Method and apparatus providing a coupled photonic structure

Abstract

Described embodiments include optical connections for electronic-photonic devices, such as optical waveguides and photonic detectors for receiving optical waves from the optical waveguides and directing the optical waves to a common point. Methods of fabricating such connections are also described.

Claims

1. A photonic detector comprising: a semiconductor material configured to receive an optical energy wave, wherein the semiconductor material comprises at least one curved reflecting edge shaped to reflect a plurality of evanescently received optical energy waves from sides of a curved waveguide to a common point.

2. The photonic detector of claim 1, wherein the common point comprises at least one electrode.

3. The photonic detector of claim 1, wherein the reflecting edge is in a range of about 5-15 m from the waveguide.

4. The photonic detector of claim 1, wherein the photonic detector comprises at least one of the following materials: germanium; silicon germanium; indium gallium arsenide; and indium phosphate.

5. The photonic detector of claim 1, wherein the semiconductor material further comprises: an edge for receiving optical energy waves from an end surface of the curved waveguide, the at least one reflecting edge shaped to reflect optical energy waves from the end surface to the common point.

6. The photonic detector as in claim 1, wherein the curved edge is shaped to receive optical wave energy from a curved waveguide having a constant radius of curvature.

7. The photonic detector as in claim 6, wherein the constant radius of curvature is approximately 1 m.

8. The photonic detector as in claim 1, wherein the curved edge is shaped to receive optical wave energy from a curved waveguide having a varying radius of curvature.

9. The photonic detector as in claim 1, wherein the received optical energy waves are reflected by the at least one curved reflecting edge at a substantially uniform angle.

10. The photonic detector as in claim 9, wherein the angle is approximately a 20 angle.

11. The photonic detector as in claim 1, wherein the received optical waves are reflected by the at least one curved reflecting edge at angles which change as a function of the distance of the at least one curved reflecting edge from the sides of the curved waveguide.

12. The photonic detector as in claim 1, wherein the common point is within 10 m of the curved waveguide.

13. The photonic detector as in claim 1, wherein the photonic detector is used as part of an electronic memory.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional electronic-photonic device.

(2) FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate cross-sectional diagrams of conventional optical waveguides.

(3) FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate top-down views of conventional optical connections for an optical waveguide and a photonic detector.

(4) FIG. 4 illustrates a top-down view of an optical connection, in accordance with embodiments described herein.

(5) FIG. 5 illustrates a top-down view of optical paths in an optical connection, in accordance with embodiments described herein.

(6) FIG. 6 illustrates a top-down view of optical paths in another optical connection, in accordance with embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(7) In the following detailed description, reference is made to various embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are described with sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be employed, and that various structural, logical and electrical changes may be made. In addition, where various processes are described, it should be understood that the steps of the processes may occur in an order other than how they are specifically described, unless noted otherwise.

(8) Embodiments described herein make advantageous use of a phenomenon known as bending loss that occurs with optical waveguides. When an optical beam travels in an optical waveguide, a near-field standing wave, referred to as an evanescent wave, is formed at the boundary between the inner core and outer cladding of the optical waveguide. When a bend occurs in the optical waveguide, the portion of the evanescent wave located outside of the border between the inner core and the outer cladding must travel faster than the portion of the wave located inside of the inner core, in order to maintain the same angular velocity. At a point referred to as the critical radius, the evanescent wave cannot travel fast enough in the respective medium to maintain the same angular velocity as the portion of the wave inside of the waveguide, and the energy of this portion propagates outward from the waveguide in a radial direction away from the curved waveguide.

(9) Bending loss is typically considered an obstacle in optical waveguide design. The embodiments described below, however, exacerbate and take advantage of this phenomenon to provide a connection between an optical waveguide and a photonic detector.

(10) FIG. 4 illustrates a top-down view of an optical connection 400 between an optical waveguide 410 and a photonic detector 420. Optical connection 400 may be formed, for example, on a substrate such as a silicon substrate, a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, a silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) substrate, or a printed circuit board (PCB). Alternatively, elements of optical connection 400 may be formed on multiple separate substrates (e.g., Si, SiO.sub.2, SOI, or other suitable substrates).

(11) Optical waveguide 410 includes an internal core 412 and outer cladding 414, and may be integrated into a substrate (e.g., a common substrate with photonic detector 420), or may be, e.g., a single mode or dual mode optical fiber. Inner core 412 may be formed of, for example, a Si material, and have a width of approximately 300 nm Outer cladding 414 may be formed of, for example, SiO.sub.2. Inner core 412 may be patterned in outer cladding 414 using known processes.

