UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara

The Integration of Mach-Zehnder Modulators with Sampled Grating DBR Lasers

A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Materials

by Jonathon Scott Barton

Committee in charge: Professor Larry A. Coldren, Chair Professor Daniel J. Blumenthal Professor Nadir Dagli Professor Steven DenBaars Professor Evelyn L. Hu September 2004

The dissertation of Jonathon Scott Barton is approved. ________________________________________ Evelyn L. Hu ________________________________________ Daniel J. Blumenthal ________________________________________ Steven DenBaars ________________________________________ Nadir Dagli ________________________________________ Larry A. Coldren, Committee Chair

September 2004

The Integration of Mach-Zehnder Modulators with Sampled Grating DBR lasers

Copyright 2004 By Jonathon Scott Barton

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ................................................................................................ vii Vita ......................................................................................................... ix Symbols and acronyms ....................................................................... xv Acknowledgements.............................................................................. xvi

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 Direct Modulation.......................................................................7 External Modulation .................................................................10 Electro-absorption Modulators.................................................14 Mach-Zehnder Modulators ......................................................15 Mach-Zehnder Bias Approaches.............................................17 Traveling Wave Devices ..........................................................20 References..............................................................................21 Widely-tunable laser design ...................................................27 Semiconductor Optical Amplifier(SOA) Integration ................33 Dual SOAs ..............................................................................36 Optical Feedback and Reflection............................................40 Linewidth Measurements........................................................43 Relative Intensity Noise ..........................................................47 References ..............................................................................50

CHAPTER I: DEVICE INTEGRATION .............................................. 25

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

CHAPTER II: MOCVD GROWTH & FABRICATION............. 54

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Semiconductor Epitaxial Structure ..........................................56 Quantum Well Design..............................................................57 Conducting Substrate Base structure......................................58 Growth Characterization ..........................................................60 Semi-insulating substrate growth ............................................63 Regrowth..................................................................................64 Zn Doping of InP and InGaAsP ...............................................66 Transmitter Fabrication............................................................70 References ...............................................................................73

CHAPTER III: LUMPED MODULATOR DESIGNS.................. 76

3.1 Device Efficiency ....................................................................77 3.2 DC Extinction Curves..............................................................79 3.3 Franz-Keldysh Absorption .....................................................81 iv

3.4 Electric Field Effects ...............................................................84 Linear Electro-optic effect ...............................................84 Kerr Effect .......................................................................86 3.5 Carrier Based Effects..............................................................88 Plasma Effect..................................................................88 Bandfilling Effect .............................................................91 Carrier induced bandgap shrinkage ...............................92 3.6 Temperature induced bandgap shrinkage..............................93 3.7 Accumulation of Effects .........................................................96 3.8 High Speed Design................................................................99 3.5 Junction Capacitance Minimization .....................................101 3.6 Parasitic Capacitance Minimization.....................................103 3.7 Fringing Capacitance ..........................................................107 3.8 Multimode Interference (MMI) Design .................................109 3.9 Phase Shifter .......................................................................112 3.10 1st Generation Designs ........................................................114 3.11 2nd Generation Designs .......................................................116 References...........................................................................119

CHAPTER IV: SERIES PUSH-PULL DESIGNS ...................... 125

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 Lumped Series push-pull bandwidth ..................................126 Dual RF series push-pull devices ........................................129 Traveling wave modulators ...............................................131 Traveling wave matching ....................................................133 Transmission line model......................................................137 Traveling wave bandwidth ...................................................140 RF loss.................................................................................144 CPS T-Electrode devices ....................................................150 Characteristic Impedance Comparison ...............................153 Measured Bandwidth...........................................................154 References...........................................................................158

CHAPTER V: DEVICE COMPARISONS....................................... 165

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 DC Modulation Efficiency......................................................170 RF Extinction of devices........................................................174 Bandwidth Comparison .........................................................178 Chirp Measurements.............................................................179 Chirp Measurement Techniques...........................................179 Linearization of Modulators...................................................184 References ............................................................................188 v

CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK ..... 193

6.1 Wavelength Converters .......................................................196 References...........................................................................199 Appendix A: Relevant Material Constants..........................................204 Appendix B: RF Spectrum Analyzer Deimbedding ............................208 Appendix C: Process .........................................................................210

vi

ABSTRACT
JONATHON S. BARTON
THE INTEGRATION OF MACH-ZEHNDER MODULATORS WITH SAMPLED GRATING DBR LASERS

Some of the latest results of InP based widely-tunable optical transmitters will be presented. Widely-tunable transmitters are seen as a crucial component in Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) communication systems. Integration of different optical components reduces the costs, insertion losses, and footprint of the device. This work outlines the material design and

fabrication aspects to produce high bandwidth, low drive voltage modulation without degradation of the laser and modulator device characteristics with optical/electrical crosstalk. Photonic integrated circuits are particularly

susceptible to optical reflections - which can cause excessive chirp, gain ripple, lasing of the Semiconductor Optical Amplifier, higher noise figure, and inter-modulation distortion. Careful design is required to minimize refractive index discontinuities in active/passive interfaces, Multi-mode interference devices, and through angling and flaring at the output waveguide.

With the use of a Mach-Zehnder modulator, the chirp parameter can be tailored to maximize the transmission distance through fiber - particularly important at high data rates (10Gbit/s). Using traveling wave electrodes in a series push-pull electrode structure, we are able to demonstrate some of the highest speed widely tunable lasers to date with 40GHz bandwidth. DC extinction Vpi as low vii

as 0.6V is demonstrated with high saturation power dual SOA structures. This is all achieved using low k dielectrics (BCB) and highly efficient PN junctions in which compromises must be made to insure high performance in each integrated device region.

viii

VITA JONATHON S. BARTON

1975 Born in Sacramento, California -

1993 Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and Material Science University of California, Davis 2003 Intel Fellow 2004 PH.D in Electronic Materials - University of California Santa Barbara

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
[1] Mason B, Barton J, Fish GA, Coldren LA, Denbaars SP. Design of sampled grating DBR lasers with integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.12, no.7, July 2000, pp.762-4. [2] Blumenthal DJ, Olsson B-E, Rossi G, Dimmick TE, Rau L, Masanovic M, Lavrova O, Doshi R, Jerphagnon O, Bowers JE, Kaman V, Coldren LA, Barton J. All-optical label swapping networks and technologies. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.18, no.12, Dec. 2000, pp.2058-75. [3] Hanxing Shi, Cohen D, Barton J, Majewski M, Coldren LA, Larson MC, Fish GA. Relative intensity noise measurements of a widely tunable sampledgrating DBR laser. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.14, no.6, June 2002, pp.759-61. [4] Majewski ML, Barton J.S., Coldren LA, Akulova Y, Larson MC. Direct intensity modulation in sampled-grating DBR lasers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.14, no.6, June 2002, pp.747-9. [5] Shi HX, Cohen DA, Barton J, Majewski M, Coldren LA, Larson MC, Fish GA. Dynamic range of widely tunable sampled grating DBR lasers. Electronics Letters, vol.38, no.4, 14 Feb. 2002, pp.180-1.

ix

[6] Skogen EJ, Barton JS, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA. Tunable sampledgrating DBR lasers using quantum-well intermixing. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.14, no.9, Sept. 2002, pp.1243-5. [7] Skogen EJ, Barton JS, Denbaars SP, Coldren LA. A quantum-wellintermixing process for wavelength-agile photonic integrated circuits. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, vol.8, no.4, July-Aug. 2002, pp.863-9. [8] Raring J.W., E. J. Skogen, L. A. Johansson, M. N. Sysak, J. S. Barton, M. L. Maanovi, L. A. Coldren Demonstration of Widely-Tunable Single-Chip 10 Gb/s Laser-Modulators Using Multiple-Bandgap InGaAsP Quantum-Well Intermixing, Photonics Technology Letts July 2003. [9] Barton J.S., Skogen E.J., Maanovi M.L., DenBaars S.P., and Coldren L.A., Widely-tunable high-speed transmitters using integrated SGDBRs and Mach-Zehnder modulators. IEEE Journal of selected topics in quantum electronics, Vol. 9, NO. 5, pp.1113-17. September /October 2003. [10] Coldren LA, Fish GA, Akulova Y, Barton JS, Johansson L, Coldren CW. Tunable semiconductor lasers: a tutorial. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.22, no.1, Jan. 2004, pp.193-202. [11] Masanovic M.L., V. Lal, J. A. Summers, J. S. Barton, E. J. Skogen, L. A. Coldren, and D. J. Blumenthal, "Design and Performance of a MonolithicallyIntegrated Widely-Tunable All-Optical Wavelength Converter with Independent Phase Control," accepted for publication in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2004. [12] Masanovic M.L., V. Lal, J. S. Barton, E. J. Skogen, J. A. Summers, L. Rau, L. A. Coldren, and D. J. Blumenthal, "Widely-Tunable Monolithically-Integrated All-Optical Wavelength Converters in InP," to be published in IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2004. [13] Hutchinson J.M., J. F. Zheng, J. S. Barton, M. L. Masanovic, M. N. Sysak, J. A. Henness, L. A. Johansson, D. J. Blumenthal, L. A. Coldren, H. V. Demir, V. A. Sabnis, O. Fidaner, J. S. Harris, and D. A. B. Miller, " Indium Phosphide based Wavelength Conversion for High Speed Optical Networks," Intel Technology Journal, 2004. [14] Barton JS, Masanovic ML, Sysak MN, Hutchinson JM, Skogen EJ, Blumenthal DJ, Coldren LA. 2.5-Gb/s error-free wavelength conversion using a monolithically integrated widely tunable SGDBR-SOA-MZ transmitter and x

integrated photodetector. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.16, no.6, June 2004, pp.1531-3. [15] Masanovic M.L., V. Lal, J. S. Barton, E. J. Skogen, L. A. Coldren, and D. J. Blumenthal, "Monolithically integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer wavelength converter and widely tunable laser in InP," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 15, pp. 1117-19, 2003. [16] Masanovic M.L., E. J. Skogen, J. S. Barton, J. M. Sullivan, D. J. Blumenthal, and L. A. Coldren, "Multimode interference-based two-stage 1 * 2 light splitter for compact photonic integrated circuits," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 15, pp. 706-8, 2003. [17] Skogen EJ, Raring JW, Barton JS, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA. Postgrowth control of the quantum-well band edge for the monolithic integration of widely tunable lasers and electroabsorption modulators. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, vol.9, no.5, Sept.-Oct. 2003, pp.1183-90. [18] Sysak, M.N., J. S. Barton, L. A. Johansson, J. W. Raring, E. J. Skogen, M. L. Maanovi, D. Blumenthal, and L. A. Coldren, Single Chip Wavelength Conversion using a Photocurrent Driven (PD) EA Modulator integrated with a Widely Tunable Sampled Grating DBR (SGDBR) Laser. Submitted to Photonics Tech. Letts.

CONFERENCE TALKS
[19] Mason B, Fish GA, Barton J, Coldren LA, DenBaars SP. Characteristics of sampled grating DBR lasers with integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers. Optical Fiber Communication Conference. Technical Digest Postconference Edition. Trends in Optics and Photonics Vol.37 (IEEE Cat. No. 00CH37079). Opt. Soc. America. Part vol.1, 2000, pp.193-5 vol.1. [20] Majewski ML, Barton J, Coldren LA, Akulova Y, Larson MC. Widely tunable directly modulated sampled-grating DBR lasers. Optical Fiber Communications Conference. (OFC). Postconference Technical Digest (IEEE Cat. No.02CH37339). Opt Soc. America. Part vol.1, 2002, pp.537-8 vol.1. [21] Barton J, Coldren L, Fish GA. Tunable lasers using sampled grating DBRs. 2001 Digest of LEOS Summer Topical Meetings: Advanced Semiconductor Lasers and Applications/Ultraviolet and Blue Lasers and Their Applications/Ultralong Haul DWDM Transmission and Networking/WDM Components (IEEE Cat. No.01TH8572). IEEE. 2001, pp.2 pp. Invited

xi

[22] Skogen EJ, Barton J, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA. Tunable buried ridge stripe sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector lasers utilizing quantum well intermixing. LEOS 2001. 14th Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and ElectroOptics Society (Cat. No.01CH37242). IEEE. Part vol.1, 2001, pp.169-70 vol.1. [23] Barton JS., Skogen, E.J. , Masanovic M., S. Denbaars, L. A. Coldren, Integration of a Mach-Zehnder Modulator with Sampled Grating Distributed Bragg Reflector Laser, Proc. Integrated Photonics Research Conference, paper no. 1FC3-1, Vancouver, Canada, July 17-19 2002. [24] Skogen E.J., Barton J.S., DenBaars S.P., Coldren, L.A., On Tuning Efficiency of Sampled Grating DBR Lasers using Quantum Well Intermixing, Proc.Integrated Photonics Research Conference, paper no. IFC2, Vancouver, Canada July 17-19 2002. [25] Maanovi M., Skogen E.J., Barton J.S., Sullivan J., Blumenthal D.J., Coldren L.A., Cascaded Multimode Interference-Based 1x2 Light Splitter for Photonic Integrated Circuits Integrated Photonics Research Conference, Vancouver, Canada, July 2002. [26] Majewski ML, Barton J, Coldren LA, Akulova Y, Fish G. Wavelength monitoring in widely tunable sampled-grating DBR lasers integrated with semiconductor optical amplifiers. Technical Digest. Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics. Conference Edition (IEEE Cat. No.02CH37337). Opt. Soc. America. Part vol.1, 2002, pp.414-16 vol.1. [27] Barton JS, Skogen EJ, Masanovic ML, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA. Tailorable chirp using integrated Mach-Zehnder modulators with tunable sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector lasers. 2002 IEEE 18th International Semiconductor Laser Conference. Conference Digest (Cat. No.02CH37390). paper no. TuB3, Garmisch, Germany (Sept. 29- Oct. 3) IEEE. 2002, pp.49-50. [28] Skogen EJ, Barton JS, Masanovic ML, Getty JT, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA. Use of post-growth control of the quantum-well band edge for optimized widely-tunable laser-x devices. 2002 IEEE 18th International Semiconductor Laser Conference. Conference Digest (Cat. No.02CH37390). IEEE. 2002, pp.53-4. [29] Barton JS, Skogen EJ, Masanovic ML, Raring J, Sysak MN, Johansson L, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA. Photonic integrated circuits based on sampledgrating distributed-Bragg-reflector lasers. SPIE-Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. xii

Proceedings of Spie - the International Society for Optical Engineering, vol.4998, 2003, pp.43-54. Invited [30] Maanovi M., Skogen EJ, Barton JS, Lal V, Blumenthal DJ, Coldren LA. Demonstration of monolithically-integrated InP widely-tunable laser and SOAMZI wavelength converter. 2003 International Conference Indium Phosphide and Related Materials. Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.03CH37413). IEEE. 2003, pp.289-91. Santa Barbara, California (May 12-16, 2003) [31] Skogen E.J., J.S. Barton, J.W. Raring, L.A. Coldren, S.P. DenBaars, "High Contrast InP/InGaAsP Grating MOCVD Regrowth Using TBA and TBP", Conference Proceedings from ICMOVPE conference, Hawaii. 2004. [32] Skogen EJ, Barton JS, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA. Wavelength agile photonic integrated circuits using a novel quantum well intermixing process. Optical Fiber Communications Conference. (OFC). Postconference Technical Digest. Postdeadline Papers (IEEE Cat. No.02CH37339). Opt Soc. America. Part vol.2, 2002, pp.FB8-1-3 vol.2. [33] Johansson LA, Barton JS, Coldren L. High-performance EAM-integrated SGDBR laser for WDM microwave photonic applications. 2002 International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics. Technical Digest (IEEE Cat. No.02EX638). IEICE. 2002, pp.61-4. Tokyo, Japan. [34] Barton J. S., Milan L. Maanovi, Matthew N. Sysak, Erik J. Skogen, John Hutchinson, Daniel J. Blumenthal, Larry A. Coldren, A Novel MonolithicallyIntegrated Widely-Tunable Wavelength Converter Based on a SGDBR-SOAMZ Transmitter and Integrated Photo-Detector, Proc. Photonics in Switching 2003, paper no. PS.Mo.A9, pp. 34-36, Versailles, France (September 2003) [35] Maanovi M.L., Roopesh R. Doshi, Vikrant Lal, Jonathon. S. Barton, Larry A. Coldren, Daniel J. Blumenthal, First Demonstration of both Analog and Digital Wavelength Conversion using a Monolithically-Integrated InP Widely Tunable All-Optical Wavelength Converter (TAO-WC), Proc. Photonics in Switching 2003, paper no. PS.Mo.A10, pp. 37-39, Versailles, France (September 2003) [36] Maanovi M. L., Vikrant Lal, Jonathon S. Barton, Larry A. Coldren and Daniel J. Blumenthal, Wavelength Conversion Over a 50nm Input and 21nm Output Wavelength Range Using a Monolithically Integrated Tunable AllOptical MMI-MZI (TAOMI) Wavelength Converter, Proc. ECOC-IOOC 2003, paper no. Th1.6.5, pp.930-931, Rimini, Italy (September 21-25, 2003)

xiii

[37] Johansson L.A., J.S. Barton, M.L. Masanovic, J.M. Hutchinson, J.A. Henness, Y.A. Akulova, G.A. Fish and L.A. Coldren, Integrated Optical Components for WDM Optical/Wireless Applications, Proc. Microwave Photonics, pp. 161-164, Budapest, Hungary (September 2003) [38] Johansson L.A., J.S. Barton and L.A. Coldren, G.A. Fish, Generation of High-Speed Optical Frequency Modulation Using a Phase Modulator OFC 2004. [39] Hutchinson J.M., Jonathon S. Barton, Milan L. Maanovi, Matthew N. Sysak, Jeffrey A. Henness, Leif A. Johansson, Larry A. Coldren, Monolithically integrated InP-based tunable wavelength conversion, Presented at Photonics West, San Jose, 2004. [40] Maanovi M.L., Vikrant Lal, Leif A. Johansson, Jonathon S. Barton, Larry A. Coldren, Daniel J. Blumenthal, Characterization of the Chirp Properties of a Monolithically-Integrated Widely-Tunable All-Optical Wavelength Converter (TAO-WC) Proc. LEOS 2003, paper no. TuCC3, pp. 433-434, Tucson, Arizona (October 2003) [41] Hutchinson J.M., Jeffery A. Henness, Leif A. Johansson, Jonathon S. Barton, Milan L. Maanovi, Larry A. Coldren, 2.5 Gb/sec Wavelength Conversion Using Monolithically-Integrated Photodetector and Directly Modulated Widely-Tunable SGDBR Laser, Proc. LEOS 2003 , paper no. WU4, pp. 650-651, Tucson, Arizona (October 2003) [42] Raring J.W., E. J. Skogen, L. A. Johansson, M. N. Sysak, J. S. Barton, M. L. Masanovic, and L. A. Coldren, "Quantum Well Intermixing for Monolithic Integration: A Demonstration of Novel Widely-Tunable 10Gb/s Transmitters and Wavelength Converters," presented at Integrated Photonics Research Conference, San Francisco, California, USA, 2004. [43] Masanovic M.L., V. Lal, J. A. Summers, J. S. Barton, E. J. Skogen, L. A. Coldren, and D. J. Blumenthal, "10 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps error-free operation of a monolithically integrated widely-tunable all-optical wavelength converter with independent phase control and output 35nm tuning range," presented at Optical Fiber Communications Conference, OFC, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2004. [44] Choquette KD, Barton JS, Geib KM, Allerman AA, Hindi JJ. Short wavelength bottom-emitting VCSELs. SPIE-Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. Proceedings of Spie - the International Society for Optical Engineering, vol.3627, 1999, pp.569. xiv

SYMBOLS AND ACRONYMS

AFM BCB BER CPW CPS DBR EAM EO FESEM FKE FWHM LEO MOCVD MQW MZ MZM PIC RIE SOA SEM SIMS SGDBR SMSR TW QCSE QWI WDM WG A. g wr . go hi v

Atomic Force Microscope Benzocyclobutene Bit Error Rate Coplanar Waveguide. Coplanar Stripline Distributed Bragg Reflector Electroabsorption Modulator Electo-optic Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope Franz-Keldysh effect Full-width Half Maximum Linear Electrooptic effect Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition Multiple Quantum Well Mach-Zehnder Mach-Zehnder Modulator Photonic integrated circuit Reactive Ion Etch Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Scanning Electron Microscope Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy Sampled Grating Distributed Bragg Reflector (laser) Side Mode Suppression Ratio Traveling wave Quantum Confined start effect Quantum Well Intermixing Wavelength Division Multiplexing Waveguide SYMBOLS

amplitude factor, damping factor, Angular relaxation resonance frequency. differential gain internal quantum efficiency cavity volume

xv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have been lucky to have the opportunity to work with a great set of people in a first-rate facility that truly allows the full process of events to take place from MOCVD growth, to processing, to complicated RF testing of the devices. This work would not be possible without the help of my committee members which span a wide knowledge base giving me the opportunity to grow in the MOCVD lab under Steve DenBaars, processing expertise from Evelyn Hu, RF experience from Nadir Dagli, Opto-electronic systems work from Dan Blumenthal, and optoelectronic design expertise from Larry Coldren. Everyone in the Coldren group has made an impact in one way or another. Special thanks to Erik Skogen for showing me how to grow in MOCVD and process InP based materials, Beck Mason and Greg Fish for helping me in my early career in SGDBR design and testing, Dan Lofgreen for showing me the intricacies of MATLAB. Milan Maanovi and Leif Johansson for helping me out with RF testing. The folks at Agility Communications who helped with some of the regrowths and AR coating runs. Also, thanks to Intel for providing me with the 2003 Intel fellowship. Last but not least, special thanks to Jennifer Hale, who has endeared the long hours and stress.

xvi

INTRODUCTION

Photonic integrated circuits[11] are being pursued to keep up with the everincreasing desire for high optical bandwidth with a small footprint, high power, cost effective packaging and high degree of functionality. With the recent

downturn in the telecom market, optical components that will provide value to optical networks at low cost are particularly desired. The cost primarily comes from packaging and the yield improvement of chips in tunable laser fabrication. Because of this, tunable lasers are seen as able to provide value by the integration of lasers with optical amplifiers and modulators on one chip reducing fiber alignments from as high as 5 in the discrete case to 1 in the integrated case. Each fiber alignment adds 3-5dB of insertion loss which

demonstrates the obvious desire to integrate. Also integrated devices enable new small form factor 10 Gbit/s transponders in which packaging of conventional bulky discrete parts simply is not possible due to space limitations.

Mach-Zehnder

SOA

SGDBR

Fig. 1. Integrated SGDBR-SOA-MZ

This dissertation explores the integration of interferometric Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulators, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) and sampled grating (SGDBR) tunable lasers as illustrated in fig. 1. This introduction will attempt to outline the choices of opto-electronic building blocks available to achieve highperformance optical transmission. As will be outlined in the following chapters, these devices are capable of achieving 10 Gbit/s operation with tailorable chirp.

Monolithic integration of these devices presents a number of challenges. Optimization of the laser and modulator structures needs to take into account often competing design specifications. Additionally, careful design is

necessary to minimize optical reflections[1,227,224] and retain single mode operation. Electrical crosstalk must be reduced to control unwanted chirp and improve the tuning mechanism. Also, thermal crosstalk plays a role in the

integrated device performance[25]. challenges is presented in Chapter 1.

