Straight and curved distributed Bragg reflector design for compact WDM filters.

Grating-assisted contra-directional couplers (CDCs) wavelength selective filters for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) are designed and experimentally demonstrated. Two configuration setups are designed; a straight-distributed Bragg reflector (SDBR) and curved distributed Bragg reflector (CDBR). The devices are fabricated on a monolithic silicon photonics platform in a GlobalFoundries CMOS foundry. The sidelobe strength of the transmission spectrum is suppressed by controlling the energy exchange between the asymmetric waveguides of the CDC using grating and spacing apodization. The experimental characterization demonstrates a flat-top and low insertion loss (0.43 dB) spectrally stable performance (<0.7 nm spectral shift) across several different wafers. The devices have a compact footprint of only 130µm2/Ch (SDBR) and 3700µm2/Ch (CDBR).

Compact, broadband, and low-loss power splitters using MZI based on Bézier bends.

We experimentally demonstrate wavelength-independent couplers (WICs) based on an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) on a monolithic silicon-photonics platform in a commercial, 300-mm, CMOS foundry. We compare the performance of splitters based on MZIs consisting of circular and 3rd order (cubic) Bézier bends. A semi-analytical model is constructed in order to accurately calculate each device's response based on their specific geometry. The model is successfully tested via 3D-FDTD simulations and experimental characterization. The obtained experimental results demonstrate uniform performance across different wafer sites for various target splitting ratios. We also confirm the superior performance of the Bézier bend-based structure, compared to the circular bend-based structure both in terms of insertion loss (0.14 dB), and performance consistency throughout different wafer dies. The maximum deviation of the optimal device's splitting ratio is 0.6%, over a wavelength span of 100 nm. Moreover, the devices have a compact footprint of 36.3 × 3.8 µ m 2.

Fabrication tolerant and wavelength independent arbitrary power splitters on a monolithic silicon photonics platform.

We experimentally demonstrate wavelength-independent couplers based on an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer on a monolithic silicon-photonics platform in a state-of-the-art CMOS foundry. The devices are also designed to exhibit fabrication tolerant performance for arbitrary splitting ratios. We have developed a semi-analytical model to optimize the device response and the reliability of the model is benchmarked against 3D-FDTD simulations. Experimental results are consistent with the simulation results obtained by the model and show uniform performance across different wafer sites with a standard deviation for the splitting ratio of only 0.6% at 1310 nm wavelength. The maximum spectral deviation of the splitting ratio (3-dB splitter) is measured to be 1.2% over a wavelength range of at least 80 nm and the insertion loss ranges from 0.08 to 0.38 dB. The wavelength-independent coupler has a compact footprint of 60 × 40 µ m 2.

Beam shaping for ultra-compact waveguide crossings on monolithic silicon photonics platform.

A beam shaping approach has been implemented to realize high-performance waveguide crossings based on cosine tapers. Devices with a compact footprint of 4.7µm×4.7µm were fabricated on the GLOBALFOUNDRIES 45 nm monolithic silicon photonics platform (45 CLO technology). Fabricated devices are found to be nearly wavelength independent (±0.035dB for 1260nm≤λ≤1360nm) with low insertion loss (∼0.2dB) and crosstalk (-35dB). The measured response of the devices is consistent with the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulation results. The design stability is validated by measuring the device insertion loss on eight chips, which is found to be 0.197±0.017dB at the designed center wavelength of 1310 nm.