Light escalators in optical circuits between thick and thin waveguides

Abstract

The invention relates to photonic circuits, in particular to photonic circuits where light is escalated transferred between optical waveguides which are coupled to photonic devices. A first waveguide on a silicon substrate is provided having a first thickness and a first refractive index. A tapered second waveguide having a second thickness less than the first thickness and a second refractive index higher than said first refractive index is deposited on the first waveguide. At least one layer of an optically active material comprising a photonic device is deposited on the first waveguide adjacent to the second waveguide. The photonic device is interfaced with the wide end of the tapered second waveguide to provide an optical coupling, and the opposite narrow end of the tapered second waveguide is interfaced on top of the first waveguide to provide adiabatic light transfer between said first and second waveguides.

Claims

1. A photonic circuit, comprising: a first waveguide on a silicon substrate, said waveguide having a thickness of 1-12 m and a refractive index of 3-3.5; an second waveguide comprising amorphous silicon and having a thickness of 0.1-1 m and a refractive index of 3.1-4, said waveguide having a tapered shape with a cross-section that is smaller at one end and larger at the opposite end at least in one direction; and at least one layer of an optical material arranged to optically interface with said second waveguide, said layer comprising a photonic device; wherein said end of said tapered second waveguide having a smaller cross-section is interfaced with said first waveguide to provide adiabatic light transfer between said first and second waveguides, and wherein said photonic device is interfaced with said end of said second waveguide having a larger cross-section to provide optical coupling between said second waveguide and said photonic device.

2. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said at least one second waveguide is deposited on said first waveguide.

3. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said at least one second waveguide at least partially overlaps said photonic device.

4. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said photonic device comprises: at least one layer of an optical material deposited on said first waveguide; a layer of a dielectric material deposited on each layer of said optical material; and said second waveguide deposited partly on the uppermost dielectric layer and partly on said first waveguide, whereby said photonic device is interfaced with said second waveguide to provide an optical coupling at said larger end of said second waveguide, and said second waveguide is interfaced with said first waveguide to provide adiabatic light transfer between said first waveguide and said second waveguide at said smaller end of said optical waveguide.

5. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein the photonic circuit comprises an etch-stop layer between at least one of said first waveguide, said second waveguide and said at least one layer of said optical material.

6. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said first waveguide is a strip waveguide made of crystalline silicon.

7. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said second waveguide is a waveguide made of amorphous silicon or hydrogenated amorphous silicon.

8. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said etch-stop layer comprise silica, silicon nitride or thermally oxidized silicon dioxide SiO.sub.2.

9. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said optical material comprises at least one layer of graphene, germanium or a silicon-germanium alloy.

10. The photonic circuit according to claim 4, wherein in the layers of said dielectric material is etched openings to provide electrical contact to the layers of said at least one of said optical material layers from contact terminals patterned on said second waveguide.

11. The photonic circuit according to claim 4, wherein said dielectric material comprises aluminum oxide, silicon nitride or silicon dioxide.

12. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said second waveguide is tapered in the horizontal plane of said substrate to provide cross-sections which is smaller at one end and larger at an opposite end.

13. The photonic circuit according to claim 1, wherein said second waveguide is tapered in the vertical plane of said substrate to provide cross-sections which is smaller at one end and larger at an opposite end.

14. A light detector circuit, comprising: a first waveguide on a silicon substrate, said waveguide having a thickness of 1-12 m and a refractive index of 3-3.5; an etch-stop layer on said first waveguide; at least one second waveguide deposited on said first waveguide and said etch-stop layer comprising amorphous silicon and having a thickness of 0.1-1 m and a refractive index of 3.1-4, said second waveguide having a tapered cross-section that is smaller at one end and larger at the opposite end at least in one direction; and a layer of germanium deposited on said first waveguide adjacent to or partially overlapping with said at least one second waveguide, said germanium layer comprising a light detector; wherein said light detector is interfaced with said end of said tapered second waveguide having a larger cross-section to provide an optical coupling, and the opposite end of said tapered second waveguide having a smaller cross-section is interfaced on top of said first waveguide to provide adiabatic light transfer between said first and second waveguides.