An in-depth look at these integration

Desire for increased bandwidth has prompted the change of SONNET standards as shown in table 1. Suppliers are gearing up to provide data rates greater than 40 Gb/s to meet perceived bandwidth constraints as fiber is being implemented in not only long-haul applications, but increasingly, metro networks as well. Table 1. Sonnet Data Rate Rates OC-12 622 Mb/s OC-48 2.5 Gb/s OC-192 10 Gb/s OC-768 40 Gb/s Cost has also driven the push for devices that enable CWDM and DWDM systems as new fiber tends to be expensive to deploy however replacement of transmitters and receivers considerably less expensive. System designers generally would like single devices that cover the C- Band (1530-1562) and/or L-Band (1565-1610) and S-Band(1485-1520).

Another major concern for communication applications particularly with higher bit rates (10 and 40 Gbit/s) is the control of a parameter called chirp. Chirp (a) is defined as the ratio between the change in the real part to the imaginary part of the refractive index. 3

a=

Dn real Dnimag

[1]

This parameter strongly affects the maximum transmission distance possible before signal regeneration. Figure 2a&b shows the influence of the chirp

parameter [a] on the transmission distance for standard non dispersion shifted fiber.

Fig 2.A &2B Dispersion Penalty vs transmission distance for OC-192 signal 9.95 Gbit/s for various alpha parameters for standard non-dispersion shifted Corning SMF-28 fiber. Maximum transmission distance for 10 and 40 Gbit/s signal

The dispersion penalty is given by[14] :

d c = 5 log10 [(1 + 8abB 2 L) 2 + (8 bB 2 L) 2 ]

[2]

Where a is chirp parameter, b is group velocity dispersion parameter, B is the bit rate, L is the fiber length. standard Corning SMF-28 fiber b =16.45 ps/nm/km at 1555nm

This chirp is often split into three major components[521] including: 1.Transient chirp due to the sudden changes of the current in the device 2. Adiabatic chirp due to the induced change in refractive index

3. Thermal chirp due to the large resistance change and resulting heating/cooling of the active region.

The power penalty is also influenced by degradation of the extinction ratio as shown in fig. 3, the signal to noise ratio, and jitter [24].

Fig. 3. Power penalty due to extinction ratio degradation

The total transmission distance is often described at the point at which the total power penalty reaches 2dB. With proper chirp management, for a 2dB power penalty at 10Gbit/s one can transmit over 125km in between repeaters. At 40Gbit/s, this distance is dramatically lower just above 7km. This means that chirp management is crucial at high bit rates and for 40 Gbit/s this is more important than high output power as the signal needs to be regenerated frequently without dispersion compensation.

First we should explore the modulation possibilities of tunable lasers.

In

principle tunable lasers may be either directly modulated1 or externally modulated2 with either a separate modulator or as an integrated device. Next we will compare the performance of different external modulator

designs/materials which typically use LiNbO3, AlGaAs/GaAs, Polymers, or InP in interferometric Mach-Zehnder modulators or in Electro-absorption based modulators InP devices. Chapter 1 explores the integration platform and the influence of design and materials on laser, Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) and modulator properties and an analysis of the reflections in the device. Others [306,322] have attempted integration of MZ modulators with lasers, however without very careful design the performance can suffer from optical reflections. In fact in some cases these problems have lead people to believe that integration yields diminishing returns and lead to exploration of the copackaging of discrete components[26]. In chapter 2 we will examine the material properties with respect to the growth structure and doping of the device.

1 2

As discussed in Section 2 As discussed in Section 3

0.1 DIRECT MODULATION

The direct modulation of widely-tunable lasers is desirable[15] due to its simplicity and reduced optical absorption path. Fairly large optical bandwidths have been demonstrated for the direct modulation of DFB lasers, narrowly tunable DBR lasers3, and SGDBR lasers4. A demonstration of the small-signal modulation response S21 for an SGDBR is shown in fig. 4. As the bias to the laser is increased the response exhibits less dampening.
6 4 Intensity Modulation Magnitude (dB) P[RF]= -20dBm 2 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

50mA 60mA 70mA 80mA 100mA 120mA 150mA

Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 4 Directly Modulated SGDBR laser provided by Agility Comm. Small-signal intensity modulation responses of the SGDBR laser for different gain section currents. = 1552.72 nm.

A maximum in the modulation bandwidth occurs for short cavity lengths taking into account the carrier-density dependent differential gain and the

3 4

~31GHz [27] 6-8 GHz [28-30]

photon lifetime. However, in order to form a SGDBR the gain section length generally needs to be fairly long5 to achieve enough gain for operation. At these lengths one can expect a maximum bandwidth on the order of 15-20 GHz ignoring parasitics[312]. A higher internal loss leads to a reduced photon lifetime and improved modulation bandwidth.

High-speed direct modulation of SGDBR lasers requires high differential gain, low nonlinear gain saturation, high optical confinement, and short and narrow cavities. The small signal frequency response is given by[312]:

1 1 A H ( w) = 2 2 1 + jwt s 1 + jwt RC w r - w + jwg

[3]

where A is an amplitude factor, g is the damping factor, wr is the angular relaxation resonance frequency.

The first two terms in (1) correspond to the low-frequency limitations imposed on the modulation response. The first term depends on the carrier transport time (ts) over the separate carrier confinement region, the second term is determined by the time constant tRC of the RC parasitic elements of the chip. These two parameters are often related through the so called K-factor. The

K-factor calculated for standard SGDBR lasers is close to 0.6-ns, therefore the maximum achievable 3-dB modulation bandwidth will be 14.8-GHz. The KFactor is related to the maximum achievable bandwidth by:
5

>450mm

 2p f max = 2 K

[4]

The K factor is given by

K = 4p 2 (t p +

e ) vg go

[5]

where go is the differential gain, vg is group velocity, e is dielectric constant. Published K-factors are usually in the range 0.13 to 2.4ns.

The maximum modulation bandwidth is limited by RC parasitics, device heating, and maximum power handling capabilities [312].

Unfortunately, modulating the gain section will modulate the phase and front mirror sections due to current leakage. So without adequate isolation between the sections, this can cause the wavelength to change broadening the linewidth of the laser known as chirp. When adjacent electrodes are not biased the impedance is high leading to little modulation [314] however the isolation resistance decreases with frequency. Fortunately, since the SGDBR consists of multiple sections, modulating the gain section alone will only affect part of the phase within the cavity[330]. Chirp is fairly large and positive for direct

modulation of widely tunable lasers as typical linewidth enhancement factors range from 2-9[28] depending on the tuning range of the laser and the placement of the grating with respect to gain spectra[314]. This means the maximum transmission distance before a repeater is necessary is fairly short 9

on the order of 10s of km as shown in fig 1. For small-signal modulation the chirp during direct modulation can be written as:

fg Dv a DP 1+ = fm 2P fm

[6]

where fg is the characteristic frequency of the chirp and a is the chirp parameter, also termed the linewidth enhancement factor.

A number of approaches have been employed to minimize the chirp of direct modulation. Chirp has been shown to be improved with tensile-strained MQW material giving a smaller linewidth enhancement factor (a). Also,

prechirping has been employed which involves the simultaneous modulation of the laser and an external modulator at the same time[532].

0.2 EXTERNAL MODULATION

External modulators refer to modulators that operate external to the cavity of the laser. The most common materials for use in external modulators are LiNbO3, electro-optic polymers and III-V compound semiconductors. LiNbO3 has been the material of choice due to its high linear electro-optic coefficient and low optical loss(>5dB) as shown in table 2.

10

Table 2 Chemical Formula Crystal Structure LiNbO3 Hexagonal Space Group: R3c Point Group: 3m a = 5.148 c = 13.863 4.64 aa = 16.7 10 . -6 ac = 4.0 10 0.4 - 5.0 0.2dB/cm [4] 2.15 (typically) [4]
-1 . -6

Lattice Parameters, Density, g/cm

3

Thermal Expansion Coefficients, -1 C Transparency Range, mm Propagation loss Index of refraction (no) Electro-Optical Coefficients, pmV

r33 = 30.8; r31 = 8.6; r22 = 3.4;r51 = 28

Where the index shift is given by:

Dn = no
3

(r

33

E z + s33 E 2

[7]

r33 is the linear electro-optic coefficient and s33 is the quadratic coefficient which is negligible with LiNbO3.

Also, with traveling wave electrodes, and Ti-diffused ridge waveguide optical structures, LiNbO3 modulators have been demonstrated with bandwidths

greater than 100GHz[28] or with drive voltages <1V [21]. Some of the best modulator results to date are shown in table 3.

11

Table 3. Comparison of LiNbO3 and InP Modulators

Material Ref System

Vpi

3dB Frequency Extinction Figure of Response (GHz) Ratio (dB) Merit (GHz/V) 105 24.4 20 20.6 22

Comments

LiNbO3

[32] Noguchi 1998. [21] Sugiyama M et. al. OFC 2002 Mitomi, 1998. [23] Dolfi D. W. 1992.

5.1 0.9

Highest speed to date Lowest Drive voltage LiNbO3 suitable for SiGe driver

3 12.3

40 50

13.3 3.58 <3dB insertion loss z-cut

<4dB insertion loss x-cut InP This Work 0.6* 25 41.7 First 40 Gbit/s Integrated widely-tunable laser 2 Takeuchi [31] [20] Tsuzuki K 2003. Rolland 1998 2.2 4 40 40Gbit/s 40 10 20 16 20 40Gbit/s 18.18 2.5 EAM-DFB 3mm long MZ not integrated

Note: DC Vpi does not reflect RF performance as will be discussed in chapter 5

InP based modulators can be fabricated significantly smaller than conventional LiNbO3 modulators and with much lower driving voltage requirements (1-3V rather than 6-7V typically). These InP based devices have high efficiencies enabling much shorter devices due to a number of linear and higher order effects [2]. The bias point and modulation amplitude of LiNbO3 modulators has been shown to be highly dependent on stress, temperature, humidity, and DC voltage[13]. Also, as active devices with quantum wells cannot be made with LiNbO3, InP is the material of choice for integrated photonic circuits at 1.55m. 12

A more desirable and less costly approach with respect to packaging would be to integrate the modulator with the laser chip. Common modulator designs employ either the Franz-Keldysh effect (FKE)[319] or the Multi-Quantum Well (MQW) Quantum Confined Stark effect (QCSE)[339] with either electroabsorption (EA) modulators or Mach-Zehnder phase modulators. Additionally, electro-absorption modulators can be either designed as lumped circuit components or in more sophisticated traveling wave designs to reach bandwidths exceeding 50GHz[16,17]. Of course, each design has tradeoffs. Key parameters to consider are drive voltage, bandwidth, optical powerhandling capability, bias stability, wavelength sensitivity and insertion loss. Due to the decoupling of the laser functions from the modulation, external modulation leads to a simpler tuning mechanism of the SGDBR, with a simpler layout of the control circuits, and the prevention of chirping and mode-hopping. Additionally, the extinction ratio can be far more desirable for external modulation[214]. External modulators, however introduce loss to the

transmitted power due to their coupling and insertion losses. To compensate for these losses optical amplifiers are typically added to the transmitter or the laser must be very high power (>10dBm). This approach leads to increased costs and complexity of the transmitter. Another inconvenience associated with the use of semiconductor modulators is the wavelength sensitivity of their extinction ratio which is present in both Franz-Keldysh(FKE) and Quantum 13

Confined Stark-effect(QCSE) based EAMs and Mach Zehnders. The different types of modulators will be outlined in the following sections.

0.3 ELECTRO-ABSORPTION MODULATORS

EAMs are attractive due to their short length (75-400m), ability to integrate with lasers[31], and low drive voltages. Most discrete devices are based on the QCSE that offers superior attenuation to FKE devices. However, QCSE devices although well suited to single wavelength lasers such as DFBs, can be highly wavelength dependent without careful design and not as desirable for widely-tunable laser integration. FKE devices exhibit a lowering of the chirp parameter with higher reverse biases - however achieving negative chirp is difficult as demonstrated in fig. 5 without very high biases and large insertion losses.

5 Chirp factor, alpha 4 3 2 1 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 Reverse bias (V) 3

1530 nm 1545 nm 1560 nm

Fig 5. Alpha parameter vs wavelength for a FKE EA-Modulator. Printed with permission from L. A. Johansson

14

EAMs, particularly with high power integrated lasers, will dissipate large amounts of power due to the photocurrent generated in the EAM. The thermal management of integrated devices require careful material design, heatsinking, and thick metal electrodes to dissipate heat[25].

Having said this, quantum well intermixed shallow well EAMs have shown exceptional promise [228] in providing wideband operation with high bandwidth, low drive voltage and negative chirp[34]. EAMs based on QCSE have shown that the chirp parameter may be set negative/positive by adjusting the bias voltage of course increases in the bias results in more optical loss[34].

0.4 MACH-ZEHNDER MODULATORS

Mach-Zehnder modulators are a class of interferometric based modulators that rely on the relative phase shift of one branch with respect to the other to achieve partial to full canceling of the signal at the output as shown in fig. 6.

15

1 0.8 Intensity 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 Voltage (V)

Fig. 6 Mach-Zehnder configuration and idealized light intensity output at the output.

In practice, particularly with the use of InGaAsP waveguides with compositions corresponding to the emission wavelengths close to the operating wavelength, this index change is accompanied by an absorption change as well due to the Kramers-Kronig relations.

The argument for using Mach-Zehnder modulators consists of a few reasons. First of all, MZMs offer better power handling than EAMs since less photocurrent is generated in most designs and the optical power is split into two. High optical bandwidths (>10 GHz) are achievable, with fairly low drive voltages Vpi<3V. Also, one of the more compelling advantages of Mach-

Zehnder modulators over EAMs is the ability to produce negative chirp in a more tailorable fashion. In the EAM case, one can also obtain negative chirp, however, only at higher biases usually resulting in higher optical loss. Pishifted MZ modulators can easily achieve negative chirp with high extinction as

16

the device is off without bias. The other advantage of these devices is their higher wavelength independence which is beneficial for WDM systems.

Despite the above advantages, Mach Zehnder devices must be fairly long in comparison with EAMs. The length of the modulator is an optimization Most Mach-

between the insertion loss and efficiency of the modulator.

Zehnder devices provide phase-modulation due to the linear electro-optic effect. The devices shown in this dissertation make use of carrier based

effects and electric field based effects that are fairly efficient by designing the waveguide bandgap close to operating wavelength and doping the waveguide. Doing this makes the device more efficient and compact at the expense of bias dependent absorption loss and wavelength dependence as the device is a cross between an EAM and typical MZ modulator. mitigated by integration of a laser. These losses can be

Unlike LiNbO3 modulators, high

performance InP based Mach-Zehnder modulators induce considerable loss with reverse bias due to the Franz-Keldysh effect.

0.5 MACH-ZEHDNER BIASING APPROACHES

There are a number of different approaches to biasing MZ modulators as shown in table 4. The simplest approach uses a single RF input on one

branch. The drive voltage requirements may be reduced by using a push-pull bias scheme. By using both the normal data output and inverting output from a 17

modulator driver, the drive voltage requirement for each is cut in half with a parallel push-pull bias scheme. In Chapter 3, lumped modulators are

presented using the above modulation approaches and the performance explored with respect to efficiency and speed and the relations to material properties of the passivation dielectric and semiconductor materials. Alternatively, by using a series push-pull configuration on the two modulator sections, the bandwidth can be roughly doubled with the same drive voltage as the single-sided case (see Chap. 4). The ultimate in figure-of-merit is achieved with the dual RF push-pull modulation approach. This uses both RF inputs with 4 electrodes to produce two sets of series push-pull electrodes. This not only doubles the bandwidth with respect to the single sided case but additionally requires half the drive voltage. For an integrated modulator with a high power tunable laser the insertion loss is not as much of a problem as the drive voltage and bandwidth. These devices are also shown in chapter 4.

18

Table 4 MZ Bias Techniques Bandwidth SingleSided Modulation Doublesided Parallel push-pull Doublesided Series Push-pull B Voltage Vpi Device Length L Advantages Simple Configuration Easy to get negative chirp harder for 0 chirp Utilize both inverting and noninverting outputs from driver Higher speed, better wavelength sensitivity. Easy to get 0 chirp more difficult to get negative chirp Highest figure of merit for integrated devices. Disadvantages Not highest figure of merit.

Vpi/2

2 RF inputs more complexity Requires decoupling and bias circuitry. Semiinsulating substrate is necessary. 4 electrodes. Highest complexity good isolation is necessary

2B

Vpi

Dual RF Series Push-pull

2B

Vpi/2

2L

Chapter 4 examines the higher speed series push-pull devices.

Although

lumped electrode devices operate at sufficient bandwidths to enable 10 Gbit/s operation, even higher speeds are possible by taking advantage of traveling wave effects[5,6,16,19,23]. These devices exhibit higher optical bandwidth,

and with improved transmission line characteristics, lower return losses (S11). Finally Chapter 5 gives some comparison of performance with respect to the chirp and bandwidth of different designs. Additionally, a conclusion and future work session explores the gains that could be made to the device with improved doping, bias schemes, etc. as well as more complex PICs that could be made such as photocurrent-driven wavelength converters. 19

0.6 TRAVELING WAVE DEVICES

Traveling wave modulators have electrodes that are transmission lines to distribute the capacitance over the whole device length. For lumped electrode devices, low drive voltages require long devices, however large bandwidths require short devices.

Fig. 6 Scanning Electron Microscope image of traveling wave electrode device

Traveling wave devices such as shown in Fig. 6 are not limited by the RC time constant so they may be made longer to achieve superior extinction and lower drive voltages. The maximum length of the electrodes is limited primarily by the optical and electrical propagation losses. Optical losses can be high if doped waveguides are used6, and microwave loss can be high if highly doped layers are underneath the contacts. TW structures benefit greatly by

decreasing the capacitance per unit length and lowering the microwave losses.
6

where 10cm-1 is typical for a SGDBR structure with 3mm wide ridge

20

This increases the modulator impedance and the microwave phase velocity. A more extensive look at these designs is presented in Chap. 4.

REFERENCES
[1] Brosson P, Delansay P. Modeling of the static and dynamic responses of an integrated laser Mach-Zehnder modulator and comparison with an integrated laser EA modulator. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.16, no.12, Dec. 1998, pp.2407-18. Mendoza-Alvarez JG, Coldren LA, Alping A, Yan RH, Hausken T, Lee K, Pedrotti K. Analysis of depletion edge translation lightwave modulators. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.6, no.6, June 1988, pp.793-808. Koren U, Koch TL, Presting H, Miller BI. InGaAs/InP multiple quantum well waveguide phase modulator. Applied Physics Letters, vol.50, no.7, 16 Feb. 1987, pp.368-70. Dagli N. Wide-bandwidth lasers and modulators for RF photonics. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.47, no.7, pt.2, July 1999, pp.1151-71.

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5] Li GL, Sun CK, Pappert SA, Chen WX, Yu PKL. Ultrahigh-speed travelingwave electroabsorption modulator-design and analysis. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.47, no.7, pt.2, July 1999, pp.1177-83. [6] Zhang CZ, Yi-Jen Chiu, Abraham P, Bowers JE. 25 GHz polarizationinsensitive electroabsorption modulators with traveling-wave electrodes. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.11, no.2, Feb. 1999, pp.191-3.

[7] Walker RG. High-speed III-V semiconductor intensity modulators. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.27, no.3, March 1991, pp.654-67. [8] Chin MK, Yu PKL, Chang WSC. Optimization of multiple quantum well structures for waveguide electroabsorption modulators. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.27, no.3, March 1991, pp.696-701. Chin M.K., Comparitive analysis of the performance limits of FranzKeldysh effect and quantum-confined Stark effect electroabsorption 21

[9]

waveguide modulators, IEE Proc. Optoelectron. Vol 142. No. 2., April 1995. [10] Tipping A.K., G. Parry, P. Claxton, Comparison of the limits in performance of multiple quantum well and Franz-Keldysh InGaAs/InP electroabsorption modulators, IEE. Proc. Vol.136, Pt J, No. 4, August 1989. [11] Koch TL, Koren U. Semiconductor photonic integrated circuits. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.27, no.3, March 1991, pp.641-53. [12] Chin M.K., An Analysis of the Performance of Franz-Keldysh Electroabsorption Waveguide Modulators, IEEE. Photonics Tech. Lett. Vol. 7, No. 3, March 1995. [13] Rolland C, Tarof LE, Somani A. Multigigabit networks: the challenge. IEEE Lts, vol.3, no.2, May 1992, pp.16-26. [14] Agrawal, Govind P. , Fiber-Optic Communication Systems Second Ed. Wiley Series in Microwave and Optical Engineering 1997. [15] Morthier G, Sarlet G, Baets R, O'Dowd R, Ishii H, Yoshikuni Y. The direct modulation bandwidth of widely tunable DBR laser diodes. [Conference Paper] Conference Digest. 2000 IEEE 17th International Semiconductor Laser Conference. (Cat. No.00CH37092). IEEE. 2000, pp.87-8. [16] Akage Y, Kawano K, Oku S, Iga R, Okamoto H, Miyamoto Y, Takeuchi H. Wide bandwidth of over 50 GHz travelling-wave electrode electroabsorption modulator integrated DFB lasers. Electronics Letters, vol.37, no.5, 1 March 2001, pp.299-300. [17] Kawanishi H, Yamauchi Y, Mineo N, Shibuya Y, Mural H, Yamada K, Wada H. EAM-integrated DFB laser modules with more than 40-GHz bandwidth. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.13, no.9, Sept. 2001, pp.954-6. [18] Chin MK. On the figures of merit for electroabsorption waveguide modulators. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.4, no.7, July 1992, pp.726-8.

22

[19] Pascher W, Den Besten JH, Caprioli D, Leljtens X, Smit M, Van Dijk R. Modelling and design of a travelling-wave electro-optic modulator on InP. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Optical & Quantum Electronics, vol.35, no.4-5, March-April 2003, pp.453-64. [20] Tsuzuki K, Ishibashi T, Ito T, Oku S, Shibata Y, Iga R, Kondo Y, Tohmori Y. 40 Gbit/s n-i-n InP Mach-Zehnder modulator with a pi voltage of 2.2 V. Electronics Letters, vol.39, no.20, 2 Oct. 2003, pp.1464-6. [21] Sugiyama M, Doi M, Taniguchi S, Nakazawa T, Onaka H. Driver-less 40 Gb/s LiNbO/sub 3/ modulator with sub-1 V drive voltage. Optical Fiber Communications Conference. (OFC). Postconference Technical Digest. Postdeadline Papers (IEEE Cat. No.02CH37339). Opt Soc. America. Part vol.2, 2002, pp.FB6-1 vol.2. [22] Noguchi K, Miyazawa H, Mitomi O. 75 GHz broadband Ti:LiNbO/sub 3/ optical modulator with ridge structure. Electronics Letters, vol.30, no.12, 9 June 1994, pp.949-51. [23] Dolfi DW, Ranganath TR. 50 GHz velocity-matched broad wavelength LiNbO/sub 3/ modulator with multimode active section. Electronics Letters, vol.28, no.13, 18 June 1992, pp.1197-8. [24] Dorgeuille F, Devaux F. On the transmission performances and the chirp parameter of a multiple-quantum-well electroabsorption modulator. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.30, no.11, Nov. 1994, pp.2565-72. [25] Kozodoy P, Strand T, Akulova Y, Fish G, Schow C, Ping Koh, Zhixi Bian, Christofferson J, Shakouri A. Thermal effects in monolithically integrated tunable laser transmitters. Twentieth Annual IEEE Semiconductor Thermal Measurement and Management Symposium (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37545). IEEE. 2004, pp.177-83. [26] Anderson K. Design and manufacturability issues of a co-packaged DFB/MZ module. 1999 Proceedings. 49th Electronic Components and Technology Conference (Cat. No.99CH36299). IEEE. 1999, pp.197-200. [27] Kjebon O, Schatz R, Lourdudoss S, Nilsson S, Stalnacke B, Backbom L. 30 GHz direct modulation bandwidth in detuned loaded InGaAsP DBR lasers at 1.55 um wavelength. Electronics Letters, vol.33, no.6, 13 March 1997, pp.488-9. [28] Mason B., S. L. Lee, M. E. Heimbuch, and L. A. Coldren, Directly modulated sampled grating DBR lasers for long-haul WDM 23

communication systems, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 9, pp. 377379, March 1997 [29] San-Liang Lee, Mark, E. Heimbuch, Dan A. Tauber, Larry A Coldren, Direct Modulation of widely tunable sampled grating DBR lasers. SPIE Vol 2690/223. pg 64-71. [30] San-Liang Lee, D. A. Tauber, V. Jayaraman, M.E. Heimbuch, L.A. Coldren, Dynamic Responses of Widely Tunable Sampled Grating DBR Lasers, IEEE. Photonics. Tech. Lett., Vol. 8., No.12, Dec. 1996. [31] Takeuchi J., K. Tsuzuki, K. Sato, M. Yamamoto, Y. Itaya, A. Sano, M. Yoneyama, T. Otsuji, NRZ Operation at 40 Gb/s of a compact module containing an MQW electroabsorption modulator integrated with a DFB laser IEEE. Phot. Tech. Letts. Vol. 9, No. 5, May 1997. [32] Noguchi K, Mitomi O, Miyazawa H. Millimeter-wave Ti:LiNbO3 optical modulators. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.16, no.4, April 1998, pp.615-19. [33] Raring J. W., E. J. Skogen, L. A. Johansson, M. N. Sysak, J. S. Barton, M. L. Maanovi, L. A. Coldren Demonstration of Widely-Tunable SingleChip 10 Gb/s Laser-Modulators Using Multiple-Bandgap InGaAsP Quantum-Well Intermixing Photonics Technology Letts. July 2003.

