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US 10,649,244 B1Granted
Silicon-germanium optical modulator structure for use with optical chips
AssigneeMellanox Technologies Silicon Photonics Inc.
InventorsElad Mentovich, Dimitrios Kalavrouziotis, Mehdi Asghari, Joan Fong, Wei Liu, Wei Qian, Dazeng Feng
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Abstract
The optical device includes a waveguide positioned on a base and a modulator positioned on the base. The modulator includes a ridge that includes Si1-xGex where x is greater than or equal to 0.4 and less than or equal to 0.8. The modulator is configured to guide a light signal through the modulator such that the light signal contacts the Si1-xGex. A local heater is configured to heat the modulator.
Claims19
An optical device, comprising:
- a waveguide positioned on a base and a modulator positioned on the base,
- the modulator including a ridge that includes Si1-xGex where x is greater than or equal to 0.4 and less than or equal to 0.8,
- the modulator configured to guide a light signal through the modulator such that the light signal contacts the Si1-xGex;
- and
- a device ridge that includes the ridge, the device ridge having a top side and lateral sides, the lateral sides being between the top side and the base, and the top side having a width;
- and
- a heater positioned over one of the lateral sides and the top side of the device ridge without being positioned over the entire width of the top side.
4 more elements
An optical device, comprising:
- a waveguide positioned on a base and a modulator positioned on the base,
- the modulator being a Quantum-Confined Stark Effect (QCSE) electro-absorption modulator and including a ridge that includes Si1-xGex where x is greater than or equal to 0.4 and less than or equal to 0.8,
- the modulator configured to guide a light signal through the modulator such that the light signal contacts the Si1-xGex.
A method of fabricating a modulator, comprising:
- growing a seed layer on a base such that a surface of the seed layer has a root mean square roughness less than 1 nm;
- and
- growing a quantum well structure on the surface of the seed layer, the quantum well structure including Si1-xGex where x is greater than or equal to 0.4 and less than or equal to 0.8.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.