Wafer-Level Testable High-Speed Silicon Microring Modulator Integrated with Grating Couplers

A wafer-level testable silicon-on-insulator-based microring modulator is demonstrated with high modulation speed, to which the grating couplers are integrated as the fiber-to-chip interfaces. Cost-efficient fabrications are realized with the help of optical structure and etching depth designs. Grating couplers and waveguides are patterned and etched together with the same slab thickness. Finally we obtain a 3-dB coupling bandwidth of about 60nm and 10 Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero modulation by wafer-level optical and electrical measurements.

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.

The formation and electronic structures of 3d transition-metal atoms doped in silicon nanowires

Using first-principles methods, we systematically study the mechanism of defect formation and electronic structures for 3d transition-metal impurities (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Co) doped in silicon nanowires. We find that the formation energies of 3d transition-metal impurities with electrons or holes at the defect levels always increase as the diameters of silicon nanowires decrease, which suggests that self-purification, i.e., the difficulty of doping in silicon nanowires, should be an intrinsic effect. The calculated results show that the defect formation energies of Mn and Fe impurities are lower than those of V, Cr, and Co impurities in silicon nanowires. It indicates that Mn and Fe can easily occupy substitutional site in the interior of silicon nanowires. Moreover, they have larger localized moments, which means that they are good candidates for Si-based dilute magnetic semiconductor nanowires. The doping of Mn and Fe atom in silicon nanowires introduces a pair of energy levels with t(2) symmetry. One of which is dominated by 3d electrons of Mn or Fe, and the other by neighboring dangling bonds of Si vacancies. In addition, a set of nonbonding states localized on the transition-metal atom with e symmetry is also introduced. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3000445]

Flexible Control of Light Propagation Using a Novel Photonic Crystal Hetero-Waveguide Based on Silicon-on-Insulator Slab

We demonstrate a photonic crystal hetero-waveguide based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) slab, consisting of two serially connected width-reduced photonic crystal waveguides with different radii of the air holes adjacent to the waveguide. We show theoretically that the transmission window of the structure corresponds to the transmission range common to both waveguides and it is in inverse proportion to the discrepancy between the two waveguides. Also the group velocity of guided mode can be changed from low to high or high to low, depending on which port of the structure the signal is input from just in the same device, and the variation is proportional to the discrepancy between the two waveguides. Using this novel structure, we realize flexible control of transmission window and group velocity of guided mode simultaneously.

Fracture Properties of LPCVD Silicon Nitride and Thermally Grown Silicon Oxide Thin Films From the Load-Deflection of Long Si3N4 and SiO2/Si3N4 Diaphragms

The bulge test is successfully extended to the determination of the fracture properties of silicon nitride and oxide thin films. This is achieved by using long diaphragms made of silicon nitride single layers and oxide/nitride bilayers, and applying comprehensive mechanical model that describes the mechanical response of the diaphragms under uniform differential pressure. The model is valid for thin films with arbitrary z-dependent plane-strain modulus and prestress, where z denotes the coordinate perpendicular to the diaphragm. It takes into account the bending rigidity and stretching stiffness of the layered materials and the compliance of the supporting edges. This enables the accurate computation of the load-deflection response and stress distribution throughout the composite diaphragm as a function of the load, in particular at the critical pressure leading to the fracture of the diaphragms. The method is applied to diaphragms made of single layers of 300-nm-thick silicon nitride deposited by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition and composite diaphragms of silicon nitride grown on top of thermal silicon oxide films produced by wet thermal oxidation at 950 degrees C and 1050 degrees C with target thicknesses of 500, 750, and 1000 mn. All films characterized have an amorphous structure. Plane-strain moduli E-ps and prestress levels sigma(0) of 304.8 +/- 12.2 GPa and 1132.3 +/- 34.4 MPa, respectively, are extracted for Si3N4, whereas E-ps = 49.1 +/- 7.4 GPa and sigma(0) = -258.6 +/- 23.1 MPa are obtained for SiO2 films. The fracture data are analyzed using the standardized form of the Weibull distribution. The Si3N4 films present relatively high values of maximum stress at fracture and Weibull moduli, i.e., sigma(max) = 7.89 +/- 0.23 GPa and m = 50.0 +/- 3.6, respectively, when compared to the thermal oxides (sigma(max) = 0.89 +/- 0.07 GPa and m = 12.1 +/- 0.5 for 507-nm-thick 950 degrees C layers). A marginal decrease of sigma(max) with thickness is observed for SiO2, with no significant differences between the films grown at 950 degrees C and 1050 degrees C. Weibull moduli of oxide thin films are found to lie between 4.5 +/- 1.2 and 19.8 +/- 4.2, depending on the oxidation temperature and film thickness.

