Ultralow drive voltage silicon traveling-wave modulator

Opt Express. 2012 May 21;20(11):12014-20. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.012014.

Abstract

There has been great interest in the silicon platform as a material system for integrated photonics. A key challenge is the development of a low-power, low drive voltage, broadband modulator. Drive voltages at or below 1 Vpp are desirable for compatibility with CMOS processes. Here we demonstrate a CMOS-compatible broadband traveling-wave modulator based on a reverse-biased pn junction. We demonstrate operation with a drive voltage of 0.63 Vpp at 20 Gb/s, a significant improvement in the state of the art, with an RF energy consumption of only 200 fJ/bit.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electric Power Supplies
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Optical Devices*
  • Semiconductors*
  • Telecommunications / instrumentation*