40 Gbit/s low-loss silicon optical

modulator based on a pipin diode

Melissa Ziebell,1 Delphine Marris-Morini,1,* Gilles Rasigade,1 Jean-Marc Fdli,2
Paul Crozat,1 Eric Cassan,1 David Bouville,1 and Laurent Vivien1
1

Institut d'Electronique Fondamentale, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS UMR 8622, Bt. 220, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
2
CEA,LETI, Minatec Campus 17 rue des Martyrs, F-38054 GRENOBLE cedex 9, France
*delphine.morini@u-psud.fr

Abstract: 40 Gbit/s low-loss silicon optical modulators are demonstrated.

The devices are based on the carrier depletion effect in a pipin diode to
generate a good compromise between high efficiency, speed and low optical
loss. The diode is embedded in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and a selfaligned fabrication process was used to obtain precise localization of the
active p-doped region in the middle of the waveguide. Using a 4.7 mm
(resp. 0.95 mm) long phase shifter, the modulator exhibits an extinction
ratio of 6.6 dB (resp. 3.2 dB), simultaneously with an optical loss of 6 dB
(resp. 4.5 dB) at the same operating point.
2012 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (130.0250) Optoelectronics; (130.4110) Modulators; (200.4650) Optical
interconnects; (230.2090) Electro-optical devices.

References and links

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1. Introduction
On-chip integration of complete optical systems in silicon is the ultimate goal of silicon
photonics spanning a range of applications from short link and long-haul communications, to
biosciences, medicine and sensing. In the past few years, silicon photonics has continued to
make extensive and relevant advances to transform a questionable goal into reality. One of the
most critical components of high-speed integrated photonic system is the silicon optical

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Received 2 Feb 2012; revised 6 Apr 2012; accepted 12 Apr 2012; published 24 Apr 2012

7 May 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 10 / OPTICS EXPRESS 10591

modulator, which is the driving force of optical interconnects to achieve high performance
data links [1]. In the last couple of years, it has been demonstrated relevant improvements to
speed and performance of all-silicon optical modulators which is taking us closer to a
complete integration of optical links. Among the possibilities to achieve high-speed optical
modulation in silicon, the plasma-dispersion effect, in which the silicon refractive index is
changed by free-carrier concentration variation, is the most common method used. The most
published design of silicon optical modulators is the pn. The main difference is the use of
various waveguide geometries, and junction orientation [212].
The work presented in this paper reports on the latest experimental results of Mach
Zehnder modulators with phase shifters of lengths 0.95 mm and 4.7 mm based on carrier
depletion in a pipin diode. The optical modulators operate at 40 Gbit/s, with extinction ratio
(ER) of 3.2 dB and 6.6 dB respectively. Optical losses at the 40 Gbit/s operating points are as
low as 4.5 dB and 6 dB for 0.95 mm and 4.7 mm long active regions, respectively. In
particular, in the case of the longer phase shifter, such results demonstrate a very good tradeoff between loss and ER, which can be successfully compared with previous reported 40
Gbit/s modulators [9,10]. This reduction of the optical loss can be attributed to the use of a
pipin diode as a phase shifter. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that this structure delivers a
good compromise between high efficiency, speed, and low optical loss [11]. The results
present in this paper are an improvement to the silicon optical modulator demonstrated in
[12], by using a self-aligned fabrication technique in order to achieve an accurate localization
of the active p-doped region in the middle of the waveguide and thus, fabrication reliability.
2. Device design and fabrication
The silicon modulator is based on carrier depletion of a pipin diode (shown in Fig. 1(a))
embedded in an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The diode is composed of a
pin junction that allows a reduction of the optical loss due to the presence of a nonintentionally doped region in the waveguide. A p-doped slit embedded in the intrinsic region
of the junction is depleted when a reverse bias is applied to the device, leading to an increase
of the effective index variation [4].

