1. Silicon-integrated scandium-doped aluminum nitride electro-optic modulator
- Author
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Xu, Tianqi, Liu, Yushuai, Pu, Yuanmao, Yang, Yongxiang, Zhong, Qize, Zhao, Xingyan, Qiu, Yang, Dong, Yuan, Wu, Tao, Zheng, Shaonan, and Hu, Ting
- Subjects
Physics - Applied Physics ,Physics - Optics - Abstract
Scandium-doped aluminum nitride (AlScN) with an asymmetric hexagonal wurtzite structure exhibits enhanced second-order nonlinear and piezoelectric properties compared to aluminum nitride (AlN), while maintaining a relatively large bandgap. It provides a promising platform for photonic integration and facilitates the seamless integration of passive and active functional devices. Here, we present the design, fabrication, and characterization of AlScN EO micro-ring modulators, introducing active functionalities to the chip-scale AlScN platform. These waveguide-integrated EO modulators employ sputtered AlScN thin films as the light-guiding medium, and the entire fabrication process is compatible with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. We characterize the high-frequency performance of an AlScN modulator for the first time, extracting a maximum in-device effective EO coefficient of 2.86 pm/V at 12 GHz. The devices show a minimum half-wave voltage-length product of 3.12 V*cm and a 3-dB modulation bandwidth of approximately 22 GHz. Our work provides a promising modulation scheme for cost-effective silicon-integrated photonics systems.
- Published
- 2024