Monolithic silicon-photonic platforms in state-of-the-art CMOS SOI processes &#x0005B;Invited&#x0005D;

Vladimir Stojanović; Rajeev J. Ram; Milos Popović; Sen Lin; Sajjad Moazeni; Mark Wade; Chen Sun; Luca Alloatti; Amir Atabaki; Fabio Pavanello; Nandish Mehta; Pavan Bhargava

doi:10.1364/OE.26.013106

Optics Express
Vol. 26,
Issue 10,
pp. 13106-13121
(2018)
•https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.26.013106

Monolithic silicon-photonic platforms in state-of-the-art CMOS SOI processes [Invited]

Vladimir Stojanović, Rajeev J. Ram, Milos Popović, Sen Lin, Sajjad Moazeni, Mark Wade, Chen Sun, Luca Alloatti, Amir Atabaki, Fabio Pavanello, Nandish Mehta, and Pavan Bhargava

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Vladimir Stojanović, Rajeev J. Ram, Milos Popović, Sen Lin, Sajjad Moazeni, Mark Wade, Chen Sun, Luca Alloatti, Amir Atabaki, Fabio Pavanello, Nandish Mehta, and Pavan Bhargava, "Monolithic silicon-photonic platforms in state-of-the-art CMOS SOI processes [Invited]," Opt. Express 26, 13106-13121 (2018)

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- Integrated Optics
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About this Article
History
- Original Manuscript: February 1, 2018
- Revised Manuscript: March 11, 2018
- Manuscript Accepted: March 12, 2018
- Published: May 7, 2018
Virtual Issues
Optics Express Twenty years of Optics Express: invited review articles (2018)

Abstract

Integrating photonics with advanced electronics leverages transistor performance, process fidelity and package integration, to enable a new class of systems-on-a-chip for a variety of applications ranging from computing and communications to sensing and imaging. Monolithic silicon photonics is a promising solution to meet the energy efficiency, sensitivity, and cost requirements of these applications. In this review paper, we take a comprehensive view of the performance of the silicon-photonic technologies developed to date for photonic interconnect applications. We also present the latest performance and results of our “zero-change” silicon photonics platforms in 45 nm and 32 nm SOI CMOS. The results indicate that the 45 nm and 32 nm processes provide a “sweet-spot” for adding photonic capability and enhancing integrated system applications beyond the Moore-scaling, while being able to offload major communication tasks from more deeply-scaled compute and memory chips without complicated 3D integration approaches.

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Fig. 1 The comparison of f_T for IBM/GlobalFoundries CMOS processes. [8–10]

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Fig. 2 45nm SOI CMOS process cross-section with relevant devices [From Sun et al., JSSC. 50, 893 (2016)].

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Fig. 3 “Zero-change” SOI platform evolution; (a) Development timeline, (b) EOS22 die photo, (c) WDM transceivers, (d) Key photonic devices of an optical link.

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Fig. 4 (a) 3D layout of a unidirectional grating coupler, (b) Optical transmission at 10.5 degree vertical angle.

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Fig. 5 (a) 3D layout of a spoked-ring modulator [From Moazeni et al., JSSC. 52, 3503 (2017)], (b) Optical transmission of a WDM transmitter row with 11 channels (numbers indicate channel ordering) over 3.2 THz FSR from EOS24 chip. Channel 3’s heater is turned on by 20% strength to show the individual resonance tuning functionality.

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Fig. 6 Photodetectors in “zero-change” platforms: (a) PMOS cross-sections in 45nm and 32nm processes and their features used for O-band light detection, (b) 3D layout of a resonant SiGe PD, (c) and (d) Micrograph and cross-section of the defect-based resonant PD for L-band.

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Fig. 7 40 Gb/s NRZ and PAM4 transmitters results: (a) Micrograph of the 40 Gb/s NRZ transmitter, (b) Total area and energy breakdown for 40 Gb/s transmitter, eye-diagram, NRZ (c) NRZ (d) PAM4 eye-diagram.

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Tables (3)

Table 1 Summary and comparison of non-monolithic silicon photonic platforms.

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Table 2 Summary and comparison of monolithic silicon photonic platforms.

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Table 3 Photonic devices performance summary.

