n-p-n silicon lateral phototransistors for hybrid integrated optical circuits

An etched mesa silicon lateral phototransistor (EMS-LPT) suitable for detecting the light signal from optical channel waveguides has been designed and fabricated. In this paper both n⁺-p-n⁺uniform base and n⁺-p-p^--n⁺double-diffused EMS-LPT's are reported. The photoactive region of the EMS-LPT is highly localized and can be easily coupled either via an evanescent field or to a grating coupler on a channel waveguide. Light coupling, gain, speed, and signal-to-noise ratio of the device are thereby greatly improved. The fabrication techniques of the EMS-LPT's are compatible with those of MOSFET's, permitting integration of multiple EMS-LPT's and MOSFET load transistors to form optically addressed inverters on the same silicon chip. By flip-chip bonding LiNbO3and silicon substrates and coupling LiNbO3channel waveguides to EMS-LPT's via grating couplers, we produce electrooptic switches with optical input and output.     

Optical I/O Technology for Tera-Scale Computing

This paper describes both a near term and a long term optical interconnect solution, the first based on a packaging architecture and the second based on a monolithic photonic CMOS architecture. The packaging-based optical I/O architecture implemented with 90 nm CMOS transceiver circuits, 1 × 12 VCSEL/detector arrays and polymer waveguides achieves 10 Gb/s/channel at 11 pJ/b. A simple TX pre-emphasis technique enables a potential 18 Gb/s at 9.6 pJ/b link efficiency. Analysis predicts this architecture to reach less than 1 pJ/b at the 16 nm CMOS technology node. A photonic CMOS process enables higher bandwidth and lower energy-per-bit for chip-to-chip optical I/O through integration of electro-optical polymer based modulators, silicon nitride waveguides and polycrystalline germanium (Ge) detectors into a CMOS logic process. Experimental results for the photonic CMOS ring resonator modulators and Ge detectors demonstrate performance above 20 Gb/s and analysis predicts that photonic CMOS will eventually enable energy efficiency better than 0.3 pJ/b with 16 nm CMOS. Optical interconnect technologies such as these using multi-lane communication or wavelength division multiplexing have the potential to achieve TB/s interconnect and enable platforms suitable for the tera-scale computing era.     

硅基波导、光探测器和CMOS电路的集成

对于集成光学器件和微电子电路制作，应用了驻波监控指示技术（ＳＷＡＭＩ）、局部氧化技术（ＬＯＣＯＳ）、光波导和探测器的平接、漏波，以及镜耦合技术。文章介绍了硅基光波导、光探测器和ＣＭＯＳ电路的单片集成技术。讨论了集成工艺以及静态和动态测量结果     

High-Speed Optical Interconnect Coupler Based on Soft Lithography Ribbons

In this paper, high-speed optical ribbon couplers for card-to-backplane interconnect applications are presented. The ribbon couplers are based on evanescent coupling between flexible multimode waveguide arrays. A soft lithographic technique is utilized to fabricate the ribbons. A flexible nonterminating optical data bus has been developed. Using BeamPROP software, we simulated the evanescent light coupling between two closely spaced ribbon waveguides to study the effects of waveguides separation, interaction length, and misalignment on coupling efficiency. Further experimental analysis and tests have been performed to quantify these effects. To investigate data transmission performance, a 12-channel optical interconnect link has been assembled. Experimental results demonstrated successful evanescent coupling; facilitating auto alignment coupling between card and backplane ribbon waveguides at data speeds as high as 10 Gb/s per channel. The evident high-speed interconnect performance and rapid ribbon prototyping approach can result in overall lower cost coupler fabrication for prospective optical interconnect applications.      

