05

resonant

1.3

Note
20 bends

> 500 bends

24 bends

12 bends
poly-Si
40
40
2 bends

Research
Group
(Table partly from Vlasov, McNab, Opt.Photonics
Expr. 04,
pp1630)

Nano ?
z

Feature size: a few 100nm

Required accuracy of features: < 10nm

d ncore
For wavelength-dependent structures:

f
~

d nclad

nm-scale wavelength accuracy : O(1nm) dimensional accuracy !

Fabrication ?
Classical optical lithography too low resolution
z E-beam lithography, focused ion beam too slow
Deep UV lithography (used for CMOS)
z

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248nm, 193nm
Fabrication in IMEC CMOS-pilot line
200mm wafers
Photonics Research Group

Fabricated Structures

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Photonics Research Group

Low cost
Wafer-scale fabrication on large wafers
with high yield
Wafer-scale testing
Low cost packaging

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Photonics Research Group

Coupling into SOI nanophotonics

Important:
1m

Low loss

Large bandwidth

Coupling tolerance

Fabrication

SOI wire

Limited extra processing

Tolerant to fabrication

Polarization

Single-mode fiber
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Photonics Research Group

Coupling to fiber Inverse taper

0.4m
0.2m

80nm

polished
facet

200 m

Group

h
[nm]

w
[nm]

L [um]

IBM (e-beam)

220

445

150.0

Cornell (e-b)

270

470

40.0

IMEC(DUV)

200

500

175.0

NTT (ebeam)
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300

200.0

tip
width
[nm]

Cladding
Material

Cladd
ing
Size

Loss

2x2

< 1dB

100.0 SiO2

?x?

< 4dB

175.0 Polymer

3x1.3

< 2dB

75.0 Polymer

60.0 Polymer/Si3N4
3x3Research0.8
Photonics
Group

Coupling to fiber Grating coupler

Alternative: Grating couplers
z Waferscale

testing

z Waferscale

low cost packaging

z High

alignment tolerance
1500
1520

Wavelength [nm]
1540

1560

1580

1600

From Fibre

Single mode
fiber core

Transmission [dB]

-5
-10
-15
-20
-25

33% efficiency
shallow fibre coupler
measured
deep trench
1dB = 35nm

Towards optical circuit

-30
-35
-40

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Photonics Research Group

Alignment tolerances
z

good alignment tolerances

measurement of P/Pmax versus fiber position

X
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Photonics
Group
Taillaert et al, JQE
38(7), Research
p. 949 (2002)

Coupling to fiber Grating coupler

Improved design
z

Apodise grating efficiency 63%

Add bottom reflector efficiency over 90%

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Photonics Research Group

Bonded SOI-coupler with gold bottom mirror

Theoretical coupling efficiency 78%
air
SiO2 box layer

Si

BCB-buffer

Au

waveguide

BCB

Pyrex-substrate

Grating coupler
s1_gold
s2_no_gold
s1_gold_fit
s2_no_gold_fit

0.80

Measured coupling efficiency:

69% (1.5 dB loss)

coupling efficiency

0.70
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
1500

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1520

1540

1560

wavelength

1580

1600

Photonics Research Group

Polarisation problem
Problem: nanophotonic circuits are highly
polarisation dependent
Our solution:
z

2D grating

Couples each fiber polarisation

in its own waveguide

In the waveguides the

polarisation is
the same (TE)

Allows for polarisation

diversity approach

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Single mode
fiber core

Research
Taillaert et al. PTL 15(9)Photonics
p. 1249
(2003)Group

Polarisation Diversity Circuit

light in

y x

single-mode
fiber
light out

2-D grating
x-polarization

y-polarization
split polarisations
identical
circuits

combine polarisations

2-D grating

x
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Photonics Research Group

Polarisation Diversity Circuit

light in

y x

single-mode
fiber
light out

Results 2D-coupler:
2-D grating
x-polarization

y-polarization

20 % efficiency
1dB bandwidth ~ 35 nm
Extinction ratio > 18dB

split polarisations
identical
circuits

combine polarisations

2-D grating

x
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Photonics Research Group

Outline
Silicon Photonics: why and how?
Passive wavelength routers in Silicon
Active photonic functions in Silicon
Silicon photonics: what for?

intec 2005

Photonics Research Group

WDM switched optical backplane

z

routing functionality (w/o switches): passive based routing using tunable lasers

Switching speed determined by tuning speed and by

burst-mode receivers

2 single fibers or MT fiber ribbon

Tx/Rx

Tx/Rx

.
.
passive

Tx/Rx
.
.

