Ge/SiGe quantum confined stark effect waveguide modulator for optical interconnects

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract
The improved performance of computer systems has been realized by downscaling the integrated circuit minimum feature sizes. However, interconnection through wires is becoming increasingly difficult such that the signal I/O rate cannot keep up with the growth of computational performance. Optical interconnects provide a promising solution to this on-chip interconnect bottleneck. To meet the energy requirement, a system with an off-chip laser and Si-compatible on-chip modulators and detectors appears to be the most probable approach. Among Si compatible modulators, Ge/SiGe quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) modulators are the best approach to meet both the speed and power targets. This thesis proposed and investigated a 3-dimensional (3D) taper design for Ge/SiGe quantum well waveguide modulators on a Si waveguide to improve the coupling efficiency between the Si bus waveguide and the SiGe devices. We showed by simulations the superiority of the 3D tapers for coupling due to its better maintenance of the fundamental mode. We then demonstrated the fabrication of 3D tapers through grayscale lithography using a Heidelberg Maskless Aligner. When comparing the performance of modulators coupled by 3D tapers and 2D tapers, we showed that 3D tapers can lead to a coupling enhancement by a factor of 4. These 3D tapers combined with the Ge/SiGe QCSE waveguide modulators pave the way to on-chip, integrated modulators and detectors for optical interconnects.

Description

Type of resource text
Form electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource
Extent 1 online resource.
Place California
Place [Stanford, California]
Publisher [Stanford University]
Copyright date 2019; ©2019
Publication date 2019; 2019
Issuance monographic
Language English

Creators/Contributors

Author Lu, Ching-Ying
Degree supervisor Harris, J. S. (James Stewart), 1942-
Thesis advisor Harris, J. S. (James Stewart), 1942-
Thesis advisor Kamins, Theodore I
Thesis advisor Miller, D. A. B
Degree committee member Kamins, Theodore I
Degree committee member Miller, D. A. B
Associated with Stanford University, Department of Electrical Engineering.

Subjects

Genre Theses
Genre Text

Bibliographic information

Statement of responsibility Ching-Ying Lu.
Note Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering.
Thesis Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2019.
Location electronic resource

Access conditions

Copyright
© 2019 by Ching-Ying Lu
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

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