Grating-assisted coupling of light between semiconductor and glasswaveguides

Floquet-Bloch theory is used to calculate the electromagnetic fields in a leaky-mode grating-assisted directional coupler (LM-GADC) fabricated with semiconductor and glass materials. One waveguide is made from semiconductor materials (refractive index ≈3.2) while the second is made from glass (refractive index ≈1.45). The coupling of light between the two waveguides is assisted by a grating fabricated at the interface of the glass and semiconductor materials. Unlike typical GADC structures where power is exchanged between two waveguides using bound modes, this semiconductor/glass combination couples power between two waveguides using a bound mode (confined to the semiconductor) and a leaky mode (associated with the glass). The characteristics of the LM-GADC are discussed. Such LM-GADC couplers are expected to have numerous applications in areas such as laser-fiber coupling, photonic integrated circuits, and on-chip optical clock distribution. Analyses indicate that simple LM-GADC's can couple over 40% of the optical power from one waveguide to another in distances less than 1.25 mm     

Prismatic Coupling Structure for Intrachip Global Communication

Metal wires for global communication on integrated circuits have become problematic as device integration densities scale with rapid advancements in CMOS technology. They may not be able to deliver the growing bandwidth requirements of future microprocessors. Optical interconnect technologies may provide a solution to meet this challenge and extend Moore's law. In this paper, a novel guided-wave optical interconnect fabric aiming to replace the slow global metal interconnections is proposed and analyzed. The reflection-mode multiple-quantum-well-modulator-based optical interconnection approach is projected to achieve high coupling efficiency and be compatible with standard CMOS processes. The key notion is a prismatic coupling structure that is embedded in the optical waveguide and therefore has a very small footprint in the circuit. Ray-trace and finite-difference time-domain simulation results predict high coupling efficiency of this structure.      

Study of High Efficiency Grating Couplers for Silicon-Based Horizontal Slot Waveguides

Horizontal slot waveguides are becoming a very promising waveguide configuration for silicon photonics nonlinear applications. In this letter, the design of grating couplers for highly efficient coupling between standard single-mode fibers and horizontal slot waveguides is reported. Parameters have been optimized to achieve maximum coupling efficiency for lambda = 1550 nm and transverse magnetic polarization. Maximum coupling efficiencies of 61% and 48% have been achieved for negative and positive detuned grating couplers, respectively, by means of simulations. A 35-nm 1-dB bandwidth spectral response has also been obtained.     

Polymer-Waveguide-Based Board-Level Optical Interconnect Technology for Datacom Applications

On the basis of a realized 12$,times,$ 10 Gb/s card-to-card optical link demonstrator, the capabilities of a polymer-waveguide-based board-level optical interconnect technology are presented. The conception and realization of the modular building blocks required for this board-level optical interconnect technology are described in detail. In particular, we report on the fabrication and characterization of board-integrated optical low-loss polymer waveguides that are compatible with printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing processes. We also explain our fully passive alignment technique, superseding time-consuming active positioning of components and connectors. To realize optical transceiver modules comprising vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays with laser drivers and photodetector arrays with transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs), a mass-production concept based on wafer-level processing has been elaborated and successfully implemented.      

Fully embedded board-level guided-wave optoelectronic interconnects

A fully embedded board-level guided-wave optical interconnection is presented to solve the packaging compatibility problem. All elements involved in providing high-speed optical communications within one board are demonstrated. Experimental results on a 12-channel linear array of thin-film polyimide waveguides, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) (42 μm), and silicon MSM photodetectors (10 μm) suitable for a fully embedded implementation are provided. Two types of waveguide couplers, titled gratings and 45° total internal reflection mirrors, are fabricated within the polyimide waveguides. Thirty-five to near 100% coupling efficiencies are experimentally confirmed. By doing so, all the real estate of the PC board surface are occupied by electronics, and therefore one only observes the performance enhancement due to the employment of optical interconnection but does not worry about the interface problem between electronic and optoelectronic components unlike conventional approaches. A high speed 1-48 optical clock signal distribution network for Cray T-90 super computer is demonstrated. A waveguide propagation loss of 0.21 dB/cm at 850 nm was experimentally confirmed for the 1-48 clock signal distribution and for point-to-point interconnects. The feasibility of using polyimide as the interlayer dielectric material to form hybrid three-dimensional interconnects is also demonstrated. Finally, a waveguide bus architecture is presented, which provides a realistic bidirectional broadcasting transmission of optical signals. Such a structure is equivalent to such IEEE standard bus protocols as VME bus and FutureBus     

