Si Fin Optical Modulator for Low Power Interconnection

硅光电子正在实现光网络在低功耗、低成本、高带宽和大规模集成能力方面的重大创新，智能电子产品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。通过使用III-V化合物半导体进行长厅通信，已经引入了光网络，这需要比成本更高的性能。硅光电子不应该在这个领域竞争，因为行业不会仅仅通过用硅光电子取代这些市场来增长。硅光子学在短距离光互连中更有前景，它需要更低的功耗和制造成本。CMOS技术是大规模生产的理想之选，可提供背板到板、板内芯片到芯片和芯片内光学互连等短距离通信所需的大量光学元件。硅光调制器是硅光子学最重要的组成部分，它将电信号转换为芯片上的光信号。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。我们将首次在光调制器中引入原子平坦的硅鳍片技术，以开发用于短距离互连和芯片到芯片应用的MOS型缝隙波导马赫-曾德尔干涉仪(MZI)和基于SiGe鳍片的电吸收(EA)调制器。我们预计，这些设备将被广泛用于云计算和网络路由的数据中心，在增加带宽的同时，有助于大幅降低功耗。我们的第一个目标是将SiFIN MZI光调制器应用于1310 nm波长区域的多源协议(MSA)中的C型可插拔100千兆位以太网(CFP100GE)。我们认为这是一种自然而然的技术选择，因为我们在1550 nm波长没有MSA，而且MZI比EA调制器具有更好的技术准备水平。然而，从长远来看，EA调制器的性能可以超过MZI。因此，我们的SiGe FIN EA调制器的另一个目标是使用1550 nm波长范围的能耗高的芯片到芯片互连应用，目前还没有标准化。我们将实现真正的低功耗性能，包括一个cmos驱动器和激光二极管。因此，我们的项目将涵盖1310 nm和1550 nm波长范围，以满足近期业务和引领未来技术趋势的需求。

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.