Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits

Roger Helkey
John Bowers
University of California, Santa Barbara
Art Gossard, Jonathan Klamkin, Dan Blumenthal, Minjoo Larry Lee1, Kei May Lau2,
Yuya Shoji3, Tetsuya Mizumoto3, Paul Morton4, Tin Komljenovic, N. Volet,
Paolo Pintus, Xue Huang, Daehwan Jung2, Shangjian Zhang, Chong Zhang,
Jared Hulme, Alan Liu, Mike Davenport, Justin Norman, Duanni Huang, Alex Spott,
Eric J. Stanton, Jon Peters, Sandra Skendzic, Charles Merritt5, William Bewley5,
Igor Vurgaftman5, Jerry Meyer5, Jeremy Kirch6, Luke Mawst6, Dan Botez6
1 YaleUniversity 2 Tokyo Institute of Technology
3 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 4 Morton Photonics
5 Naval Research Laboratory 6 University of Wisconsin

UCSB Research supported by

ONR, Mike Haney ARPA-E,
1 Conway, Lutwak at DARPA MTO, Aurrion, Keysight
 What is Silicon Photonics?
• Making photonic integrated circuits on Silicon using CMOS
process technology in a CMOS fab
• Improved performance and better process control
• Wafer scale testing
• Low cost packaging
• Scaling to >1 Tb/s

High bandwidth High volume

Long distances Low cost
Noise Immunity High Scalability
2
Advantage - Waveguide loss

InP / GaAs

Optimized Si
Si

Bauters et al. Optics Express (2011)

 Silicon Photonics Papers

First Hybrid Silicon PIC with >200 photonic elements (2014)

Hybrid Silicon Modulator with 74 GHz BW (2012)

First Hybrid Silicon DFB (2008)

First Hybrid Silicon PIC (2007)
First Hybrid Silicon Photodiode (2007)
First Hybrid Silicon Amplifier (2006)
First Hybrid Silicon Laser (2005)

Soref and Bennet (1987)

 Si Photonics - Heterogeneous Integration

• CMOS compatible process

• Efficient light coupling with Si WG
• Component development
• PIC integration with >400 elements

High gain SOA on Si Isolators/Circulator on Si Low-Loss AWG in Vis

Davenport, CLEO SM4G.3 Huang, CLEO SM3E.1 Stanton, CLEO SM1F.1

4.8 μm QCL laser on Si 2.56 Tbps NoC

Spott, CLEO STh3L.4 Zhang, CLEO JTh4C.4

5
 Optical Amplifier on Si
• Scale of Si PICs rapidly increasing 2 mm
• Overcome insertion loss, splitter loss
• Increase power and equalize optical
power in multi-channel devices
• Recover signal power before detection

Heterogeneous amplifier section Passive Si waveguide

Contact metal Heterogeneous transition

Davenport, Skendzic, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016 6

 Amplifier on Si - Process flow
a) Silicon etching b): III-V bonding c): III-V etching

f): Via and e): Hydrogen d) Deposition of

probe metal implant electrodes

Davenport, Skendzic, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016

7
Amplifier on Si - Dimensions

Davenport, Skendzic, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016

8
Amplifier on Si - Heterogeneous Transition
Passive Si
waveguide

P-mesa
taper

Active
region taper
Si taper
N-InP taper

Active Si/InP
waveguide
Davenport, Skendzic, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016
9
 Amplifier on Si – Transition Reflection
Polished
Passive facet
silicon (R=0.28)
waveguide

• Reflection determined
Heterogeneous by fitting model to ASE
Polished
gain section
facet spectrum
(R=0.32)
• Rtaper r = -46 dB

Davenport, Skendzic, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016

10
 Amplifier on Si - Performance
• High gain: 26 dB from 0.95 μm waveguide device
• High power: 16 dBm from 1.4 μm waveguide device
• Large 3dB BW: 66 nm

Davenport, Skendzic, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016

11
 Microring Isolator - Nonreciprocity
 Optical isolators allow light transmission in only one direction
 Necessary in many applications to block undesired feedback for lasers

 Requires nonreciprocal phenomenon to break spatial-temporal

symmetry

Nonreciprocal phase shift (NRPS)

 Forward and backwards
propagating modes in a
magneto-optic waveguide
have different propagation
constant (b).

