As silicon photonics-based circuit designs transition from lab to fab, an end-to-end automated measurement flow is required to address a unique combination of high flexibility in test conditions and high volume. This paper describes such a flow for process design kit (PDK) development in the state-of-the-art 300 mm CMOS-compatible silicon photonics foundry at the Albany NanoTech Complex in Albany, NY. Presenting details of this measurement flow will offer considerable cost and time savings to new users in this area. The measurement flow begins at the layout stage, where users can instantiate various combinations of pre-characterized padsets that contain DC/RF pads and optical couplers, which are compatible with the automated electro-optic setup used for measurements. These padsets are offered via two options: (1) a script-based layout builder tool or (2) a parametric cell in a “Measurement Design Kit” offering in a design automation platform, which is an analog to a PDK. Special marker layers are added to the padsets, whose coordinates are extracted after the layout is complete. The coordinates are then passed to fiber positioners on the semi-automated prober while performing measurements. Electro-optic measurements are performed across the wafer using vertical coupling, which is well-suited for large-scale measurements. The wafer is placed on a 300 mm prober with automated fiber positioners that can optimize optical coupling across six degrees of freedom. The electro-optic measurement setup is based on the Keysight Photonic Application Suite. It includes a tunable laser, polarization synthesizer, and multi-channel detectors that measure transmission in both TE and TM polarizations. A lowloss optical switch matrix is programmed to switch connections between lasers and detectors to 16 grating couplers in the padset. The entire measurement setup, including the prober and instruments, is driven using the Python-based SweepMe! automation framework, which is modular and allows for the easy creation of test plans.
We demonstrate a vertical-junction, carrier-injection, micro-ring modulator that is fabricated using AIM Photonics’ 300 mm Quantum FLEX Platform which shows results with high modulation efficiency and a large ON-OFF ratio. The modulator device includes a ring and a single-bus, straight waveguide. The ring has a radius of 7 μm and a 220 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide is used both for the ring and the straight waveguides with a rib structure of 110-nm slab thickness. The width of the core waveguide is 550 nm for both the ring and the straight waveguides. The slab width between the full-height silicon core and contact area is kept at 1 μm on both sides from the 550-nm core. The coupling gap between the ring and the bus waveguide is designed to be 150 nm. To make the waveguide core vertical junction, the upper half of the core is n-doped and the lower half is p-doped. To have a smooth electrical connectivity between the core and the contact area, three-level doping is applied where the core is doped with the minimum concentration and the contact silicon area is doped with the highest concentration. The modulator is tested with a tunable laser over a 100-nm window extending from 1485 nm to 1585 nm. The light is coupled to the modulator using grating couplers which are used to couple input and output light. The vertical junction shows excellent direct current (DC) I-V characteristics and the modulator performs at high modulation efficiency of about 1.14 nm and a large ON-OFF ratio of about 21 dB at 1.0 V.
In this work we explain the methodology and techniques for building an end-to-end design enablement (DE) platform from component design to process design kit (PDK) release for silicon photonics-based photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design. Elements of the DE include: component design, layout and test site development, measurement infrastructure and PDK development. Our methodology builds on the best practices followed in CMOS and RF foundries but adds unique features specific to silicon photonics. The DE flow is developed on the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics’ (AIM Photonics) 300 mm silicon photonic technologies manufactured in a limited-volume foundry at the Albany Nanotech Complex, in Albany, NY. For component development, the AIM Photonics PDK offers a process stack file supported in Lumerical platform that applies linewidth corrections and doping information to imported layouts increasing the efficiency and accuracy of the design. For test sites, an automated layout and connectivity framework is explained that allows users to generate a layout from spreadsheet inputs that is also compatible with automated waferscale measurements. AIM Photonics PDKs include layout, models and design-rule-check (DRC) tools that are offered across multiple platforms. The DRC decks are offered in commercial tools such as Cadence and Synopsys, as well as KLayout. We present features of layouts and communication with schematics. In addition, we also explain techniques for processing and analyzing measured statistical data and extracting platform specific compact models. Presenting this methodology to the wider community is integral to the mission of AIM Photonics and will be of immense benefit particularly to small organizations engaged in prototype development.