15. The light detector circuit according to claim 14, wherein said first waveguide is a strip waveguide made of crystalline silicon.

16. The light detector circuit according to claim 14, wherein said second waveguide is a waveguide made of amorphous silicon or hydrogenated amorphous silicon.

17. The light detector circuit according to claim 14, wherein said etch-stop layer comprises silica, silicon nitride or thermally oxidized silicon dioxide SiO.sub.2.

18. A modulator circuit, comprising: a first waveguide on a silicon substrate, said waveguide having a thickness of 1-12 m and a refractive index of 3-3.5; an etch-stop layer on said first waveguide; two layers of graphene deposited on said first waveguide and said etch-stop layer, a layer of a dielectric material deposited on each layer of graphene, said graphene and dielectric layers comprising a modulator; and at least one second waveguide deposited on the uppermost dielectric layer comprising amorphous silicon and having a thickness of 0.1-1 m and a refractive index of 3.1-4, said second waveguide having a tapered cross-section that is smaller at one end and larger at the opposite end at least in one direction; wherein said modulator is interfaced between said first and second waveguides to provide an optical coupling to said second waveguide, and said end of said tapered second waveguide having a smaller cross-section is interfaced on top of said first waveguide to provide adiabatic light transfer between said first and second waveguides.

19. The modulator circuit according to claim 18, wherein said first waveguide is a strip waveguide made of crystalline silicon.

20. The modulator circuit according to claim 18, wherein said second waveguide is a waveguide made of amorphous silicon or hydrogenated amorphous silicon.

21. The modulator circuit according to claim 18, wherein said etch-stop layer comprises silica, silicon nitride or thermally oxidized silicon dioxide SiO.sub.2.

22. The modulator circuit according to claim 18, wherein said dielectric material comprises aluminum oxide, silicon nitride or silicon dioxide.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] FIG. 1 illustrates the phenomenon of adiabatic light transfer;

[0045] FIG. 2 shows in a side view and a top view the light transfer in an exemplary inventive waveguide;

[0046] FIGS. 3A and 3B shows side and top views of a photonic device according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0047] FIGS. 4A and 4B shows side and top views of a photonic device according to another embodiment of the invention;

[0048] FIGS. 5A and 5B shows side and top views of a photonic device according to a further embodiment of the invention;

[0049] FIGS. 6A and 6B shows an embodiment of the invention with high index contrast waveguides with a silica bottom cladding;

[0050] FIGS. 7A and 7B shows a further embodiment of high index contrast waveguides with a silica bottom cladding.

[0051] FIG. 8 In shows the path of a light beam passing through an inventive device like one in FIG. 7A or 7B.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0052] FIG. 1 illustrate the phenomenon of adiabatic light transfer. In FIG. 1 is shown a schematic top view a system of three waveguides consisting of two circularly bent outermost waveguides L and R, and one straight central waveguide C. The minimum distance between waveguides is given by x.sub.0, and the z distance between the centers of the curved waveguides is defined by . The radius of curvature of the outermost waveguides L, R may be is 3.5 m, the spatial delay =4200 m, for example, and the minimum separation between waveguides x.sub.0=7 m, for example.

[0053] FIG. 2 shows a side view and a top view of an exemplary inventive waveguide, where a simulation shows how the light is transferred from a lower thick silicon waveguide 20 made of crystalline silicon Si to an upper tapered (22) and thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) waveguide 21, with a refractive index higher than that of crystalline silicon. The cross-section a to the left further illustrate the light distribution at the left end of the waveguide and the cross-section b to the right the same situation at the right end.

