Silicon waveguide modulator based on carrier depletion in periodically interleaved PN junctions

We present the design and numerical simulation results for a silicon waveguide modulator based on carrier depletion in a linear array of periodically interleaved PN junctions that are oriented perpendicular to the light propagation direction. In this geometry the overlap of the optical waveguide mode with the depletion region is much larger than in designs using a single PN junction aligned parallel to the waveguide propagation direction. Simulations predict that an optimized modulator will have a high modulation efficiency of 0.56 V.cm for a 3V bias, with a 3 dB frequency bandwidth of over 40 GHz. This device has a length of 1.86 mm with a maximum intrinsic loss of 4.3 dB at 0V bias, due to free carrier absorption. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Ministry of Science and Technology of China 2006CB302803 National Science Foundation of China 60537010 60877036This work is a part of a collaboration between Institute for Microstructural Sciences (IMS) National Research Council (NRC) Canada and Institute of Semiconductors (IS) Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It was supported in part by the National 973 Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2006CB302803) and the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60537010 and 60877036).