High speed carrier-depletion modulators with

1.4V-cm VL integrated on 0.25m silicon-oninsulator waveguides

Ning-Ning Feng1,*, Shirong Liao1, Dazeng Feng1, Po Dong1, Dawei Zheng1, Hong Liang1,
Roshanak Shafiiha1, Guoliang Li2, John E. Cunningham2, Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy2,
and Mehdi Asghari1
1
Kotura Inc., 2630 Corporate Place, Monterey Park, CA 91754, USA
Sun Labs, Oracle, 9515 Towne Centre Dr., San Diego, CA 92121 USA
*nfeng@kotura.com

Abstract: We demonstrate a very efficient high speed silicon modulator

with an ultralow -phase-shift voltage-length product VL = 1.4V-cm. The
device is based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) fabricated using
0.25m thick silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide with offset lateral PN
junctions. Optimal carrier-depletion induced index change has been
achieved through the optimization of the overlap region of carriers and
photons. The 3dB bandwidth of a typical 1mm long device was measured to
be more than 12GHz. An eye-diagram taken at a transmission rate of
12.5Gb/s confirms the high speed capability of the device.
2010 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (250.7360) Waveguide modulators; (060.4080) Modulation; (130.3120) Integrated
optics devices; (200.4650) Optical interconnects

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1. Introduction
The potential for monolithically integrating photonic components with complementary-metaloxide-semiconductor (CMOS) microelectronic circuits on one platform has created significant
interest in silicon photonics [13]. This field is seen to be particularly important for the
realization of next generation inter-chip data communication through optical interconnects [4].
Many silicon based photonic components have been investigated and demonstrated, including
lasers [57], photodetectors on small [811] and large core waveguides [12,13], and
modulators [1425]. Owing to weak electro-optical effects in silicon [26], optical signal
modulation remains a very challenging task. So far, modulator devices have been fabricated
using a MOS-capacitor [14,15], carrier injection [1618], carrier depletion [1923], and the
electro-absorption (EA) effect [24,25]. Carrier injection in a silicon PIN diode can induce a
larger index change and is known to be more efficient than carrier depletion in a silicon PN
diode. However, the speed of a carrier injection device is limited by the carrier lifetime in the
junction and the speed reported so far is limited to a few gigahertz unless complicated driving
circuits are employed [1618].
Exploitation of carrier depletion, on the other hand, can lead to much faster devices. Early
work on high speed depletion modulators is reported in references [19] and [27,28]. Since
then, multiple groups have attempted to demonstrate high speed operation. Recently, a
compact microring based depletion modulator that can operate at 11GHz with ultralow power
consumption was demonstrated [23]. Ring-based devices, however, have to operate over a
very narrow bandwidth (typically ~0.1nm), or be precisely temperature tuned. In addition to
being restricted to a narrow wavelength range, ring-based devices operate over a restricted
electronic bandwidth [29]. Mach-Zehnder devices, on the other hand, offer broader-band
operation. Using vertical [19] and lateral [21] PN junctions, around 20GHz modulation speed
has been reported. However, these demonstrations were carried out on rather short devices
(~1mm length or shorter), leading to low modulation depth..To overcome these issues, the
#123811 - $15.00 USD Received 11 Feb 2010; revised 29 Mar 2010; accepted 30 Mar 2010; published 31 Mar 2010

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modulation efficiency, which is usually quantified by the -phase-shift voltage-length product

VL value, needs to be improved. Previously reported VL values of Mach-Zehnder devices
are 4V-cm [19,21] or higher [20]. With high-doped PN junctions, the VL value can be
lowered down. For example, a recent demonstration of VL value around 2V-cm has been
reported using a ring-assisted MZI device [22]. However, due to the high doping level of the
PN junction, the device suffers from high free-carrier loss. In this paper, we demonstrate a
very efficient MZI based high speed silicon carrier-depletion modulator integrated on a
0.25m thick SOI waveguide with a very low VL value of 1.4V-cm. The device utilizes
middle-level of doping concentration (5x1017 - 1x1018 cm3) yet achieved very high
efficiency. A typical 1mm long device can operate at 12GHz modulation speed with an
extinction ratio 6dB under 8V bias and an insertion loss of only 2.5dB.

