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Abstract Nonvolatile photonic integrated circuits employing phase change materials have relied either on optical switching mechanisms with precise multi-level control but poor scalability or electrical switching with seamless integration and scalability but mostly limited to a binary response. Recent works have demonstrated electrical multi-level switching; however, they relied on the stochastic nucleation process to achieve partial crystallization with low demonstrated repeatability and cyclability. Here, we re-engineer waveguide-integrated microheaters to achieve precise spatial control of the temperature profile (i.e., hotspot) and, thus, switch deterministic areas of an embedded phase change material cell. We experimentally demonstrate this concept using a variety of foundry-processed doped-silicon microheaters on a silicon-on-insulator platform to trigger multi-step amorphization and reversible switching of Sb2Se3and Ge2Sb2Se4Te alloys. We further characterize the response of our microheaters using Transient Thermoreflectance Imaging. Our approach combines the deterministic control resulting from a spatially resolved glassy-crystalline distribution with the scalability of electro-thermal switching devices, thus paving the way to reliable multi-level switching towards robust reprogrammable phase-change photonic devices for analog processing and computing.
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Designing fast and efficient electrically driven phase change photonics using foundry compatible waveguide-integrated microheaters
Phase change chalcogenides such as Ge2Sb2Te5(GST) have recently enabled advanced optical devices for applications such as in-memory computing, reflective displays, tunable metasurfaces, and reconfigurable photonics. However, designing phase change optical devices with reliable and efficient electrical control is challenging due to the requirements of both high amorphization temperatures and extremely fast quenching rates for reversible switching. Here, we use a Multiphysics simulation framework to model three waveguide-integrated microheaters designed to switch optical phase change materials. We explore the effects of geometry, doping, and electrical pulse parameters to optimize the switching speed and minimize energy consumption in these optical devices.
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- PAR ID:
- 10531159
- Publisher / Repository:
- Optical Society of America
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Optics Express
- Volume:
- 30
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 1094-4087; OPEXFF
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 13673
- Size(s):
- Article No. 13673
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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