Experimental investigation on submicron rib waveguide microring/racetrack resonators in silicon-on-insulator

in experiment, characteristics of silicon microring/racetrack resonators in submicron rib waveguides have been systematically investigated. It is demonstrated that only a transverse-electric mode is guided for a ratio of slab height to rib height h/H = 0.5. Thus, these microring/racetrack resonators can only function for quasi-transverse-electric mode, while they get rid of transverse-magnetic polarization. Electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching were employed and improved to reduce side-wall roughness for low propagation loss and high performance resonators. Then, the effects of waveguide dimensions, coupling region design, waveguide roughness, and oxide cladding for the resonators have been considered and analyzed. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Paired interference 3-dB coupler based on SOI rib waveguides with anisotropic chemical wet etching

A 3-dB paired interference (PI) optical coupler in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based on rib waveguides with trapezoidal cross section was designed with simulation by a modified finite-difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM) and fabricated by potassium hydroxide (KOH) anisotropic chemical wet etching. Theoretically, tolerances of width, length, and port distance are more than 1, 100, and 1 mu m, respectively. Smooth interface was obtained with the propagation loss of 1.1 dB/cm at the wavelength of 1.55 mu m. The coupler has a good uniformity of 0.2 dB and low excess loss of less than 2 dB.

An investigation of the mode characteristics of SOI submicron rib waveguides using the film mode matching method

The mode characteristics of SOI (silicon-on-insulator) submicron rib waveguides are very different from those of micrometer-sized ones. Using the full-vector film mode matching method, we propose a simple criterion to determine whether a waveguide mode is guided or not. The single-mode condition for deep-etched waveguides is obtained using this criterion. We also obtain the inherent TM mode leakage and sharp cancelation effects due to TE-TM mode coupling in shallow-etched rib waveguides from numerical simulations, which agree well with the analytical results based on total internal reflection and interference theories.

Single-mode condition for silicon rib waveguides with large cross sections

The single-mode condition for silicon rib waveguides with large cross sections is obtained using a numerical method based on the finite-difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM). An ultrawide computation window is used to contain the wide mode profile near cutoff. Comparison with previous results shows that the formula predicted by the mode-matching technique is in a better agreement with our results. (C) 2004 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Single-mode condition for silicon rib waveguides with trapezoidal cross-section

Single-mode condition for silicon rib waveguides with trapezoidal cross-section was obtained using a numerical method based on imaginary-distance beam propagation method with non-uniform discretization. Both quasi-transverse-electric and quasi-transverse-magnetic modes were investigated. Simulated single-mode condition is given by a modified equation. Comparison with reported results shows that the Marcatili's method is in a better agreement with our results. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multimode interference 3-dB coupler in silicon-on-insulator based on silicon rib waveguides with trapezoidal cross section

A 3-dB multimode interference optical coupler based on rib waveguides with trapezoidal cross section was designed and fabricated on silicon-on-insulator wafer. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) anisotropic chemical etching of silicon was used to fabricate the waveguides to obtain smooth interface. A modified finite-difference beam propagation method was used to simulate the multimode rib waveguide with slope interfaces. The rms roughness of etching interface is as small as 1.49 nm. The propagation loss of the waveguide is 1.3 dB/cm at wavelength of 1.55 mum. The fabricated 3-dB coupler has a good uniformity of 0.2 dB.

A method for analyzing the coupling of 3-D tapered rib waveguides with fibers

The fields in 3-dimensional tapered waveguides are unstable compared with the fields in the straight waveguides. In the case of waveguide-to-fiber coupling and fiber-to-waveguide coupling, a sequence of short straight waveguides has been modeled to approximate the 3-dimensional tapered waveguide; and the unstable incident and reflected fields, as well as their derivatives, were determined by the beam propagation method(BPM). Then free space radiation mode(FSRM) was employed to calculate the reflected and transmitted powers. Analysis results of the coupling of fiber with silicon-on-insulator(SOI) tapered rib waveguides showed the feasibility of the method.

Geometry parameter optimization of large cross-sectional S-shaped bent rib waveguides for silicon based optical switches

地址: Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Semicond, State Key Lab Integrated Optoelect, Beijing 100083, Peoples R China

Simple method for estimating minimum bend radii of SOI single mode curved rib waveguides

A simple method based on the effective index method was used to estimate the minimum bend radii of curved SOI waveguides. An analytical formula was obtained to estimate the minimum radius of curvature at which the mode becomes cut off due to the side radiative loss.

High Q microring resonator in silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides - art. no. 68380J

A high quality (Q) factor microring resonator in silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides was fabricated by electron beam lithography, followed by inductively coupled plasma etching. The waveguide dimensions were scaled down to submicron, for a low bending loss and compactness. Experimentally, the resonator has been realized with a quality factor as high as 21,200, as well as a large extinction ratio 12.5dB at telecommunication wavelength near 1550nm. From the measured results, propagation loss in the rib waveguide is determined as low as 6.900/cm. This high Q microring resonator is expected to lead to high speed optical modulators and bio-sensing devices.

SOI submicron rib waveguides: Design, Fabrication and Characterization

We present detailed design, fabrication, and characterization issues of submicron rib waveguides based on silicon-on-insulator. The waveguides fabricated by EBL and ICP processes have propagation loss of 1.8dB/mm and bend loss of 0.14dB/90 degrees for bends with radius of 5 mu m.

Characteristics of SOI rib waveguide microring and racetrack resonators

Characteristics of microring/racetrack resonators, in submicron SOI rib waveguides, have been investigated. The effects of waveguide dimensions, coupler design, roughness, and oxide cladding are considered. Moreover, guided mode, loss and dispersion of such waveguides are analyzed.

Structural optimizations of SOI-based single-mode rib waveguide bends

Effects of structure parameters on bend loss of rib silicon-on-insulator (Sol) bend waveguides have been analyzed by means of effective index method (EIM) and 2D bend loss formula. The simulation results indicate that the bend loss decreases with the increase of bend radius and waveguide width, as well as with the decrease of the step factor of the rib waveguide. Moreover, the optional structure parameters have been found when bend waveguides are single-mode.

Dispersion characteristics of nanometer-scaled silicon rib waveguides

We investigate the dispersion properties of nanometer-scaled silicon waveguides with channel and rib cross section around the optical fiber communication wavelength and systematically study their relationship with the key structural parameters of the waveguide. The simulation results show that the introduction of an extra degree of freedom in the rib depth enables the rib waveguide more flexible in engineering the group velocity dispersion (GVD) compared with the channel waveguide. Besides, we get the structural parameters of the waveguides that can realize zero-GVD at 1550 nm.

Design of Tapered Rib Spot-Size Converter with Double-Cladding Structure

A novel structure of spot-size converter is designed to allow low loss and large alignment tolerance between single-mode rib waveguide devices and fiber arrays theoretically. The spot-size converter consists of a tapered rib core region and a double-cladding region. Through optimizing parameters,an expanded mode field can be tightly confined in the inner cladding and thus radiation loss be reduced largely at the tapered region. The influence of refractive index and thickness of the inner cladding on coupling loss is analyzed in particular. A novel,easy method of fabricating tapered rib spot-size converter based on silicon-on-insulator material is proposed.