Fig. 1. Schematic views of: (a) the lateral pipin phase shifter, (b) the integration of the phase
shifter in coplanar waveguide electrodes, (c): the Mach Zehnder modulator. (d): device picture

The pipin diode is designed in a single-mode silicon rib waveguide of width 420 nm,
height 390 nm, etching depth of 290 nm, generating a slab of 100 nm. Waveguide dimensions
are chosen to maximize the optical TE-mode confinement in the depleted region. To reduce
the access resistance between the active region and the electrodes, only 800 nm on each side
of the rib are etched and p++- and n++-doped regions are used, as illustrated in Fig. 1(a) [12].
Phase shifters of lengths 0.95 mm and 4.7 mm were fabricated. The modulator is biased using
coplanar traveling-wave electrodes in ground-signal-ground (GSG) configuration as shown in
Fig. 1(b). The GSG configuration was chosen to be compatible with the available RF probes
in the experimental set-up. The width of the signal electrode, as well as the gap between the
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Received 2 Feb 2012; revised 6 Apr 2012; accepted 12 Apr 2012; published 24 Apr 2012

7 May 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 10 / OPTICS EXPRESS 10592

signal and the ground electrodes, were designed to provide an impedance of around 50 ohms.
The pipin diode is embedded in both arms of an asymmetric MZI interferometer, but only one
arm is connected to the coplanar waveguide electrodes (Fig. 1(c)). Both arms of the MZI are
split and combined using star couplers with a reduced area (10 2 m2) [13]. A picture of the
device can be seen in Fig. 1(d).
Fabrication of the active region in the center of the waveguide is particularly critical
because the best modulation efficiency occurs if the variation of the refractive index region is
centered in the rib waveguide. For this reason, a self-aligned fabrication process is used to
fabricate the optical modulators. The process illustrated in Fig. 2, consists in defining the
modulators waveguide and implantation area of the active region (p-doped slit) in the same
lithography step to achieve a perfect alignment between both levels.

Fig. 2. Self-aligned fabrication process. (a) Lithography to define the hard mask used to
simultaneously make the rib waveguide and the center slit of the active region. (b) Hard mask
etching. (c) Partial etching of the silicon to create the waveguide. (d) Boron implantation to
create the p-doped section of the active region.

The fabrication of the silicon modulator is carried out in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers
with a 2 m-thick buried oxide (BOX), and a 400 nm-thick silicon film. A SiO2 layer
deposited in the silicon substrate is used as a hard mask. Photolithography is used to define
simultaneously the rib waveguide and the opening of the central (ultimately p-doped) slit (Fig.
2(a)). The hard mask is completely etched down to the silicon layer (Fig. 2(b)), and a new
photolithography step is performed to protect the rib waveguide slit, and to etch the silicon
partially to create the rib waveguide (Fig. 2(c)). A last lithography step is then made to define
the photoresist window in the middle of the waveguide to allow the implantation of the pdoped slit (Fig. 2(d)). Supplementary classical lithography and implantation steps are used to
create all the other doped regions. Device dopant concentration is targeted at 3 1017 cm3 in
the slit (boron-doped), 8 1017 cm3 in the p+ region, 1018 cm3 in the n+ region (phosphorus
doped), and 1019 cm3 in the p++ and n++ regions. All dopant concentrations are analyzed to
establish low optical propagation, and high modulation efficiency of the structure, and to
reduce access resistances a heavy dopant concentration in the farthermost regions is taken into
account [12]. Vias are then patterned, and etched down to the SiO2 cap layer, and silicide is
formed with the purpose of obtaining low contact resistance. Finally, a Ti/TiN/AlCu/Ti/TiN
metal stack is used to make the electrodes. Overall, CMOS compatible process steps such as
deep-UV lithography, ion implantation, and reactive ion etching are performed throughout the
entire fabrication process in order to guarantee transferability in high-volume microelectronic
manufacturing.
3. Experimental results
The optical transmission spectra of the silicon modulators were measured using a buttcoupling experimental set-up. A linearly TE-polarized light beam was coupled into the
waveguide using a polarization-maintaining lensed-fiber, and the output light was collected by
an objective which focuses the light on an IR detector. Electrical probes were used to bias the
diode.
The transmission of the modulators as a function of the wavelength was recorded for
reverse bias of 0, 5 and 10 V. The measured spectra was normalized to transmission
waveguides of the same length as the MZI, but without phase shifters, and the resulted
maximum transmission (i.e. insertion loss) was 2 dB for the 0.95 mm phase shifter, and 4

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Received 2 Feb 2012; revised 6 Apr 2012; accepted 12 Apr 2012; published 24 Apr 2012

