This talk discusses the application of silicon photonics technology to LiDAR using the Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) method. The presentation will feature measurement results from silicon photonic-based FMCW LiDAR systems and will highlight future developments for the technology. Additionally, real results, as demonstrated by the first fully integrated silicon photonics FMCW chip, will be shared with a focus on the value of critical vector measurements of polarization intensity, velocity and motion. The presentation will explain how coherent 4D imaging can take full advantage of all of the information that the light carries back when interacting with objects.
Wei Qian, Dazeng Feng, Hong Liang, Joe Zhou, Yong Liu, Shirong Liao, Cheng-Chih Kung, Joan Fong, B. Jonathan Luff, Roshanak Shafiiha, Daniel Lee, Wayne White, Mehdi Asghari
We report a novel, compact design of high speed Ge photo detector integrated with an echelle demultiplexer on a large
cross-section SOI platform with low insertion loss and low fiber coupling loss. A narrow Ge photo detector waveguide is
directly butt-coupled to a Si waveguide to ensure low loss and high speed operation. With a Ge detector size of only
0.8×15 μm2, the device achieves greater than 30 GHz modulation speed. The results indicate that the device speed is
transit time limited and that the detector performance benefits from the high electron and hole drift velocity of
germanium. The dark current of the detector is less than 0.5μA at -1V. This small footprint high speed Si-based WDM
receiver can be fabricated using CMOS processes and used for multichannel terabit data transmission with low
manufacturing cost.
The need for low-energy high bandwidth optical solutions is driving the acceptance of silicon photonics as the platform
of choice to address connectivity bottlenecks. Kotura has focused on the development of a manufacturable silicon
photonics platform to demonstrate the practical realization of this technology. In this paper, we will review the progress
in the development of key photonics components on the 3 μm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform, including mode
transformers, variable optical attenuators (VOAs), wavelength division multiplexers, Ge photodetectors, and Ge
modulators. We will also review recent advances in the monolithic integration of the key building blocks to form a highperformance
Terabit/s wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) receiver.
Electroabsorption from GeSi on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is expected to have promising
potential for optical modulation due to its low power consumption, small footprint, and more
importantly, wide spectral bandwidth for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) applications.
Germanium, as a bulk crystal, has a sharp absorption edge with a strong coefficient at the direct
band gap close to the C-band wavelength. Unfortunately, when integrated onto Silicon, or when
alloyed with dilute Si for blueshifting to the C-band operation, this strong Franz-Keldysh (FK)
effect in bulk Ge is expected to degrade. Here, we report experimental results for GeSi epi when
grown under a variety of conditions such as different Si alloy content, under selective versus non
selective growth modes for both Silicon and SOI substrates. We compare the measured FK effect
to the bulk Ge material.
Reduced pressure CVD growth of GeSi heteroepitaxy with various Si content was studied
by different characterization tools: X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM),
secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), Hall measurement and optical transmission/absorption
to analyze performance for 1550 nm operation. State-of-the-art GeSi epi with low defect density
and low root-mean-square (RMS) roughness were fabricated into pin diodes and tested in a
surface-normal geometry. They exhibit low dark current density of 5 mA/cm2 at 1V reverse bias
with breakdown voltages of 45 Volts. Strong electroabsorption was observed in our GeSi alloy
with 0.6% Si content having maximum absorption contrast of Δα/α ~5 at 1580 nm at 75 kV/cm.
We present a hybrid integration technology platform for the compact integration of best-in-breed VLSI and photonic
circuits. This hybridization solution requires fabrication of ultralow parasitic chip-to-chip interconnects on the candidate
chips and assembly of these by a highly accurate flip-chip bonding process. The former is achieved by microsolder bump
interconnects that can be fabricated by wafer-scale processes, and are shown to have average resistance <1 ohm/bump
and capacitance <25fF/bump. This suite of technologies was successfully used to hybrid integrate high speed VLSI chips
built on the 90nm bulk CMOS technology node with silicon photonic modulators and detectors built on a 130nm
CMOS-photonic platform and an SOI-photonic platform; these particular hybrids yielded Tx and Rx components with
energies as low as 320fJ/bit and 690fJ/bit, respectively. We also report on challenges and ongoing efforts to fabricate
microsolder bump interconnects on next-generation 40nm VLSI CMOS chips.
Silicon-based optical interconnects are expected to provide high bandwidth and low power consumption solutions for
chip-level communication applications, due to their electronics integration capability, proven manufacturing record and
attractive price volume curve. In order to compete with electrical interconnects, the energy requirement is projected to be
sub-pJ per bit for an optical link in chip to chip communication. Such low energies pose significant challenges for the
optical components used in these applications. In this paper, we review several low power photonic components
developed at Kotura for DARPA's Ultraperformance Nanophotonic Intrachip Communications (UNIC) project. These
components include high speed silicon microring modulators, wavelength (de)multiplexers using silicon cascaded
microrings, low power electro-optic silicon switches, low loss silicon routing waveguides, and low capacitance
germanium photodetectors. Our microring modulators demonstrate an energy consumption of ~ 10 fJ per bit with a drive
voltage of 1 V. Silicon routing waveguides have a propagation loss of < 0.3 dB/cm, enabling a propagation length of a
few tens of centimeters. The germanium photodetectors can have a low device capacitance of a few fF, a high
responsivity up to 1.1 A/W and a high speed of >30 GHz. These components are potentially sufficient to construct a full
optical link with an energy consumption of less than 1 pJ per bit.
