Comparison of microrings and microdisks for high-speed optical modulation in silicon photonics

The past several decades have witnessed the gradual transition from electrical to optical interconnects, ranging from long-haul telecommunication to chip-to-chip interconnects. As one type of key component in integrated optical interconnect and high-performance computing, optical modulators have been well developed these past few years, including ultrahigh-speed microring and microdisk modulators. In this paper, a comparison between microring and microdisk modulators is well analyzed in terms of dimensions, static and dynamic power consumption, and fabrication tolerance. The results show that microdisks have advantages over microrings in these aspects, which gives instructions to the chip design of high-density integrated systems for optical interconnects and optical computing.The past several decades have witnessed the gradual transition from electrical to optical interconnects, ranging from long-haul telecommunication to chip-to-chip interconnects. As one type of key component in integrated optical interconnect and high-performance computing, optical modulators have been well developed these past few years, including ultrahigh-speed microring and microdisk modulators. In this paper, a comparison between microring and microdisk modulators is well analyzed in terms of dimensions, static and dynamic power consumption, and fabrication tolerance. The results show that microdisks have advantages over microrings in these aspects, which gives instructions to the chip design of high-density integrated systems for optical interconnects and optical computing.

[1]  Ray T. Chen,et al.  Silicon microdisk-based full adders for optical computing. , 2018, Optics letters.

[2]  Gunther Roelkens,et al.  56 Gb/s Germanium Waveguide Electro-Absorption Modulator , 2016, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[3]  Rajeev J. Ram,et al.  Single-chip microprocessor that communicates directly using light , 2015, Nature.

[4]  Ray T. Chen,et al.  Ultra-compact and wide-spectrum-range thermo-optic switch based on silicon coupled photonic crystal microcavities , 2015, 1601.04763.

[5]  Ray T. Chen,et al.  Recent advances in silicon-based passive and active optical interconnects. , 2015, Optics express.

[6]  A. Biberman,et al.  An ultralow power athermal silicon modulator , 2014, Nature Communications.

[7]  T. Horikawa,et al.  50-Gb/s ring-resonator-based silicon modulator. , 2013, Optics express.

[8]  R. Nawrodt,et al.  Thermo-optic coefficient of silicon at 1550 nm and cryogenic temperatures , 2012 .

[9]  Lin Yang,et al.  On-chip CMOS-compatible optical signal processor , 2012, 2012 Asia Communications and Photonics Conference (ACP).

[10]  D. Thomson,et al.  50-Gb/s Silicon Optical Modulator , 2012, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[11]  Ioannis Tomkos,et al.  A Survey on Optical Interconnects for Data Centers , 2012, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[12]  Anthony L Lentine,et al.  Vertical junction silicon microdisk modulators and switches. , 2011, Optics express.

[13]  Ray T. Chen,et al.  1 × 12 Unequally spaced waveguide array for actively tuned optical phased array on a silicon nanomembrane , 2011 .

[14]  Xuezhe Zheng,et al.  High-speed and compact silicon modulator based on a racetrack resonator with a 1 V drive voltage. , 2010, Optics letters.

[15]  D. Miller,et al.  Optical interconnects to electronic chips. , 2010, Applied optics.

[16]  David J. Thomson,et al.  Silicon optical modulators , 2010 .

[17]  David A. B. Miller,et al.  Device Requirements for Optical Interconnects to Silicon Chips , 2009, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[18]  Wei Jiang,et al.  Thermooptically Tuned Photonic Crystal Waveguide Silicon-on-Insulator Mach–Zehnder Interferometers , 2007, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[19]  R. Soref,et al.  The Past, Present, and Future of Silicon Photonics , 2006, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[20]  L. Wang,et al.  Effects of Thermal-Via Structures on Thin-Film VCSELs for Fully Embedded Board-LevelOptical Interconnection System , 2006, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[21]  Qianfan Xu,et al.  Micrometre-scale silicon electro-optic modulator , 2005, Nature.

[22]  Vladimir Stojanovic,et al.  Silicon photonics for compact, energy-efficient interconnects [Invited] , 2007, Journal of Optical Networking.