Interface as the origin of ferromagnetism in cobalt doped ZnO film grown on silicon substrate

We have investigated the magnetic properties of Co-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) film deposited on silicon substrate by magnetron sputtering. Co ions have a valence of 2+ and substitute for Zn sites in the lattice. By using a chemical etching method, an extrinsic ferromagnetism was demonstrated. The observed ferromagnetism is neither associated with magnetic precipitates nor with contamination, but originates from the silicon/silicon oxide interface. This interface ferromagnetism is characterized by being temperature independent and by having a parallel magnetic anisotropy. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2989128]

Fracture properties of silicon carbide thin films by bulge test of long rectangular membrane

This paper reports the mechanical properties and fracture behavior of silicon carbide (3C-SiC) thin films grown on silicon substrates. Using bulge testing combined with a refined load-deflection model of long rectangular membranes, which takes into account the bending stiffness and prestress of the membrane material, the Young's modulus, prestress, and fracture strength for the 3C-SiC thin films with thicknesses of 0.40 and 1.42 mu m were extracted. The stress distribution in the membranes under a load was calculated analytically. The prestresses for the two films were 322 +/- 47 and 201 +/- 34 MPa, respectively. The thinner 3C-SiC film with a strong (111) orientation has a plane-gstrain moduli of 415 +/- 61 GPa, whereas the thicker film with a mixture of both (111) and (110) orientations exhibited a plane-strain moduli of 329 +/- 49 GPa. The corresponding fracture strengths for the two kinds of SiC films were 6.49 +/- 0.88 and 3.16 +/- 0.38 GPa, respectively. The reference stresses were computed by integrating the local stress of the membrane at the fracture over edge, surface, and volume of the specimens and were fitted with Weibull distribution function. For the 0.40-mu m-thick membranes, the surface integration has a better agreement between the data and the model, implying that the surface flaws are the dominant fracture origin. For the 1.42-mu m-thick membranes, the surface integration presented only a slightly better fitting quality than the other two, and therefore, it is difficult to rule out unambiguously the effects of the volume and edge flaws.

Design, fabrication and characterization of a high-performance microring resonator in silicon-on-insulator

A high-performance microring resonator in a silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide is realized by using the electron beam lithography followed by inductively coupled plasma etching. The design and the experimental realization of this device are presented in detail. In addition to improving relevant processes to minimize propagation loss, the coupling efficiency between the ring and the bus is carefully chosen to approach a critical coupling for high performance operating. We have measured a quality factor of 21,200 and an extinction ratio of 12.5dB at a resonant wavelength of 1549.32nm. Meanwhile, a low propagation loss of 0.89dB/mm in a curved waveguide with a bending radius of 40 mu m is demonstrated as well.

Strong visible and infrared photoluminescence from Er-implanted silicon nitride films

Silicon nitride films were deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapour deposition. The films were then implanted with erbium ions to a concentration of 8 x 10(20) cm(-3). After high temperature annealing, strong visible and infrared photoluminescence (PL) was observed. The visible PL consists mainly of two peaks located at 660 and 750 nm, which are considered to originate from silicon nanocluster (Si-NCs) and Si-NC/SiNx interface states. Raman spectra and HRTEM measurements have been performed to confirm the existence of Si-NCs. The implanted erbium ions are possibly activated by an energy transfer process, leading to a strong 1.54 mu m PL.