Scaling of high performance, many-core, computing systems calls for disruptive solutions to provide ultra energy
efficient and high bandwidth density interconnects at very low cost. Silicon photonics is viewed as a promising solution.
For silicon photonics to prevail and penetrate deeper into the computing system interconnection hierarchy, it requires
innovative optical devices, novel circuits, and advanced integration. We review our recent progress in key building
blocks toward sub pJ/bit optical link for inter/intra-chip applications, ultra-low power silicon photonic transceivers. In
particular, compact reverse biased silicon ring modulator was developed with high modulation bandwidth sufficient for
15Gbps modulation, very small junction capacitance of ~50fF, low voltage swing of 2V, high extinction ratio (>7dB)
and low optical loss (~2dB at on-state). Integrated with low power CMOS driver circuits using low parasitic microsolder
bump technique, we achieved record low power consumption of 320fJ/bit at 5Gbps data rate. Stable operation with biterror-
rate better than 10-13 was accomplished with simple thermal management. We further review the first hybrid
integrated silicon photonic receiver based on Ge waveguide photo detector using the same integration technique, with
which high energy efficiency of 690fJ/bit, and sensitivity of ~18.9dBm at 5Gbps data rate for bit-error-rate of 10-12 were
achieved.
We report a very compact (1.6μmx10μm) and low dark current (20nA) Germanium p-i-n photodetector integrated on
0.25μm thick silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides. A thin layer of Germanium was selective-epitaxially grown on top
of SOI waveguides. Light is evanescently coupled into Germanium layer from the bottom SOI waveguide. The device
demonstrates superior performance with demonstrated responsivity of 0.9A/W and 0.56A/W at wavelength of 1300nm
and 1550nm, respectively, and dark current less than 20nA at -0.5V bias. The 3dB bandwidth of the device is measured
to be 23GHz at -0.5V bias.
The Ultra-performance Nanophotonic Intrachip Communication (UNIC) project aims to achieve unprecedented high-density,
low-power, large-bandwidth, and low-latency optical interconnect for highly compact supercomputer systems.
This project, which has started in 2008, sets extremely aggressive goals on power consumptions and footprints for
optical devices and the integrated VLSI circuits. In this paper we will discuss our challenges and present some of our
first-year achievements, including a 320 fJ/bit hybrid-bonded optical transmitter and a 690 fJ/bit hybrid-bonded optical
receiver. The optical transmitter was made of a Si microring modulator flip-chip bonded to a 90nm CMOS driver with
digital clocking. With only 1.6mW power consumption measured from the power supply voltages and currents, the
transmitter exhibits a wide open eye with extinction ratio >7dB at 5Gb/s. The receiver was made of a Ge waveguide
detector flip-chip bonded to a 90nm CMOS digitally clocked receiver circuit. With 3.45mW power consumption, the
integrated receiver demonstrated -18.9dBm sensitivity at 5Gb/s for a BER of 10-12. In addition, we will discuss our
Mux/Demux strategy and present our devices with small footprints and low tuning energy.
In this paper we present a computing system that uniquely leverages the bandwidth, density, and
latency advantages of silicon photonic interconnects to enable highly compact supercomputerscale
systems. We present the details of an optically enabled "macrochip" which is a set of
contiguous, optically-interconnected chips that deploy wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM)
enabled by silicon photonics. We describe the system architecture and the WDM point-to-point
network implementation of a "macrochip" providing bisection bandwidth of 10 TBps and discuss
system and device level challenges, constraints, and the critical technologies needed to implement
this system. We present a roadmap to lowering the energy-per-bit of a silicon photonic
interconnect and highlight recent advances in silicon photonics under the UNIC program that
facilitate implementation of a "macrochip" system made of arrayed chips.
We review 10Gb/sec Optical Proximity Communication realized with packaged chips that carry SOI
optical waveguides and reflecting mirrors micromachined in silicon. The high precision chip to chip
alignment and placement was enabled by a new packaging concept based on the co-integration of
pyramidal pit features defined by anisotropic silicon etch and matching high precision micro-spheres. We
support this novel packaging approach with measured optical transmission data and discuss the extent of it
towards other applications of Proximity Communication.
A Si ridge waveguide integrated with a lateral p-i-n diode forms a basic optical amplitude
and phase modulator. An efficient Si modulator is expected to establish a carrier concentration in
the waveguide with a minimum amount of electrical drive power.
We show that P+ and N+ doping sections that are recessed below the slab lead to lower power
consumption. This configuration is compared with alternative doping section arrangements. The
optimum arrangement results in less Si active area and reduced carrier recombination.