In this work, we demonstrate a cascaded ring resonator based wide stop-band filter. The filter consists of four cascaded rings and a bus waveguide. The first ring has a radius of 7μm, the second, third and the fourth rings have radius of 7.01 μm, 7.02 μm, and 7.03 μm, respectively. The radius varion is designed for a small shift of resonant wavelength so that the combined resonance effect of four ring resonators exhibits a wide stop-band filter function compare to a single ring resonator. Both the bus and ring waveguides have a width of 480 nm. The thickness of the waveguides were 220 nm which is a standard silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer available in the market. A 100-nm gap is designed between the ring and the bus waveguide to provide optimum filtering. The device is fabricated using the American Institute for Manufacturing integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics) 300mm Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) service. It is tested using the AIM Photonics inline vertical grating coupled automated measurement tool with a tunable light source that has wavelengths ranging from 1485 nm to 1590 nm and a wavelength resolution of 60 pm. The fabricated cascaded ring filter exhibits a 3-dB stop-band about 6 nm wide with an extinction ratio of ~30 dB in across the S, C and L-bands. It is noted that the desired width of the stop-band is achievable by cascading required number of rings with slight radius variation.
In this work, we demonstrate a compact pn junction ring modulator with very large extinction ratio and high quality factor. The modulator consists of a 5-μm radius ring and a single-bus straight waveguide. Both the ring and straight waveguides have a width of 480 nm and heigh of 220 nm. The waveguides are rib-structured and the rib thickness is 110 nm with a slab thickness of 110 nm from a 300mm wafer with 220-nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) thickness. A 100-nm gap is designed between the rib ring and the bus waveguides. The modulator has three nominal doping levels with concentrations of 1018, 1019, and 1020 cm-3 for the core, slab, and the contact areas, respectively. The device is fabricated using the American Institute for Manufacturing integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics) Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) service. It is tested using the AIM Photonics inline vertical gratting coupled automated tool with a tunable light source that has wavelengths ranging from 1485 nm to 1590 nm and a wavelength resolution of 60 pm. The fabricated 5-μm radius ring modulator exhibits high quality output with a very large extinction ratio of 29 dB over a broad wavelength spectrum of about 100 nm. The device has a very wide free spectral range (FSR) of about 19 nm.
The reduction of optical loss for integrated photonics I/O is an important area of active research. Edge coupling (end-firing) is a key I/O technology, having advantages over grating couplers in terms of spectral bandwidth and lower insertion loss1. Low-loss edge coupling into silicon waveguides will be critical to datacenters and telecommunications systems in order to help accommodate the aggressive growth of data analytics applications2. In this work, we investigate the coupling losses from optical fiber (SMF-28) into on-chip silicon waveguides using silicon nitride edge couplers with varying chip facet angles. The expected losses were simulated using Three Dimensional Finite-Difference Time-Domain (3D-FDTD) modelling and measured experimentally to close the design-fabrication loop. The chips were produced within a state-of-the-art 300 mm CMOS foundry, using edge couplers from the foundry Process Design Kit (PDK). During optimization of the photolithography and dry etching process, the facet angle deviation from 90° was minimized. Insertion loss of the SiN edge coupler was investigated via transmission measurements utilizing both cleaved fibers and fiber V-grooves. Facet angles varied from approximately 75°–90° were tested for insertion loss and trends were consistent with the 3D-FDTD modelling. Measurements were performed over a range of 1450–1650 nm using a tunable laser source and optical power meter. In addition, facet insertion loss was isolated by using propagation loss data from an in-line testing tool that measured silicon waveguides propagation losses, on wafer and in the same wavelength band.
A novel process design kit (PDK) offering providing seamless access to the Albany NanoTech Complex’s 300mm foundry with a mission to promote silicon photonics technology is demonstrated. Unlike traditional pure-play foundries, we have developed a framework that allows our PDKs to contain libraries developed by internal and external domain experts. In addition to integrated Electronic Photonic Design Automation (EPDA) platforms, our PDK is also released in an alternate PIC design flow that the lowers the cost barrier for organizations. Further, our PDKs target a broad application space that includes telecom as well emerging areas such as sensors and quantum photonics – all with the ability for onboard light sources. A PDK from American Institute of Manufacturing (AIM Photonics) will be discussed that demonstrates these features.
