Low-Insertion-Loss and Power-Efficient 32 × 32 Silicon Photonics Switch With Extremely High-Δ Silica PLC Connector

Abstract

We fabricate a 32 × 32 silicon photonics switch on a 300-mm silicon-on-insulator wafer by using our complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor pilot line equipped with an immersion ArF scanner and demonstrate an average fiber-to-fiber insertion loss of 10.8 dB with a standard deviation of 0.54 dB, and on-chip electric power consumption of 1.9 W. The insertion loss and the power consumption are approximately 1/60, and less than 1/4 of our previous results, respectively. These significant improvements are achieved by design and fabrication optimization of waveguides and intersections on the chip, and by employing a novel optical fiber connector based on extremely-high-Δ silica planarlightwave-circuit (PLC) technology. The minimum crosstalk was −26.6 dB at a wavelength of 1547 nm, and −20-dB crosstalk bandwidth was 3.5 nm. Furthermore, we demonstrate low-crosstalk bandwidth expansion by using output port exchanged element switches. We achieve a −20 dB crosstalk bandwidth of 14.2 nm, which is four-times wider than that of the conventional element switch based 32 × 32 switch.

Ultrashort low-loss Ψ gates for linear optical logic on Si photonics platform

“…In the present study, we have chosen Si photonics as a platform to satisfy the need for both a shorter L and a lower SL. Over the past decade, Si photonics has matured well, and the technology is now capable of realizing larger scale matrix switches based on interferometers [21][22][23] . In addition, the optical loss of Si-based waveguides and components has been remarkably reduced thanks to improvements in design and fabrication accuracy 24,25 .…”

“…However, the demonstrated performance has been very limited because of a poor binary contrast, large loss, and a large number of unwanted reflections, arising from the difficulty involved in accurately controlling the interference while maintaining high transmittance in optical circuits. Considering the recent great progress made on Si photonic integrated circuits, especially as regards interferometers with an unprecedentedly large scale [18][19][20][21][22][23] , it would be important for such gates to be implemented on Si photonics technology.…”

Scaling capacity of fiber-optic transmission systems via silicon photonics

“…Optical switching without the optical-electrical-optical conversion may enable highefficiency, low-cost optical networks. Large-scale integrated optical switches have been demonstrated in Si-PICs using thermo-optic [273,274], electrostatic [275], and electro-optic [276] effects. [268].…”

Wafer-scale silicon photonic switches beyond die size limit

“…Large-scale photonic switches have attracted much attention for applications in data center networks [8][9][10][11][12]. Several research groups have reported large-scale silicon photonic switches [7,[13][14][15][16][17][18]. Two of the reported switches have port count ≥ 32x32 and on-chip loss ≤ 6 dB [7,18].…”

“…Several research groups have reported large-scale silicon photonic switches [7,[13][14][15][16][17][18]. Two of the reported switches have port count ≥ 32x32 and on-chip loss ≤ 6 dB [7,18]. Further scaling of the switches faces two challenges: (1) high optical loss and (2) maximum chip area limited by the reticle size of lithography.…”