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dB for the 4.7 mm phase shifter. This normalization method is very useful to separate on-chip
loss due to light coupling from the fiber into the rib waveguide; however, in order to
determine the actual modulator loss, the passive waveguide loss that was previously removed
(as they also occur in the normalization waveguides) was added. By measuring the
transmission of passive waveguides of different lengths, this loss was calculated to be less
than 0.5 dB/mm. Figure 3 shows the transmission spectra measurements in which passive
waveguide loss is included (0.5 dB, and 2 dB for the 0.95 mm, and 4.7 mm phase shifters,
respectively). Therefore, a maximum optical transmission of 2.5 dB and 6 dB was
evaluated for the 0.95 mm and 4.7 mm modulator respectively. These values represent the
entire on-chip insertion loss (IL) from the optical modulators, including losses in both the star
couplers (splitter and combiner), and the phase shifters. From these values, the loss of each
coupler was extracted as 0.75 dB, and phase shifter loss of 1 dB/mm was deduced.

Fig. 3. Transmission spectra of silicon optical modulators as a function of the wavelength for
phase shifters of lengths (a) 0.95 mm, and (b) 4.7 mm, under reverse bias of 0, 5 and 10 V.

The product VL can be deduced from the experimental transmission shifts seen in Fig. 3.
A value of 3.5 V cm is obtained, which is moderately larger than the theoretical value of 1.7
V cm, showing the possibility to improve the modulator performance by optimizing the
dopant concentrations inside the waveguide.
To evaluate the high-speed performances of the modulators, the electro-optic bandwidths
as well as the eye diagrams were measured. For the electro-optic bandwidth measurements, an
Agilent N4373 Lightwave Component Analyzer (LCA) was used to measure the optical
response as a function of frequency. For the eye diagram measurements, a Centellax TG1P4A
40 Gbit/s pseudo random binary sequence (PRBS) source with a 215-1 pattern length was
used. The output signal was connected to an amplifier which provided a 7 V peak-to-peak
amplified signal. For both experiments, a bias tee was used to add a reverse dc bias to
guarantee reverse bias operation of the pipin diode, and the electrical bias was applied to the
silicon modulator using high-speed RF probes. A 50 ohm load was connected to the output
electrode of the phase shifter via a DC block. The light output signal from the modulator was
fed through an Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) and then through a tunable wavelength
filter to eliminate a large part of the amplified spontaneous emission noise of the EDFA. The
amplified light output was measured using an Agilent Infinium DCA-J 86100C oscilloscope
with an 86106B optical module. Despite of the presence of the optical filter, a significant
residual amplified spontaneous emission noise level is seen on both eye diagrams mainly due
to a large optical loss in the coupling from the fiber into the rib waveguide, which was not
optimized for this demonstration. The measured optical responses as a function of the
electrical signal frequency are shown in Fig. 4(a). The measured curves were normalized by
the response at 100 MHz. A flat response is shown for the 0.95 mm long device, with a 3 dB
optical bandwidth of 40 GHz. For the 4.7 mm long device, a 3 dB bandwidth of 20 GHz is
obtained. The bandwidth reduction from 0.95 mm to 4.7 mm long device is explained by the

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7 May 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 10 / OPTICS EXPRESS 10594

propagation of the RF electrical signal along the electrodes. Indeed electrical S parameters of
both device lengths (Fig. 4(b) and Fig. 4(c)) show similar S21 behavior in comparison with
optical response. For the shorter device, the optical response drop around 15 GHz is probably
due to impedance mismatching at this frequency, which is confirmed by a decrease of S21 and
an increase of S11. However despite this moderate ripple, S11 parameter below 10 dB up to 50
GHz is achieved for both devices lengths. Finally, the high values of the measured optical
bandwidth (40 GHz for 0.95 mm long device and 20 GHz for 4.7 mm long device) indicate a
proper design of the RF electrodes as well as a minimized contribution of electrical loss
coming from SOI substrate, by the use of 2 m thick buried oxide silica and high resistivity
silicon substrates.

Fig. 4. (a) Normalized optical response as a function of the frequency for both MZI modulators.
S parameters of (b) the 0.95 mm and (b) the 4.7 mm long MZI modulators.