In this work, we demonstrate a unique structured carrier injection silicon photonics micro-ring modulator that exhibits a large extinction ratio and a high modulation efficiency. The modulator consists of a ring and a double-bus straight waveguide. The ring has a radius of 7 µm and a 220-nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide is used both for the ring and the straight waveguides. The waveguide has a width of 450 nm and a slab thickness of 110 nm with a full silicon height (220 nm) for the contact area. The slab width is 1 µm on both sides from the 450-nm core width and the contact full silicon width is 1.75 µm. The rib ring and the bus waveguides are separated by a gap of 100 nm. The modulator has three doping levels with concentrations of 1018, 1019, and 1020 cm-3 for the core, slab, and the contact areas, respectively. The device is fabricated using the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics) Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) service. It is tested with a tunable light source that has wavelengths ranging from 1485 nm to 1590 nm. The light is coupled to the modulator using grating couplers. The measured free spectral range of the ring resonator is about 13 nm. The fabricated ring modulator exhibits a large extinction ratio of 21 dB and a high modulation efficiency of 3.7 nm at a direct current (DC) voltage of 1.5 V.
All-optical two bit digital comparator using single mode Fabry-Perot laser diodes (SMFP-LDs) is proposed and
demonstrated with 10 Gbps PRBS signal of 231-1. Digital comparators are one of the important components for decision
making circuits, threshold detection, which are used in optical signal processing and optical computing. The basic
principle of the comparator is based on injection locking, multi-input injection locking and combinational input injection
locking (CMIL) to realize the greater than, less than, and equal to function of the basic comparator circuit. These
principles are used to realize the different optical logic gates which are combined together to demonstrate optical
comparator with the minimum number of components, making the configuration cheaper and simpler. The proposed
method draws less current and hence power effective too. Output waveform diagram and output eye diagram for all three
cases of comparator are presented to verify all functions of all-optical comparator.
We present a novel idea of multi-input injection locking phenomenon in single mode Fabry-Pérot Laser diode (SMFP-LD).
The key principle of multi-input injection locking is the proper power management of input beams for injection
locking one of the side modes of Fabry-Pérot laser diode (FP-LD) and the suppression of the dominant mode of FP-LD.
The multi-input injection locking (MIL) principle is extended to the combinational multi-input injection locking (CMIL)
by which the dominant mode of SMFP-LD will be suppressed with certain combination of input beams. The proposed
idea can be implemented for realizing logic gates, decision making circuit and others. MIL and CMIL are explained
theoretically and verified by realizing some of the logic gates. Experimental results for logic gates are presented with the
input data rates of 10 Gbps.
All-optical logic gates are the basic components of all-optical signal processing and computing. Among all other logic gates, exclusive-OR (XOR) plays a significant role on optical computing, switching, and networking. We propose a novel and simple scheme for all-optical exclusive-NOR and XOR logic gates using single mode Fabry-Pérot laser diode (SMFP-LD). The logic gates are based on the multi-input injection locking and supporting beam principle to suppress the intensity of the dominant mode of the SMFP-LD. The working principle of the proposed scheme is explained, and the experimental results are presented at the data rate of 10 Gbps input signals for the logic operations. We observed clear eye openings with an extinction ratio of about 12 dB and a rising/falling time of about 35 ps of the logic outputs. The demonstrated scheme can be used to implement all-optical computing and switching networks.
An all-optical ON-OFF switch is demonstrated using a single-mode Fabry-Perot laser diode. The operation principle of
the proposed switch is the gain modulation of injection locked single mode Fabry-Perot laser diode (SM FP-LD) by an
external control beam. In this paper, the operation principle is explained and a 10 Gb/s data signal is switched ON and
OFF with a control signal of 200 MHz. We measured the switched output with an extinction ratio of 15.4 dB. The rising
and falling times of the switch were measured as 90 ps and 80 ps, respectively.
In this paper, an all-optical 1x2 switch is demonstrated based on gain modulation of injection locked Fabry-Perot laser
diode (FP-LD). The control circuit generates set and reset states, which are used to perform 1x2 switch function. The
switch output state is maintained once it starts to operate, whether the control signal is present or absent. In the
experiment, with extinction ratio of 13.2 dB the switch output eye diagram is recorded.
An optical S-R latch is demonstrated using two injection locked single-mode (SM) Fabry-Perot laser diode (FP-LD). The
S-R latch is based on the bi-stability and injection-locking properties of FP-LD. The latch performs simultaneous
inverted and non-inverted outputs in set and reset states. The proposed latch performs very well both in set and reset
conditions. The switching times of the latch both for inverted and non-inverted outputs in set and reset conditions were
measured by oscilloscope and recorded as about 90 ps. For the latching function, very low powers of set and reset signal
were required. Power of set signal was -17 dBm and that of reset signal was -7 dBm.
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