(a)

Si

(b)

Metal

Metal

n doping
p doping
p+

doping

n+ doping
Offset

BOX

Center

Si
Waveguide

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic view of the phase shifter section of the MZI based depletion modulator.
The dashed line indicates the center of the waveguide. (b) Scanning electron microscope
(SEM) image of the fabricated phase shifter cross section.

2. Device structure and fabrication

The modulator device is based on lateral PN junctions fabricated in a MZI structure. A 1x2
multi-mode interference (MMI) splitter and 2x2 MMI combiner were used to realize the MZI
structure. A schematic view of the phase shifter section of the presented device is shown in
Fig. 1(a). The modulation efficiency of a MZI modulator is directly related to the phase
modulation efficiency of the phase shifter. The phase change of the phase shifter can be
estimated as = 2nL/, where and n are the optical confinement change and
silicon index change induced by the carrier depletion, L is the length of the phase shifter and
is the operating wavelength. is proportional to the depletion width change x and
inversely proportional to the optical mode size. From the semiconductor physics models, we
know that the x is roughly proportional to 1 N d , where N d is the doping concentration in

the depletion region. Further, the index change n is related to the doping concentration N d
[26]. Using these relations, it is straightforward to show that the modulation efficiency of the
MZI modulator can be improved by: 1) using a small waveguide (larger ), 2) applying high
doping concentration (larger n), and 3) optimizing the PN junction position (larger ). The
device reported here has utilized all three techniques to make highly efficient modulation
possible.
First of all, we choose to use a small waveguide to achieve large . The device reported
here is fabricated on a 0.25m thick SOI waveguide with a width of 0.5m. The substrate was
an SOI wafer with a 3m thick buried oxide layer. The waveguide was formed by etching
0.2m of silicon. An approximately 50nm thick silicon slab was left intentionally to create an
electrical path for contact purposes. Figure 1(b) shows a scanning electron microscope (SEM)
cross-sectional view of the fabricated phase shifter. It illustrates how compact the waveguide
is compared to the other feature sizes of the device.
Further improvements were carried out by optimizing the PN junction. From the freecarrier plasma effect relation given in [26], it is known that the silicon refractive index change

#123811 - $15.00 USD Received 11 Feb 2010; revised 29 Mar 2010; accepted 30 Mar 2010; published 31 Mar 2010

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is proportional to the carrier concentrations, i.e., n = 8.8x1022xNe-8.5x1018x(Nh)0.8,

where Ne and Nh are the electron and hole concentration changes inside the depletion
region. Obviously, higher doping concentration can lead to higher index change, but with
higher loss due to the free carrier absorption. To maximize the modulation efficiency without
significantly compromising waveguide loss, we choose a middle-level p-doping concentration
of 5x1017 cm3 and n-doping concentration of 1x1018 cm3 in our device design. We used the
smaller p-type doping because holes (p-type carriers) contribute more to index change than
electrons (n-type carriers). With the carefully designed doping profile depicted in Fig. 1(a),
under reverse bias condition the depletion region extends mainly into the p-doped region,
maximizing the index change during the operation. Further enhancement was achieved by
optimizing the PN junction positional offset with respect to the waveguide center to improve
the overlap between carriers and photons so that a larger n product can be obtained when
a bias voltage is applied to the PN junction. Simulations show that approximately 100nm
offset from the waveguide center maximize the carrier-photon overlap and leads to high
modulation efficiency.
Finally, to ensure good ohmic contacts, the slab regions on both sides of the junction were
doped to the same concentration level as the junction area up to 0.5m away from the
waveguide. The contact areas were heavily doped to a level of 1x1020 cm3. The metal
contacts for both p and n sides were formed by depositing and patterning Ti/Al metal stacks
on top of the doped areas.
0