Effective carrier lifetimes of Si modulators based upon a lateral p-i-n structure were measured using
the reverse-recovery method. Modulators of two different waveguide dimensions were
characterized using this approach. Two additional lifetime measurement methods were used to
check against this method and showed consistent results. Finally the physical meaning of this
measured effective carrier lifetime was discussed in reference to its relationship with the diode
transit time, surface recombination velocity and the bulk carrier lifetime.
Recent deployments of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) represent the fastest growing sector of the telecommunication
industry. The emergence of the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonics presents an opportunity to exploit the wide
availability of silicon foundries and high-quality low-cost substrates for addressing the FTTH market. We have now
demonstrated that a monolithically integrated FTTH demultiplexer can be built using the SOI platform. The SOI filter
comprises a monolithically integrated planar reflective grating and a multi-stage Mach-Zehnder interferometer that were
fabricated using a CMOS-compatible SOI process with the core thickness of 3.0 ?m and optically insulating layer of
silica with a thickness of 0.375 ?m. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer was used to coarsely separate the 1310 nm
channel from 1490 and 1550 nm channels. Subsequently, a planar reflective grating was used to demultiplex the 1490
and 1550 nm channels. The manufactured device showed the 1-dB bandwidth of 110 nm for the 1310 nm channel. For
the 1490 nm and 1550 nm channels, the 1-dB bandwidth was measured to be 30 nm. The adjacent channel isolation
between the 1490 nm and 1550 nm channels was better than 32 dB. The optical isolation between the 1310 nm and
1490 and 1550 nm channels was better than 45 dB. Applications of the planar reflective gratings in the FTTH networks are discussed.
While investment in sub-wavelength silicon photonics research has gained popularity, Kotura has forged significant
customer traction with first generation silicon-photonics products by focusing on manufacturable designs and processes.
This paper reviews recent gains in engineering developments where mature monolithic and hybrid methods are
integrated to form high-performance manufacturable products with proven long-term reliability. Components and
methods are described that lead to photonic modules and subsystems suitable for automated manufacturing techniques.
The principles of operation and general design criteria for PIN diode variable optical attenuators (VOAs) realized from silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide structures are described. We present as a benchmark the performance of devices based on the established VOA produced by Bookham Technology Plc, and demonstrate 25dB attenuation at less than 70mW with novel recessed dopant geometries. Optical and electrical simulation results for new, smaller cross-section VOA structures based on rib waveguides utilizing a 2mm high guiding layer are detailed and discussed. Experimental results demonstrating the successful fabrication of these structures and the significant improvements in performance attained are presented. In particular we show that the attenuation efficiency can be 30% higher than that of the larger structure, and that modulation bandwidths may approach 10MHz.
Optical networks are becoming a reality as the physical layer of high-performance telecommunication networks. The deployment of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technology allows the extended exploitation of installed fibers now facing an increasing traffic capacity demand. Performances of such systems can be degraded by wide variations of the optical channel power following propagation in the network. Therefore a tilt control of optical amplifiers in WDM networks and dynamic channel power regulation and equalisation in cross-connected nodes is necessary. An important tool for the system designer is the variable optical attenuator (VOA). We present the design and the realization of newly developed VOAs using the ASOC technology. This technology refers to the fabrication of integrated optics components in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material. The device is based on the light absorption by the free-carriers that are injected in the core of a rib waveguide from a p-i-n diode. The devices incorporate horizontally and vertically tapered waveguides for minimum fiber coupling loss. The p-i-n diode for carrier injection into the active region of the rib waveguide was optimised in order to enhance the attenuation. One major advantage of the ASOC technology is the possibility of monolithic integration of many integrated optics devices on one chip. In the light of this the paper illustrates the result of characterisation of multichannel VOAs.
ASOCTM developed by Bookham Technology Ltd is based on Silicon on Insulator ridge waveguide technology. Bookham has demonstrated the low cost, high volume manufacturing capability of ASOCTM by offering a range of transmitter, receiver and transceiver products to the access market. This range was recently complemented by a number of products in the sensor and DWDM markets. Additional products are currently being developed which illustrate the capability of this technology to provide low volume, high functionality, highly integrated components. In this paper, attention will be given to the range of functionality offered by ASOC and their integration potential.
ASOCTM technology refers to the fabrication of integrated optics components in silicon-on-insulator material. The technology is based on the formation of single-mode rib waveguides offering excellent properties and numerous advantages for many applications at 1.3 and 1.55 micrometer wavelength. The advantages offered by ASOCTM technology include low-loss, low birefringence waveguides, well established mass production capability, and the availability of both hybrid and monolithic techniques for active element integration. The overall enabling technology lies in the successful development of a set of waveguide-based functional elements that can be assembled into practical integrated optics devices. The most fundamental waveguide elements include straight waveguides, bends, couplers and fiber- waveguide interfaces. Additional elements such as doped structures and waveguide gratings are often required. Discrete lasers and photo-detectors are also incorporated into ASOCTM technology to provide hybrid devices with a wide range of functionality. The technology is currently employed to manufacture devices for a range of applications in telecommunications. These include a single-fiber bi- directional optical transceiver, a DWDM laser and an optical attenuator.
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