Si Fin Optical Modulator for Low Power Interconnection

硅光子学在低功耗、低成本、高带宽和大规模集成能力方面实现了光网络的巨大创新，并在互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）代工厂的无处不在的基础设施中制造智能电子产品。光学网络已经采用III-V型化合物半导体进行长厅通信，这需要更高的性能而不是成本。硅光子学不应该在这个领域竞争，因为仅仅用硅光子学取代这些市场，这些行业不会增长。硅光子学在短距离光互连中更有前途，它需要更低的功耗和更低的制造成本。CMOS技术在大规模生产中是理想的，可以提供大量短距离通信所需的光学元件，如背板板对板、板内芯片对芯片和芯片内光互连。硅光调制器将电信号转换成芯片上的光信号，是硅光子学最重要的组成部分。在这里，我们将开发世界上最好的低功耗硅调制器，它可以由CMOS前端驱动电路驱动。我们将首次在光学调制器中引入原子平面硅片技术，分别开发具有槽波导的mos型Mach-Zehnder干涉仪（MZI）和基于硅片的电吸收（EA）调制器，用于短距离互连和片对片应用。我们预计这些设备将广泛用于数据中心的云计算和网络路由，有助于大幅降低功耗，同时增加带宽。我们的硅鳍MZI光调制器的第一个目标是在1310nm波长区域的多源协议（MSA）中短期应用于C形因子可插拔100千兆以太网（CFP100GE）。我们认为这是一种自然的技术选择，因为我们在1550-nm的波长没有MSA，而MZI比EA调制器具有更好的技术准备水平。然而，从长期来看，EA调制器可以超过其在MZI上的性能。因此，我们的SiGe鳍EA调制器的另一个目标是使用1550nm波长范围的能量要求高的芯片到芯片互连应用，目前尚无标准化。我们将实现真正的低功耗性能，包括CMOS驱动器和激光二极管。因此，我们的项目将涵盖1310纳米和1550纳米波长范围，以满足近期业务和引领未来技术趋势。

Si photonics is achieving a drastic innovation for optical networks in terms of low power, low cost, high bandwidth, and large-scale integration capabilities with smart electronics fabricated in ubiquitous infrastructures of Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) foundries. Optical networks have been already introduced by using III-V compound semiconductors for long-hall communications, which require higher performance over the cost. Si photonics should not compete in this field, since the industries will not grow just by replacing these markets with Si photonics. Si Photonics is more promising in short-reach optical interconnections, which requires lower power consumption and lower fabrication costs. CMOS technologies are ideal in mass production to provide significant numbers of optical components required for short-reach communications such as backplane board-to-board, intra-board chip-to-chip, and intra-chip optical interconnections. Si optical modulators, which convert the electrical signals to the optical signals on a chip, are the most important building blocks for Si photonics. Here, we will develop the world's best low power Si modulators, which can be driven by the CMOS front-end driver circuitry. We will introduce the atomically flat Si fin technologies for the first time in optical modulators to develop the MOS-type Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) with a slot waveguide and the SiGe fin based Electro-Absorption (EA) modulators for short-reach interconnections and chip-to-chip applications, respectively. We anticipate that these devices will be widely used in data centres for cloud computing and network routing, contributing to reduce the power consumptions substantially, while increasing bandwidths. Our first target of Si fin MZI optical modulators is aiming for the near term application to C form-factor pluggable 100-Gigabit-ethernet (CFP100GE) in multi-source agreement (MSA) at the 1310-nm wavelength region. We think that this is a natural choice of technology, since we have no MSA at the wavelength of 1550-nm, and a MZI has a better technological-readiness-level over an EA modulator. For the longer term, however, a EA modulator can exceed its performance over MZI. Therefore, the other target for our SiGe fin EA modulator is the energy demanding chip-to-chip interconnection application by using the 1550-nm wavelength range, where no standardization exists at this moment. We will realize truly low power performance including a CMOS driver and laser diodes. Therefore, our project will cover both 1310-nm and 1550-nm wavelength ranges for near-term businesses and leading future technology trends.