 Nonreciprocal phase shift

in a phase-sensitive Unbalanced MZI Microring
structure can result in
optical isolation for the TM Y. Shoji, T. Mizumoto, et al., M.C. Tien, J. Bowers, et al.,
mode. Opt. Express (2008) Opt. Express (2011)

Huang, Pintus, Zhang, Shoji, Mizumoto, Morton, Bowers OFC 2016 12

 Microring Isolator - Design
 Magneto-optic material Ce:YIG wafer bonded to all-pass silicon microring
 CW and CCW modes are different, causing a resonance split

Transmitted Intrinsic
Power CW mode
(forward)
CCW mode
𝜆 (backward)

Resonance wavelength split Operating wavelength

 Resonance wavelength split

dependent on waveguide geometry
 Isolation depends on extinction ratio
and coupling coefficient

Huang, Pintus, Zhang, Shoji, Mizumoto, Morton, Bowers OFC 2016 13

 Microring isolator - Results

 32 dB of isolation with record Demonstrated isolators on silicon

low 2.3 dB excess loss
achieved with small footprint
(35 mm radius).

Consumes <10 mW of power,

and no permanent magnet is
needed

 Current controlled magnetic This Work

field and Joule heating provides
tuning over
0.6 nm with >20 dB of isolation.

Huang, Pintus, Zhang, Shoji, Mizumoto, Morton, Bowers OFC 2016

 Microring Circulator
1->2 2->1
 Light circulates depending on
Circulation Direction
whether it is coupled into the CW
1
(off-resonance) or the CCW (on-
4 2
resonance) mode in the ring.
3

Huang, Pintus, Zhang, Shoji, Mizumoto, Morton, Bowers IPC 2016 15

 Microring Circulator - Results
Experimental Simulated

• Isolation Ratio =|S21|2/|S12|2 = 11dB

Huang, Pintus, Zhang, Shoji, Mizumoto, Morton, Bowers IPC 2016

7
 AWG - Spectral Beam Combining
Visible to Mid-IR
• Multiplexing data
• Spectroscopy
• Scaling power
and brightness
• Ultra low-loss
arrayed
waveguide
gratings (AWGs)
are important

Stanton, Spott, Davenport, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016 17

 Previously demonstrated low-loss AWGs
Low-loss AWGs with < 1 dB insertion loss in near-IR:
– D. Dai et al., Opt. Express 19, (2011).
– J. F. Bauters et al., Appl. Phys. A 116, (2014).
– A. Sugita et al., IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 12, (2000).

Low-loss AWGs near-visible spectrum are difficult to make

Recent demonstration of 1.2 dB insertion loss at 900 nm
– D. Martens et al., IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 27, (2015).

• Wavelength target 760 nm

– Scattering loss scales by 1/λ4
– 1.2 dB @ 900 nm -> 1.6-2 dB @ 760 nm
(scattering loss contribution 1/3rd-2/3rd)

Stanton, Spott, Davenport, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016 18

 Challenges for low-loss AWGs
• Waveguide propagation loss E(z) = E0e-αz
 Scattering loss scales by 1/λ4
 High aspect ratio waveguides to
decrease interfacial scattering
 Minimize material impurities

• Transition loss from straight to

bends
 Use adiabatic transitions
• Phase and amplitude errors in
arrayed waveguides
 Mask optimization - process
 Minimize mask errors

Stanton, Spott, Davenport, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016 19

 AWG - Mask Writing Address-Unit
Using small address unit for the mask writing is critical in near-visible
region

