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Silicon is a common material for photonics due to its favorable optical properties in the telecom and mid-wave IR bands, as well as compatibility with a wide range of complementary metal–oxide semiconductor (CMOS) foundry processes. Crystalline inversion symmetry precludes silicon from natively exhibiting second-order nonlinear optical processes. In this work, we build on recent works in silicon photonics that break this material symmetry using large bias fields, thereby enablingχ(2)interactions. Using this approach, we demonstrate both second-harmonic generation (with a normalized efficiency of 0.20%W−1cm−2) and, to our knowledge, the first degenerateχ(2)optical parametric amplifier (with an estimated normalized gain of 0.6dBW−1/2cm−1) using silicon-on-insulator waveguides fabricated in a CMOS-compatible commercial foundry. We expect this technology to enable the integration of novel nonlinear optical devices such as optical parametric amplifiers, oscillators, and frequency converters into large-scale, hybrid photonic–electronic systems by leveraging the extensive ecosystem of CMOS fabrication.
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Silicon‐On‐Silicon Carbide Platform for Integrated Photonics
Abstract Silicon carbide (SiC)'s nonlinear optical properties and applications to quantum information have recently brought attention to its potential as an integrated photonics platform. However, despite its many excellent material properties, such as large thermal conductivity, wide transparency window, and strong optical nonlinearities, it is generally a difficult material for microfabrication. Here, it is shown that directly bonded silicon‐on‐silicon carbide can be a high‐performing hybrid photonics platform that does not require the need to form SiC membranes or directly pattern in SiC. The optimized bonding method yields defect‐free, uniform films with minimal oxide at the silicon–silicon–carbide interface. Ring resonators are patterned into the silicon layer with standard, complimentary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) compatible (Si) fabrication and measure room‐temperature, near‐infrared quality factors exceeding 105. The corresponding propagation loss is 5.7 dB cm−1. The process offers a wafer‐scalable pathway to the integration of SiC photonics into CMOS devices.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2011854
- PAR ID:
- 10640895
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Optical Materials
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 27
- ISSN:
- 2195-1071
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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