Three-Dimensional Tapered Spot-Size Converter Based on (111) Silicon-on-Insulator

Author

Fang, Na ; Yang, Zhifeng ; Wu, Aimin ; Chen, Jing ; Zhang, Miao ; Zou, Shichang ; Wang, Xi

Author_Institution

State Key Lab. of Functional Mater. for Inf., Chinese Acad. of Sci., Shanghai

Volume

21

Issue

12

fYear

2009

fDate

6/15/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

820

Lastpage

822

Abstract

A novel method is presented to realize a three- dimensional (3-D) spot-size converter (SSC) by standard silicon micromachining techniques, for efficient coupling from single-mode fiber to silicon photonic chip. The SSC is comprised of input-output waveguides and a 3-D tapered coupler on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The dimensions are decreased linearly in both vertical and horizontal directions from input facet to output facet. The slope in the vertical direction is originated from the angle between the surface of (111) SOI wafer and the real (111) crystal plane. Fabrication of the device has large process tolerance and its effectiveness was conformed by optical loss measurement.

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; integrated optics; micro-optomechanical devices; micromachining; optical couplers; optical fabrication; silicon; silicon-on-insulator; 3D tapered coupler; SOI substrate; Si-SiO₂; input-output waveguides; optical loss measurement; process tolerance; silicon micromachining techniques; silicon photonic chip; silicon-on-insulator; three-dimensional tapered spot-size converter; Anisotropic etching; silicon-on-insulator (SOI); spot-size converter (SSC);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2009.2019619

Filename

4810148