50 nm address unit 5 nm address unit

• Pseudo-random length error • Pseudo-random length error

± 150 nm ± 15 nm

Stanton, Spott, Davenport, Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016 20

 Insertion loss analysis

• Center channel insertion

loss < 0.5 dB
(Record – 760 nm)
• Record low crosstalk
< -23 dB

Stanton, Spott, Davenport,

Volet, Bowers CLEO 2016

21
 Mid-infrared Silicon Photonics
Mid-infrared (~2-20 µm) photonics
• Spectral Beam Combining
• Gas sensing
• Chemical bond spectroscopy
• Biological sensing
• Environmental analysis
• Remote sensing Methane trapped in ice, National Geographic

• Nonlinear optics
- Reduced two photon absorption
in silicon past 1.8 µm

Spott, Peters, Davenport, Stanton, Merritt,

Bewley, Vurgaftman, Meyer, Kirch,
Mawst, Botez, Bowers CLEO 2016
Power plant emissions, National Geographic 22
 4.8 µm Quantum Cascade Laser
• 30-stage QCL material adapted for heterogeneous integration
• 4-8 µm-wide III-V mesas with 1.5-3.5 µm-wide Si waveguides
• 3 mm-long hybrid III-V/Si active region
• 45 µm-long III-V tapers
• λ/4-shifted 1st order distributed feedback (DFB) grating in silicon
waveguide under active region

Spott, Peters, Davenport, Stanton, Merritt, Bewley, Vurgaftman,

Meyer, Kirch, Mawst, Botez, Bowers CLEO 2016 23
 4.8 µm Laser Fabrication

Bond Remove substrate Dry etch upper clad

Wet etch active Deposit lower metal Dry etch lower clad

Deposit PECVD SiN Dry etch vias Deposit upper metal

Deposit probe metal

(3)
(8)
(4)
(5)
(9) CH
(6)
(7)
(2)
(1) H
CHF
3PO
Deposit
4/H
Remove
Bond 4dry
/HPd/Ge/Pd/Au
2etch
2/Ar Otodry
PECVD
3 III-V 2/DI
substratevias
etch
SiN
SONOI
withn-InP
wetbottom
etch cladding
bottom
topQCL
metal
mechanical
waveguidemetal
stages
n-InP layers
lapping
and selective wet etch 24
 4.8 µm DFB (with Taper)
• Low threshold current densities
• Low differential efficiency
• Highest output power
~11 mW/facet

Spott, Peters, Davenport, Stanton, Merritt, Bewley, Vurgaftman,

Meyer, Kirch, Mawst, Botez, Bowers CLEO 2016 25
 4.8 µm DFB (Taper Removed)
• Heterogeneous taper limiting performance?
– Polished off one side for further testing
– 211 mW output power (pulsed)
• Up to 100 ˚C pulsed operation
• Extracted T0:
- 𝐽𝑡ℎ = 𝐽0 e𝑇/𝑇0
→ 𝑇0 = 199 𝐾

Spott, Peters, Davenport, Stanton, Merritt, Bewley, Vurgaftman,

Meyer, Kirch, Mawst, Botez, Bowers CLEO 2016 26
Evolution of Multicore Processors
1) Number of
transistors is
rapidly increasing

2) clock rates are

not increasing

3) Power
consumption is
constrained
4) Rapidly
increasing
number of cores

Source: C. Batten 27
 Waveguide Optics – Available Width
• Get enough optical channels
off the edge of the chip?
• For waveguides around chip
perimeter need:
– Very dense waveguides, or
– High clock speeds and
WDM

David Miller IEEE Photonics Conf 2013 28

 Photonic Moore’s Law
• Integrated reconfigurable transceiver network for chip-level
interconnection
– Over 400 elements on chip
– Total 2.56 Tbps data capacity
Number of Elements / PIC