(12) Photonic detector 420 is composed of a semiconductor material, such as germanium (Ge), silicon germanium (SiGe), indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), indium phosphate (InP) or other appropriate materials, that generates an electrical response upon receiving an optical wave from optical waveguide 410, as described below. Photonic detector 420 includes at least one electrode 430, which may be composed of a metal such as aluminum, copper, or titanium, for example. Photonic detector 420 may be fabricated using wafer bonding and other existing manufacturing processes such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) semiconductor manufacturing processes.

(13) The operably connected end of optical waveguide 410 is curved at an angle of .sub.1, with a corresponding radius of curvature r.sub.1. The curved portion of optical waveguide 410 may be formed using a lithographic process. Radius of curvature r.sub.1 may be constant along the curve of optical waveguide 410, or alternatively may vary as a function of angle .sub.1. If radius of curvature r.sub.1 is sufficiently small (i.e., is equal to or less than the critical radius), thereby creating a sharp enough curve in optical waveguide 410, the evanescent wave from optical waveguide 410 leaves optical waveguide 410 and propagates radially towards photonic detector 420. The critical radius of waveguide 410 will depend on the width of the inner core 412, and the materials and respective refraction indexes for the inner core 412 and the outer cladding 414. For an optical waveguide 410 including, for example, a 300 nm wide Si inner core 412 and a SiO.sub.2 outer cladding, radius r.sub.1 may be equal to or less than 1 m.

(14) FIG. 5 illustrates a top-down view of the paths of evanescent waves propagating radially from optical waveguide 410 to photonic detector 420 in optical connection 400.

(15) The semiconductor material used to form photonic detector 420 may be shaped to reflect the propagated evanescent waves to a common point (e.g., electrode 430). The semiconductor material may be shaped using, for example, a lithographic process, such as electron-beam lithography, or through etching techniques. The reflecting edge 425 of photonic detector 420 is preferably in a range of about 5-15 m from optical waveguide 410, providing an adequate path length for the wavelengths of the propagated evanescent waves while allowing for a compact photonic detector 420.

(16) The radially propagated evanescent waves received by photonic detector 420 can be reflected at a substantially uniform angle .sub.2 from edge 425 towards electrode 430. For example, the reflecting edge 425 of photonic detector 420 may be shaped to reflect the evanescent waves at approximately a 20 angle towards electrode 430. In other embodiments, angle .sub.2 may change as a function of its distance from optical waveguide 410. Selecting a common point for electrode 430 that is relatively close (i.e., within 10 m) to optical waveguide 410 allows for a smoother reflecting edge 425, because complicated reflection points are not required.

(17) In order to better promote reflectivity of the optical beams, the photonic detector 420 may be formed of a material having a higher refractive index than the surrounding substrate. For example, a germanium (Ge) photonic detector 420 having an index of refraction of approximately 4.34 may be used in a substrate of SiO.sub.2, which has a refractive index of approximately 1.5. Other materials may also be used to form the photonic detector 420, such as InP, SiGe, GaAs, and other appropriate materials.

(18) FIG. 6 illustrates a top-down view of optical paths in an optical connection 500 in another embodiment of a photonic detector 520. Photonic detector 520 includes a shaped reflecting edge 525 similar to edge 425 described above in connection with FIG. 4, in order to reflect evanescent waves propagated radially from optical waveguide 410 due to bending loss. In addition, a bottom portion of photonic detector 520 is butt-coupled to the terminal point 418 of optical waveguide 410, in order to couple any remaining optical beam from inner core 414 to photonic detector 520. The optical beam is reflected from another reflecting edge 527 of photonic detector 520, and may be reflected several times prior to reaching the common point (e.g., electrode 430). Photonic detector 520 may be fabricated using wafer bonding and other existing manufacturing processes such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) semiconductor manufacturing processes.

(19) Optical connections including an optical waveguide 410 and/or a photonic detector 420, 520 as described in connection with FIGS. 4-6 may be used in various electronic-photonic devices. For example, the optical connections could be used with inter-chip or intra-chip systems including at least one light source 120 and modulator 140 (FIG. 1), such as to connect multiple memory elements (e.g., one or more cores or DRAM, SDRAM, SRAM, ROM, or other type of solid-state or static memory elements).

(20) The above description and drawings are only to be considered illustrative of specific embodiments, which achieve the features and advantages described herein. Modification and substitutions to specific processes, components, and structures can be made. For example, it should be understood that appropriate types of semiconductor materials and memory elements other than those specifically described in connection with the above embodiments may be used. Accordingly, the embodiments of the invention are not to be considered as being limited by the foregoing description and drawings, but only by the scope of the appended claims.