Optical interferometer device tolerant to inaccuracy in doping overlay

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9927677-B2
Application number	US-201615179031-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2016
Priority date	Jun 10, 2016
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

An optical interferometer device is provided including a waveguide interferometer. The waveguide interferometer includes first and second waveguide arms in a waveguide plane, each waveguide arm including a n-type region and a p-type region forming a junction. The n-type region and the p-type region of the second waveguide arm are translationally symmetric with respect to the n-type region and the p-type region, respectively, of the first waveguide arm in the waveguide plane.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical device, comprising:
a waveguide interferometer including first and second waveguide arms in a waveguide plane, each waveguide arm comprising a n-type region and a p-type region forming a lateral p-n junction;
wherein the n-type region and the p-type region of the second waveguide arm are translationally symmetric in the waveguide plane with respect to the n-type region and the p-type region, respectively, of the first waveguide arm,
wherein the n-type regions of the junctions of the first and second waveguide arms are electrically coupled to each other, and wherein the p-type regions of the junctions of the first and second waveguide arms are electrically coupled to each other.

2. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the junctions of the first and second waveguide arms extend along the respective waveguide arms, such that a distance between n-type regions of the junctions is substantially equal to a distance between the p-type regions of the junctions.

3. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the junctions of the first and second waveguide arms comprise parallel sections.

4. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the optical device is a photonic switch, an optical modulator, or a tunable optical filter.

5. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the junction of each waveguide arm is formed by carrier injection.

6. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the junction of each waveguide arm is formed by carrier depletion.

7. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the junction of each waveguide arm is formed by Franz-Keldysh effect.

8. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the junction of each waveguide arm is formed by quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE).

9. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the waveguide interferometer is a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

10. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the waveguide interferometer is a Michelson interferometer.

11. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the waveguide interferometer is a ring-assisted Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

12. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein each waveguide arm includes at least one bend.

13. The optical device according to claim 12 , wherein each junction is L-shaped.

14. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein each waveguide arm has a zig-zag shape.

15. The optical device according to claim 1 , wherein the n-type region includes a plurality of n-type segments and the p-type region includes a plurality of p-type segments, and wherein the n-type segments and the p-type segments of the second waveguide arm are translationally symmetric with respect to the n-type segments and the p-type segments of the first waveguide arm in the waveguide plane.

16. The optical device according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of waveguide interferometers including the waveguide interferometer, wherein each waveguide interferometer includes first and second waveguide arms on a waveguide plane, each waveguide arm including a n-type region and a p-type region forming a junction; and wherein the n-type region and the p-type region of the second waveguide arm of each waveguide interferometer are translationally symmetric with respect to the n-type region and the p-type region of the corresponding first waveguide arm in the waveguide plane.

17. An optical device, comprising:
a waveguide interferometer including first and second waveguide arms in a waveguide plane, each waveguide arm comprising a n-type region and a p-type region forming a lateral p-n junction;
wherein the n-type region and the p-type region of the second waveguide arm are translationally symmetric in the waveguide plane with respect to the n-type region and the p-type region, respectively, of the first waveguide arm,
wherein the n-type region of the junction of the first waveguide is electrically coupled to the p-type region of the junction of the second waveguide.

18. A method of manufacturing an optical interferometer device, comprising:
forming optical waveguides of a waveguide interferometer, the waveguide interferometer including first and second waveguide arms in a waveguide plane;
forming n-type regions for the first and second waveguide arms; and
forming p-type regions for the first and second waveguide arms;
wherein the n-type region and the p-type region of each waveguide arm form a lateral p-n junction between the n-type region and the p-type region, and the n-type region and the p-type region of the second waveguide arm are translationally symmetric in the waveguide plane with respect to the n-type region and the p-type region, respectively, of the first waveguide arm,
wherein the n-type regions of the junctions of the first and second waveguide arms are electrically coupled to each other, and wherein the p-type regions of the junctions of the first and second waveguide arms are electrically coupled to each other.

Assignees

• Goodwill Dominic John
• Jiang Jia
• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Goodwill Dominic John
• Jiang Jia

Classifications

• G02F2001/212

  Physics · mapped topic

• G02B6/29346

  operating by wave or beam interference (interferometers for measuring G01B9/02) · CPC title

• G02F2001/215

  Physics · mapped topic

• G02F2001/0157

  Physics · mapped topic

• G02B6/29352

  in a light guide · CPC title