2.0

(a)
-5

1.5
Phase Shift ()

Response (dB)

L=1mm
L=5mm

(b)

-10
Vb=0V
Vb=-4V

-15

1.0

0.5

Vb=-8V
Fitted

-20
1540

1545

1550
1555 1560
Wavelength (nm)

1565

1570

0.0

3
4
5
Bias Voltage (V)

Fig. 2. (a) Normalized response of a MZI modulator with 1mm long phase shifter for various
bias voltages. (b) The phase shift of the phase shifter versus the bias voltage for different phase
shifter lengths.

3. Device performance

The modulation efficiency of the MZI-based modulator is determined by the efficiency of the
PN junction phase shifter. The phase shifter efficiency was measured for a set of devices with
various phase shifter lengths. The results are shown in Fig. 2. In Fig. 2(a), the normalized
response of a MZI modulator with 1mm long phase shifter for various bias voltages is
illustrated. The device response is normalized to the response of a reference passive
waveguide with the same length but without phase shifter. As shown in the figure, the device
exhibits ~2.5dB excess loss relative to the reference passive waveguide. This includes ~1.9dB
excess loss due to the doping (1mm long phase shifter at about 19dB/cm absorption loss), and
~0.6dB loss from the splitter and combiner.
The output response is then fitted using the MZI response function and the curves are
shown in the figure (blue lines). The relative phase shift induced by the applied bias voltage is
estimated from the fitting data using the equation = 2/FSR, where is the
wavelength shift due to the applied voltage and FSR is the free spectrum range which is
mainly determined by the MZI path length difference between two arms. We also measured
devices fabricated at the same time with different phase shifter lengths. The phase shift versus
#123811 - $15.00 USD Received 11 Feb 2010; revised 29 Mar 2010; accepted 30 Mar 2010; published 31 Mar 2010

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the bias voltage for various device lengths is illustrated in Fig. 2(b). As shown in this figure, a
phase shift can be achieved with merely 2.6V reverse bias for a 5mm long device (VL =
1.3V-cm). On the other hand, shorter devices require higher bias voltages. For a 1mm long
device, with 6V reverse bias, the achievable phase shift was measured to be 0.42 (VL =
1.4V-cm), which is able to provide more than 4dB ER. As a comparison, with the same bias
voltage the device with the same phase shifter length presented in [19] has obtained 0.1
phase shift, which is almost 4 times smaller. Significantly, the voltage-length product VL of
these devices has reached the 1.3-1.4V-cm level, which is so far the lowest value reported for
a silicon lateral PN depletion modulator. Further increasing the bias voltage can realize bigger
phase shift, with smaller phase shift per voltage change. For instance, the device can realize
0.5 phase shift with 8V bias voltage as shown in Fig. 2 (b), which can provide 6dB ER.
It is worth mentioning that the VL value is not the only figure-of-merit. Device
performance is also related to the loss per unit length of the phase shifter. With higher-doping
concentration, it is easy to achieve a relatively low VL value. For example, a 2V-cm VL
value has been reported in [22] with much higher doping concentrations (1x1018 cm3 pdoping and 5x1018 cm3 n-doping). The estimated phase shifter loss of that device can be
>60dB/cm. In our case, the device we reported here is much more efficient. We achieved
1.4V-cm VL value with 19dB/cm phase shifter loss. Nevertheless, 1.4V-cm VL value is
certainly not the limit of the PN depletion based modulators. By optimizing the overlapping of
the depletion region and the optical mode, 0.5V-cm VL value may be achieved according to
our simulation. With the improved VL value, it is possible to reduce the total driving voltage
of the device to be compatible to high-speed CMOS electronic devices (1-2V). Increasing the
phase shifter length can also lead to the reduction of the driving voltage. However, a careful
design of travelling-wave transmission line is necessary to achieve high-speed operation [28].
The high speed performance of the reported lateral PN depletion modulator was
demonstrated by measuring the 3dB bandwidth and eye-diagrams at high transmission rate.
The 3dB bandwidth measurements were carried out by using an Agilent vector network
analyzer. The high-speed signal and DC bias voltage were applied to the modulator device
through a bias-tee and a high-speed probe. The output modulated light signal was first
amplified using an erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) then directly fed into the network
analyzer. The system was calibrated in advance to factor out the effect of the RF system,
including the cable, modulator driver, and the bias-tee. The frequency responses of the
modulator devices with 0.25mm and 1mm long phase shifter lengths are shown in Fig. 3(a).
The results reveal the devices are capable of achieving 3dB optical bandwidth of 12GHz and
30GHz for 1mm and 0.25mm long devices, respectively.
The eye-diagram measurement used a similar experimental set up. A pseudorandom
binary sequence (PRBS) signal with (223-1) pattern length at a 12.5Gb/s transmission rate was
used. The PRBS signal was amplified by a commercial modulator driver with ~6Vpp. The
signal was combined with 3V DC bias using the bias Tee and applied to the modulator. The
modulated light signal was amplified by an EDFA and fed into a digital communication
analyzer with an optical module. A typical optical eye-diagram for a 1mm long device at
12.5Gb/s transmission rate is shown in Fig. 3 (b) for 1550nm wavelength. A clear eye opening
with >7dB ER is observed. Higher transmission rates are possible given the device 3dB
bandwidth of 12GHz, which suggests that it can be operated at > 15Gb/s. However, 12.5Gb/s
is the maximum capability of the pattern generator available to us. Nevertheless, the 3dB rolloff and eye-diagram measurements at various wavelengths confirm that the reported 1mm
long device is capable of operating at 12GHz over a wide wavelength range.