[0054] FIGS. 3A and 3B show an inventive photonic device 30 comprising a thin submicron (t.sub.2=about 500 nm thick, for example) low-loss waveguide made of a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layer 32 having a refractive index higher than that of crystalline silicon. The waveguide 32 is deposited on top of a thick Si strip waveguide 33a, which may be covered by a very thin (about 10 nm, for example) etch-stop layer 35 made of silica or silicon nitride, for example. As shown in FIG. 3B, the a-Si:H layer 32 is etched into a waveguide with tapered width W.sub.2, to adiabatically transfer the light from the thick Si waveguide 33a to the thin a-Si waveguide 32, located mainly on top of the Si waveguide portion 33a. The bottom layer 34 is an insulating part of a silicon substrate for the waveguide, and is here an SOI buried oxide (BOX) layer. The BOX layer 34 has a lower refractive index and a thickness that will optically separate the waveguide from a higher-index silicon substrate (not shown), located underneath the BOX layer.

[0055] The wide end of the tapered a-Si waveguide 32, having a width of W.sub.3, is butt-coupled to an optical material that comprises a photonic active device 31 deposited at the same height as the waveguide 32 and having a comparable submicron thickness t.sub.2. The joint and the device 31 is also shown in FIG. 3B. The device 31 may be located on the Si layer 33, which forms a silicon substrate and bottom cladding 33b for the device 31.

[0056] The device 31 can in some embodiments be made of the very same amorphous silicon material as waveguide 32, e.g. as a pn-implanted waveguide for phase modulation. In other embodiments of the invention, it may be a waveguide grown on top of a 2-dimensional (2D) material like graphene, for example. In further embodiments, the material may be a high refractive index material like germanium (Ge) and the device may then be used as a detector, for example, or a SiGe alloy in a Franz-Keldysh modulator, for example.

[0057] The different widths W.sub.2 and W.sub.3 as a result from a tapered shape of the waveguide in the horizontal plane of the silicon substrate 34 are not the only way to increase the cross-section of a thin waveguide 32. Alternatively, the shape may be tapered in the vertical plane. The critical feature for the waveguide is to have is to have a smaller volume in the area where the light enters the waveguide and a bigger volume in the exit area. The shape of the waveguide may be selected according to various design criteria, and it need not to be linear and/or planar, i.e. tapered as shown. Alternatively, the waveguide cross-sections could be kept constant, whereas the refractive indexes within a waveguide may vary, i.e. having a refractive index gradient, to achieve similar adiabatic light transfer. Clearly a combination of waveguide cross-section change and refractive index change can be also used. The general criterion to efficiently move the light from one waveguide to the other is to adiabatically change from a condition where the effective index of the mode of the thick waveguide (n.sub.eff1) is significantly higher than that of the second waveguide (n.sub.eff2), to a condition where the opposite is true (n.sub.eff2>n.sub.eff1). This can be achieved by playing with the waveguide geometry (smaller waveguide corresponding to lower effective index) and/or with the material refractive index.

[0058] Depending on the type of device, the device can be either coupled back to a further silicon waveguide 43 through a second a-Si taper as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, e.g. for modulation, or it can be just terminated as in FIGS. 3A and 3B, e.g. for Ge detectors. The high refractive index layer 32 may consist of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), or of any transparent material with refractive index higher than that of silicon, e.g. a SiGe alloy.

[0059] In FIGS. 4A and 4B are shown a similar, but double-ended device inventive photonic device 40 as in FIGS. 3A and 3B, with thin double tapered waveguide 42a and 42b on each side of an optically active material comprising a photonic active device 41, all deposited on a silicon waveguide 43a, and the etch-stop layer 45. As in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the device 41 is located on an extension of a generic thick Si substrate 43, forming a silicon substrate and bottom cladding 43b for the device 41. Also a BOX layer 44 is implied.

[0060] In FIGS. 5A and 5B is shown an embodiment of the present invention, where a photonic circuit 50 has layers 51 of an optical 2D material, like graphene for example, which with intervening dielectric layers 55, 56 constitute an optically active photonic device. The submicron hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) waveguide layer consists in this embodiment of three waveguide portions 52a-52c deposited on top of a thick Si strip waveguide 53, having three portions 53a-53c. Two thin waveguide portions 52a and 52b are tapered and deposited on the thick silicon waveguides 53a, 53b, as explained in connection with FIGS. 4A-4B. The third and central thin waveguide portion 52c is formed as a square on top of the photonic active device 51, 56 and a silicon cladding waveguide portion 53c.