Compact and Highly Efficient Grating Couplers Between Optical Fiber and Nanophotonic Waveguides

We present high-efficiency grating couplers for coupling between a single-mode fiber and nanophotonic waveguides, fabricated both in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and InP membranes using BenzoCycloButene wafer bonding. The coupling efficiency is substantially increased by adding a gold bottom mirror to the structures. The measured coupling efficiency to fiber is 69% for SOI grating couplers and 56% for bonded InP membrane grating couplers     

Predictions of CMOS compatible on-chip optical interconnect

Interconnect has become a primary bottleneck in the integrated circuit design process. As CMOS technology is scaled, the design requirements of delay, power, bandwidth, and noise due to the on-chip interconnects have become more stringent. New design challenges are continuously emerging, such as delay uncertainty induced by process and environmental variations. It has become increasingly difficult for conventional copper interconnect to satisfy these design requirements. On-chip optical interconnect has been considered as a potential substitute for electrical interconnect. In this paper, predictions of the performance of CMOS compatible optical devices are made based on current state-of-the-art optical technologies. Electrical and optical interconnects are compared for various design criteria based on these predictions. The critical dimensions beyond which optical interconnect becomes advantageous over electrical interconnect are shown to be approximately one-tenth of the chip edge length at the 22 nm technology node.     

Blazed grating couplers on LiNbO3optical channel waveguides and their applications to integrated optical circuits

Blazed grating couplers on LiNbO3optical channel waveguides have been successfully designed, fabricated, and evaluated. A reactive ion beam etching technique was used to shape the groove profile of grating couplers. A large decay factor of 600 dB/cm along optical channel waveguide was obtained. The air coupling intensity ratio of 8:1 between positive and negative light propagation directions for ion beam angle of 55° indicated a strong blaze effect. Highly efficient optical coupling from channel waveguide to Si phototransistor was also demonstrated.     

硅基波导光栅耦合器与波导传输损耗的研究

对硅(Si)基波导光栅耦合器的设计与耦合性能进 行了研究。采用本征模展开法对光栅耦合器进行设计与 优化,通过实验测量了光栅的耦合性能,并对均匀光栅、自聚焦光栅和反射光栅等3种光栅 耦合器的耦合 性能进行了比较,耦合效率分别达到了达到47.86、56. 36和48.98%,自聚焦光栅可以有效改善光纤到 光纤的传输效果,耦合效率提高了8.5%。通过实验测量了基于耦合光 栅技术的Si基条形波导和槽型波导的 传输损耗,结果显示,条形波导和槽型波导的传输损耗分别为2.34d B/cm和6.31dB/mm。     

倾斜耦合的光栅耦合器研究进展

近年来,片上光子集成技术备受关注并飞速发展,但在光纤与芯片、芯片与芯片上实现高效、高可靠性的光耦合仍是难题。光栅因其制作简单,位置灵活,对准容差大及可实现片上测试等一系列优点而备受研究者的关注。目前在绝缘体上硅(SOI)平台和绝缘体上铌酸锂(LNOI)平台上已开发出大量的光栅耦合器件,并获得较高的耦合效率和大带宽。该文主要介绍光栅耦合器的工作原理和主要性能指标,阐述了均匀光栅、倾斜光栅、闪耀光栅和切趾光栅耦合的特点及现阶段进展,并对具有代表性的一维光栅性能指标进行了比较。结果表明,分布式布喇格反射镜和金属反射镜可有效地提升光栅耦合效率。此外,该文还介绍了基于LNOI平台的几种光栅耦合器,其可帮助研究者们梳理光栅耦合器的发展历程、研究现状及各耦合器的特点,为未来研究提供一定的参考。     