103

This work

102

101

InP Si HSP
100
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Year

Chong Zhang, S. Zhang, J. Peters, J. E. Bowers CLEO 2016 29

 Reconfigurable NoC (Network-on-Chip)
• BUS-ring network on chip with flexible configuration
• WDM signal routing enabled by broadband switch fabric

• Reconfigurable modes

Chong Zhang, Zhang, J. Peters, J. E. Bowers CLEO 2016 30

 Reconfigurable NOC - Layout and Fabrication
Bragg grating on Si

1 mm

DFB taper

10 mm

PD mesa

48 DFB, 93 EAM, 67 PD, 17 AWG… 20 mm

Chong Zhang, S. Zhang, J. Peters, J. E. Bowers CLEO 2016 31

 Reconfigurable NOC - Link Performance
• A 6-dB bandwidth of 24 GHz was measured for the EAM-PD link.
• Data rate of 40 Gbps per channel, showing a potential large capacity
of the transceiver array, with 320 (8×40) Gbps per transceiver node,
and 2.56 Tbps (8×320 Gbps) for the whole photonic circuit.

28 Gbps 30 Gbps
Small Signal Response (dB)

0
-6 dB
-5

-10 35 Gbps 40 Gbps

Data
-15 Fitting

-20
0 10 20 30 40
Frequency (GHz)

Chong Zhang, S. Zhang, J. Peters, J. E. Bowers CLEO 2016

32
 Low-Cost Lasers - Missing Piece
Si : Indirect bandgap, low internal quantum efficiency (10-6)
 Hybrid integration  Monolithic integration
• Size and cost limitation • Low cost and high yield

Ghent Univ. 2007 UCSB 2016

UCSB, 2006 University College London. 2016

33
 Issues with Epitaxial Lasers on Si
• Offcut Si substrates: Not compatible with standard CMOS foundry process
• Ge buffer layers: Absorptive and relatively thick,
preclude potential incorporation in the SOI technology
• Low energy consumption: Required for high integration density
• 1.3 μm Qdot lasers grown on GaP/GaAs buffer lasers
• Reduced back-reflection sensitivity of Quantum-Dot lasers
– Liu, Peters, Huang, Jung, Komljenovic, Davenport,
Norman, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ISLC 2016

34
 Lasers on GaP Buffer - Epi Design
300 nm GaAs:Be (2×1019 cm-3)
50 nm 36 → 0% AlxGa(1-x)As:Be (1×1019 cm-3) 10 nm GaAs:UID
1.4 μm Al0.36Ga0.6As:Be cladding (7×1017 cm-3) 10 nm GaAs:Be (5×1017 cm-3)
20 nm 20 → 36% AlxGa(1-x)As:Be (4×1017 cm-3) 17.5 nm GaAs:UID
30 nm Al0.2Ga0.8As:Be SCH (4×1017 cm-3)
12.5 nm UID GaAs
37.5 nm p/UID GaAs
7x UCSB
50 nm GaAs:UID 10 nm GaAs:UID
30 nm Al0.2Ga0.8As:Si SCH (2×1017 cm-3) 10 nm GaAs:Be (5×1017 cm-3)
20 nm 36 → 20% AlxGa(1-x)As:Si (2×1017 cm-3) 17.5 nm GaAs:UID
1.4 μm Al0.36Ga0.6As:Si cladding (2×1017 cm-3)
50 nm 0 → 36% AlxGa(1-x)As:Si (1×1018 cm-3) 10 nm GaAs:UID
1000 nm GaAs:Si (2×1018 cm-3)
2300nm GaAs:si (1-5×1018 cm-3) Yale University
45 nm GaP
Si (001)
NAsPIII-V GmbH

Liu, Peters, Norman, Huang, Jung, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ICMBE 2016 35
 QD Laser - High Temp Lasing

• CW lasing to 90°C
• Characteristic temperature, T0
– 42K 40-90°C • Ith 30 mA (3-4 µm ridge laser)