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	IMEC [11,12]	HP [13,14]	Luxtera/TSMC [5]	ST Microelectronics [6,15]
Technology
Availability	Prototyping/Research	Prototyping/Research	High-volume^∗	High-volume
Integration Method	Wire-bond	Wire-bond	3D Cu-pillar	3D Cu-pillar
Photonics process node	220 nm SOI	130 nm SOI CMOS	130 nm SOI CMOS	PIC25G SOI
Circuits process node	28 nm/40 nm CMOS	65 nm CMOS	28 nm CMOS	55 nm BiCMOS/65 nm CMOS
NFET f_T	275 GHz/305 GHz	N/R	N/R	300 GHz/200 GHz
Wavelength	1550 nm	1550 nm	1310 nm	1310 nm
Photonics Performances
Waveguide Loss	1 dB/cm	3 dB/cm	1.9 dB/cm	3 dB/cm
Couplers Loss	2 dB	5 dB	2.2 dB	2.15 dB
Modulator Device	Ring-resonator	Ring-resonator	MZM	MZM
Modulator Bandwidth	38 GHz	N/R	25 Gb/s	25 Gb/s
PD Responsivity	0.8 A/W	0.45 A/W	1 A/W	0.88 A/W
PD Bandwidth	50 GHz	30 GHz	24 GHz	20 GHz
System Performances
Transmitter Data-rate	50 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	56 Gb/s
Extinction Ratio (Insertion Loss)	5 dB (5 dB)	7 dB (5 dB)	4.2 dB (1.5 dB)	2.5 dB (7.5 dB)
Transmitter Energy^†	0.61 pJ/b	2.5 pJ/b	N/R	5.35 pJ/b
Receiver Data-rate	20 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	25 Gb/s
Receiver Sensitivity	70 µA	72 µA	N/R	97 µA_pp
Receiver Energy	0.58 pJ/b	0.68 pJ/b	N/R	1.24 pJ/b
N/R = Not Reported ^*High-volume assumes a 300mm foundry ^†Modulator and driver energy efficiency

	This platform	Luxtera [16]	IBM (now GF) [17]	IHP [18]	Oracle [3]
Technology
Availability	High-volume	Medium-volume	High-volume	Medium-volume	Medium-volume
CMOS Node	45 nm SOI CMOS	130 nm SOI CMOS	90 nm SOI CMOS	250 nm BiCMOS	130 nm SOI CMOS
NFET f_T	485 GHz	140 GHz	190 GHz	190 GHz	140 GHz
Wavelength	1290 nm	1550 nm	1310 nm	1550 nm	1550 nm
Photonics Performances
Waveguide Loss	3.7 dB/cm	1 dB/cm	2.5 dB/cm	2.4 dB/cm	3 dB/cm
Couplers Loss	1.5 dB (2.5 dB Pigtailed)	1.5 dB	2.5 dB	1.5 dB	5.5 dB
Modulator Device	Ring-resonator	MZM	MZM	MZM	Ring-resonator
Modulator Bandwidth	13 GHz	N/R	21 GHz	< 7.5 GHz	15 GHz
PD Responsivity	0.5 A/W	0.6 A/W	0.5 A/W	0.8 A/W	0.8 A/W
PD Bandwidth	5 GHz	20 GHz	15 GHz	31 GHz	17.6 GHz
System Performances
Transmitter Data-rate	40 Gb/s	10 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	10 Gb/s	25 Gb/s
Extinction Ratio (Insertion Loss)	3 dB (4.7 dB)	4 dB (N/R)	6.3 dB (5 dB)	8 dB (13 dB)	6.9 dB (5 dB)
Transmitter Energy^*	0.04 pJ/b	57.5 pJ/b	10.8 pJ/b	83 pJ/b	7.2 pJ/b
Receiver Data-rate	12 Gb/s	10 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	40 Gb/s 25 Gb/s
Receiver Sensitivity	8.6 µA_pp	6 µA_pp	250 µA	200 µA	200 µA
Receiver Energy	0.36 pJ/b^†	8 pJ/b	3.8 pJ/b	6.9 pJ/b	1.9 pJ/b
N/R = Not Reported ^* Modulator and driver energy efficiency ^† Full receiver energy including samplers and digital circuitry

CMOS Technology	45nm SOI		32nm SOI

Wavelength	1550	1310	1310
Waveguide Loss	4.6 dB/cm	3.7 dB/cm	25 dB/cm
Grating Coupler Loss	10 dB⁺	1.5 dB	4.9 dB⁺
Grating Coupler 1-db Bandwidth	N/A	78 nm	84 nm
Modulation Speed^∗	25 Gb/s	40 Gb/s	13.5 Gb/s
Photodetector Responsivity	0.15 A/W	0.5 A/W	0.13 A/W
Photodetector Bandwidth	10 GHz	5 GHz	>12.5 GHz
^∗ Without electrical equalization, ⁺ Bidirectional couplers.

