Cost-Effective $2\times 2$ Silicon Nitride Mach-Zehnder Interferometric (MZI) Thermo-Optic Switch

We present cost effective <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2 \times 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> silicon nitride Mach-Zehnder interferometric thermo-optic switches with 1 mm-length phase shifter. Devices were fabricated on a bulk silicon wafer with CMOS compatible process. The footprint was ~0.7 mm<sup>2</sup>. For the device designed for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda \!\!\sim 1310$ </tex-math></inline-formula> nm, we demonstrated ~26.8-dB crosstalk, 0.23-dB insertion loss, and 17.25-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> switching speed at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda \!\!\sim 1325.8$ </tex-math></inline-formula> nm. Similarly, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda \!\!\sim 1550$ </tex-math></inline-formula> nm device showed the ~24.7-dB crosstalk, 0.48-dB insertion loss, and 17.48-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> switching speed at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda \!\!\sim 1550.8$ </tex-math></inline-formula> nm. The measured operating power was 55.6 and 64.4 mW at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda \!\!\sim 1325.8$ </tex-math></inline-formula> nm and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda \!\!\sim $ </tex-math></inline-formula>1550.8 nm, respectively.

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