24

Chapter 1
Device Integration

This dissertation demonstrates an integration platform to enable widely-tunable laser functionality, semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) technology, as well as efficient and high-speed modulation all on one chip. In this chapter we explore the laser, SOA, and modulator integration considerations. First we look at the SGDBR laser design and its suitability for integration. Next the SOA design is examined and finally the susceptibility of reflections is explored.

Fig 1-1 Integration Platforms for 1.55mm based photonic integrated circuits [128] Printed with permission from Dr. Erik Skogen

25

Modulator-Laser integration is usually performed using the following approaches: 1) Butt-coupling approach allows for independent optimization of device structures however there is a need for selective area growth. Also, more optical loss at the interface. Relatively

complicated [125]. 2) QW intermixing low interfacial mode mismatch. Allows for multiple bandgaps due to differing amount of intermixing in the modulator and passive regions. This is a maturing technology for the fabrication of SGDBRs as developed by Skogen et al.[128] 3) Offset QW structure where QWs are removed in passive regions and Franz-Keldysh effect (Bulk effect) utilized in modulator sections. Devices in this dissertation use this approach. See Appendix D.

26

1.1 WIDELY-TUNABLE LASER DESIGN

Over the last 20 years a few different implementations of monolithic-tunable lasers have been fabricated including Ycavity lasers, grating assisted

Table 1.1 Tunable Laser Technologies

Technology Tuning range (nm) 17 40-72 100 46 13-14 4/11 Fiber Coupled power (dBm) Companie s SMSR RIN Tuning Speed Integrated Amplifiers or modulators

DBR [208] SGDBR SSGDBR DS-DBR Y-Branch

Agere Agility/ Marconi NEL Bookham Syntune 35-55dB -150dB/Hz

Ns-ms Ns-ms

Easy Easy

40

Ns-ms

GCSR MEMS VCSEL electrically pumped MEMS VCSEL Optically pumped Wavelength selectable DFB array with MMI DFB array with MEMs

40 20

3 .3

ADC/ Altitune Bandwidth 9

Ns ms

Easy - -OFC 2003 Not possible with current implementation OFC 2003. Not possible Possible difficult but very

>50nm tuning

>7mW achieva ble with 120mW pump 15

Nortel, Cortek, Cielo, Picolight, NEC/ Fujitsu

1-10ms Possible not easy

40

Temp Tune

Possible

20

Santur

Tunable External Cavity Diode lasers (ECDL)

100

Iolon, Intel Princeton Optronics, Blue sky Research

55

-150dB/Hz

Not possible

27

coupled cavity (GACC), grating coupled Sampled Reflector (GCSR) lasers, Superstructure Sampled Grating Distributed Bragg reflector

(SSGDBR)[212,219], DS-DBR, and Sampled Grating Distributed Bragg Reflector (SGDBR) lasers[207,216,217,218], and narrowly tunable DBR lasers[208,209,211] as shown in table 1-1. For the work described here, a SGDBR laser was employed as it has many advantages over other tunable lasers. The simple holographic grating definition gives a wide tuning range without requiring facets for operation leading to highly integrated functionality. Also, there are no moving parts, wafer level testing is possible, and the technology has been demonstrated with high volume manufacturing as only one regrowth is required. Recently devices have been demonstrated commercially demonstrating high output power [129] with fast tuning(<10 ms electronics limited). Ultimately this leads to a high performance device that will help reduce costs. Recent improvements in the SGDBR design were geared toward improving the output power. This was achieved by decreasing the number of mirror periods on the front mirror yet retaining a high side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) (>35dB). Fig. 1. shows a SEM of an SGDBR device. While large tuning ranges have been demonstrated [as high as 72nm] by using a large mirror comb spacing difference this is a tradeoff with power output and flatness over the tuning range.

28

Detector Rear Mirror Phase Gain Front Mirror

.
Figure 1-2 Scanning Electron Micrograph of SGDBR Laser

All tunable transmitters in this work use SGDBR devices with the same design parameters as shown in table 2-1. These parameters are fairly conservative as one may obtain higher power with less mirror periods on the front mirror.
Table 2-1 SGDBR Device Parameters Front Mirror Burst width 4mm (x5) Typical threshold current (mA) Typical threshold Voltage Max Power 27.5 mA

Front Burst Period Rear Mirror Burst width Rear Burst Period Gain Length Ridge Width

68.5mm 6mm (x12) 61.5mm 550mm 3mm

1.1V 20mW

29

The tunable laser structure includes two sampled grating mirror sections with parameters as shown in table 2-1. The basic operation is based on the fact that the SGDBR takes advantage of a tuning enhancement by using two mirrors with slightly different mirror periods which results in slightly differing reflection spectra from the Vernier effect [207,220]. The two reflectivity spectra are shown in Fig 1-3.

Fig. 1-3 Reflectivity spectra for front and rear mirrors.

The device relies on refractive index tuning with current injection into the front and rear mirror sections in which the wavelength can be tuned approximately 38nm with the design above as shown in Fig 1-4. 30

Fig 1-4 Wavelength as a function of biases on each mirror section

Typical IV and LI output plots are shown in Fig 1-5 for a untuned device. The laser threshold for devices ranges from approximately 25-35mA for different tuning biases. As current is injected into the mirrors this adds optical loss in the laser and increases the threshold current.

31

S020714B_DIE#8_Device#2
25 V [V] 20 L [mW] 2.5 3

L [mW] CW

15

V [V]
1.5

10

0 0 20 40 60 I [mA] 80 100

0.5 120

Fig. 1-5. Typical LIV plot for a ridge SGDBR device

From Fig 1-6. one can see the supermode boundaries as the mirrors are tuned differentially.

Fig 1-6a. Output Power (mW) vs tuning on front and rear mirrors Fig 1-6b corresponding Gain Voltage. Gain section = 100mA SOA = 120mA

32

There are optimum mirror alignments in the center of each hexagon region for a given phase section bias (in this case 0mA). The more drastic changes in power correspond to wrap-around points where the device tunes from one side of the tuning range to the other. These devices also demonstrate a low level of spurious reflections in the longitudinal cavity as the devices tune normally. Fig. 1-6b shows the corresponding gain section voltage as the device is tuned. This plot closely relates to the output power plot and can be used in electronic control circuitry to determine the best alignment of the mirrors for a given WDM channel wavelength.

1.2 SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL AMPLIFIER INTEGRATION

As seen in the previous section, the SGDBR lasers can output as high as 20mW. However, due to the fairly thin waveguide (0.35mm) and curved flared output the output mode does not couple well with lensed fiber. A modeconverter would be desirable to increase the output power without introducing more optical noise sources, however the integration adds complexity to the processing and was not pursued in this work. Coupling losses can be as high as ~10dB for discrete SOA devices without mode converters[101]. In this device, with only one output, the typical coupling losses range from 4-5dB.

33

Additionally zero bias insertion losses in the modulator which range from 4-7 (see Fig. 1-7) as well as bias induced losses make SOA integration desirable.

Fig 1-7 Unbiased insertion loss for a MZ Modulator for different wavelengths. Total length -1 1100mm (10.5cm at 1550)

Semiconductor optical amplifiers were integrated[114] to improve the overall power output and to even out the wavelength dependent power as lower input optical power results in higher gain. The SOA was chosen to be before the

modulator so that the extinction ratio would not be degraded. SOA integration provides for added functionality of the device. Not only higher output power is now possible but it can be used as a variable attenuator since it has high dynamic range. Also it can be readily applied for power leveling the channels across the wavelength range since it is an independent power control.

34

Additionally, SOAs have been used successfully as modulators, gates, frequency converters, or detectors[200]. SGDBRs require a sufficient AR

coating [>10-3][100] for consistent tuning characteristics. Integration of an SOA and modulator requires an improvement in the reflectivity to 10-4-10-5 to prevent device degradation as described in the following section.

The most important measures of performance for linear applications are the maximum gain, saturation power and maximum noise figure[106]. In general, SOAs are not competitive with EDFAs because the noise figure is so high. Typical relative noise figures of EDFAs to SOAs at 1.55um (3.1 vs 5.2). [101] In the integrated device the SGDBR laser is a CW source in which the SOAs are biased to saturation so the noise characteristics do not suffer much. Devices 4-9 have 400m and 500m long SOAs before the MZ modulator. The gain from these devices is shown in Fig. 1-8.

Fig 1-7 Gain at 1554um for a 400mm and 500mm long, 3mm wide SOA at T = 16C

35

For high power from the SGDBR (>10dBm), this means the SOA only contributes approximately 6-7dB of gain at high SOA biases. This effectively cancels out the insertion losses of the modulator.

1.3 DUAL SOAS

A number of different approaches have been explored to improve the saturation power and gain of SOA devices. Gradual tapering of the waveguide has been explored[103] as well as using multiple waveguides coupled using MMIs to improve the gain saturation[105].

Fig. 1-8 DUAL SOA Design Layout

Saturation power is generally limited by the small cross sectional active area required for single-mode operation. By using N waveguides in parallel the saturation power is improved by 10log (N) dB with respect to a single waveguide device without degrading the noise figure. The devices presented

36

in this dissertation have Dual SOAs ranging from 350mm each to 575mm each. The SOA region was tapered out to 3.5mm wide ridges in the SOA region from 2.5mm wide ridges in the modulator region.

The gain of the Dual SOAs was measured with one SOA reverse biased then compared the gain with one biased to 150mA and the other SOA bias varied. Clearly thermal crosstalk affects the SOAs so that the gain is reduced 1-2dB due to heating from the adjacent SOA that is 16mm away. Overall the

saturation power is improved and the Dual SOA approach is beneficial. These heating effects are beneficial to the efficiency of the modulator as shown in more detail in chapter 5.

37

Fig 1-9a&b Output power for Dual SOA with 575m electrodes 13.5um transparency current second SOA reverse biased

38

Fig 1-10a&b Output power and gain with SOA #2 biased to 150mA [575m SOA]

39

1.4 OPTICAL FEEDBACK AND REFLECTION

Highly integrated devices require the minimization of optical feedback in order to reduce unwanted chirp, lasing of the SOA, gain ripple, higher noise figure, and inter-modulation distortion. Reflections lower the gain bandwidth and output saturation power. The design needs to consider reflections due to the

facets and active/passive interfaces[127], waveguide design, tapers, and multimode interference (MMI) devices within the Mach-Zehnder modulator. Reflections at the facets are minimized by flaring and angling the waveguide at the outputs and backside absorber facets. This reduces the requirements of the AR coating by an order of magnitude often providing continuous tuning even without an AR coating. In order to operate properly, SOA based devices

require sufficiently low Anti reflection (AR) coating reflectivity - generally accepted as < 10-4. A multi-layer AR coating is used to achieve greater than 10-4 reflectivity back into the optical cavity. Active/Passive interfaces are angled to minimize reflections due to the index discontinuity. Additionally, the MMI lengths are optimized for minimum

reflections and are tapered so that reflections are not coupled back into the laser cavity mostly important in the off state. Due to the nature of the multimode interference splitter, changes in the widths, growth thicknesses etc. will influence the light propagation. Biasing of sections on top of the MMIs will allow for tuning the power splitting ratio[608] important in MZ design for the 40

chirp and extinction ratio tuning. Note however, that the imaging length is modified potentially leading to large reflections when not optimally biased. A safer approach is to adjust the different branch gain or loss in the two branches. Finally, the waveguide design is weakly-guided throughout the

structure. Also, as demonstrated in [124] shallow ridge technology in the MZ lowers the reflections in the device considerably in comparison with previous deep ridge etched MZs[336, 337,344]. It has been shown that when parasitic reflections are generated in the MZ the extinction ratio is degraded when the chirp is best[306]. The optical feedback in the device can be explored using a few different approaches. Optical low coherence reflectometry (OLCR) is a good approach to measure the reflections at each interface in the structure[124]. Also, one can look at the tuning modemap as a function of biases on the rear detector and front detector biases. An example of this is shown for a device with two 575m long SOAs in the branches of the Mach-Zehnder in Fig. 1-11a with poor AR coating.

41

Fig 1-11a Device #10 Comparison of Dual SOA with significant optical feedback with SOAs biased to 80mA. Fig 1-11b demonstrates reflection reduction by reverse biasing front and rear detectors -4V

Reverse biasing the active rear absorber and the passive front detector7 reduces the feedback from the facets thereby improving the tuning map profile as shown in fig 1-11b.

Fig 1-12 Front detector reverse biased to absorb off-state light

As shown in Fig 1-12

42

Another indication of the optical feedback in the device is the degradation of the linewidth.

1.5 LINEWIDTH MEASUREMENTS

Linewidth arises from coupling between variations of phase and intensity. The linewidth for a conventional Fabry-perot, DFB, or SGDBR is given by:

Dn =

v g hvg th nspa m (1 + a 2 ) 8pP

[1.1]

where the threshold gain is given by:

g th =
and the mirror loss:

1 ai + am G

[1.2]

am =

1 1 ln 2 L R1 (l ) R2 (l )

[1.3]

P is optical power, a is the linewidth enhancement factor, L is the cavity length, and R1 and R2 are the reflection coefficients for the mirrors. vg is the group velocity, nsp spontaneous factor, hv is the optical energy

In general, linewidth decreases with increased laser power and increases with tuning of the mirror and phase sections due to misalignment of the mirrors[29].

43

Accurate measurement of linewidth in multi-section devices requires careful control. Battery powered sources are preferable to source less noise and also biasing that shorts high frequency noise to GND are required particularly when biasing sections highly sensitive to noise such as the phase section. Also, the setup requires sufficient optical isolation(>50dB). In order to explore the susceptibility of the device to optical reflections, a linewidth measurement setup that was used as shown in Fig 1-13.

SGDBR-MZ LiNbO3 2GHz

AMP

Fig. 1-13 Linewidth measurement setup Delayed Self-Heterodyne Method

The output light is inserted in a LiNbO3 MZ modulator in order to frequency shift the linewidth away from 0Hz reducing the noise in the measurement. This shifted Full-Width Half Max (FWHM) linewidth is double the true linewidth of the laser assuming that the lineshape is near Lorentzian in shape due to the heterodyning of the two signals. Then the signal goes into another interferometer in which one arm has a large delay (1km) which must be longer than the reciprocal of the linewidth in order to have a small measurement error. This means a system with 3.5ms delay will be able to make 44

linewidth measurements as low as 225kHz. With a 25ms delay one can measure to 30kHz. The linewidth of a commercial SGDBR-SOA was compared with a device with a 400mm SOA before the MZ (Device #8) and a device with Dual 350mm long SOAs in Fig 1-14. Each was compared at the same bias point of 150mA on the Gain section and SOAs.

Fig 1-14 Linewidth measurement comparing Commercial SGDBR-SOA device to Device 8 (single 400m SOA) and Device 1 (Dual SOA device with 350mm long SOAs)

As can be seen, there was very little difference between the linewidth of the three devices. This actually is a coincidence as the linewidth varied 45

approximately from 4-9 for different Gain and SOA biases.

However, this

demonstrates that the external cavity (MZ) does not adversely affect the lasers linewidth with optical feedback. Although this demonstrates the lack of optical reflections in the device, in order to look at the quality of signal under transmission, it is helpful to look at the linewidth as a function of frequency. The noise is not constant with frequency for the laser8 and consists of non-white and white components. A relaxation oscillation induced noise resonance is found between 1-6GHz depending on the output power. Also, phase noise below 500MHz is fairly large due to carrier fluctuations in the tuning sections from noisy current sources. This low frequency non-white phase noise has been shown to not affect the transmission performance of SGDBR lasers after fiber[126]. As these devices are most likely to be used in a 10Gbit/s system where the phase noise to intensity noise conversion efficiency is greatest at 5GHz, the noise at higher frequencies is more important than at low frequencies[506]. The integration time affects the measurement and ideally the linewidth is measured as a function of frequency as shown in [126]. The instantaneous linewidth is much narrower than shown in this measurement as the line tends to drift over time. This is why the seemingly large linewidths shown here are not detrimental to practical applications as the white noise at higher frequencies are the most important to the transmission properties of the laser. Nonetheless, for a typical
8

See RIN section 1.6

46

SGDBR measured using the coherent optical frequency discriminator technique[131], linewidths are usually measured between 1-2 MHz[126].

1.6 RELATIVE INTENSITY NOISE

The relative intensity noise (RIN) is a measure of the quality of laser diodes for broadband digital or analog systems. It is defined as < DP 2 > RIN = dB / Hz . P2 [1-4]

The numerator is the mean square optical intensity fluctuation at a specified frequency and P is the average output power. Since the ratio of the optical powers squared is equivalent to the ratio of the detected electrical powers, this equation can be written as

RIN =

N electrical dB / Hz Pavg (electrical )

[1-5]

Nelectrical is the power-spectral density of the photocurrent at a specified frequency and Pavg is the average power of the photocurrent. It can also be expressed as:
RIN = 16p (Du ) ST
2 2 1/t D 2 hu 2q 2 N +w H (w ) + + 4 P0 hPfiber wR

[1-6]

where H(w) is the modulation transfer function of the laser, w is the electrical frequency, wR is the relaxation resonance frequency, g is the damping factor, (Du)ST is the modified SchawlowTownes linewidth, tDN is the differential carrier lifetime, , hu is the optical energy, P0 is the optical power output from the laser, h is the photodiode responsivity, and Pfiber is the optical power coupled into the fiber.

47

The RIN was measured for a device with a single 400m SOA and Dual SOAs (350m)

Fig 1-15a RIN for single 400mm SOA Gain section bias varied [SOA 120mA 1554.3nm]

48

Fig 1-15b RIN for Dual 350mm SOA device [SOA1&2 100mA]

As can be seen in Fig 1-15a and 1-15b, the RIN measured for devices with single and dual SOAs are very similar. In both cases the RIN exceeds -

140dB/Hz, a specification desired for commercial SGDBR lasers. The peak of the noise spectrum indicates a parasitic free means of measuring the modulation bandwidth of the directly modulated SGDBR. The actual bandwidth is limited by carrier transport[113].

49

REFERENCES
[100] Stubkjaer KE, Mikkelsen B, Durhuus T, Storkfelt N, Joergensen C, Jepsen K, Nielsen TN, Gliese U. Recent advances in semiconductor optical amplifiers and their applications. Fourth International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (Cat. No.92CH3104-7). IEEE. 1992, pp.242-5. Eliseev PG, Vu Van Luc. Semiconductor optical amplifiers: multifunctional possibilities, photoresponse and phase shift properties. Pure & Applied Optics, vol.4, no.4, July 1995, pp.295-313.

[101]

[102] Joo-Heon Ahn, Kwang Ryong Oh, Jeong Soo Kim, Seung Won Lee, Hong Man Kim, Kwang Eui Pyun, Hyung Moo Park. Uniform and high coupling efficiency between InGaAsP-InP buried heterostructure optical amplifier and monolithically butt-coupled waveguide using reactive ion etching. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.2, Feb. 1996, pp.200-2. [103] Donnelly JP, Walpole JN, Betts GE, Groves SH, Woodhouse JD, O'Donnell FJ, Missaggia LJ, Bailey RJ, Napoleone A. High-power 1.3mu m InGaAsP-InP amplifiers with tapered gain regions. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.11, Nov. 1996, pp.1450-2. Gilner L. Analysis of input power dynamic ranges in two types of expanded semiconductor optical amplifier gate switch arrays. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.4, April 1996, pp.536-8. Dagens B, Emery JY, Janz C. Multiwaveguide SOA for increased saturation power without noise penalty. Electronics Letters, vol.35, no.6, 18 March 1999, pp.485-6.