	IMEC [11,12]	HP [13,14]	Luxtera/TSMC [5]	ST Microelectronics [6,15]
Technology
Availability	Prototyping/Research	Prototyping/Research	High-volume^∗	High-volume
Integration Method	Wire-bond	Wire-bond	3D Cu-pillar	3D Cu-pillar
Photonics process node	220 nm SOI	130 nm SOI CMOS	130 nm SOI CMOS	PIC25G SOI
Circuits process node	28 nm/40 nm CMOS	65 nm CMOS	28 nm CMOS	55 nm BiCMOS/65 nm CMOS
NFET f_T	275 GHz/305 GHz	N/R	N/R	300 GHz/200 GHz
Wavelength	1550 nm	1550 nm	1310 nm	1310 nm
Photonics Performances
Waveguide Loss	1 dB/cm	3 dB/cm	1.9 dB/cm	3 dB/cm
Couplers Loss	2 dB	5 dB	2.2 dB	2.15 dB
Modulator Device	Ring-resonator	Ring-resonator	MZM	MZM
Modulator Bandwidth	38 GHz	N/R	25 Gb/s	25 Gb/s
PD Responsivity	0.8 A/W	0.45 A/W	1 A/W	0.88 A/W
PD Bandwidth	50 GHz	30 GHz	24 GHz	20 GHz
System Performances
Transmitter Data-rate	50 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	56 Gb/s
Extinction Ratio (Insertion Loss)	5 dB (5 dB)	7 dB (5 dB)	4.2 dB (1.5 dB)	2.5 dB (7.5 dB)
Transmitter Energy^†	0.61 pJ/b	2.5 pJ/b	N/R	5.35 pJ/b
Receiver Data-rate	20 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	25 Gb/s
Receiver Sensitivity	70 µA	72 µA	N/R	97 µA_pp
Receiver Energy	0.58 pJ/b	0.68 pJ/b	N/R	1.24 pJ/b
N/R = Not Reported ^*High-volume assumes a 300mm foundry ^†Modulator and driver energy efficiency

	This platform	Luxtera [16]	IBM (now GF) [17]	IHP [18]	Oracle [3]
Technology
Availability	High-volume	Medium-volume	High-volume	Medium-volume	Medium-volume
CMOS Node	45 nm SOI CMOS	130 nm SOI CMOS	90 nm SOI CMOS	250 nm BiCMOS	130 nm SOI CMOS
NFET f_T	485 GHz	140 GHz	190 GHz	190 GHz	140 GHz
Wavelength	1290 nm	1550 nm	1310 nm	1550 nm	1550 nm
Photonics Performances
Waveguide Loss	3.7 dB/cm	1 dB/cm	2.5 dB/cm	2.4 dB/cm	3 dB/cm
Couplers Loss	1.5 dB (2.5 dB Pigtailed)	1.5 dB	2.5 dB	1.5 dB	5.5 dB
Modulator Device	Ring-resonator	MZM	MZM	MZM	Ring-resonator
Modulator Bandwidth	13 GHz	N/R	21 GHz	< 7.5 GHz	15 GHz
PD Responsivity	0.5 A/W	0.6 A/W	0.5 A/W	0.8 A/W	0.8 A/W
PD Bandwidth	5 GHz	20 GHz	15 GHz	31 GHz	17.6 GHz
System Performances
Transmitter Data-rate	40 Gb/s	10 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	10 Gb/s	25 Gb/s
Extinction Ratio (Insertion Loss)	3 dB (4.7 dB)	4 dB (N/R)	6.3 dB (5 dB)	8 dB (13 dB)	6.9 dB (5 dB)
Transmitter Energy^*	0.04 pJ/b	57.5 pJ/b	10.8 pJ/b	83 pJ/b	7.2 pJ/b
Receiver Data-rate	12 Gb/s	10 Gb/s	25 Gb/s	40 Gb/s 25 Gb/s
Receiver Sensitivity	8.6 µA_pp	6 µA_pp	250 µA	200 µA	200 µA
Receiver Energy	0.36 pJ/b^†	8 pJ/b	3.8 pJ/b	6.9 pJ/b	1.9 pJ/b
N/R = Not Reported ^* Modulator and driver energy efficiency ^† Full receiver energy including samplers and digital circuitry

Abstract

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Tables (3)

Optics Express