Liu, Peters, Huang, Jung, Komljenovic, Davenport, Norman, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ISLC 2016
36
 Sensitivity to reflections
• Unintentional reflections can disturb lasing stability (increased
linewidth and intensity noise)
• Isolators typically used to prevent this, but adds $$$ and footprint,
on-chip isolators would potentially add loss
• Desirable to avoid isolators altogether
Isolator

Liu, Peters, Huang, Jung, Komljenovic, Davenport, Norman, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ISLC 2016
37
 Sensitivity to reflections - Theory
• Laser stability with feedback depends on 1:
– Damping of relaxation oscillation (higher in QD lasers)
– ~1/α2 (α may be lower in QD lasers)

1J. Helms and K. Petermann,

IEEE J. Quant. Electron. 833 (1990)
Linewidth
damping factor
improvement >10 dB enhancement
α

K-factor
some
improvement

Liu, Peters, Huang, Jung, Komljenovic, Davenport, Norman, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ISLC 2016
38
 Sensitivity to reflections - Measurement
• Characterization of sensitivity to optical reflections
– Laser output split with a 50:50 coupler with half going to spectrum
analyzer for RIN measurement, other half reflected back to laser
– Polarization control with in-line Faraday rotator plus Faraday mirror
• External cavity length: ~15 meters
– Feedback level is defined as ratio of power levels in forward and
back monitor PDs
Faraday Faraday
VOA
DC bias rotator Mirror

99:1 HP 70810B
Laser ISO à Lightwave
50:50 Section

Back PD Fwd PD

Liu, Peters, Huang, Jung, Komljenovic, Davenport, Norman, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ISLC 2016
39
 Sensitivity to reflections: QW vs QDot
• For QW laser, low frequency RIN increases by up to 30 dB vs feedback

Liu, Peters, Huang, Jung, Komljenovic, Davenport, Norman, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ISLC 2016
40
 Sensitivity to reflections: QW vs QDot
• For QW laser, low frequency RIN increases by up to 30 dB vs feedback
• For QD laser, increase in RIN is only ~10 dB

41

Liu, Peters, Huang, Jung, Komljenovic, Davenport, Norman, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ISLC 2016
 Sensitivity to reflections: QW vs QDot
• For QW laser, low frequency RIN increases by up to 30 dB vs feedback
• For QD laser, increase in RIN is only ~10 dB
• 20 dB higher feedback for RIN increase to -135 dBc/Hz in QDs vs QWs

Liu, Peters, Huang, Jung, Komljenovic, Davenport, Norman, Lee, Gossard, Bowers ISLC 2016
42
 Summary I
• Optical amplifiers on Si (1550 nm)
– High gain: 26 dB (0.95 μm waveguide device)
– High power: 16 dBm (1.4 μm waveguide device)
– Large optical 3dB bandwidth: 66 nm

• Isolator / Circulators on Si
– 32 dB of isolation with record low 2.3 dB excess loss
– No permanent magnet needed
– <10 mW of electrical power

• Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG)

– Centered near-visible (760 nm)
– Record center channel insertion loss < 0.5 dB (760 nm)
– Record low crosstalk < -23 dB (760 nm) 43
 Summary II
• 4.8 µm Quantum-Cascade Lasers on Si
– >200 mW power (pulsed) from DFB laser
– Pulsed operation up to 100 ºC
– Threshold current densities below 1 kA/cm2
• Network-On-Chip circuit on Si
– Reconfigurable transceiver network for chip-level interconnect
– Over 400 elements on chip, including 48 low threshold lasers
– 2.56 Tbps total capacity

44
 Summary III
• First electrically-pumped CW laser monolithically grown;
Si foundry compatible (001), without Ge layer
– Thresholds down to 30 mA
– Output power up to 110 mW
– CW lasing up to 90 C

• Reflection sensitivity reduction QDot vs QWell 20 dB

– Potential for isolator-free integration of QDot lasers

45