Peculiarity of constant photocurrent method for silicon films with mixed amorphous-nanocrystalline structure

The results of conductivity, photoconductivity and constant photocurrent method absorption measurements by DC and AC methods in hydrogenated silicon films with mixed amorphous-nanocrystalline structure are presented. A series of diphasic silicon films was deposited by very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique, using different hydrogen dilution ratios of silane. The increase of hydrogen dilution ratio results in five orders of magnitude increase of conductivity and a sharp increase of grain volume fraction. The comparison of the absorption spectra obtained by DC and AC methods showed that they are similar for silicon films with the predominantly amorphous structure and films with high grain volume fraction. However we found a dramatic discrepancy between the absorption spectra obtained by DC and AC constant photocurrent methods in silicon films deposited in the regime of the structure transition from amorphous to nanocrystalline state. AC constant photocurrent method gives higher absorption coefficient than DC constant photocurrent method in the photon energy range of 1.2-1.7 eV. This result indicates the possibility of crystalline grains contribution to absorption spectra measured by AC constant photocurrent method in silicon films with intermediate crystalline grain volume fraction. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.

High rate deposition of microcrystalline silicon films by high-pressure radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD)

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) thin films were prepared by high-pressure radio-frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (rf-PECVD) with a screened plasma. The deposition rate and crystallinity varying with the deposition pressure, rf power, hydrogen dilution ratio and electrodes distance were systematically studied. By optimizing the deposition parameters the device quality mu c-Si:H films have been achieved with a high deposition rate of 7.8 angstrom/s at a high pressure. The V-oc of 560 mV and the FF of 0.70 have been achieved for a single-junction mu c-Si:H p-i-n solar cell at a deposition rate of 7.8 angstrom/s.

A ministop band in a single-defect photonic crystal waveguide based on silicon on insulator

This paper reports that a two-dimensional single-defect photonic crystal waveguide in the F-K direction with triangular lattice on a silicon-on-insulator substrate is fabricated by the combination of electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching. A ministop band (MSB) is observed by the measurement of transmission characteristics. It results from the coupling between the two modes with the same symmetry, which is analysed from the stimulated band diagram by the effective index and the two-dimensional plane wave expansion methods. The parameter working on the MSB is the ratio of the radius of air holes to the lattice constant, r/a. It is obtained that the critical r/a value determining the occurrence or disappearance of MSB is 0.36. When r/a is larger than or equal to 0.36, the MSB occurs. However, when r/a is smaller than 0.36, the MSB disappears.

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

High-speed 2 x 2 silicon-based electro-optic switch with nanosecond switch time

A 2 x 2 electro-optic switch is experimentally demonstrated using the optical structure of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on a submicron rib waveguide and the electrical structure of a PIN diode on silicon-on-insulator (SOI). The switch behaviour is achieved through the plasma dispersion effect of silicon. The device has a modulation arm of I mm in length and cross-section of 400 nmx340 nm. The measurement results show that the switch has a V pi L pi figure of merit of 0.145 V-cm and the extinction ratios of two output ports and cross talk are 40 dB, 28 dB and -28 dB, respectively. A 3 dB modulation bandwidth of 90 MHz and a switch time of 6.8 ns for the rise edge and 2.7 ns for the fall edge are also demonstrated.

Gap states and microstructure of microcrystalline silicon thin films

The density of states (DOS) above Fermi level of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si H) films is correlated to the material microstructure. We use Raman scattering and infrared absorption spectra to characterize the structure of the films made with different hydrogen dilution ratios. The DOS of the films is examined by modulated photocurrent measurement. The results have been accounted for in the framework of a three-phase model comprised of amorphous and crystalline components, with the grain boundary as the third phase. We observed that the DOS increases monotonically as the grain boundary volume fractions f(gb) is increased, which indicates a positive correlation between the DOS and the grain boundary volume fraction.