High-speed coherent silicon modulator module using photonic integrated circuits: from circuit design to packaged module

Silicon photonics technology is an enabler for the integration of complex circuits on a single chip, for various optical link applications such as routing, optical networks on chip, short range links and long haul transmitters. Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) transmitters is one of the typical circuits that can be achieved using silicon photonics integrated circuits. The achievement of 25GBd QPSK transmitter modules requires several building blocks to be optimized: the pn junction used to build a BPSK (Binary Shift Phase Keying) modulator, the RF access and the optical interconnect at the package level. In this paper, we describe the various design steps of a BPSK module and the related tests that are needed at every stage of the fabrication process.