A 2 × 2 nonblocking Mach-Zehnder-based silicon switch matrix.

ABSTRACT

A 2 × 2 non-blocking switch matrix based on the Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer was designed and fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer through 0.8-µm standard commercial CMOS foundry. The two paired multimode-imaging (MMI) couplers in each MZ switching element were used as power splitters and combiners. Experimental results show that the switching elements are electrically driven with a switching speed of 17.4 ns and its cross-talk is lower than -16.1 dB under a common spectral bandwidth of 35 nm. The total switching power consumption varies from 4.55 mW to 22.4 mW for different switching paths.