Tx/Rx
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WDM-router

.
.

Tx/Rx
.
.

Tx/Rx
Photonics Research Group

SOI wavelength router

4 x 4 wavelength router
z

Commercial connector with

8 fibers

Vertical fiber couplers

4 x 4 AWG

200 GHz channel spacing

chip
connector

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Photonics Research Group

SOI wavelength
chiprouter
connector

4 x 4 wavelength router

in

Four input and four output fibers

250 GHz channel spacing

shallow star couplers, 3m radius bends

3.5dB device insertion loss (waveguides and star

coupler), -12 to -14 dB sidelobes

reference waveguides

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Photonics Research Group

AWG

100m

16-channel AWG, 200GHz

200m x 500m area
z

-3dB insertion loss

-15dB to -20dB crosstalk

-5

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

-10

Transmission [dB]

-15

-20

-25

-30

-35

-40
1520

1525

1530

1535

1540

1545
wavelength [nm]

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1550

1555

1560

1565

1570

Photonics Research Group

Outline
Silicon Photonics: why and how?
Passive wavelength routers in Silicon
Active photonic functions in Silicon
Silicon photonics: what for?

intec 2005

Photonics Research Group

Active photonic functions

The options for modulation, switching, tuning
at high speed:
all Silicon approach
z

carrier density based optical effects + electric field

induced carrier sweep away

All-optical approach using two-photon absorption

Silicon + III-V-membrane integration

z

Using ultra-fast carrier lifetime in III-V

Also allowing light emission, gain, detection

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Photonics Research Group

Heterogeneous integration
Silicon waveguide structure

Heterogeneous circuit

Passive only

Active + passive
InP

InP

Silicon

Silicon

InP

InP

Polymer bonding
layer (BCB)
InP thin film

Silicon substrate
2um
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Photonics Research Group

Die-to-wafer bonding
Molecular bonding
z

InP on SOI-waveguides on CMOS

demonstrated (LETI, TRACIT)

Polymer bonding
z

Planarization and bonding in

single step (IMEC)

Ultra-thin bonding layers (sub

200nm demonstrated)

InP-layer

Si-wire

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Photonics Research Group

Die to wafer bonding technology

Good chemical resistance Processed SOI substrate

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InP/InGaAsP
thin
film
Photonics Research Group

InGaAs Detectors on SOI

To detectors
Measured response of 4 detectors

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Photonics Research Group

InP tunable ring resonators

1.20

Transmissie (a.u.)

1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
1530

1535

1540

1545

1550

1555

1560

Golflengte (nm)

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Photonics Research Group

InP Fabry-Perot lasers

z

Good functionality

Damp-heat testing as proof of reliability of the BCB

bonding process

Component 11
0.12
ref

P [mW]

0.1

48u
100u

0.08

250u

0.06

500u

0.04
0.02
0
0

100

200

300

I [mA]

400

500

damp heat testing (85C, 85% RH)

for 48, 100, 250 and 500 hours

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Photonics Research Group

Electrically pumped InP microdisk laser

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Photonics Research Group

InP DFB laser diode coupled to SOI

grating coupler

BCB

Low k

SOI/CMOS wafer
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Photonics Research Group

Outline
Silicon Photonics: why and how?
Passive wavelength routers in Silicon
Active photonic functions in Silicon
Silicon photonics: what for?

intec 2005

Photonics Research Group

Silicon photonics: what for?

With CMOS
Silicon
photonics
With InP
WDM components
switches for high speed backplanes
single chip high speed low power transceivers
on-chip optical interconnect
sensors
labs on a chip
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Photonics Research Group

Conclusion
Silicon photonics is a
generic technology
with a wide range of
high volume applications
for which the
industrial technology base
largely exists
today.
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Photonics Research Group