Fig. 5. Eye diagram at 40 Gbit/s of a MZI modulator with (a) 0.95 mm-long phase shifter (b)
4.7 mm long phase shifter

40 Gbit/s optical eye diagrams were then measured in order to evaluate the modulator
performances in a data transmission configuration (Fig. 5). An ER of 3.2 dB was obtained
with the 0.95 mm-long modulator, and it reaches 6.6 dB with the 4.7 mm-long modulator. It is
important to notice that the maximum level of the eye diagram in the longer device
corresponds to the maximum transmission level of the modulator. In other words, the
wavelength was chosen to provide maximum optical transmission, so there was no additional
optical loss contribution associated to the optical modulator working close to its minimum
optical transmission level. Additionally, saturation of the signal can be seen at the bottom of
the eye diagram (Fig. 5(b)), which corresponds to the noise limitation due to the residual
spontaneous emission of the EDFA, indicating that the ER value of 6.6 dB is not limited by
the device itself, but by the experimental conditions. This result is compatible with the dc

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7 May 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 10 / OPTICS EXPRESS 10595

transmission (Fig. 3(b)), in which an ER larger than 15 dB can be expected, using a 7 Vpp RF
signal without any additional optical loss, and with a 3dB optical bandwidth of 20 GHz
measured for this device (Fig. 4(a)). For the 0.95 mm-long device, the eye diagram was
measured at a wavelength that does not correspond exactly to the maximum transmission level
of the modulator. In that case, 2 dB additional loss was tolerated in order to achieve the 3.2 dB
ER. In summary, the 0.95 mm long optical modulator simultaneously delivered a 3.2 dB ER,
and a 4.5 dB optical loss, whereas the 4.7 mm long modulator simultaneously delivered a 6.6
dB ER with a 6 dB optical loss. Finally, it can be noticed that the rise /fall time of
approximately 25 ps that is seen in the eye diagrams comes exclusively from the rise/fall time
of the electrical signal delivered by the PRBS source. These results show significant
performance of the pipin silicon optical modulators. Table 1 reports on the performance
comparison of 40 Gbit/s optical modulators based on MZI reported up to now. For a
comparison purposes, we report measured VL, 40 Gbit/s ER, on-chip IL (at the maximum
transmission wavelength), and optical loss at the 40 Gbit/s operating point, when reported. In
all cases, an RF signal of approximately 6-7 Vpp was used. The table shows that the pipin
diode delivers among the largest ER, and one of the lowest on-chip IL. Moreover, it is the
only structure in which losses increased moderately with increasing active region length.
Table 1. Performance comparison with 40 Gbit/s silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators in the
literature

Diode
vertical pn [8]
lateral pn [9]
lateral pn [9]
lateral pn [9]
wrapped around pn [10]
pipin
pipin

VL
4 V.cm
2.7 V.cm
2.7 V.cm
2.7 V.cm
14 V. cm
3.5 V.cm
3.5 V.cm

Active
region
length
1 mm
3.5 mm
1mm
1mm
1.3 mm
4.7 mm
0.95 mm

40 Gbit/s
ER
1 dB
10 dB
3.5 dB
7 dB
6.5 dB
6.6 dB
3.2 dB

On-chip IL
(maximum
transmission)
4 dB
15 dB
5 dB
5 dB
15 dB
6 dB
2.5 dB

Optical loss at
40 Gbit/s
operat. point
15 dB
5 dB
8 dB
25 dB
6 dB
4.5 dB

4. Conclusion
In summary, silicon optical modulators based on a reverse biased pipin diode embedded in a
Mach-Zehnder interferometer working at 40 Gbit/s were demonstrated. Two devices were
presented, one with an ER of 3.2 dB and an optical loss of 4.5 dB, and another one with an ER
of 6.6 dB and an optical loss of 6 dB. Further improvements can be considered, including
push-pull operation to increase the ER. While there is still room for improvement, the pipin
structure presented offers the performance required for future silicon photonic applications.
Acknowledgments
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's
under grant agreement n 224312 HELIOS and from the French National Research Agency
(ANR) under project SILVER. The authors thank Agilent Technologies and Catherine Maurin
for the loan of the Lightwave Component Analyzer.

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Received 2 Feb 2012; revised 6 Apr 2012; accepted 12 Apr 2012; published 24 Apr 2012

7 May 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 10 / OPTICS EXPRESS 10596