[104]

[105]

[106] Liu T, Obermann K, Petermann K, Girardin F, Guekos G. Effect of saturation caused by amplified spontaneous emission on semiconductor optical amplifier performance. Electronics Letters, vol.33, no.24, 20 Nov. 1997, pp.2042-3. [107] Jayaraman V, Chuang Z-M, Coldren LA. Theory, design, and performance of extended tuning range semiconductor lasers with sampled 50

gratings. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.29, no.6, June 1993, pp.1824-34. [108] Delorme F, Alibert G, Boulet P, Grosmaire S, Slempkes S, Ougazzaden A. High reliability of high-power and widely tunable 1.55- mu m distributed Bragg reflector lasers for WDM applications. IEEE. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, vol.3, no.2, April 1997, pp.607-14. [109] Delprat D, Ramdane A, Ougazzaden A, Carre M. Very simple approach for high performance tunable laser realisation. Electronics Letters, vol.32, no.22, 24 Oct. 1996, pp.2079-80. [110] Lin MS, Piccirilli AB, Twu Y, Dutta NK. Fabrication and gain measurements for buried facet optical amplifier. Electronics Letters, vol.25, no.20, 28 Sept. 1989, pp.1378-80. [111] Delorme F, Grosmaire S, Gloukhian A, Ougazzaden A. High power operation of widely tunable 1.55 mu m distributed Bragg reflector laser. Electronics Letters, vol.33, no.3, 30 Jan. 1997, pp.210-11. [112] Sarlet G, Morthier G, Baets R. Control of widely tunable SSG-DBR lasers for dense wavelength division multiplexing. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.18, no.8, Aug. 2000, pp.1128-38. [113] Nagarajan R, Ishikawa M, Fukushima T, Geels RS, Bowers JE. High speed quantum-well lasers and carrier transport effects. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.28, no.10, Oct. 1992, pp.1990-2008. [114] San-Liang Lee, Heimbuch ME, Cohen DA, Coldren LA, DenBaars SP. Integration of semiconductor laser amplifiers with sampled grating tunable lasers for WDM applications. IEEE. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, vol.3, no.2, April 1997, pp.615-27. USA. [115] Coldren L.A., S.W. Corzine, Diode Lasers and Photonic Integrated Circuits, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1995, pp. 230. [116] Jayaraman V, Heimbuch ME, Coldren LA, DenBaars SP. Widely tunable continuous-wave InGaAsP/InP sampled grating lasers. Electronics Letters, vol.30, no.18, 1 Sept. 1994, pp.1492-4. [117] Delorme F, Alibert G, Ougier C, Slempkes S, Nakajima H. Sampledgrating DBR lasers with 181 wavelengths over 44 nm and optimized power variation for WDM applications. OFC '98. Optical Fiber 51

Communication Conference and Exhibit. Technical Digest. Conference Edition. 1998 OSA Technical Digest Series Vol.2 (IEEE Cat. No.98CH36177). Opt. Soc. America. 1998, pp.379-81. [118] Sarlet G, Morthier G, Baets R. Wavelength and mode stabilization of widely tunable SG-DBR and SSG-DBR lasers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.11, no.11, Nov. 1999, pp.1351-3. [119] Ishii H, Tanobe H, Kano F, Tohmori Y, Kondo Y, Yoshikuni Y. Quasicontinuous wavelength tuning in super-structure-grating (SSG) DBR lasers. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.32, no.3, March 1996, pp.433-41. [120] Mason B, Barton J, Fish GA, Coldren LA, Denbaars SP. Design of sampled grating DBR lasers with integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.12, no.7, July 2000, pp.762-4. [121] San-Liang Lee, Tauber DA, Jayaraman V, Heimbuch ME, Coldren LA, Bowers JE. Dynamic responses of widely tunable sampled grating DBR lasers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.12, Dec. 1996, pp.1597-9. [122] Jayaraman V, Mathur A, Coldren LA, Dapkus PD. Extended tuning range in sampled grating DBR lasers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.5, no.5, May 1993, pp.489-91. [123] Jayaraman V, Cohen DA, Coldren LA. Demonstration of broadband tunability in a semiconductor laser using sampled gratings. Applied Physics Letters, vol.60, no.19, 11 May 1992, pp.2321-3. USA. [124] Lovisa S, Bouche N, Helmers H, Heymes Y, Brillouet F, Gottesman Y, Rao K. Integrated laser Mach-Zehnder modulator on indium phosphide free of modulated-feedback. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.13, no.12, Dec. 2001, pp.1295-7. [125] Putz N, Adams DM, Rolland C, Moore R, Mallard R. Fabrication of an InP/GaInAsP based integrated gain-coupled DFB laser/M-Z phase modulator for 10 Gb/sec fiber optic transmission. IPRM 1996. Eighth International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (Cat. No.96CH35930). IEEE. 1996, pp.152-4. [126] Nakagawa S, Fish G, Dahl A, Koh P, Schow C, Mack M, Wang L, Yu R. Phase noise of widely-tunable SG-DBR laser. Optical Fiber 52

Communications Conference (OFC). (Trends in Optics and Photonics Series Vol.86) Technical Digest (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37403). Opt. Soc. America. Part vol.2, 2003, pp.461-2 vol.2. [127] Ackerman DA, Shtengel GE, Morton PA, Zhang LM, Johnson JE, Bethea CG, Ketelsen LJ-P. Identifying sources of residual reflections within integrated electroabsorption modulated laser cavities. Conference on Optical Fiber Communications. Technical Digest. Postconference Edition. 1997 OSA Technical Digest Series. Vol.6 (IEEE Cat. No.97CH36049). Opt. Soc. America. 1997, pp.142-3. [128] Skogen E.J. Quantum Well Intermixing for Wavelength-Agile Photonic Integrated Circuits UCSB Dissertation June 2003 [129] Simes R., G. A. Fish, P. Abraham, Y. A. Akulova, C. W. Coldren, M. Focht, E. M. Hall, M. C. Larson, H. Marchand, P. Kozodoy, A. Dahl, P.C. Koh, T. Strand, InP chip scale integration platform for high-perfomance tunable lasers, SPIE Photonics West, 2003. [130] Marshall WK, Crosignani B, Yariv A. Laser phase noise to intensity noise conversion by lowest-order group-velocity dispersion in optical fiber: exact theory. Optics Letters, vol.25, no.3, 1 Feb. 2000, pp.165-7. [131] D. Derickson, Fiber Optics Test & Measurement, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR, 1998, p 194.

53

Chapter 2
MOCVD GROWTH AND FABRICATION
In this chapter, we will look at some of the epitaxial layer growth considerations regarding the Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) growth of tunable transmitters. Growth consists of a base epitaxial structure which

undergoes processing steps to etch off quantum wells and define gratings in certain areas. Then a regrowth is performed to grow an upper InP/InGaAs cladding over the whole structure. An optimized doping profile is critical for high performance in both the laser and modulator sections. The basis for characterization of the material is discussed with the use of x-ray, PL, and SIMs measurements. The fabrication steps are also outlined in Section 2.8.

The MOCVD technique is used to grow high quality single crystal epitaxial films on substrates using metal-organic precursors that are transported to a heated substrate (615C 650C) with a carrier gas (H2). The work here was done

using a Thomas-Swan 2 horizontal flow rotating disk reactor which has very good deposition uniformity as shown in fig 2-1.

54

Average ~1540nm

Fig 2-1 Micro-Photo-luminscence(PL) Intensity and Peak wavelength uniformity across base structure wafer S020215C

MOCVD growth of In1-xGaxAs1-yPy quaternary is very important for fabrication of opto-electronic devices such as lasers, modulators, and detectors all fundamental in optical fiber communication systems. Typically this involves the highly toxic Arsine (ArH3) and Phosphine (PH3) precursors. tertiarybutylarsine (TBAs), and tertiarybutylphosphine (TBP) At UCSB, Group V

precursors are used as they are considerably safer, and have been shown to be superior with respect to enabling very low III/V ratios and low growth temperatures as well as possess similar purity. For this work, the Group III precursors are trimethyindium(TMIn) for Indium, trimethylgallium (TMGa) for Gallium. The material is doped using both disilane gas for silicon n-type layers, and DiethylZinc for Zinc p-type layers.

55

The basic reactions describing the growth of InP are:

In(CH 3 ) 3 (v) + TBP (v) InP( s ) + 3CH 4 + TB

[2.x]

where during InGaAsP growth, the group III precursors decompose as follows:
Ga (CH 3 ) 3 (v) Ga (CH 3 ) 2 + CH 3

[2.x] [2.x] [2.x] [2.x]

Ga(CH 3 ) 2 (v) Ga(CH 3 ) + CH 3 In(CH 3 ) 3 (v) In(CH 3 ) + 2CH 3 In(CH 3 )(v) In + CH 3

Since the TMIn source is a solid source, two bubblers are placed in series to insure a constant source. For the liquid gallium source (TMGa), a dilution line is utilized to achieve the desired range of material concentrations.

2.1 SEMICONDUCTOR EPITAXIAL STRUCTURE

Although SGDBR lasers have been fabricated using quantum well intermixing(QWI)[33] and butt-joint regrowth techniques, the offset Multiple Quantum Well (OMQW) approach has been a standard approach for the fabrication of photonic integrated circuits[221-224]. This is due to the ease of removal of QWs in passive regions without significant index discontinuity or complicated regrowth processes. Next we will look at the quantum well design and epitaxial layer structures based on both conducting sulfur-doped and semiinsulating Fe-doped wafers.

56

2.2 QUANTUM WELL DESIGN

The quantum wells should be designed to efficiently contain the carriers and not impede the transport across the structure. For well designed barriers, the thermionic emission time is much larger than the diffusion and capture times[312]. Thermionic emission and tunneling are competing processes and the faster one will dominate. For barriers less than 5nm, tunneling tends to dominate the carrier transport across the barrier. However, for wider barriers (8nm in this case), hole transport is associated with thermionic emission while electron transport is done mainly by tunneling. For sufficiently wide barriers both electrons and holes are dominated by thermionic emission[312]. The MQW structure relies on the barriers to be thick enough to provide 2-D carrier confinement in the quantum wells and prevent coupling of the quantum well states which leads to a broadening of the quantized energy levels[312].

It has been shown[225], that significant improvements in both differential gain and threshold current density can be achieved by compressively straining the quantum wells at least up to approximately 1%. In this work a MQW stack of 7 Quantum wells with 8nm barriers and 6.5nm wells were used as shown in fig 2-2. Without any strain compensation in the barriers and waveguide, one is limited to approximately 6 wells 6.5nm wide with 8.0nm barriers before reaching the critical thickness. In the current design, the quantum wells are 57

grown with a constant x composition for the barriers and quantum wells to allow fast switching between mass flow controller during the growth of the QWs and the barriers. Constant x growth also has the advantage that since the growth rate is governed by the group III flow rate, both the barrier and well grow at the same rate. In this structure, the waveguide and barrier are grown slightly tensile to compensate for the highly strained wells allowing for more wells to be grown before reaching the strain critical thickness. The target compositions for the structure are shown in table 2-1.

Table 2-1 In1-xGaxAs1-yPy Compositions

Material Barrier QW SCH 1.226 Waveguide 1.4Q In[%] 73.5 73.5 76.76 65.14 As[%] 51.3 84.5 50.4 73.77 Pl peak 1194 N/A 1210 1380 Eghh 1209 N/A 1226 1400

Perpendicular Strain -4038 (-0.3%) 18139 (1%) 0 -800

2.3 CONDUCTING SUBSTRATE BASE STRUCTURES

Base structures for SGDBRs have been grown for some years now and the best growth conditions refined considerably. These growths use an indium pure component flow of 0.4sccm, with changes in the gallium flows to achieve the desired quaternary compositions as governed by the segregation coefficient Kseg. The growth was held at a constant pressure of 350 Torr. However, the temperature of the growth is changed for the InP(615C) and 58

InGaAsP layers (650C) for best material quality. This is achieved using a three zone infrared lamp system with a center zone at 650C and adjoining regions at 630C to improve the temperature uniformity.

As the passive regions have the QWs etched off, we have two different layer structures after regrowth. Fig. 2-2 shows layer structures in an active and passive section simultaneously. A 10nm un-intentionally doped (uid)-InP stop etch layer is grown on top of the waveguide in order to facilitate the QW wetetch. The base structure is grown with a Zn setback from the quantum wells that takes into account the subsequent regrowth diffusion(80nm). This also means that the regrowth on the active regions is on a doped material instead of a grown junction.

Fig 2-2 Sulfur doped substrate epitaxial layer structure

59

2.4 GROWTH CHARACTERIZATION

The different layers are characterized by determining the bandgap energy from both room temperature photoluminscence data and the lattice parameter ao from double crystal x-ray diffraction data (XRD)[102]. According to Vegards law, we can relate the binary lattice constants to the unstrained In1-xGaxAs1-yPy quaternary lattice constant as follows[102]:

ao = 6.0584 0.405x 0.190y 0.0123xy.

[2-1]

Fig. 2-3 Typical x-ray rocking curve for base structure S010406C

60

The lattice mismatch between layers can be calculated from x-ray by examining the difference between the substrate peak and the quaternary peaks as described by [204]:

Da ^ - tan fDq + cot qDq as

[2.2]

Da|| as

cot fDf - cotqDq

[2.3]

where f corresponds to the angle between the (hkl) plane and the (001) reflection plane and q is the bragg angle for the hkl reflection. This lattice mismatch is given by[205]:

Da ^ C11 Da = ao C11 + 2C12 ao

where ao is the lattice constant, C11 and C12 are elastic stiffness constants.

[2.4]

As many of the layers are strained in the multiquantum well structure, we must look also at the photoluminescence data as in fig 2-4.

61

Fig 2-4 One dimensional Photoluminescence plot showing both the QW peak and WG peak

An empirically modified version of Vegards law expresses the band gap as a function of In1-xGaxAs1-yPy quaternary composition [102]:

E g ( 295K ) = 1.35 + 1.42 x - y - 0.33xy - (0.73 - 0.28 y ) x(1 - x) - (0.101 + 0.109 x) y (1 - y ) + 0.05 xy (1 - x)(1 - y )

eV

[2.5]

The layer compositions and thickness can be fit using a model using BEDE software.

62

2.5 SEMI-INSULATING SUBSTRATE GROWTH

By growing a similar base structure to that discussed in the previous section on a Fe doped semi-insulating(SI) substrate as seen in Fig. 2-5, this enables some of the series push-pull electrode structures discussed in chap. 4.
0.1m 1E19 cm-3 Zn-pInGaAs 1.8m 1E18 cm-3 Zn-p cladding InP 0.05m setback uid InP 25nm 1.226Q uid-SCH 7 uid 6.5nm QWs 8.0nm Barriers 10 nm uid-InP stop-etch layer 0.32m 1.4Q InGaAsP waveguide 1.8m 1e18 cm-3 Si InP Buffer 0.05m n-InGaAs contact layer 0.5m 1e18 cm-3 Si InP n-buffer 100m Fe-doped semi-i - nsulating substrate

Fig. 2-5 Semi-insulating substrate based epitaxial layer structure

Using a semi-insulating (SI) substrate lowers the RF dielectric losses and allows isolation between different n-contacts on the device. The n-contact

layer is typically either a InGaAsP quaternary layer with emission bandgap in the 1.1-1.4Q range if it is required to be close to the waveguide particularly important if He implanting is required to isolate n-doped regions. For this work, an InGaAs layer was used for the best contact resistivity and placed 1.8mm away from the waveguide so that there is only a very minimal overlap between 63

the optical mode and this highly absorptive layer. The use of an InGaAs layer for the n-contact has been shown to improve the extinction ratio since substrate modes are absorbed to a greater degree[220].

2.6 REGROWTH
The regrowth quality over gratings is highly dependent on surface preparation, grating etch depth9 and regrowth conditions. Low damage RIE (at low power

22Watts) and proper growth conditions for grating regrowth are very important to reduce defects at the growth interface[228]. Gratings are defined using a holographic setup10 and etched in sampled regions in each mirror section using a Reactive Ion Etch (RIE) system as shown in fig 2-8a&b.

Fig. 2-8a Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) image of grating burst before grating regrowth Fig 2-8b Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) image of dry-etched gratings before regrowth

Typically 75nm See Beck Mason Dissertation [224]

10

64

Previously fabricated gratings used a relatively high-power etch (500V) that reduced the photoluminescence intensity by a factor of 100. By reducing the RIE power and using a 1min sulfuric acid dip to remove residual organics, this photoluminescence intensity can be improved to approximately 34% when compared with non-grating regions[228]. Grating regrowth quality is superior if the growth in initiated immediately as the growth temperature is reached (615C) so that the gratings do not decompose. The growth cycle was modified similar to the process shown in [212], to remove the bake step and reduce the initial growth rate (1/16 growth rate) as well as use both a phosphorus (1Torr) and arsenic (0.07Torr) overpressure during the ramp-up to growth that appears to reduce the exposed InGaAsP desorption and increase the oxide/H2O desorption resulting in improved growth over quaternary material surfaces.

Fig 2-9a Regrowth over gratings Poor surface preparation Fig 2-9b Regrowth over gratings with good surface preparation and TBA with heatup

A more extensive look at the photoluminescence data under different regrowth conditions is published in [228]. When done successfully, it is difficult to see in 65

an optical microscope where the grating bursts are after the regrowth is performed as shown in Fig 2-9.

2.7 Zn DOPING OF InP and InGaAsP

The device doping profile needs to take into consideration the requirements of the laser and that of the modulator section. The laser requires high Zn doping in the cladding to improve the injection efficiency and contact resistivity, however, this needs to taper off near the waveguide to prevent excessive free carrier losses. Doping the waveguide with silicon helps the transport time in the laser regions. However, control of the doping profile is critical particularly in the modulator region where it governs both the high speed and efficiency performance11. The doping profile used in the devices shown in this The capacitance of the structure is

dissertation is shown in section 3.1.

improved with a large intrinsic region and the bandwidth will be less influenced by the reverse bias, however, this is a tradeoff with transport properties through the structure and the efficiency as there is less electric field overlap with the optical mode. As Zn is used as the p-type dopant in this work, understanding

of the diffusion mechanisms is important.

11

See Chapter 3 for details

66

Due to the high diffusion constant of Zinc, control of the p-doping profile is particularly crucial. Not only does excessive P-doping of the waveguide add considerable absorption loss this also adversely affects the modulator efficiency.

It is thought that the following two mechanisms account for the interactions of Zn diffusion.

Frank-Turnbull mechanism
Zn i
m+

= V In = Zn s + (m + 1)h

[2.6]

An interstitial Zn finds its way to an Indium vacancy site and forms a substitutional Zn atom and a hole. M is the charge state (+2).

Kick-out mechanism
A charged interstitial Zn atom kicks out an Indium atom from its lattice site to form a substitutional acceptor via the reaction

Zn i

m+

= V In = Zn s + I in + (m + 1)h

[2.7]

67

For this reason the doping incorporation is highly dependent on the III/V ratio and phosphorus overpressure essentially governing the number of vacancies in the material.

Combination of the interstitial Zn with phosphorus vacancies often yields neutral complexes for this reason we have high Zn incorporation but it is not all electrically active. Zinc diffusion in InP thought to be dominated by

highly mobile Zn interstitals that are in equilibrium with substitutional Zn. The diffusivity of the interstitials is on the order of 1 million times larger for the interstitials. However, there are far more substitutional Zn impurities in comparison with interstitials. The incorporation and activation of p-type dopant Zn are elevated on the <311>B and <110> planes. The n-type dopants are suppressed on these planes[101].

The Zn doping profile is shown for two different device runs using a Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) technique. Run #1 and run #2 have vastly different laser and modulator properties. The first case (fig.1.1A) has very high bandwidth due to the large intrinsic region but poor tuning characteristics due to added resistance in the tuning regions that heat considerably when current is injected. The second case (fig 1.1B) has Zn doping extending into the

waveguide that although gives better carrier transport, has higher free carrier losses. 68

Figure 2.6A&B Secondary SIMS work by Charles & Evans

Ion

Mass

Spectroscopy

for

run#1

and

run

#2

As shown in fig. 2.6b, if the waveguide is doped p-type by Zn diffusion during the regrowth we find that the effective area of the PIN junction is enhanced considerably. During growth, since Zn readily diffuses and the quaternary is more easily doped than InP, Zn tends to segregate at the hetro-interface between the InP and InGaAsP waveguide. This highly conductive layer acts as the top side of the capacitor raising the capacitance as high as 5-10x for the device as illustrated in fig 2-7a. This problem can be mitigated by dry-etching off this highly conductive layer ~100nm in the InGaAsP waveguide of the modulator sections to improve the bandwidth as shown in fig 2-7b.

69

Fig. 2-7a Zn doped InGaAsP waveguide layer after dry/wet etch of shallow-ridge waveguide structure Fig 2-7b Passivation etch removes Zn-doped region in the modulator sections

This etch is done by RIE at low power to minimize roughness of the waveguide and the scattering losses which would result. Etching the waveguide makes the ridge more confining, however can make the device more susceptible to reflections.

2.8 TRANSMITTER FABRICATION

Fabrication of the tunable transmitters involves the steps as shown in table 2-2. More detailed procedures are shown in Appendix C-Process. Integration of a semiconductor optical amplifier does not add any additional steps as the SOA region structure is the same as the gain section. However, the integration of a high-speed modulator does add a few more steps related to the low k dielectric and topside n-metal contacts. Although topside n-metal contacts are not

strictly necessary on S-doped substrates, they do allow for direct radio frequency (RF) probing of the devices without the necessity of a well 70

designed RF carrier or influences of wirebonds/ribbon bonds. Because of this, Ni-AuGe-Ni-Au n-metal was deposited on both types of substrates. Also,

backside Ti/Pt/Au n-metal was deposited on the thinned wafers to facilitate soldering which has much better heat conduction than thermally conducting epoxy.

Table 2-2 Fabrication Steps STEPS BASIC SGDBR Active/Passive Sampled Gratings Regrowth Dry/Wet Ridge Etch Ridge Passivation Etch BCB/Dielectric Deposition N-Metal Etch N-Metal Deposition

R R R R Q Q Q Q

R Necessary S-Doped Substrate SGDBR + Modulator

R R R R R R < <

< Desirable SISubstrate SGDBR + Modulator

QNot necessary Description

R R R R R R

Remove QWs in passive regions Grating Bursts and holographic gratings defined Upper cladding is grown over gratings and active regions Define ridge waveguide structure Important for high speed modulation Low k dielectric to reduce capacitance Etch down to buried InGaAs layer Ni Ge-Au-Ni Au Contacts to topside

R R
71

p-InGaAs Etch Isolation p+ Implant Modulator via

R R Q R R R R
10

R R R R R R R
13/15

R R R R R R <
14/15

Remove the InGaAs conductive region between sections Isolate the P-regions between sections Open through the BCB and SiNxOy layers for p-contact Open through the SiNxOy for the pcontact TiPtAu Metal Deposited Required for cleaving N-contact or soldering layer

Laser Contact via P-Metal Thinning Backside Metal Total Steps

The addition of the high speed modulator adds a few more process steps (see total steps for each type) however the yield of devices is not compromised excessively. Detailed process development for high speed modulators is

detailed in chapter 3.

72

REFERENCES
[200] Chu SNG, Logan RA, Geva M, Ha NT. Concentration dependent Zn diffusion in InP during metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. Journal of Applied Physics, vol.78, no.5, 1 Sept. 1995, pp.3001-7. [201] Berger P.R., S.N.G. Chu, R.A. Logan, Erin Byrne, D. Coblentz, James Lee Ill, Nhan T. Ha, N. K. Dutta, Substrate orientation effects on dopant incorporation in InP grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition J. Appl. Phys. 73(8), 15, April 1993. [202] Flemish J. R., H. Shen, K.A. Jones, M. Dutta, Determination of the composition of strained InGaAsP layers on InP substrates using photoreflectance and double-crystal x-ray diffractometry, J. Appl. Phys 70 (4), 15 August, 1991. [203] Li E.H., Material parameters of InGaAsP and InAlGaAs systems for use in quantum well structures at low and room temperatures, Physica E 5 (2000) 215-273. [204] Matsui J., K. Onabe, T. Kamejima, I. Hayashi, Lattice Mismatch Study of LPE-Grown InGaPAs on (001)-InP Using X-Ray Double-Crystal Diffraction, J. Electrochemical Society. Vol 126, no4, April 1979, pg 6647. [205] Asai H., K. Oe., Energy band-gap shift with elastic strain in GaxIn1-xP epitaxial layers on (001) GaAs substrates, J. Appl. Phys. 54(4) April 1983. [206] Swaminathan V., C. L. Reynolds Jr. , M. Geva, Effect of Zn on the electro-optical characteristics of metalorganic chemical vapour deposition grown 1.3um InGaAsP/InP lasers Electron. Lett. Vol 32., No.7, Mar. 28, 1996 [207] Chen C -H, U. M. Gosele, T.Y.Tan, Dopant diffusion and segregation in semiconductor heterostructures: Part 1. Zn and Be in III-V compound superlattices Applied Physics A, 1999. [208] Camargo Silva M.T., J. E. Zucker, L. R. Carrion, C. H. Joyner, A. G. Dentai, Growth Optimization for p-n Junction placement in the integration of Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors and Quantum Well Modulators on InP IEEE. J. Quantum Electron. Vol.6, No.1, Jan., 2000.

