CMOS silicon photonics steps closer with HELIOS 40G modulator

Grenoble, France--European researchers cooperating on theHELIOS Project (www.helios-project.eu) have achieved a major milestone towards fabricating silicon photonics circuits in CMOS foundries, announced CEA-Leti: the first demonstration of a 40 Gbit/s (40 G or 40 Gbps) optical modulator in silicon with a record extinction ratio (the power difference between the 1 and 0 data levels) of 10 dB.

The HELIOS project has indeed accomplished one of the key project goals needed to build and optimize the entire supply chain for fabricating complex functional silicon- photonics devices from design to the process level. In addition to the 40Gb/s modulator, HELIOS partners are building the fabrication supply chain through several other complex photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that address a variety of industrial needs, including a 16 x10 Gbit/s transceiver.

Designed and characterized by staff in the Silicon Photonics Group at the Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, UK, the modulator circuit was fabricated in a CMOS-compatible process by Leti, who is coordinating the project. "This result is a major step towards high-bandwidth optical systems on silicon because it makes 40Gb/s modulators viable for commercial applications," said Graham Reed, professor of silicon photonics at the University of Surrey.

Silicon photonics, a viable technology to meet the demand of high-volume markets, has generated growing interest in recent years, mainly for optical telecommunications or for optical interconnects in microelectronic circuits.

SOURCE: CEA-Leti; www.leti.fr/en/Latest-news/European-Project-Achieves-Milestone-on-Route-to-Fabricating-Silicon-Photonics-Circuits-in-CMOS-Compatible-Process