Design And Simulation Of High Speed Silicon Based MZI Modulator

Silicon is an extraordinary material in microelectronics due to the compatibility with standard CMOS platform and low cost. Nowadays, manyⅢ-Ⅴbased electro-optic modulator can reach modulation speed as high as 40GHz. However, they are not so favorable for their high cost and non- compatibility with CMOS platform. Moreover, Silicon is the first choice for low cost optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC). Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, the theoretical model and several typical kinds of silicon based MZI modulator are introduced and studied in this thesis. The main contents are listed as follows:(1)Based on the high thermal-optical constant and the transparency of silicon at 1.55nm, a silicon based thermal-optic MZI modulator is designed. The thermal distribution and thermal conduct are simulated by using the software Ansys. The parameters are optimized.(2)Based on the carrier plasma dispersion effect, a forward biased pn junction structure is designed. Photonic crystal waveguide is introduced into this structure. The structure is designed by using the software Atlas, and the optimization has been done to the structure.(3)Based on the carrier plasma dispersion effect, a double MOS capacity structure is designed by using the software Atlas. The parameters are optimized by analyzing the modulation speed, the length of arm of the modulator as well as the applied voltage.(4)Also based on the carrier plasma dispersion effect, a N-P-N structure is designed. When reverse biased voltage is applied to pn junction, the depletion width of the pn junction will change according to the applied voltage, so as to change the index of silicon. An optimized result is achieved by changing the parameters of the structure.