73

[209] Hornstra J., W. J. Bartels, Determination of the lattice constant of epitaxial layers of III-V Compounds J. Crystal Growth 44(1978)513-417. [210] Bensaada A., A. Chennouf, R.W. Cochrane, J.T. Graham, R. Leonelli, R.A.Masut, Misfit strain, relaxation, and bandgap shift in GaxIn1-xP/InP epitaxial layers J. Appl. Phys. 75 (6) 15 March 1994. [211] Van Geelen A, T.M.F. de Smet, T. van Dongen, W.M.E.M van Gils, Zinc doping of InP by metal organic vapour phase diffusion (MOVPD), J. Crystal Growth 195(1998) 79-84. [212] Franke D., H. Roehle, Highly reproducible and defect-free MOVPE overgrowth of InGaAsP-based DFB gratings J. Crystal Growth, 170(1997) 113-116. [213] Belenky G.L., C.L. Reynolds Jr., D.V. Donetsky, G. E. Shtengel, M.S. Hybertson, M.A. Alam, G. A. Baraff, R.K. Smith, R. F. Kazarinov, J. Winn, L.E. Smith, Role of p-Doping Profile and Regrowth on the Static Characteristics of 1.3um MQW InGaAsP-InP Lasers: Experiment and Modeling IEEE. J. Quantum Elect., Vol. 35, No. 10, Oct. 1999. [214] Grinberg A.A., M. A. Alam, S. K. Sputz, Modeling of the photoluminescence in Multi-quantum well Heterostructure Laser wafers, IEEE. J. Quantum Elect. Vol. 35, No. 1, Jan. 1999. [215] Schroeter-Janssen H, Roehle H, Franke D, Bochnia R, Harde P, Grote N. Comparison of MOVPE-based Zn diffusion into InGaAsP/InP using H/sub 2/ and N/sub 2/ carrier gas. Elsevier. Journal of Crystal Growth, vol.221, Dec. 2000, pp.70-4. [216] Mei XB, Loi KK, Chang WSC, Tu CW. Improved electroabsorption properties in 1.3 mu m MQW waveguide modulators by a modified doping profile. Elsevier. Journal of Crystal Growth, vol.175-1762, May 1997, pp.994-8. [217] Dong-Ning Wang, Venables D, Waltemyer D, Lentz J. Investigation of p-n junction and dopant profiles in InP-based laser by low voltage SEM. Conference Proceedings. 2000 International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (Cat. No.00CH37107). IEEE. 2000, pp.60-3. [218] Swaminathan V, Reynolds CL Jr, Geva M.Zn diffusion behavior in InGaAsP/InP capped mesa buried heterostructures. Applied Physics Letters, vol.66, no.20, 15 May 1995, pp.2685-7. 74

[219] Cheng-Yu Tai, Seiler J, Geva M. Modeling of Zn diffusion in InP/InGaAs materials during MOVPE growth. Conference Proceedings. Eleventh International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (IPRM'99) (Cat. No.99CH36362). IEEE. 1999, pp.245-8. [220] Rolland C., G. Mak, W. Bardyszewski, D. Yevick, Improved Extinction Ratio of Waveguide Electroabsorption Optical Modulators Induced by and InGaAs Absorbing layer, J.of Lightwave Tech., Vol. 10, No.12, 1992. [221] Masanovic M.L., V. Lal, J. S. Barton, E. J. Skogen, L. A. Coldren, and D. J. Blumenthal, "Monolithically integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer wavelength converter and widely tunable laser in InP," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 15, pp. 1117-19, 2003. [222] Mason B, Barton J, Fish GA, Coldren LA, Denbaars SP. Design of sampled grating DBR lasers with integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.12, no.7, July 2000, pp.762-4 [223] Fish G., InGaAsP/InP based photonic integrated circuits for optical switching, Dissertation. 1999. [224] Mason B., InP Based Photonic Integrated Circuits, Dissertation, 1999. [225] Silver M., E. P. OReilly, Optimization of long wavelength InGaAsP strained quantum well lasers, IEEE Journal of Quanum Electronics, vol. 31, pp. 1193-1200, 1995.

75

Chapter 3

Lumped Modulator Designs

A number of different authors have fabricated lumped Mach-Zehnder modulators, mostly using MQW structures[300-4]. For this work Franz-Kelydsh bulk quaternary waveguides were used instead of MQWs as they tend to have less wavelength dependence and lower optical propagation loss12. DBR[338-9], DFB[306-8] and now SGDBR[309] laser integrated Mach-Zehnder modulators have been explored as well. In this chapter, we will look at the factors that influence the modulation efficiency, optical bandwidth, and insertion losses.

Fig 3.1 Lumped electrode Mach-Zehnder Modulator

12

Fiber to fiber losses 31-40dB reported in [303]

76

3.1 DEVICE EFFICIENCY

Mach-Zehnder modulators rely on a change in the electric field and carrier density to change the absorption and phase in one branch of the MZ modulator. In this work, a PN junction is formed in the first ~80nm of the waveguide by diffusion of Zn during the regrowth13. This gives an electric field profile as given in fig. 3-2 for a waveguide doping level of 3e17cm-3 Si.

Fig. 3-2 Electric field profile and indexing structure for waveguide as a function of bias for device doping structure

The device efficiency would be improved further by moving the Zn diffusion front into the middle of the waveguide. However, this would mean more free

13

Fig 2.6a&b

77

carrier absorption due to the Zn overlap with the optical mode, and a deeper passivation etch as outlined previously in fig. 2-7a&b. Unfortunately, this

optimization approach also maximizes the Franz-Keldysh absorption. If less wavelength dependence is desired, it is best to use the LEO effect along with carrier based effects with a design that improves the overlap factor () by using a lower doping level in the waveguide effectively spreading out the electric field profile. Ideally, the modulator biases will be as low as possible to lower the propagation loss through the device. In this work, we have a doping profile as shown in Fig 3-3. This doping profile was chosen as a compromise between having reasonable bandwidth and the high efficiency associated with a PN junction and it is compatible with typical SGDBR processing.

Fig 3-3 Doping profile for device structure in passive regions

78

The semi-insulating substrate based devices have a similar structure in the waveguide with a 0.1m 1E18 Si doped InGaAs contact layer, and 0.5m 1E18 Si-doped n-InP layer instead of the Sulfur doped substrate shown in fig. 3-3. The efficiency can be measured directly by analyzing the DC extinction curves.

3.2 DC EXTINCTION CURVES

The output power intensity as a function of voltage can be derived knowing the optical field in the two branches of the Mach-Zehnder. The light power intensity is given by:
I (V1 , V2 )= E (V1 , V2 )
2

[3.1]

The optical field from the output of a Mach Zehnder is given by[301]:

Da (V1 ) Da (V2 ) E (V1 ,V2 ) = Ei SRin SRout exp- + jDb (V1 ) L + exp - + j[Db (V2 ) + j ] L [3.2] 2 2

Ei =
where

Eo (1 + SRin )(1 + SRout )

[3.3]

where V1 and V2 are voltages on the two MZ branches, Da is the change in optical absorption, Db is related to the change in index where

b=

the power splitting ratio of the input MMI. SRin = (P1/P2)in.

2pn . L is the length of the modulator. SRin is l

79

Fiber-coupled output power was measured for a 300mm long modulator as a function of input optical power as shown in fig. 3.3 and fit with the model from equation [3.2].

Fig 3.3 Fiber coupled output power at l =1555nm for three different input powers (4.9mW, 11mW, 15.6mW) corresponding to SOA = (20mA, 60mA, 120mA)

Using the expression for optical field from equation 3.3, along with the change in absorption, one can obtain the refractive index change. The Franz Keldysh absorption can be modeled with the following model. 80

3.3 FRANZ-KELDYSH ABSORPTION

Franz-Keldysh absorption is caused by is the tilting of the bands during reverse bias which in turn increases the tunneling probability as the electric field increases. The phenomenon of absorption is caused by the presence of

photon assisted inter-band tunneling due to the tilted energy band diagram. The absorption of Franz-Kelydsh based modulators [311] is given by the following relation[346]:

a (hw , | E |) = Aj | E |1 / 3
j

dAi( z ) 2 { } b A ( b ) j i j dz b j

[3.4]

where E is the electric field in V/cm. Ai are airy functions

b j = B j ( E g - hw ) E -2 / 3
3.55 x10 4 2 m j Aj = nhw m
4/3

[3.5]

[3.6]

The sum of j is over both the light and heavy hole bands where h is planks constant, m is the effective mass, and w is the angular frequency, m is the mass of an electron, n is the refractive index, and Eg is the bandgap.

Even in the absence of applied field, the built-in electric field contributes to a static absorption coefficient is given by the Urbach tail expressed by[312]:
a o = A exp - ( E g - hv) / Fi

[3.7]

The internal field is given by:

Fi = (V + Vbi ) / d i
81

[3.8]

where Vbi is the built-in field, V is the applied voltage, and di is the intrinsic region width.

The Franz-Keldysh absorption is shown for waveguide compositions close to the bandgap (1.4 1.45) in fig. 3-5 as calculated from equation 3-2. Quat = 1.4Q
400 600 500 300 400 600 200 300 400 200 100 100 0 1520 0 1520 200

Quat = 1.41Q
1000 800

Quat = 1.42Q

As can be seen in Fig 3-5, considerable wavelength dependence in the absorption will result from using a waveguide composition bandgap closer to the operating wavelength. Verification of this model was performed by comparison with the absorption as measured with photocurrent as the following relation: 82

Absorption (cm-1) Absorption (cm-1)

1540

1560

1580

1540

1560

1580

0 1520

1540

1560

1580

Wavelength (nm)
1500

Wavelength (nm)
2500 2000

Wavelength (nm)
4000

Quat = 1.43Q

Quat = 1.44Q

Quat = 1.45Q
0kV/cm 50kV/cm 100kV/cm 150k/cm 200kV/cm

3000

1000 1500 2000 1000 500 500 1000

0 1520

1540

1560

1580

0 1520

1540

1560

1580

0 1520

1540

1560

1580

Wavelength (nm)

Wavelength (nm)

Wavelength (nm)

Fig. 3-5 Total Franz-Keldysh Absorption as a function of wavelength for different waveguide compositions and Electric fields.

a =-

1 I pc (V )hw ln 1 L qPin

[3.9]

where a is the modal absorption, L is the length of the modulator, Ipc(V) is the photocurrent generated, Pin is the input optical power. And hw/q is the phonon energy in eV.

Fig 3.6 Modal absorption data and FKE model above for a 300mm long modulator

As can be seen in fig 3.6, the Franz-Keldysh model fits the absorption data well as shown for three different input powers (Pin = 4.9mW, 11mW, and 15.6mW).

83

The refractive index can be changed with two different classes of effects Field effects consisting of the linear electro-optic effect (LEO or Pockels effect) and the quadratic (electrorefractive or Kerr) effect, and Carrier based effects such as carrier induced bandgap shrinkage, heating induced bandgap shrinkage, Plasma loading, and the Burstein shift (Band-filling effect). These effects will be outlined below:

3.4 ELECTRIC FIELD EFFECTS

The change in index due to electric field effects is given by the following equation[305]:
Dnbulk =

1 3 2 Gno [r ( E - Eo ) + s (l )( E - E o ) 2 + (rE o - s (l ) E o )] 2

[3-10]

no is the index without field applied -is the overlap confinement factor E is the electric field r is the linear coefficient s is the quadratic coefficient

LINEAR ELECTROOPTIC EFFECT (LEO) (Pockels effect)

This effect is due to the biaxial birefringence induced by the presence of an electric field. It is polarization dependent where the effect is positive for TE

84

light if the light propagates in the [-110] direction and negative if the light propagates in the [110] direction.

Dn LEO

n 3 r41 E = 2

[3.11]

The linear electro-optic coefficient has been measured for InGaAsP quaternaries in [344] and can be extrapolated for different compositions as was done in [345] using the coefficients in table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Fitting Parameters for various materials from [345]

P44 e1

r41

Material
InP GaP GaAs InAs

A0 8.40 22.28 9.29 4.36

B0 6.60 0.92 7.86 10.52

C0 -0.36 -0.06 -0.21 -1.48

D0 2.6 1.92 2.12 2.32

E0 F0 -42.06 91.32 -83.31 16.6 -71.48 123.16 -30.23 197.88

For the wavelength range, and quaternary compositions of interest, the r41 coefficient is plotted in fig. 3.7.

85

Fig 3.7 Linear electro-optic coefficient extrapolated as a function of waveguide composition and wavelength from [345] and [344]

QUADRATIC ELECTRO-OPTIC EFFECT OR KERR EFFECT (QEO)/ELECTROREFRACTIVE EFFECT

This effect is a third order nonlinear optical process and unlike the LEO effect, is polarization independent. In order to determine the index change as a

function of absorption change one uses the Kramers-Kronig transform[316].

hc a (l ) n( E ) = 1 + 2 P 2 2 dE ' E' -E 2p 0
P = lim a 0
0

[3.12]

E -a

where the Principle is given by

E +a

86

1 a (l ) - hc dE ' Dn(l , E field ) = P 2 2 p dE ' 0 l' -E

[3.13]

The resulting Kerr effect turns out to be fit well by a quadratic relation with respect to electric field. The change in refractive index is related to the square of the electric field as expressed by:

Dn ker r

n 3 Rker r E 2 = 2

[3.14]

As the composition of the waveguide approaches that of the operating wavelength, the quadratic dependence (due to electro-refractive effect) becomes more pronounced where the Kerr coefficient has been empirically approximately as[347]:

Rker r = 1.5 x10 -15 exp( -8.85DE )cm 2 / V 2

[3.15]

where DE is the difference between the photon energy of the guided light and the quaternary material gap energy.

87

Fig 3.8 The Kerr Coeffient as a function of wavelength and waveguide composition

The Kerr coefficient as a function of wavelength and waveguide composition wavelength are shown in fig 3.8. as extrapolated from the Adachi model [344].

3.5 CARRIER BASED EFFECTS

As the waveguide is depleted of carriers under reverse bias, the index changes due to a few effects. As shown later, the carrier based effects are significant for doped waveguides and important for high modulation efficiency.

PLASMA EFFECT
The Plasma effect is due to intraband free carrier absorption in both the valence and conduction bands. Free carrier absorption in p-type material 88

(most important) consists of mostly intraband and interband absorption of holes[2]. The free-carrier plasma reduces the index of refraction of the material. The following formula gives the change in index for free holes and free electrons as a function of doping.

Dn plasma

- ro l2 = 2pn

N P + me mh

[3.16]

where the hole effective mass is given by:

+ mlh m mh = hh 1/ 2 1/ 2 mhh + mlh

3/ 2

3/ 2

[3.17]

where ro = 2.82E-13 cm, N is the electron density, P is the hole density, me is the electron mass, mh is the hole effective mass, n is the refractive index, and l is the wavelength of light[349].

89

Figure 3.9 Refractive index change due to Plasma effect as a function of Donor concentration, and waveguide composition[349] Assuming N-doped waveguide

As can be seen from Figure 3.9, the plasma effect is significant for higher(>1e16) waveguide doping concentrations. This relationship can be approximated as[347]:

Dn plasma = 3.63x10 -21 N

[3.18]

The relationship is fairly independent of waveguide composition and wavelength. N is the doping level (n-type) and this approximation is at 1.52um.

90

BAND-FILLING EFFECT / BURSTEIN SHIFT

This effect is brought about by the removal of carriers in the depletion region and the resulting reduction of absorption of the region. This effect, also known as the Burstein-Moss effect [347], has been described as bandfilling of the conduction band in n-type semiconductors. Because of this bandfilling,

subsequent valence band electrons require greater energy to be excited into the conduction band resulting in less absorption. This effect is interdependent with carrier induced bandgap shrinkage effects. When the device is reverse biased, the index reduces as bandemptying occurs.

Assuming a parabolic band structure, the bandfilling-induced change in absorption is given by:

Da(N, P, E) = Chh E-Eg [ fv (Eah) - fc (Ebh) - 1] + Clh E-Eg [ fv (Eal ) - fc (Ebl ) - 1] - ao (E)
[3.19]

where N, and P are the carrier densities, and E the photon energy, Eg is the bandgap energy, fv fc is the Fermi-dirac probability functions for the valence and conduction bands respectively, Chh and Clh are fitting constants for the light holes and heavy holes. [337]

The change in index due to the bandfilling can be evaluated from the Kramers Kronig relations mentioned earlier however, one also needs to take into account the carrier induced bandgap shrinkage particularly in the 0.9e17 to 91

4e17 n-type doping range.

The bandfilling effect has been empirically

determined as a function of composition for 1.52mm in [347].

CARRIER INDUCED BANDGAP SHRINKAGE

Shrinkage of the waveguide bandgap occurs due to two major mechanisms. Firstly, as the PN junction in the waveguide is depleted out, there is a change in the bandgap due to the change in carriers based on the screening of electrons which lower the energy of the conduction band edge and raise the valence band. This shrinkage has been modeled analytically for InGaAsP

materials in [349]:

An *g + Bn * / 3 me DE g = * 1 + no / n e r
where A = 1.04E3, B = 2.8E-7, g is -0.19, er is the relative dielectric constant

[3.20]

Additionally, due to heating in the modulator particularly noticeable with such large photocurrent in an integrated device, the bandgap shrinks as well, as it is fairly sensitive to temperature.

92

3.6 TEMPERATURE INDUCED BANDGAP SHRINKAGE

The bandgap of the material will shrink with increases in temperature. This has been expressed with the Varshni equations for unstrained materials:

E g (T ) = E g (0 K ) where Alpha is 4.9E-4 eV/K Beta = 327K.

aT (b + T )

[3.21]

The change in bandgap energy with temperature has also been extrapolated for binary data at 300K for lattice matched quaternary material and expressed as[350]:

dE g dT

= -1x10 - 4 (3.18 - 0.41 y + 0.61y 2 )

[3.22]

The change in bandgap for the tensile strained modulator structure was measured using a micro-photoluminescence setup as a function of temperature as shown in fig 3.9.

93

=0.432meV/K

Fig 3-10 Temperature dependence of the waveguide composition emission wavelength

The slope of the waveguide composition vs temperature is shown in fig. 3-10. This is a little higher than the slope shown in the literature[351] at 1.3Q of 0.333meV/K, probably due to the strain in the material. As can be seen in fig 3-10, the material is highly temperature sensitive and linear with respect to temperature. As the modulator heats up with high optical powers, the bandgap shrinks and the effective waveguide Q can change from 1.4Q to 1.435Q from 20-70C. Heat crosstalk is an important issue in integrated devices as the laser benefits from low temperatures with higher gain and lower optical loss, and the modulator benefits from the higher efficiencies at higher temperatures.

The rise in temperature with bias can be evaluated with the following model: DT = Pd Z t [3.23]

where Pd is the power dissipated, and the thermal impedance (Zt) is given by: 94

Zt =

ln(4h / w) pLx

[3.24]

where h is the height of the substrate, w is the width of the device and L is the length. x is the thermal conductivity[350].

The thermal resistivity of InGaAsP has been given by [350] as: rT =

1 = 1.47 + 59.78 y - 39.42 y 2 x

K cm / W

[3.25]

The refractive index of InGaAsP as a function of composition, and temperature has been extended from a model given by Adachi, and fitted to experimental data and given by:
3/ 2 E g (T ) 1 1 e + + f ( z ) B ( y ) ( T 300 ) A( y ) f ( z ) + o + D 2 E ( T ) T e g o o

nr =

[3.26]

where

A(y) = 8.616 -3.886y B(y) = 6.621 + 3.461y

f ( z) = 2 - 1+ z - 1- z z2

[3.27] [3.28] [3.29]

z=

E E g (T )

[3.30]

zo =

E E g (T ) + D o

[3.31]

Although InGaAsP data is difficult to come by, for InP near 300K
e = 5.16 x10 - 4 e o 1/K T

[3.32]

95

As one can see, the temperature dependence stems from the bandgap and the high frequency dielectric constant terms.

3.7 ACCUMULATION OF EFFECTS

The accumulation of the aforementioned field effects and carrier effects are plotted for a 300mm long device with three different input powers (4.9mW, 11mW, and 15.6mW) under reverse bias.

Fig. 3.11a Change in refractive index as a function of voltage with input optical power 4.9mW T = 16C l = 1555nm

96

Fig. 3.11b Change in refractive index as a function of voltage with input optical power 11mW T = 16C, l = 1555nm

Fig. 3.11c Change in refractive index as a function of voltage with input optical power 15.6mW T = 16C l1555nm

97

The refractive index change was extracted from the absorption curves (fig. 3.6) and the output power dc extinction curves (fig. 3.3) using equation 3.2 and shown as DATA on each graph in fig. 3-11a-c. The total change is also plotted for each case accounting for all of the effects which fit very well the observed change in index.

A number of conclusions can be made from these plots.

First of all, the

dominant effect is clearly the bandfilling effect or in this case bandemptying due to the n-doped waveguide. The plasma, linear and quadratic effects all have fairly similar contributions given the doping profile that was used. The rf change in index is the total change minus the heating portion as under RF modulation, the device will not heat up much. This RF line appears to line up well with the RF Vpi data observed in the next chapter in this case ~4V.

From the change in phase due to a change in index, one can determine the modulator arm length required to achieve a pi phase shift.
2pL Df = Dn l

[3-33]

Modulator Length to achieve pi shift.

Lp =

l 2 | Dn |

[3-34]

98

For a 300mm modulator, the index change to achieve a pi shift for 1550 nm is approximately is 0.26%.

As can be seen from the previous plots, the index and absorption are strongly dependent on the optical power at DC as the modulator is heated and experiences bandgap shrinkage. Under RF modulation, this efficiency is not very power dependent. As the heating due to the photocurrent absorption changes the refractive in the same direction as the other effects, at DC this gives the appearance that the efficiency is better than it is at RF. Obviously, DC extinction is not a very good indicator of RF performance.

3.8 HIGH SPEED DESIGN

Capacitance and carrier lifetime govern the maximum bandwidth possible for a modulator. For a lumped modulator with an open termination port, the smallsignal modulation response is given by:

S 21

2 = 1 + jwRC

[3.35]

assuming that the microwave attenuation is low[5]. Typically, there are three approaches to achieving high speed operation: low impedance matching14, reducing the capacitance and distributing the modulation region15. The

14 15

See Chapter 4 Termination Section with T sections as shown in Chapter 4

99

capacitance can be decreased by either increasing the intrinsic region in the waveguide16, lowering the pad capacitance with low k dielectrics, or decreasing the waveguide area[314,320]17. An accurate account of the capacitance in the structure needs to take into account the junction capacitance [Cj], parallel plate capacitance [Cpp] of the interconnect region and the fringing capacitance[Cf] for the geometry as shown in the side-view of the modulator ridge in Fig 3-12.

Fig 3-12 Modulator end-view with different contributions of capacitance

16 17

Reducing the modulator efficiency and reducing the optical loss Potentially increasing optical loss and or drive voltage

100

Next we will look at the minimization of these capacitances separately. In both lumped and traveling wave devices, one would like to reduce the capacitance per unit length.

3.5 JUNCTION CAPACITANCE MINIMIZATION

The PN junction capacitance is minimized by using a short device with a narrow ridge. As shown in Fig. 3-13, the junction capacitance improves for wider intrinsic region widths and lower doping levels. The material exhibits less free carrier absorption with low doping particularly Zn. Structures with large intrinsic regions do not provide high electric fields so

Fig 3-13 Capacitance per unit length [pF/m] for various doping structures - 2mm ridge

101

clearly there is a tradeoff between capacitance as improved with a PIN structure and efficiency with a PN junction. Since the devices here use a lowdoped PN junction18, the bandwidth varies considerably with bias as seen in the variance in fig 3-13 of the capacitance with bias. As an illustration of this, the small-signal modulation response is shown for a 200m long lumped MZ at various biases in fig. 3-14.

