High speed silicon optical modulator with self aligned fabrication process

With the imminent commercialisation of silicon photonic devices comes the requirement for a fabrication process capable of high yield and device performance repeatability. The precise alignment of the different elements of a device can be a major fabrication challenge for minimising performance variation or even device failure. In this paper a new design of high speed carrier depletion silicon optical modulator is introduced which features the use of a self-aligned fabrication process to form the pn junction. Experimental results are presented from an initial fabrication run, which has demonstrated a 6dB modulation depth at 10Gbit/s from a 3.5mm long device.