#123811 - $15.00 USD Received 11 Feb 2010; revised 29 Mar 2010; accepted 30 Mar 2010; published 31 Mar 2010

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Normalized Response (dB)

(a)

(b
L=1mm
L=0.25mm

-2

-4
12GHz

30GHz

-6

-8

1E8

1E9

1E10

Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 3. (a) Frequency responses of the MZI modulators with 0.25mm and 1mm long phase
shifters, respectively, and (b) optical eye-diagram of the modulator device with 1mm long
phase shifter at wavelength 1550nm. The data transmission rate is 12.5Gb/s.

4. Conclusions

We have demonstrated a very efficient high speed silicon carrier-depletion-based MZI

modulator integrated using 0.25m thick SOI waveguides. The VL value was 1.4V-cm for a
1mm long device at 6V bias. With a 1mm long phase shifter, the device operates at 12GHz
modulation speed with an ER greater than 6dB with reverse bias of 8Vpp. A total insertion loss
of 2.5dB has been achieved, including a 1.9dB access loss due to doping and a 0.6dB loss
from splitter and combiner. For a device with 0.25mm long phase shifter, we have
demonstrated 30GHz optical modulation speed. Further improvement of the device
performance can be carried out through fabrication process optimization and transmission line
electrode design.
Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge funding of this work by DARPA MTO office under the UNIC
program supervised by Jagdeep Shah (contract agreement with SUN Microsystems HR001108-9-0001). The authors greatly acknowledge Dr. C. C. Kung, Dr. Joan Fong, and Dr. Wei
Qian from Kotura Inc. for their work in fabricating of the device, and Dr. Jonathan Luff from
Kotura Inc., Dr. Xuezhe Zheng and Dr. Kannan Raj from Sun Labs, Oracle, for helpful
discussions.
The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this article/presentation are those of the
author/presenter and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies,
either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the
Department of Defense. The paper is approved for public release, distribution unlimited.

#123811 - $15.00 USD Received 11 Feb 2010; revised 29 Mar 2010; accepted 30 Mar 2010; published 31 Mar 2010

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12 April 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 8 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7999