Fig. 3-14 Small-Signal normalized modulation response at 1555nm for a 200um long electrode device.

18

3e17 Si as in Fig 3-9b

102

The waveguide is depleted out as the bias induced electric field increases in the waveguide changing the capacitance and bandwidth as shown in fig 314.

In this work, the ridges were tapered down to 2.5m (effectively 2.2m) in the modulator regions. This did not seem to adversely affect the insertion loss of the modulators much as was shown in Chap. 1. Below 2m wide, one would expect propagation losses to increase markedly due to light scattering.

3.6 PARASITIC CAPACITANCE MINIMIZATION

There are a number of different innovative materials that can be used for providing a low-dielectric constant dielectric layer in the modulator section as shown in table 3-1.

103

Table 3-1 Dielectric Materials

Material
Nanoporous silica Fluorinated organic polymers Fluorinated amorphous carbon Non-fluorinated organic polymers Cyclotene Benzocyclobutene (BCB) SILK (Dow) Non-fluorinated polymers Inorganic polymers Phase separated hybrids Poly-imides Fluorinated HDPCVD SiO2 Fluorinated PECVD SiO2 Thermal SiO2 Plasma deposited SiO2 Thermal silicon nitride Si3N4 Plasma silicon nitride Si-N-H

Dielectric Constant 1.3 2.8 1.8 3.0 2.1 2.3 2.5 3.5 2.65 2.65 2.7 3.5 2.7 3.5 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.5 3.9 4.2 7.9 7.0 9.0

Application techniques, vary from LPCVD, PECVD, sputtering, to deposition of low-K liquids by simple spin coating and multiple baking techniques, similar to photoresist processing. These materials are helpful for a number of reasons. First of all, the parasitic capacitance in the modulator is reduced due to the low dielectric constant which is important for high speed. Also, the dielectrics are useful for planarization over rough topographies on InP wafers particularly with n-topside contacts.

104

Although there are a number of low-k electronic material candidates for electronic device designs such as oxide-based materials that can handle temperatures as high as 600C, Cyclotene BCB was chosen for fabrication as the dielectric material has not only a low dielectric constant (2.65) but is easily cleaved and easily applied.

Fig 3-15a PhotoBCB planarized ridges

Fig. 3-15b Dry-etchable BCB

Although

dry-etchable

BCB

tends

to

have

superior

planarity

over

photodefinable varieties (see fig 3-15ab) the latter choice avoids excessive overetches of the BCB that are necessary in order to remove BCB residuals fully from the surface as shown in Fig. 3-16. The shelf life of Photo-BCB is not very long however at room temperature19, so freezing it is a necessity.

19

approximately 1 week

105

BCB scum

voids
Fig 3-16. BCB residuals after etch

The reactive ion etcher (RIE) tends to leave a BCB residue scum on the surface with the etch conditions that were used consisting of 20% CF4/ 80% O2 with either 250V (W) or 350V (W) conditions as recommended by Dow. Going to a lower CF4 percentage gives better selectivity between the BCB and Silicon oxy-nitride layers however is more susceptible to oxide scum and the etch rate decreases dramatically.

BCB

Fig 3-17 Cyclotene 4024 PhotoBCB defined in only the modulator regions.

106

Due to adhesion problems and device heat dissipation issues BCB was defined to be only under the modulator section pads. This was defined using a photolithographic stepper tool and the rest developed off using a puddle emersion developer DS-2100 avoiding a 5m BCB etch. It was found that

adhesion of the pads during wirebonding was not acceptable on the first device run due to the BCB being etched under the pads which had excessive roughness and resulted in delamination during wedgebonding. Using a

different approach only etching a via to the ridge and leaving the area under the pad unetched with a sandwiching layer of SiNyOx on top of the BCB proved superior not only as a thicker dielectric leaving lower parasitic capacitance but very good adhesion for wirebonding. See process Appendix C. Photo-BCB does not have very good definition resolution as can be seen in fig. 17-a with very sloped sidewalls, however it is sufficient for this application.

3.7 FRINGING CAPACITANCE

Using the basic geometry given in Fig. 3-12, one can calculate the parallelplate capacitance Cpp of the interconnect segment. However, in interconnect lines where the wire thickness (t) is comparable in magnitude to the groundplane distance (h), fringing electric fields significantly increase the total parasitic capacitance (fig. 3-1). It has been shown [315] that the influence of fringing fields increases with the decreasing (w/h) ratio, and that the fringing-field 107

capacitance can be as much as 10-20 times larger than the parallel-plate capacitance. It was mentioned earlier that the sub-micron fabrication technologies allow the width of the metal lines to be decreased somewhat, yet the thickness of the line must be preserved in order to ensure structural integrity. This situation, which involves narrow metal lines with a considerable vertical thickness, is especially vulnerable to fringing field effects.

A set of simple formulas [315] can be used to estimate the capacitance of the interconnect structures in which fringing fields complicate the parasitic capacitance calculation. The following two cases are considered for two different ranges of line width (w). w - t p 2 2 + C = e 2h 2h 2 h h + + 2 ln 1 + t t t

for w

t 2

[3.36]

0.0543t p (1 w h 2 C =e + + 1.47 h ln 1 + 2h + 2h 2h + 2 t t t

for w <

t 2

[3.37]

108

where t, h and w are the dimensions as shown in Fig 3-12. These formulas permit the accurate approximation of the parasitic capacitance values to within 10% error, even for very small values of (t/h).

The other contribution of capacitance is attributed to the parasitic capacitance of the contact pad. approximately 0.2pF. This contribution was measured in Fig 4-3b to be Figure 3-18 shows the parasitic capacitance as a

function of dielectric thickness for different dielectrics and modulator lengths.

2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 BCB 100um device BCB 200um device BCB 300um device SiNx 100um device SiNx 200um device SiNx 300um device

Fig. 3-18. Pad Capacitance for different dielectrics and pad sizes w/fringing fields

3.8 MULTI-MODE INTERFERENCE DESIGN

Another very important element to the Mach-Zehnder design is that of the MMI splitters and combiners[326-331]. General MMI theory states that the 109

Parasitic Pad Capacitance (pF)

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

Dielectric Thickness (m)

shortest 1x2 splitter requires a length of 3/8Lpi where the beat length of the two lowest order modes is given by[328]:

Lp =

4 n eff w eff 3l o

[3-38]

where neff is the effective index of the mode, l is the wavelength, and weff is the equivalent width of the MMI

Fig. 3-19a Electric Field profile for the optimized MMI design showing imaging into the two MZ branches (Waveguide 1.4Q @ 1550nm) Fig. 3-19b MMI with curved waveguides (Height = 9um Length = 85um, taper = 20um)

Using Beamprop, an MMI design was optimized with a center wavelength of 1550nm as shown in fig 3-19ab. MMIs have broad optical bandwidth20[328] much wider than the tuning range of the SGDBRs here (38nm). The length of the MMI becomes very long for wide widths due to the quadratic dependence so it is imperative to minimize the width as much as possible. A 9 m wide MMI was chosen to that the gap between the waveguides could be resolved with the stepper as shown in Fig. 3-20. Note also the high angle sidewall in
20

close to 100nm for 1dB bandwidth

110

this gap due to the crystal orientation during the ridge wet etch. This sidewall is not likely to adversely affect reflections in the device in fact it gives a more gradual index discontinuity.

Fig 3-20 Gap between waveguides approximately 1m

Curved waveguides were used to extend the separation distance to 16m as shown in Fig 3-21 to minimize the propagation distance. The ridge was defined using a dry etch/wet etch process where approximately 1m of material is RIE etched with Methane/Hydrogen/Oxygen with a subsequent 3:1 H3PO4:HCl wetetch to remove the rest of the InP on top of the waveguide. As the radius of curvature is low, the sidewall roughness appears to be low as shown in fig. 316.

111

Fig. 3-21 Sidewall roughness on curved waveguides and MMI taper

3.9 PHASE SHIFTER

A phase shifter electrode was integrated in one branch of the MZ in order to facilitate changing the phase for different wavelengths. It is best to design the waveguide structure to achieve a pi-phase shift without bias. Pi-shifted modulators have been fabricated with one length a multiple of 0.241m21 longer than the other. The devices in this dissertation utilize a pi-shifted

configuration however this is accomplished using one ridge slightly wider (0.2m) in the curved waveguide regions than the other to achieve the pi shift22[300]. Unlike the RF sections, the phase section can be forward biased, which gives close to 5x the index shift as reverse bias as illustrated in fig. 322.

21 22

for 1550nm This is easier due to fabrication tolerances

112

Fig. 3-22 Fiber-coupled power for device #1 as a function of bias on phase section in both forward and reverse bias

As this device needs to operate over the full C-Band in which the pi-shift will change with wavelength, designs allowed for the use of a forward biased electrode to achieve the pi-phase shift. This requires fairly good control over waveguide widths/thicknesses/compositions in order to achieve from run-torun. By biasing this electrode however, it induces a significant amount of loss in that waveguide as shown in fig. 3-17. Ideally the device is forward biased slightly as very little current is required ~2mA to achieve the desired phase.

113

Fig. 3-23 Normalized Optical Loss vs. wavelength and bias for 100m long phase electrode

The loss was measured with Device #123 where the laser sections are forward biased, and the SOA is reverse biased to measure the optical power that makes it through the phase section as a function of bias on the phase electrode.

3.10 1 S T G ENERATION D ESIGN

The initial design involved the integration of a SGDBR with a passive MachZehnder modulator as demonstrated in fig 3-24.

23

see Generation 2 designs 3.10

114

Fig 3-24 Integrated SGDBR- Mach Zehnder modulator

One branch of the MZ modulator was meant for DC biasing to change the phase for each wavelength, and the second for RF modulation (Pad #2). Devices were fabricated with parameters as shown in Table 3-2. These modulators uses two identical 3dB MMI splitters/combiners that are 98m long as described in section 3.8. Table 3-2 Mach Zehnder Lengths Waveguide offset Width1 Width2 Curve length Curve width Trench MMI length MMI width 1st Generation Devices 550,750,950 40um 2um 2.1 to 2.2 to achieve pi shift 185 20um 15um 98um 9um 115

Although these devices were fairly long and suffered from high capacitance due to the problem outlined in fig. 2-7b, the DC extinction and chirp24 characteristics looked promising as shown in fig. 3-25.
-5 Output Power (dBm) -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35 -5 -4 -3
+0.8Vbias +0.6V +0.3V 0V Bias -1V Bias -2V Bias -3V

-2

-1

Arm #1 DC Bias Voltage

Fig 3-25

550m long electrode at = 1535nm

3.10 2 N D GENERATION DESIGNS

A number of different improvements were made to the 2nd generation devices to improve performance. First, SOAs were integrated before the MZ and inside the MZ modulator to mitigate the 4-5dB insertion losses. Additionally, the gap between the two waveguides was reduced from 37um to 16um which allowed for shorter curved waveguide sections. A 2x2 MMI was placed at the output to

24

As will be shown in Chap 5

116

guide away off-state light in a controllable way as shown in fig. 3-20. The output was curved and flared as well as a front passive detector electrode placed on the output waveguide to reduce reflections. Also, two RF electrodes were placed on each device so that push-pull modulation could be possible. In addition, considerably shorter electrodes were employed to improve the high speed performance.

Laser Input Output

1x2 splitter

2x2 combiner

Fig. 3-26 Ridge waveguide structure illustrating the 1x2 and 2x2 MMIs with curved waveguides and output flares

The first three devices have Dual SOAs as mentioned in Chapter 1. Device 7 and 8 have electrodes at the rear of the modulator for rear resistive termination as will be elaborated in chapter 4 and 5.

117

The first 8 designs use lumped electrodes and are shown for reference:

Table 3-3 Lumped electrode MZ devices Total device length = 3200m SOA Config MZ Electrode Length SOA Length #

Dual

300

350

Dual

250

350

Dual

200

350

Single

300

400

Single

250

400

Single

200

400

Single

300

400

Single

200

400

118

REFERENCES
[300] Yu J, Rolland C, Yevick D, Somani A, Bradshaw S. Phase-engineered III-V MQW Mach-Zehnder modulators. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.8, Aug. 1996, pp.1018-20. [301] Lawetz C, Cartledge JC, Rolland C, Yu J. Modulation characteristics of semiconductor Mach-Zehnder optical modulators. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.15, no.4, April 1997, pp.697-703. [302] Bardyszewski W, Yevick D, Yong Liu, Rolland C, Bradshaw S. Theoretical and experimental analysis of Mach-Zehnder quantum-well modulators. Journal of Applied Physics, vol.80, no.2, 15 July 1996, pp.1136-41. [303] Fetterman M, Chao C-P, Forrest SR. Fabrication and analysis of highcontrast InGaAsP-InP Mach-Zehnder modulators for use at 1.55- mu m wavelength. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.1, Jan. 1996, pp.69-71. [304] Cites JS, Ashley PR. High-performance Mach-Zehnder modulators in multiple quantum well GaAs/AlGaAs. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.12, no.7, July 1994, pp.1167-73. [305] T. Hausken, High Performance Double Heterostructure and Quantum Well Waveguide Phase Modulators in GaAs/AlGaAs, P.h.D Dissertation 1990. [306] Xun Li, Huang W-P, Adams DM, Rolland C, Makino T. Modeling and design of a DFB laser integrated with a Mach-Zehnder modulator. [Journal Paper] IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.34, no.10, Oct. 1998, pp.1807-15. [307] Adams DM, Rolland C, Puetz N, Moore RS, Shepherd FR, Kim HB, Bradshaw S. Mach-Zehnder modulator integrated with a gain-coupled DFB laser for 10 Gbit/s, 100 km NDSF transmission at 1.55 um. Electronics Letters, vol.32, no.5, 29 Feb. 1996, pp.485-6. [308] Adams DM, Rolland C, Fekecs A, McGhan D, Somani A, Bradshaw S, Poirier M, Dupont E, Cremer E, Anderson K. 1.55 um transmission at 2.5 119

Gbit/s over 1102 km of NDSF using discrete and monolithically integrated InGaAsP-InP Mach-Zehnder modulator and DFB laser. Electronics Letters, vol.34, no.8, 16 April 1998, pp.771-3. [309] Barton JS, Skogen EJ, Masanovic ML, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA., Tailorable chirp using integrated Mach-Zehnder modulators with tunable sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector lasers. 2002 IEEE 18th International Semiconductor Laser Conference. Conference Digest (Cat. No.02CH37390). IEEE. 2002, pp.49-50. [310] Chin MK. Optical confinement factor in waveguide electroabsorption modulators: design and measurement. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.6, no.8, Aug. 1994, pp.945-8. [311] Chin MK. Effect of electroabsorption on electrorefractive intensity modulators. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.4, no.6, June 1992, pp.583-5. [312] J. D. Dow and D. Redfield, Towards a unified theory of Urbachs rule and exponential absorption edge, Phys. Rev. B 5, 594-610 (1972) [313] Mason B, Fish GA, DenBaars SP, Coldren LA. Widely tunable sampled grating DBR laser with integrated electroabsorption modulator. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.11, no.6, June 1999, pp.638-40. [314] Satzke K, Baums D, Cebulla U, Haisch H, Kaiser D, Lach E, Kuhn E, Weber J, Weinmann R, Wiedemann P, Zielinski E. Ultrahigh-bandwidth (42 GHz) polarisation-independent ridge waveguide electroabsorption modulator based on tensile strained InGaAsP MQW. Electronics Letters, vol.31, no.23, 9 Nov. 1995, pp.2030-2.. [315] Yuan CP, Trick TN. A simple formula for the estimation of the capacitance of two-dimensional interconnects in VLSI circuits. IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol.EDL-3, no.12, Dec. 1982, pp.391-3. [316] V. Swaminathan, A. T. Macrander, Materials Aspects of GaAs and InP Based Structures Prentice Hall Advanced Reference Series, 1991. pg 355. [317] Penninckx D, Delansay Ph. Comparison of the propagation performance over standard dispersive fiber between InP-based pi -phase-shifted and symmetrical Mach-Zehnder modulators. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.9, no.9, Sept. 1997, pp.1250-2. 120

[318] Hishimura Nishimura S, Inoue H, Sano H, Ishida K. Electrooptic effects in an InGaAs/InAlAs multiquantum well structure. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.4, no.10, Oct. 1992, pp.1123-6. [319] Mak G, Rolland C, Fox KE, Blaauw C. High-speed bulk InGaAsP-InP electroabsorption modulators with bandwidth in excess of 20 GHz. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.2, no.10, Oct. 1990, pp.730-3. [320] Ido T, Tanaka S, Suzuki M, Koizumi M, Sano H, Inoue H. Ultra-highspeed multiple-quantum-well electro-absorption optical modulators with integrated waveguides. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.14, no.9, Sept. 1996, pp.2026-34. [321] Delansay P, Penninckx D, Boucherez E, Fortin C, Le Gouezigou O. InP/GaInAsP phase-shifted Mach-Zehnder modulator for wavelengthindependent (1530-1560 nm) performance in 10 Gbit/s transmission over dispersive fiber.Conference on Optical Fiber Communications. Technical Digest. Postconference Edition. 1997 OSA Technical Digest Series. Vol.6 (IEEE Cat. No.97CH36049). Opt. Soc. America. 1997, pp.11-12. [322] Rolland C. InGaAsP-based Mach-Zehnder modulators for high-speed transmission systems. OFC '98. Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibit. Technical Digest. Conference Edition. 1998 OSA Technical Digest Series Vol.2 (IEEE Cat. No.98CH36177). Opt. Soc. America. 1998, pp.283-4. [323] Soda H, Furutsu M, Sato K, Okazaki N, Yamazaki S, Nishimoto H, Ishikawa H. High-power and high-speed semi-insulating BH structure monolithic electroabsorption modulator/DFB laser light source. Electronics Letters, vol.26, no.1, 4 Jan. 1990, pp.9-10. [324] Jackel JL, Perlmutter P, Johnson J. High-speed low-voltage modulation with a nonsymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.7, no.6, June 1989, pp.937-40. [325] Rolland C, Mak G, Prosyk KL, Maritan CM, Puetz N. High speed and low loss, bulk electroabsorption waveguide modulators at 1.3 mu m. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.3, no.10, Oct. 1991, pp.894-6. [326] Pennings ECM, van Roijen R, van Stralen MJN, de Waard PJ, Koumans RGMP, Verbeck BH. Reflection properties of multimode interference devices. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.6, no.6, June 1994, pp.715-18. 121

[327] Soldano LB, Pennings ECM. Optical multi-mode interference devices based on self-imaging: principles and applications. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.13, no.4, April 1995, pp.615-27. [328] Besse PA, Bachmann M, Melchior H, Soldano LB, Smit MK. Optical bandwidth and fabrication tolerances of multimode interference couplers. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.12, no.6, June 1994, pp.1004-9. [329] Erasme D, Spiekman LH, Herben CGP, Smit MK, Groen FH. Experimental assessment of the reflection of passive multimode interference couplers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.9, no.12, Dec. 1997, pp.1604-6. [330] Leuthold J, Joyner CW. Multimode interference couplers with tunable power splitting ratios. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.19, no.5, May 2001, pp.700-7.

[331] Rolland C, Adams DM, Yevick D, Hermansson B. Optimization of strongly guiding semiconductor rib waveguide Y-junctions. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.2, no.6, June 1990, pp.404-6. [332] Cartledge JC, Rolland C, Lemerle S, Solheim A. Theoretical performance of 10 Gb/s lightwave systems using a III-V semiconductor Mach-Zehnder modulator. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.6, no.2, Feb. 1994, pp.282-4. [333] Janz CF, Keyworth BP, Allegretto W, Macdonald RI, Fallahi M, Hillier G, Rolland C. Mach-Zehnder switch using an ultra-compact directional coupler in a strongly-confining rib structure. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.6, no.8, Aug. 1994, pp.981-3. [334] Rolland C, Moore RS, Shepherd F, Hillier G. 10 Gbit/s, 1.56 mu m multiquantum well InP/InGaAsP Mach-Zehnder optical modulator. Electronics Letters, vol.29, no.5, 4 March 1993, pp.471-2. [335] Rolland C, Adams DM, Yevick D, Hermansson B. Optimization of strongly guiding semiconductor rib waveguide Y-junctions. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.2, no.6, June 1990, pp.404-6.. [336] Rolland C, Mak G, Fox KE, Adams DM, Springthorpe AJ, Yevick D, Hermansson B. Analysis of strongly guiding rib waveguide S-bends: theory and experiment. Electronics Letters, vol.25, no.18, 31 Aug. 1989, pp.1256-7. 122

[337] Bennett BR, Soref RA, Del Alamo JA. Carrier-induced change in refractive index of InP, GaAs and InGaAsP. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.26, no.1, Jan. 1990, pp.113-22. [338] Zucker JE, Jones KL, Newkirk MA, Gnall RP, Miller BI, Young MG, Koren U, Burrus CA, Tell B. Quantum well interferometric modulator monolithically integrated with 1.55 um tunable distributed Bragg reflector laser. Electronics Letters, vol.28, no.20, 24 Sept. 1992, pp.1888-9. [339] ] Djurisic AB, Rakic AD, Kwok PCK, Li EH, Majewski ML. Modeling the optical constants of GaP, InP, and InAs. Journal of Applied Physics, vol.85, no.7, 1 April 1999, pp.3638-42. [340] Cahill LW, Payne FP. Optical switches based on the generalized MachZehnder interferometer. 2000 Digest of the LEOS Summer Topical Meetings. Electronic-Enhanced Optics. Optical Sensing in Semiconductor Manufacturing. Electro-Optics in Space. Broadband Optical Networks (Cat. No.00TH8497). IEEE. 2000, pp.IV57-8. . [341] Brindel P, Leclerc O, Duchet C, Goix M, Grard E, Maunand E, Desurvire E. 20 Gbit/s optically regenerated transmission over 40 mm based on polarisation-independent, push-pull InP Mach-Zehnder modulator. [Conference Paper] 24th European Conference on Optical Communication. ECOC '98 (IEEE Cat. No.98TH8398). Telefonica. Part vol.1, 1998, pp.685-6 vol.1. [342] O. Leclerc, P. Brindel, D. Rouvillain, E. Pincermin, B. Dany, E. Desurvire, C. Duchet, E. Boucheriz, S. Bourchoule, 40Gbit/s polarizationindependent, push-pull InP Mach-Zehnder modulator for all-optical regeneration PD35-1 [343] O. Leclerc, C. Duchet, P. Brindel, M. Goix, E. Grard, E. Maunand, E. Desurvire, Polarization-independent InP push-pull Mach-Zehnder modulator for 20Gbit/s soliton regeneration, Electronic Lett. Vol. 34, No. 10, May 14, 1998. [344] Bach HG, Krauser J, Nolting HP, Logan RA, Reinhart FK. Electro-optical light modulation in InGaAsP/InP double heterostructure diodes. Applied Physics Letters, vol.42, no.8, 15 April 1983, pp.692-4. USA. [345] Adachi S, Oe K. Linear electro-optic effects in zincblende-type semiconductors: key properties of InGaAsP relevant to device design. Journal of Applied Physics, vol.56, no.1, 1 July 1984, pp.74-80. 123

[346] Alping A, Coldren LA. Electrorefraction in GaAs and InGaAsP and its application to phase modulators. Journal of Applied Physics, vol.61, no.7, 1 April 1987, pp.2430-3.. [347] Vinchant J-F, Cavailles JA, Erman M, Jarry P, Renaud M. InP/GaInAsP guided-wave phase modulators based on carrier-induced effects: theory and experiment. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.10, no.1, Jan. 1992, pp.63-70. [348] Fiedler F, Schlachetzki A. Optical parameters of InP-based waveguides. Solid-State Electronics, vol.30, no.1, Jan. 1987, pp.73-83. [349] Botteldooren D, Baets R. Influence of band-gap shrinkage on the carrierinduced refractive index change in InGaAsP. Applied Physics Letters, vol.54, no.20, 15 May 1989, pp.1989-91. [350] Van Eck TE, Walpita LM, Chang WSC, Wieder HH. Franz-Keldysh electrorefraction and electroabsorption in bulk InP and GaAs. Applied Physics Letters, vol.48, no.7, 17 Feb. 1986, pp.451-3. USA. [351] Temkin H, Keramidas VG, Pollack MA, Wagner WR. Temperature dependence of photoluminescence of n-InGaAsP. Journal of Applied Physics, vol.52, no.3, pt.1, March 1981, pp.1574-8. [352] Adachi S. Refractive indices of III-V compounds: key properties of InGaAsP relevant to device design. Journal of Applied Physics, vol.53, no.8, Aug. 1982, pp.5863-9. [353] Kingston R.H., Electroabsorption in GaInAsP, Appl. Phys. Lett. 34(11), 1 June 1979. [354] Dutta NK, Olsson NA. Electroabsorption in InGaAsP-InP double heterostructures. Electronics Letters, vol.20, no.15, 19 July 1984, pp.6345. UK.

