Optical components having a common etch depth

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9354394-B2
Application number	US-201313890140-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2013
Priority date	May 11, 2012
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

An optical device is described. This optical device includes multiple components, such as a ring resonator, an optical waveguide and a grating coupler, having a common etch depth (which is associated with a single etch step or operation during fabrication). Moreover, these components may be implemented in a semiconductor layer in a silicon-on-insulator technology. By using a common etch depth, the optical device may provide: compact active devices, multimode ultralow-loss optical waveguides, high-speed ring resonator modulators with ultralow power consumption, and compact low-loss interlayer couplers for multilayer-routed optical links. Furthermore, the single etch step may help reduce or eliminate optical transition loss, and thus may facilitate high yield and low manufacturing costs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical device, comprising:
a substrate;
a buried-oxide layer disposed on the substrate; and
a semiconductor layer disposed on the buried-oxide layer, wherein the semiconductor layer includes a ring resonator, an optical waveguide and a grating coupler, wherein the optical waveguide comprises straight routing segments and bends to couple the straight routing segments, wherein the routing segments have a wider width than the bends to reduce optical loss on the routing segments and enable tight bending on the bends, wherein the semiconductor layer has a thickness and the etch depth is more than 50% but less than 100% of the thickness to leave a remaining silicon slab for active devices, and wherein the ring resonator, the optical waveguide and the grating coupler are defined in the semiconductor layer using a common etch depth.

2. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the ring resonator has a radius less than 10 μm and is single mode.

3. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein an optical loss of the optical waveguide at a wavelength of at least 1.3 μm and a data rate of at least 10 Gb/s is less than 1 dB/cm.

4. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the thickness is substantially 300 nm and the etch depth is greater than 200 nm.

5. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the substrate, the buried-oxide layer and the semiconductor layer constitute a silicon-on-insulator technology.

6. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein, at bends, the optical waveguide has a width between 400 and 500 nm.

7. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein, for routing segments, the optical waveguide has a width between 2 and 4 μm.

8. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the optical waveguide includes sections having different widths; and
wherein the optical waveguide includes taper segments over a length between the sections having the different widths.

9. An electronic device, comprising:
a processor;
a memory storing a program module that is configured to be executed by the processor; and
an optical device, wherein the optical device includes:
a substrate;
a buried-oxide layer disposed on the substrate; and
a semiconductor layer disposed on the buried-oxide layer, wherein the semiconductor layer includes a ring resonator, an optical waveguide and a grating coupler, wherein the optical waveguide comprises routing segments and bends, wherein the routing segments have a wider width than the bends to reduce optical loss on the routing segments and enable tight bending on the bends, wherein the semiconductor layer has a thickness and the etch depth is more than 50% but less than 100% of the thickness to leave a remaining silicon slab for active devices, and wherein the ring resonator, the optical waveguide and the grating coupler are defined in the semiconductor layer using a common etch depth.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the ring resonator has a radius less than 10 μm and is single mode.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein an optical loss of the optical waveguide at a wavelength of at least 1.3 μm and a data rate of at least 10 Gb/s is less than 1 dB/cm.

12. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the thickness is substantially 300 nm and the etch depth is greater than 200 nm.

13. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the substrate, the buried-oxide layer and the semiconductor layer constitute a silicon-on-insulator technology.

14. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein, at bends, the optical waveguide has a width between 400 and 500 nm.

15. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein, for routing segments, the optical waveguide has a width between 2 and 4 μm.

16. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the optical waveguide includes sections having different widths; and
wherein the optical waveguide includes taper segments over a length between the sections having the different widths.

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Li Guoliang
• Zheng Xuezhe
• Krishnamoorthy Ashok V

Classifications

• G02B6/12007

  forming wavelength selective elements, e.g. multiplexer, demultiplexer · CPC title

• G02B6/122

  Basic optical elements, e.g. light-guiding paths · CPC title

• G02B6/125

  Bends, branchings or intersections · CPC title

• G02B6/12004

  Combinations of two or more optical elements · CPC title

• G02B6/136 Primary

  by etching · CPC title