[0061] An advantageous feature of the configuration shown in FIGS. 5A-5B is that the optically active photonic device may be deposited on the silicon waveguide 53a-53c prior to the deposition of layer 52a-52c, consisting of amorphous silicon for example. Thus the optical device 51, 56 becomes embedded inside the optical mode, which enables an easy and large overlap of the top waveguide 52a-52c compared to standard approaches, where the mode graphene interacts mainly or only with the evanescent tail of the optical mode, see FIGS. 3A and 4A.

[0062] Error! Reference source not found. shows for example how a bilayer 51 of graphene can be embedded in the thin waveguide 52c, sandwiched between three dielectric thin films 55 and 56, consisting of e.g. SiO.sub.2, Si.sub.3N.sub.4, or Al.sub.2O.sub.3. The large overlap with the graphene bilayer is obtained thanks to the relatively low index contrast between amorphous and crystalline silicon.

[0063] In some embodiments, the waveguide 52a-52c may be deposited on the thick waveguide portion 53c so as to wholly or partially overlap any photonic device, as shown best in FIG. 5B, which photonic device may have a layered structure as described above, or not. A BOX layer 54 is also implied, see discussion above.

[0064] In some embodiments, a high index contrast between amorphous and crystalline silicon is wanted, for example when bends with micron-scale bending radii are used to build micro-ring resonators with a free-spectral range as large as possible. FIGS. 6A and 6B shows an inventive photonic device 60 with high index contrast thin waveguides 61, 62 located on a thick silicon waveguide 63a and the cladding extension 63b of the Si substrate 63, respectively.

[0065] The waveguide 61 has a silica bottom cladding 67 formed in the cladding 63b by selectively etching silicon away, and replace it with silica 67. In this region the submicron waveguide 61 will deposit direct on top of the silica cladding which leads to a high index contrast waveguide suitable for tight bends.

[0066] Taken further, as shown in Error! Reference source not found., it is possible to couple light into photonic circuits 78 fabricated on SOI wafers with submicron silicon layer that are bonded directly onto an inventive photonic circuit 70 on top of a thin amorphous silicon waveguide 72a-72c, having a silica bottom cladding 77. In this fashion, two different device platforms may be coupled at and around the marked area 71 through a suitable combination of inverse tapers. Thus, light can be coupled back and forth between devices with thick SOI waveguides 73a and devices 78 that are based on standard submicron silicon waveguide technologies. A silicon substrate and cladding portion 73b and BOX layers 74 are also indicated.

[0067] In FIG. 8 is shown a light beam 85 entering an inventive device 80, like the one in FIGS. 7A and 7B. The light 85 enters at one end of a thick SOI waveguide 83a at arrow A. As have been described in connection with FIG. 2, the light escalates through adiabatic transfer from the thick waveguide 83a to the thin waveguide 82c, because, when wide enough, the effective refractive index of the thin upper waveguide 82c becomes sufficiently high to effect the adiabatic light transfer. The light 85 proceeds in the waveguide 82c-82a, until it again escalates to a photonic circuit 88 in the area 81, which corresponds to the area 71 in FIG. 7B. As in FIG. 7B, a silicon substrate and cladding portion 83b and a BOX layer 84 is also indicated.

[0068] In the reverse direction, from a photonic circuit to waveguides, modulated or otherwise processed light may be led out from the photonic circuit by optical coupling to a submicron waveguide, and further by adiabatic transfer to thicker micron-scale silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides.

[0069] It is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention disclosed are not limited to the particular structures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but are extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understood that terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0070] Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment or an embodiment means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases in one embodiment or in an embodiment in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

[0071] As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the present invention may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as de facto equivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of the present invention.

[0072] Furthermore, the described features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the description numerous specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

[0073] While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of the present invention in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention. Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention be limited, except as by the claims set forth below.