124

Chapter 4
Series Push-Pull Modulator Designs
As first demonstrated by Walker[7,455] and later Spickermann[456] in the GaAs/AlGaAs material system, if a RF signal is applied across the two MZ electrodes thereby connecting the diodes in series one achieves superior performance in terms of optical bandwidth and zero-chirp performance with a single RF input. This chapter will first look at the design concept and results from lumped device designs with input side termination. Next, end-terminated CPS transmission line electrode designs that aim to match the characteristic impedance are explored with respect to transmission line design and device characteristics. MZ#1 p-contact SiNxOy MZ#2 p-contact

n-contact

BCB

MZ #1

Vdc1

InGaAs contact layer

RF SIGNAL MZ #2 Vdc2

SI InP substrate
Figure 4-1 Series push-pull bias configuration

125

4.1 LUMPED SERIES PUSH-PULL BANDWIDTH

The series push-pull biasing scheme and cross-section of the modulator are shown in fig. 4-1. The use of a SI substrate lowers the parasitic capacitance under the electrode pads and enables series push-pull (SPP) operation. Ideally, there would be full isolation between the n-contact region in the modulator and that of the rest of the chip. In the devices presented here, the nInP region was etched down to the SI-substrate close to the ridge and the pInP region was proton implanted. This leaves a narrow region below the

shallow ridge that is not effectively isolated. The resistance between the ncontact to the modulator and that of the rest of the transmitter typically measured approximately 150 ohms.

Lumped series push-pull devices were fabricated and tested using special 75mm pitch CPS picoprobes with integrated 50 ohm parallel resistors. In this case, the 50 ohm termination is on the front end of the device. transmission line based devices use a rear termination. Later

The 3dB optical

bandwidth of three different devices with 200mm, 250mm and 300mm electrode lengths are shown in fig. 4-2 and compared to the one-sided modulation. The probe configuration is shown in fig. 4-3 for the single side and SPP configurations.

126

GND SIGNAL GND SIGNAL

Fig. 4-2 Biasing for single side and series push pull

Note that using the series push-pull electrode structure almost doubles the optical bandwidth the loss due to parasitics to ground on one branch of the MZ which equates to approximately the capacitance from the n-contact to the backside of the substrate (100mm thick). The substrate is metalized on the backside to facilitate soldering to a carrier for good heat conduction. Alternatively the device could be either flip-chipped without backside metalization or epoxied to the carrier thereby removing the metallization and reducing the parasitic capacitance at the expense of reduced thermal conductivity. Clearly a smaller n-contact region would be beneficial.

One can see in fig 4-3b the capacitance per unit length (1225pF/m and 690pF/m for single side and SPP respectively) as the slope and pad capacitance as the y-intercept for both single side and SPP modulation.

127

f 3dB =

1 pRC

Fig. 4-3a Comparison of single side and series push-pull 3dB optical small signal bandwidth Fig 4-3b Capacitance vs electrode length for single side and SPP configuration DC -3V Bias

Due to the photocurrent generated in the devices the impedance is reduced considerably. This means that with a 50ohm parallel resistor, the single side configuration has approximately 45.5 ohms and the SPP configuration yields 47.6 ohms. The effect of added bandwidth is also evident in the back-to-back eye diagrams for the comparison of single side to SPP modulation as shown for a 250mm long electrode device at 10 Gbit/s with a 27-1 PRBS in fig. 4-4.

250mm single side lumped

250mm SPP

Fig. 4-4 Back to back Eyes comparing single side and series push-pull operation with 10dB 7 extinction. Both at using -2V DC bias with 1.5V Vpp. OC-192 with 2 -1 PRBS

128

4.2 DUAL RF SERIES PUSH-PULL DEVICES

As mentioned before, the Dual RF series push-pull devices take advantage of the improved bandwidth of the SPP electrode structure and reduced voltage by having two of them. Figure 4-5 shows the device layout and the parasitic

conduction path between the two n-contact regions. Ideally this path would be cut or reduced by He implanting in between the sets of electrodes. In the current layer structure this would be difficult as the n-InP and n-InGaAs layers are approximately 2.3m thick as well as the ridge on top (2m) which is difficult to achieve without very high implant energies. To do this a quaternary contact would need to be placed much closer to the waveguide ~0.5m.

DATA

GND

N-contact GND DATA

N-contact

Fig 4-5 Dual RF Series push-pull 4 electrode structure

Due to the finite conductivity of the n-layer, the conduction path prefers the closest GND and even without He implantation, the device operates well at 10Gbit/s.

129

Fig 4-6 device layout for Dual RF SPP electrode devices

As can be seen in fig. 4-7, the swing improves considerably with Dual RF sources. The bandwidth is compromised a bit due to the lack of isolation between the two n-contacts however not excessively as illustrated in the back-to-back eyes for single SPP and Dual SPP as shown in fig. 4-7.

Both SPP Risetime: 72ps Falltime: 56ps One SPP Risetime: 65ps Falltime: 52ps

Fig. 4-7 Optical signal levels for single and dual SPP operation and back-to-back eye 7 diagrams for each with Vpp = 2V with 10Gbit/s PRBS 2 -1 signal

130

4.3 TRAVELING WAVE MODULATORS

Numerous groups have demonstrated discrete high-speed modulators and DFB integrated devices utilizing traveling-wave electrode structures [4,7]. Although lumped electrodes can provide fairly good performance with respect to bandwidth, careful design of the transmission line will provide superior return loss (S11) if the loaded transmission line is designed to match the driver [25 or 50 ohms] and/or superior bandwidth if the microwave index is matched. An

assortment of different transmission line structures have been pursued for traveling wave electrodes. Microstrip, Coplanar waveguide (CPW), and Coplanar strip (CPS) transmission lines are most often employed. Microstrip, although simple is sometimes regarded as disadvantageous due to inaccessible ground planes, difficulties in shunt connections between the strip and ground, limitations on the substrate thickness and exhibit more radiation with thick substrates. In the case of CPW lines the impedance is mostly defined by the lateral dimensions and the substrate thickness is not as important. CPW localizes the electric field reducing spurious coupling,

radiation and dispersion[402].

Unfortunately, both the even and odd modes can exist in CPW which this odd mode can be suppressed with air bridges.[408] Additionally, parallel plate modes are supported (microstrip modes) between the CPW and the ground plane on the bottom which is a cause of energy leakage from the CPW 131

[408]. As a general rule the thickness of the substrate must be > 2(2G + W) in order to suppress the microstrip modes. In order to match the characteristic impedance of the source, the on-chip loaded transmission lines require fairly large unloaded characteristic impedances. Although CPW can easily be made to match 50ohms, capacitively loaded lines require much larger unloaded characteristic impedances to yield 50 ohms loaded and these high values cannot be realized in CPW easily with the current doping restraints of the integration platform. CPW designed for index matching yields poor However, Coplanar Stripline (CPS)

characteristic impedance matching.

which has a range of possible Zo values twice that of CPW works well for the matching region. CPS was chosen for this reason, and the compactness of the transmission lines suitable for further integration such as in a photocurrentdriven wavelength converter.

However, it is more difficult to make a 50 ohm unloaded section (for the feedthroughs) without very narrow gaps and wide pads leading to higher microwave attenuation. The feedthroughs were designed at a linear taper as this was found to be the best approach in [462]. Also, the phase difference between the two lines will affect the matching ability at higher frequencies. Ideally the lines should be excited with equal length feedthrough lines. The design was chosen to have an input line at 30 degrees to allow probing away

132

from the optical waveguide but minimize the phase difference between the two electrodes.

4.4 TRAVELING WAVE MATCHING

The design of Traveling-Wave (TW) modulators is based on the matching of the optical and electrical wave velocities. As has been pointed out[454], it is the group index that should be matched not the phase velocity. In the case

of LiNbO3 modulators, the electrical wave (neff 4.225) propagates slower than the optical wave(neff 2.138)[303,421,424]. To perform matching, one can use a buffer layer, phase reversal, or a shielding plane to decrease the microwave effective index of the line[422,423]. Alternatively, one can increase the

electrode thickness, decreasing the effective index further [421]. GaAs and InP, modulators can have electrical waves that propagate faster than the optical wave. In order to match the index, often either capacitive coupling or inductive coupling approaches are employed. According to work done by

Spickermann et al.[461], the inductively coupled slow wave structures have higher attenuation loss for a given gap width and are harder to model than capacitively-coupled devices. LiNbO3 devices do not have a PN structure and do not load the line substantially similarly to devices such as demonstrated by Spickermann that rely on the electric field between the electrodes to change the index which usually is far less efficient than the use of a PN structure. The devices in this dissertation use PN junctions to increase the electric field 133

overlap with the optical mode which leads to a very large capacitance per unit length resulting in a similar situation as the LiNbO3 where the microwave index is much higher than the optical index.

For a capacitively loaded transmission line, the optimum loading capacitance is given by Walker:

C loading =

nopto - ncpw cZ o nopto

[4.1]

where c is the speed of light, nopto is the optical group index, ncpw is the electrical index and Zo is the characteristic impedance

However, in order to fabricate high performance SGDBRs, the doping required typically results in capacitance per unit lengths in the range of 2000pF/m to 2500pF/m for a 3mm wide ridge. The junction capacitance/length of the device due to the PN or PIN region is considerably larger (x10) than the capacitance/length of the coplanar line. The result of this is the line is highly capacitively coupled which both slows the electrical wave and reduces the characteristic impedance considerably.

First, the optical group index of the modulator section needs to be assessed. The effective index and group index are shown in fig. 4.8 for various waveguide compositions.

134

Fig. 4-8 Effective Index and Group index for different waveguide compositions. Assuming a structure where the waveguide has been etched off halfway.

One can see that not only is the group index significantly higher for waveguide compositions at approx. 1.45 but the dispersion increases as the operating wavelength approaches that of the band-edge. One will obtain a superior

velocity match at the lower wavelengths and higher waveguide Q as loaded transmission lines tend to slow the electrical wave excessively. Matching over

a wide wavelength range becomes more difficult as the waveguide composition Q increases.

Effective Index Group Index

3.35 3.3 3.25 3.2 1520 4.4 4.2 4 3.8 3.6 3.4
1520 1530 1540 1530 1540 1550 1560 1570

1.3Q 1.35Q 1.4Q 1.45Q

1580
1.3Q 1.35Q 1.4Q 1.45Q

Wavelength (nm)

1550

1560

1570

1580

Wavelength (nm)

135

Next we should consider the group index of the microwave signal.

The

electrical signal does not have as much dispersion as the optical signal and is often approximated as just the phase velocity. The dispersion has been curve fitted from spectral domain data and is given by [415].

neff ( f ) = e eff ( f ) = e q +

e r1 - e q (1 + aF -b )
[4.2]

f TE =
where:

c 4h1 e r1 - 1

[4.3]

f = frequency; F = f/fTE

the cutoff frequency for the lowest-order TE mode

a = 10

S ( u log W

+v )

[4.4]

u0.54 0.64q + 0.015q2 v0.43 0.86q + 0.54q2 q = log(S/h1) h1 thickness of substrate b = 1.8 eq = effective permittivity at the quasi-static limit.

136

4.5 TRANSMISSION LINE MODEL

The CPS transmission line in these series push-pull devices can be modeled as a distributed circuit model along the device as shown in fig. 4-9. Often, the characteristic impedance of a transmission line is approximated for low microwave loss in equation 4.5.

Zo =

Lcps Z lossless Y Ccps

[4.5]

nm = c ZY lossless c LcpsCcps

[4.6]

However, the devices here experience microwave losses due to a number of sources as outlined in section 4.7 and the transmission line model fits the data best if the capacitive and inductive loading are accounted for in the model. The transmission lines in the device are loaded by the depletion capacitance from each ridge CPN1 and CPN2 in the ridge as is shown in fig. 4-9 as well as a small amount of inductance due to the T structures. The capacitance shown in fig. 49 is composed of the PN junction capacitance (significant), the CPS metallization capacitance and the parasitic capacitance.

137

Ccps

CPN

CPN

Fig. 4-9 Device cross-section equivalent circuit for smooth CPS

This can be expressed as a distributed circuit model as shown in fig. 4-10.

R Lcps LT
GPN CPN

Gn
GPN2 CPN2

Ccps

CPara LT

Transmission line

Equivalent circuit for T-electrode CPS line

Fig. 4-10 Transmission line distributed equivalent circuit. Gn is conductance in n-cladding region, Cpara is parasitic capacitance to ground, LT is the T-inductance, GPN is the conductance due to the photocurrent in the ridge Cpn is the depletion capacitance

138

The equivalent circuit model for the smooth CPS line devices is the same as given in fig 4-10 except without the inductance contribution of the Ts (LT = 0). Given the equivalent circuit model in fig. 4-10, the characteristic impedance of the smooth CPS transmission line can be expressed as:

Z = R + jwLcps

[4.7]

Ysmooth = jwCcps +

Gn G 1+ n jw 1 1 + C PN 1 C PN 2 + C p
[4.8]

Z osmooth =

Z Ysmooth

jwCcps

( R + jwLcps ) Gn + G 1 1 + 1+ n jw C PN 1 C PN 2 + C p

[4.9]

The T structures have some additional inductance as shown in the equivalent circuit in fig. 4.10

YT = jwCcpsT +

1 1 1 1 + 2 jwLT + + Gn GPN + jwC PN 1 GPN + jw (C PN 2 + C p )

( R + jwLcpsT ) 1 + 1 1 1 + 2 jwLT + + Gn G PN + jwC PN 1 G PN + jw (C PN 2 + C p )

[4.10]

Z oT =

Z = YT

[4.11]

jwCcpsT

139

4.6 CHARACTERISTIC IMPEDANCE COMPARISON

The CPS lines used in this dissertation were modeled using ADS software. As the lines are considerably capacitively loaded, this means we need to design a transmission line that has a much larger impedance unloaded in order to obtain 50ohms loaded. Figure 4.11 shows the unloaded characteristic

impedance for two CPS structures, one with 50 mm Ts and one with a smooth CPS line 16mm apart with 8mm wide strips.

4.11 Unloaded Characteristic Impedance for smooth CPS and 50mm T structures from devices as shown in table 4.2. 1.5mm thick Au

As can be seen in fig. 4-12a, narrow lines increase the characteristic impedance by increasing the inductance at the expense of microwave loss. 140

A much higher characteristic impedance is possible with the Ts as shown in fig 4-12b for a given electrode width. The width of the T electrodes was chosen at 8m as a compromise with microwave loss shown in fig 4-12b as design G.
50 Characteristic Impedance 45 40 35 30 25 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Frequency (GHz)

Loaded Characteristic Impedance

16um spacing 1000pF/m loading

2 4 6 8 10 12 15

52 50 48 46 44 42 40 38 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Frequency (GHz)
Design G 5um DesignG 8um DesignG 15um

Fig 4-12a Characteristic Impedance for different CPS line widths given a 16um spacing Fig 4-12b Characteristic impedance for T-section electrodes vs electrode width

From S parameters and the resulting [ABCD] matrix, the characteristic impedance was extracted for different biases for device #9. After testing the characteristic impedance of the different devices it was clear that they dont fit the characteristics shown at low frequencies in fig 4-12b. After analyzing the expected conductance in the structure, it was obvious that the n-epilayer conductance for this structure is considerably higher than that of previous structures done on lower doped or dielectric substrates.

141

Based on Hall measurements: The conductivity of the n-layer between the ridges is given by
s InP ( n ) = qm n n = (1.6E-19 C)(1800cm2/Vs)(1E18 1/cm3) = 288 S/cm (0.032S/cm

in Spickermann) where the Conductance is Area ) = 1.469 S (compare with 0.01S in Spickermann) GInP (n) = 2s InP ( Length Where the Length is 16m; Area = (2.3m*314m) for Device #9 Data was taken comparing the characteristic impedance of T structures, smooth CPS lines and lumped rear terminated electrode devices. The fit from the model shown in equations 4.9 and 4.11 are also shown assuming for the Ts the capacitance per unit length of the transmission line is CT = 2.737e-11F/m, Inductance per unit length is LT = 1.736e-6 H/m and for the smooth CPS Cs = 4.602e-11F/m and Ls = 7.3068e-7H/m with Rpn = 500ohms, R = 0.2 ohms, Cpn = 0.5pF, Cpara = 0.5pF, LT = 5e-12.

142

Fig 4.13 Lower 4 lines extracted from Device #7 (single side 300mm long electrode) Middle 4 lines extracted from Device #18 (Smooth CPS 500mm long electrode) Top 4 lines extracted from Device #7 (CPS Ts 250mm long electrode)

As can be seen in fig 4-13, the characteristic impedance improves for higher reverse biases on the electrodes where the depletion region is increased and the capacitance/unit length decreases. Also, clearly one can see a large

benefit of using a T electrode over the smooth CPS lines in terms of better characteristic impedance matching as it is much closer to 50 ohms.

143

4.7 RF LOSS MECHANISMS

High frequency losses stem from three different mechanisms: 1. Dielectric losses 2. Ohmic/conductor losses 3. Radiation loss

These losses can be minimized using a number of approaches such as the use of deep trenches between electrodes or thick dielectric layers below the electrodes separating them from the substrate. By careful design of the electrodes, minimization of longitudinal substrate currents may also reduce the overall microwave attenuation[435]. Most work is done on Semi-insulating InP and GaAs where the bulk of the electrical attenuation comes from the conductor and radiation losses at least below 20GHz [450]. However, typical SGDBR design is performed on n-InP conducting substrates with lossy InGaAs contact layers. In this case, the dielectric losses are very high and the lines become highly dispersive. Also, the capacitance between the two lines

increases dramatically - effectively loading the line and dropping the characteristic impedance significantly. Dielectric loss is given by the following relationship:

aD =

qe r tan d e eff l g (Np/m) *27.3 for dB/lamda

[4.12]

144

For a doped semiconductor the loss tangent can be expressed as[450]:

tan d ( f ) =

2pfe " ( f ) + s ' ( f ) 2pfe ' ( f ) + s " ( f )

[4.13]

where e and e are the real and imaginary parts of the complex dielectric permittivity and s and s are the respective parts of the complex conductivity. Taking the conductivity from the Drude model, we have s = ss/(1-j2pftm) where the conductivity can be extracted from Hall measurements. The attenuation drops linearly with increasing metal thickness up to the point where the metal depth is 3x skin depth. As the dimensions of the transmission line increase, the attenuation decreases. There seems to be an optimum w/d point of approximately 0.40 for InP with 0.25um of gold. If w = 80um that corresponds to d = 177.8 [405] In order to match the velocities of the electrical and optical waves, one can manipulate a few parameters electrode thickness, coplanar gap width, and distributed capacitance along the line. The electrode thickness highly affects the microwave loss in the structure as shown in fig. 4-14.

145

20 18 Loss (dB/cm) 5um Loss (dB/cm) 10um Loss (dB/cm) 20um

16 14

16 Microwave Index 14

12

Loss (dB/cm)

nload (5um) nload (10um)

10

12

nload (20um)

10

6 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Electrode Thickness (um)

Fig. 4-14 Microwave index and loss for loaded CPS line [2000pF/m loading] with different electrode widths varying from 5-20 microns

Clearly an electrode thickness exceeding 2m is preferable to reduce both the microwave index and loss. For the work shown here, the p-metal thickness is approximately 1.5mm. The loaded-microwave index drops significantly with electrode thickness although as we have shown before, we would like 3.74.2. This does not take into account the change in effective index when the area between the center conductor and ground are removed or BCB is placed below the contacts. Although thickening the electrode improves the

index match, the characteristic impedance is reduced. In order to match the characteristic impedance and index simultaneously, the capacitance per unit length of the line must be reduced. 146

Table 4-1 Material InP n InP SI GaAs High resistivity Si Standard Si BCB Aluminum Nitride

Relative Permittivity 12.4,12.6 12.4 12.85 11.9 11.9 2.65 8.9

Loss Tangent (tan d ) 5x10-5 5x10-4 1x10-4 at 30GHz 4x10-3 at 30GHz

Typical Resistivity 20E-4 ohm-cm 1.5E7 ohm-cm 4000ohm-cm 1000ohm-cm

Conductor loss can be estimated from the unloaded Q factor

w Qu = Z o 2

[4.14]

Good up to 2 GHz above 2 GHz one must keep in mind the dielectric attenuation is mostly dependent upon the substrate thickness. The conductor attenuation coefficient is minimized at a particular w/s. This conductor attenuation decreases with dielectric constant. The dispersion is lower for smaller waveguide dimensions.

The coplanar waveguide design takes into account the dielectric that the lines reside, the thickness of the metal layer to achieve a 50 ohm line. As the lines are deposited on a multilayer dielectric not just on the InP surface, one needs to take into consideration the effective dielectric constant that insues. This can be calculated analytically using the conformal mapping technique.[407] 147

As discussed earlier, conductor losses are reduced by using wider and thicker electrodes. However, the characteristic impedance is improved by going to thinner and narrower electrodes. A compromise was made using 8mm wide electrodes. The gap between the two ridges was designed to be fairly close (16mm) to shorten the curved waveguides and reduce propagation losses. LiNbO3 traveling wave modulators usually use CPW transmission lines as without careful attention to the electrode gap widths have experienced large RF losses in CPS structures [453]. It has been found [453] that leakage of the CPS modes into substrate modes may occur at fairly low frequencies (11 and 22GHz). This leakage is due to the geometry of the device (gaps 0.5mm to 1mm on substrates 0.25-0.5mm thick)

The electrical attenuation was measured for different biases without bias on the laser or SOA. The loss was extracted from the ABCD parameters [see appendix] after measuring the S parameters of the device. These values

compare closely with other similar EAM devices that report losses in the range 15-20dB/mm at 40GHz. The microwave loss results with bias are shown in fig. 4-15. As can be seen, the microwave loss decreases considerably with

148

reverse bias. This has been attributed to loss due to undepleted material in the PN junctions25.

Fig 4-15 Microwave loss as a function of frequency and bias from Device #9

As the PN junction depletes out, the loss becomes dominated by ohmic losses due to the skin depth in the electrodes.