Joining microelectronics and microionics: Nerve cells and brain tissue on semiconductor chips

The direct electrical interfacing of semiconductor chips with individual nerve cells and with brain tissue is considered. At first, the structure of the cell–chip contact is described and then the electrical coupling is characterized between ion channels, the electrical elements of nerve cells, and transistors and capacitors of silicon chips. On that basis, the signal transmission between microelectronics and microionics is implemented in both directions. Simple hybrid systems are assembled with neuron pairs and with small neuronal networks. Finally, the interfacing with capacitors and transistors is extended to brain tissue on silicon. The application of CMOS chips with capacitively coupled recording sites allows an imaging of neuronal activity with high spatiotemporal resolution. Goal of the work is an integration of neuronal network dynamics and digital electronics on a microscopic level for applications in brain research, medical prosthetics and information technology.     

CMOS-compatible optical rib waveguides defined by local oxidation of silicon

The local oxidation of silicon process is shown to be an effective means of defining optical rib waveguides in silicon on insulator while maintaining the surface planarity required for CMOS integration. Experimental waveguides have shown singlemode operation and losses of less than 1 dB/cm in the telecommunications band around 1550 nm     

A high-efficiency grating coupler between single-mode fiber and silicon-on-insulator waveguide

We present the design of a diffractive grating structure and get the optimal parameters which can achieve more than 75% coupling efficiency (CE) between single-mode fiber and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide through 2D finite-different time-domain (FDTD) simulation. The proposed architecture has a uniform structure with no bottom reflection element or silicon overlay. The structure, including grating couplers, adiabatic tapers and interconnection waveguides can be fabricated on the SOI waveguide with only a single electron-beam lithography (ICP) step, which is CMOS-compatible. A relatively high coupling efficiency of 47.2% was obtained at a wavelength of 1562 nm.     

Si基芯片光互连研究进展

综述了近年来Si基光互连,尤其是和微电子工艺兼容程度较高的芯片间和芯片内的光互连的进展。Luxtera公司已经率先实现了除光源外的所有光子器件的单片集成,IBM也提出并开始实施微电子学领域的片内光互连的技术方案,但Si基光互连大部分还停留在各构建单元器件性能提高的阶段,例如Si基发光、Si波导、Si波导耦合器、Si基调制器及光开关、Si基探测器以及用于光波导器件阵列的WDM技术。此外,还对Si基光源、光纤耦合、偏振敏感性以及光子器件的热稳定性提出了看法。总之,随着各种构建单元器件的综合性能、CMOS工艺兼容度、制备成品率的提高以及光电融合单片集成工艺的突破,光互连最终会成为现实,并引发微电子技术和IC行业的下一场革命。     

Wavelength-selective coupling between vertically integratedthin-film waveguides via supermode by a pair of grating couplers

Grating coupling between vertically integrated waveguides via supermode was discussed and demonstrated. Two thin-film waveguides with grating couplers were stacked on a substrate. A guided wave in one waveguide is converted by a grating coupler to a supermode propagating contradirectionally, and then converted by another grating coupler to a guided wave in the other waveguide. The coupling shows high wavelength selectivity, and the wavelength-division add/drop multiplexing function can be combined. A demonstrator was designed and fabricated. Theoretically predicted coupling efficiency was almost 100% with wavelength selectivity of 2 nm, while the experimentally obtained value was 40% in the efficiency and 1 nm in the selectivity     

Wavelength-selective coupling among three vertically integratedoptical waveguides by grating couplers

Selective coupling between two specified optical waveguides in a multistory device via radiation modes was proposed and discussed. Three single-TE-mode waveguides consisting of a Corning 7059 glass guiding core layer and a SiO₂ waveguide-separation layer were stacked on a Si substrate with grating couplers. The coupling length was 0.5 mm. Contradirectional couplings from the first story to the second story at a wavelength of 814 nm and from the first story to the third story at 819 nm with sharp wavelength dependence of 0.5-nm full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) were experimentally demonstrated