Showing papers by "Jens H. Schmid published in 2014"

Silicon Photonic Integration Platform—Have We Found the Sweet Spot?

Abstract: The current trend in silicon photonics towards higher levels of integration as well as the model of using CMOS foundries for fabrication are leading to a need for standardization of substrate parameters and fabrication processes In particular, for several established research and development foundries that grant general access, silicon-on-insulator wafers with a silicon thickness of 220 nm have become the standard substrate for which devices and circuits have to be designed In this study we investigate the role of silicon device layer thickness in design optimization of various components that need to be integrated in a typical optical transceiver, including both passive ones for routing, wavelength selection, and light coupling as well as active ones such as monolithic modulators and on-chip lasers produced by hybrid integration We find that in all devices considered there is an advantage in using a silicon thickness larger than 220 nm, either for improved performance or for simplified fabrication processes and relaxed tolerances

Evanescent field waveguide sensing with subwavelength grating structures in silicon-on-insulator.

Abstract: We explore, to the best of our knowledge, the potential of diffractionless subwavelength grating waveguides for sensing applications. We show that by subwavelength patterning of silicon-wire waveguides the field delocalization can be engineered to increase the sensitivity. Fully vectorial 3D-FDTD simulations confirm the sensitivity enhancement, achieving sensitivities of 0.83 RIU/RIU and 1.5·10−3 RIU/nm for bulk and surface sensing, respectively, which compare favorably to state-of-the-art sensing waveguides.