25

Spickermann Dissertation pp 133

149

4.8 CPS T-ELECTRODE DEVICES

Much work has been done to velocity match traveling wave Mach Zehnder structures using T-sections that both increase the characteristic Impedance and the length thereby reducing the capacitance per unit length and providing better matching that results in higher bandwidth.

SGDBR Laser

MZ Phase electrode

GeAuNiAu n-contact Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Modulator n-contact

Fig. 4-16. T-Electrode SPP-MZ-SOA-SGDBR Transmitter Layout

The device layout of these devices is shown in fig. 4-16 above.

150

By distributing the capacitance using fins, one can lower the capacitance per unit length at will. However, as the InP/InGaAsP material has considerable optical loss, and the mismatch becomes greater between the optical and electrical waves at longer lengths, the Ts designed in this work did not lengthen the device much. The periodicity of the tabs is related to the cutoff frequency for a given phase velocity and width[304].

f cutoff =

v phase

2d

[4.15]

where d is the spacing of the fins (period) and vphase is the phase velocity.

These Ts are 50m long with 10m spacing between as shown in fig. 4-17.

Fig 4-17 TW electrode structure with 50m Ts with 10m gaps

151

This approach is only practical when the capacitance per unit length is already small. For highly capacitively loaded lines the device length that is required in order to improve the bandwidth is very large leading to excessive microwave and optical insertion losses.

In this work a few different CPS transmission line electrode designs were explored as shown in table 4-2.
Table 4-2 Transmission Line based electrode MZ devices using Dual RF Series Push-pull drive
SOA Config SOA Length Active electrode length Total Electrode Length (um) Electrode Width T length (number)

Single

400

250

313

50(5)

10

Dual

575

400

490.5

50(8)

11

Dual

490

500

610

50(10)

12

Dual

380

600

734.5

50(12)

16 17

Single Single

600 500

400 500

490.5 500

8 15

50(8) N/A

18

Single

500

500

500

N/A

19

Single

500

500

560

100(5)

20

Single

500

500

610

50(10)

21

Single

400

600

730.75

50(12)

152

4.9 TRAVELING WAVE BANDWIDTH

The bandwidth of a traveling wave modulator is governed by the difference in the optical and electrical waves and the overlap factor of these two modes, the frequency dependent attenuation along the device, the termination impedance, and the length of the device. Accounting for both the attenuation and the optical-electrical matching and assuming that the device is terminated with the characteristic impedance the bandwidth can be approximated as[4]:

B( f ) = e -al / 2

2 al 2 xl sinh 2 + sin 2 al xl + 2 2
2 2

where x = [n m - no ]

2pf c

[4.16]

It is clear from the previous equation that both the attenuation and index matching are very important to achieve high bandwidth. Although simple, the above equation does not take into account mismatches in the characteristic impedance which is important as it is difficult to reach 50 ohms with such high loading capacitance. The small-signal modulation response S21 can be modeled accounting for the opto-electrical velocity mismatch, microwave attenuation, and impedance mismatch[5].

153

 exp[L( jb - g m )] - 1 exp( L( jb + g m ) - 1 T S 21 = + GL exp(-2g m L) [4.17] 1 - GL GS exp(-2g m L) ( jb + g m ) L L ( jb - g m )

2

where the amplitude transmission into the modulator is : T = 1 - GS , The reflection coefficients at the source and the load are given by:

GS =

(Z s - Z m ) (Z s + Z m ) (Z L - Z m ) (Z L + Z m )

[4.18]

GL =

[4.19]

Zm is the characteristic impedance of the modulator, and Zs and ZL are the impedances of the source and load respectively. The propagation constant is given as:

gm =a +b =a +
and the optical Beta coefficient is:

2pn m l

[4.20]

bo =

2pno l

[4.21]

where no is the optical group index, and l is the optical wavelength

4.10 MEASURED BANDWIDTH

Taking the fit data from the characteristic impedance for device 9 as shown in fig. 4.16, the attenuation coefficient, and microwave index, and assuming the 154

optical group index is 3.92 at 1555nm, the model expressed in equation [4.11] fits the experimental data well. Fig 4-17 shows the small-signal frequency response of two devices, (9 and 16) which have 250m and 400m long electrodes. Both are terminated at the rear with 50 ohms.

Fig. 4-18 Small-signal frequency response for two T-electrode devices at 1555nm -3V bias for a 250mm electrode device (device #9) and 400mm device (device #10)

The bandwidth was also explored with a low matching resistor. This was done with a resistor ladder structure that was fabricated on the carrier adjacent to the device as shown in fig. 4-19.

155

Phase electrode

RF Signal Input

Termination Resistor n-contact bias

Fig. 4-19 Transmission line electrode configuration Device 17

The S21 response with a 35 ohm termination resistor with wirebonds as in fig 419, is shown in fig. 4-20. This is compared with the bandwidth of a lumped electrode device with the same length and the 50 ohm terminated data. As one might expect, the bandwidth is extended out to close to 40GHz and some peaking is observed due to the reflections/standing wave along the electrode structure.

156

Fig 4.20 Small-signal response for Device #9 as a function of termination resistor

As can be seen in fig 4.20, the data fits the traveling wave bandwidth model very well for the 50ohm termination. In this case, a 50ohm probe was used at the end of the device with a 50ohm termination. The 35ohm termination data was obtained using wirebonds to the carrier in which a resistor ladder was used. One sees a little more peaking than the model predicts due to the wirebond impedance discontinuity which leads to a reflection at the end of the device. Note also that there is very little difference in the bandwidth observed between the counter-propagating and co-propagating bias configurations. Most likely the traveling wave effect would be more noticeable for longer 157

devices with low termination resistors as has been seen in the literature, however, this could not be done due to the restraints of the resistor ladder.

REFERENCES

[400] Jaeger NAF, Rahmatian F, James R, Berolo E. An AlGaAs/GaAs MachZehnder modulator using slow-wave coplanar electrodes. Conference Proceedings. IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (Cat. No.98TH8341). IEEE. Part vol.2, 1998, pp.802-5 vol.2. [401] Spickermann R, Dagli N. Experimental analysis of millimeter wave coplanar waveguide slow wave structures on GaAs. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.42, no.10, Oct. 1994, pp.191824. [402] Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits Technology and Design, Ravender Goyal Pg 224 [403] Jaeger, N.A.F , F. Rahmatian, H. Kato, R. James, E. Berolo, Z. K. F. Lee, Velocity Matched Electrodes for Compound Semiconductor Travelling wave electro-optic modulators: Experimental Results, IEEE Microwave and guided wave letters, Vol. 6., No. 2. Feb. 1996. [404] Ponchak G.E., M. Matloubian, L.P.B. Katehi, A Measurement-Based Design Equation for the Attenuation of MMIC-Compatable Coplanar Waveguides, IEEE. Trans. On Microwave Theory and Techn. Vol 47, No.2, Feb, 99 [405] Haydl WH, Braunstein J, Kitazawa T, Schlechtweg M, Tasker P, Eastman LF. Attenuation of millimeterwave coplanar lines on gallium arsenide and indium phosphide over the range 1-60 GHz. 1992 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest (Cat. No.92CH3141-9). IEEE. 1992, pp.349-52 vol.1. [406] Khazaeil HR, James R, Berolo E, Rahmatian F, Jaeger NAF, Ghannouchi F. Novel coplanar-strip slow-wave structure for ultrawide-bandwidth 158

electro-optic modulators. Microwave & Optical Technology Letters, vol.15, no.5, 5 Aug. 1997, pp.303-5. [407] Bedair SS, Wolff I. Fast, accurate and simple approximate analytic formulas for calculating the parameters of supported coplanar waveguides for (M)MIC's. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.40, no.1, Jan. 1992, pp.41-8. [408] Jackson RW. Mode conversion at discontinuities in finite-width conductor-backed coplanar waveguide. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.37, no.10, Oct. 1989, pp.1582-9. [409] Hilberg W. From approximations to exact relations for characteristic impedances. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.mtt-17, no.5, May 1969, pp.229-65. [410] Ponchak GE, Matloubian M, Katehi LPB. A measurement-based design equation for the attenuation of MMIC-compatible coplanar waveguides. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.47, no.2, Feb. 1999, pp.241-3. [411] Yip P.C.L, High-Frequency Circuit Design and Measurement, Chapman and Hall, 1990. pg 42-70 [412] Giboney K.S., M. J. W. Rodwell, J. E. Bowers, Travelling-Wave Photodetector Theory, IEEE. Trans. on Microwave theory and tech. , Vol 45, No.8., August, 1997. [413] Zhang S.Z., Traveling wave Electro-absorption modulators UCSB Dissertation 1996 [414] Ludwig R., P. Bretchko, RF Circuit Design Theory and Applications, Prentice Hall, 2000. [415] Simons R.N., Coplanar Waveguide Circuits, Components and Systems, Wiley Series in Microwave and Optical Engineering, 2001. [416] Giboney K.S., Travelling-Wave Photodetectors, IEEE. Photonics Tech. Letts., vol. 4 No. 12, Dec. 1992. [417] Heinrich W. Quasi-TEM description of MMIC coplanar lines including conductor-loss effects. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.41, no.1, Jan. 1993, pp.45-52. 159

[418] Collins R.E., Foundations for Microwave Engineering Second Ed. IEEE press series on Electromagnetic wave theory Donald G. Dudley editor, 2001. [419] Kiziloglu K, Dagli N, Matthaei GL, Long SI. Experimental analysis of transmission line parameters in high-speed GaAs digital circuit interconnects. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.39, no.8, Aug. 1991, pp.1361-7. [420] Dinesen P.G., A. Bjarklev, T. Rasmussen, C. Lester, Microwave properties of a traveling wave modulator in polymers employing a microwave buffer layer for velocity matching, Electronic Letters, Vol. 31, No. 2, 19th, Jan 1995. [421] Jin H, Belanger M, Jakubczyk Z. General analysis of electrodes in integrated-optics electrooptic devices. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.27, no.2, Feb. 1991, pp.243-51. [422] Zhang X., T. Miyoshi, Optimum Design of Coplanar Waveguide for LiNbO3 Optical Modulator, IEEE. Trans. on microwave Theory and Tech. Vol. 43., No.3, March 1995. [423] Boyu W., X. Guangjun, J. Xiaomin, Travelling wave electrode optimization for high speed electro-optic modulators using the Fourier Series Method, IEE. Proc.-Optoelectron, Vol. 141, No.6, Dec. 1994. [424] Gopalakrishnan G.K., W. K. Burns, R. W. McElhanon, C. H. Bulmer, A. S. Greenblatt, Performance of Modeling of BroadBand LiNbO3 Traveling wave Optical Intensity Modulators, J. Lightwave tech., vol.12, No.10, Oct. 1994. [425] Cho W., Y. Lim, Y. Choi, Bandwidth Limitation Factors and Linear Characteristics of Travelling-wave CPW Electro-absorption Modulators, MWP 99 Digest. [426] Hong I., H. Park, Quasi-static analysis of traveling wave electrodes with asymmetrical finite thickness for electro-optic modulators, IEE. Proc. Optoelectron. Vol. 147. No.2, April 2000. [427] Svacina J. Special types of coplanar transmission lines suitable up to MM-wave bands. Electrical Performance of Electronic Packaging (Cat. No.97TH8318). IEEE. 1997, pp.99-102.

160

[428] Takuchi H., High Speed Electroabsorption modulators with TravellingWave Electrodes, OFC 2002. [429] Liou JC, Lau KM. Analysis of slow-wave transmission lines on multilayered semiconductor structures including conductor loss. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.41, no.5, May 1993, pp.824-9. . [430] Kawano K., M. Kohtoku, M. Ueki, T. Ito, S. Kondoh, Y. Noguchi, Y. Hasumi, Electrode electroabsorption (TW-EA) modulator with bandwidth over 50 GHz and driving voltage less than 2V, Electronic Lett. Vol. No. 1997. [431] Rao HG, Liu QZ, Kellner AL, Jiang XS, Lau SS, Yu PKL. Microwave characteristics of coplanar waveguides on helium-implanted epitaxial pInP. Applied Physics Letters, vol.66, no.15, 10 April 1995, pp.1933-5. [432] Mesa FL, Cano G, Medina F, Marques R, Horno M. On the quasi-TEM and full-wave approaches applied to coplanar multistrip on lossy dielectric layered media. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.40, no.3, March 1992, pp.524-31. [433] Baker-Jarvis J, Vanzura EJ, Kissick WA. Improved technique for determining complex permittivity with the transmission/reflection method. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.38, no.8, Aug. 1990, pp.1096-103. [434] Kim, I., M. R.T. Tan, S-Y Wang, Analysis of a New Microwave Low-loss and Velocity Matched III-V Transmission Line for Traveling wave Electrooptic Modulators J. Lightwave Tech. Vol. 8, No.5, May 1990. [435] Berg H, Gevorgian S. The effect of longitudinal substrate currents on the losses in silicon substrate coplanar-strip and coplanar waveguides. International Journal of RF & Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering, vol.10, no.5, Sept. 2000, pp.284-8. [436] Zhang SZ, Yi-Jen Chiu, Abraham P, Bowers JE. Polarization-insensitive multiple-quantum-well traveling-wave electroabsorption modulators with 18 GHz bandwidth and 1.2 V driving voltage at 1.55 um. International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics. Technical Digest (including High Speed Photonics Components Workshop) (Cat. No.98EX181). IEEE. 1998, pp.33-6.

161

[437] Koshiba M., Y. Tsuji, Design and modeling of microwave photonics devices, Optical and Quantum Electronics, 30(1998) pp. 995-1003. [438] Goverdhanam K, Simons RN, Katehi LPB. Coplanar stripline propagation characteristics and bandpass filter. IEEE Microwave & Guided Wave Letters, vol.7, no.8, Aug. 1997, pp.214-16. [439] Goverdhanam K, Simons RN, Katehi LPB. Coplanar stripline components for high-frequency applications. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.45, no.10, pt.1, Oct. 1997, pp.17259.. [440] Groteluschen Enno, S. L. Dutta , and S. Zaage, Quasi-analytical Analysis of the Broadband Properties of Multiconducter Transmission Lines on Semiconducting Substrates IEEE. Trans. on Components Packaging and Manufacturing Tech. Part B. , Vol. 17, No. 3, Aug. 1994. [441] Simons RN, Dib NI, Katehi LPB. Coplanar stripline to microstrip transition. Electronics Letters, vol.31, no.20, 28 Sept. 1995, pp.1725-6. [442] Goverdhanam K, Simons RN, Dib N, Katehi LPB. Coplanar stripline components for high frequency applications. 1996 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest (Cat. No.96CH35915). IEEE. Part vol.2, 1996, pp.1193-6 vol.2. [443] Durr,W., U. Erben, A. Schuppen, H. Dietrich, H. Schumacher, Investigation of Microstrip and Coplanar Transmission Lines on Lossy Silicon Substrates Without Backside Metalization, IEEE. Trans. of Microwave Theory and Tech. , Vol. 46, No. 5, May 1998. [444] Morl L., D. Hoffmann, K. Matzen, C. Bornholdt, G. G. Mekonnen, F. Reier, Travelling wave electrodes for 50 GHz Operation of OptoElectronic devices based on InP 11th International Conf. on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials 16-20 May 1999. [445] Walker RG, Edge C. A folded-path GaAs travelling-wave modulator for phased array receivers. International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics MWP 2000 (Cat. No.00EX430). IEEE. 2000, pp.113-16. [446] Ding XZ, Lu Taijing, Ong CK, Tan BTG. Effects of impurity concentration on dielectric loss in Zn-doped InP at microwave X-band frequencies. Journal of Applied Physics, vol.75, no.11, 1 June 1994, pp.7444-7.

162

[447] Jae-Kyung Wee, Young-June Park, Hong-Shick Min, Dae-Hyung Cho, Man-Ho Seung, Hun-Sug Park. Modeling the substrate effect in interconnect line characteristics of high-speed VLSI circuits. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.46, no.10, pt.1, Oct. 1998, pp.1436-43.. [448] Fuster JM, Marti J, Candelas P. Modeling Mach-Zehnder LiNbO/sub 3/ external modulators in microwave optical systems. Microwave & Optical Technology Letters, vol.30, no.2, 20 July 2001, pp.85-90.. [449] Tan MRT, Kim I, Chang J, Wang SY. Velocity matching of III-V travellingwave electro-optic modulator structures. Electronics Letters, vol.26, no.1, 4 Jan. 1990, pp.32-3. [450] Joo-Hiuk Son, Hsi-Huai Wang, Whitaker JF, Mourou GA. Picosecond pulse propagation on coplanar striplines fabricated on lossy semiconductor substrates: modeling and experiments. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.41, no.9, Sept. 1993, pp.1574-80. [451] Haydl WH. Properties of meander coplanar transmission lines. IEEE Microwave & Guided Wave Letters, vol.2, no.11, Nov. 1992, pp.439-41.. [452] Holloway CL, Kuester EF. A quasi-closed form expression for the conductor loss of CPW lines, with an investigation of edge shape effects. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.43, no.12, pt.1, Dec. 1995, pp.2695-701. [453] Gopalakrishnan GK, Burns WK, Bulmer CH. Electrical loss mechanisms in travelling wave LiNbO/sub 3/ optical modulators. Electronics Letters, vol.28, no.2, 16 Jan. 1992, pp.207-9. [454] Spickermann R, Sakamoto SR, Dagli N. In traveling wave modulators which velocity to match? Conference Proceedings. LEOS '96 9th Annual Meeting. IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society 1996 Annual Meeting (Cat. No.96CH35895). IEEE. Part vol.2, 1996, pp.97-8 vol.2.. [455] Walker RG. Broadband (6 GHz) GaAs/AlGaAs electro-optic modulator with low drive power. Applied Physics Letters, vol.54, no.17, 24 April 1989, pp.1613-15. [456] Spickermann R., Sakamoto, S.R., Peters, M. G., Dagli, N. GaAs/AlGaAs traveling wave electro-optic modulator with an electrical bandwidth >40GHz Electron. Lett., vol. 32, no. 12., June 1996 pp. 1095-1096. 163

[457] Edwards T.C., M.B. Steer, Foundations of Interconnect and Microstrip Design, Third Edition, John Wiley and Sons LTD, New York. [458] Simons RN, Dib NI, Katehi LPB. Modeling of coplanar stripline discontinuities. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.44, no.5, May 1996, pp.711-16. [459] Lei Zhu, Ke Wu. Field-extracted lumped-element models of coplanar stripline circuits and discontinuities for accurate radiofrequency design and optimization. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.50, no.4, April 2002, pp.1207-15. . [460] Jager D, Kremer R, Stohr A. Travelling-wave optoelectronic devices for microwave applications. 1995 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest (Cat. No.95CH3577-4). IEEE. Part vol.1, 1995, pp.163-7 vol.1. [461] Spickermann R. High speed Gallium Arsenide/Aluminium Gallium Arsenide traveling wave electo-optic modulators UCSB Dissertation 1996.

164

Chapter 5
COMPARISON OF DEVICE DESIGNS

This chapter compares the performance of the devices outlined in the previous two chapters with respect to modulation efficiency, bandwidth and chirp characteristics. This work was done on the test setup as shown in fig. 5-1 with devices soldered down to RF Aluminum Nitride carriers.

Fig. 5-1 Test setup and RF carrier

165

A number of authors have proposed figures of merit for modulators of both the EAM and Mach-Zehnder varieties in Table 5.1. These merits consider the electrical bandwidth, drive power requirements, low return loss, optical insertion loss, and suitability for integration with lasers. Wavelength and temperature dependence are also a consideration. The contrast ratio is important for large signal modulation. Often Mach-Zehnder and EAM devices, are compared as Vpi with V10dB. This is not usually a fair comparison however as the MZ

modulator does not need to driven so hard.

Table 5.1- Figures of Merit R. G. Walker [7]

Based on

2R f o l 50 + R Vp
GHz-um/V

Modulation Bandwidth and generator voltage. R is shunt resistance Change in Transmission

M.K.Chin[9]

DT ;

Da Da ; a o [DE ]2

Optimizing the device for the largest Bandwidth requires the consideration of a
VDrive

number of parameters as in Table 5.2. The bandwidth is a function of the capacitance(Length), S11(Zo), and Termination/Resistance. The drive voltage is a function of the Insertion loss/Power, Doping(Length), Waveguide composition, and termination.

166

Table 5.2 Bandwidth Bandwidth Doping Device Length Device Width Passivation Dielectric constant Waveguide[Q]

Main Design Parameters Insertion Loss Drive Voltage Wavelength Dependence

for TW

N/A

N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A

For analog applications, the modulation depth is low and RF gain is of utmost concern, the modulator maximum phase shift per unit length per volt is a fairly good metric.

Df [3] One can also compare devices simply as the change in Va L

transmission divided by the voltage to make this change (dB/V).[8] This value changes quite a bit over the modulation extinction curve, however could be compared at Vpi/2. Also, MZ modulators often are compared with phase

shift efficiency and the chirp parameter.

167

Phase shift efficiency

h=

Df Dneff 2p = VL lV
= 2 Df DaL

[5.1]

Chirp Parameter a chirp =

Dneff ( real ) Dneff (imag )

[5.2]

For InGaAs MQW structures efficiencies of approximately 12 deg/Vmm have been reported [3].

In a real digital communications application, a device would need to exceed a set of specifications typically for output power, drive voltage, RF extinction, and chirp parameter. It would be best to compare different devices with respect to a particular output power and extinction (10dB RF). This is difficult to compare. As in this case as each design has a different output power and none of them meet a 10dBm fiber coupled output power specification. The output power has a large influence on the required drive voltage as illustrated in fig. 5-2.

168

Fig 5-2 Reduction in drive voltage for high output power. Assumes 0dBm max power required with -20dBm off state power

For a given output power specification (in this case 0dBm), if the transmitter can output more power than necessary, the drive voltage can be significantly lower than Vpi. In fact, for a doubling of output power either by increasing the gain of the SOAs/SGDBR or reducing the insertion loss in the modulator, the drive voltage is only of the Vpi value. This point is rarely considered in figures of merit. As the laser is integrated and cannot be simply swapped out for a higher power laser, high output power is very important.

Because of this, Vpi overestimates the actual drive voltage requirements in some cases considerably. However, it does give a metric to compare different

169

modulator designs more independently from the output power so DC extinction was measured for each device to base a comparison.

5.1 MODULATION EFFICIENCY

The different devices are compared with respect to Vpi as a function of input power into each branch of the MZ (measured from photocurrent as seen in Chapter 3) and wavelength. As can be seen in fig. 5-1A&B, the drive voltage is highly dependent on optical power. As the optical power increases, photon induced carrier recombination occurs in the modulator electrode region which generates heat and the localized waveguide bandgap shrinks giving enhanced absorption and index change.

170

Fig. 5.3 Comparison of different modulator designs with respect to Vpi as a function of optical power into modulator branch. = 1554nm SOA = 100mA

Devices with Dual SOAs have more optical power incident to the modulator giving both more heating in the modulator and more optical power due to the improvement in the saturation power. 500m device with Ts and Dual SOAs26. The lowest Vpi was exhibited for a

26

Device 20

171

Clearly this is a non-linear effect as the shorter devices which heat up more are more efficient modulators when normalized with respect to length. Also, the lowest values were for T electrode devices with Dual SOAs which yielded considerably less photocurrent at the peak. The extinction curves were measured for different wavelengths as illustrated in fig. 5-4.

Fig. 5-4 DC extinction curve for a 200m long lumped MZ for three different wavelengths

172

Figure 5-4 shows the wavelength dependence of the DC extinction curves for a 200um long device. As there is more gain for centered wavelengths, the

curve peak is higher at 1564nm. Note that the residual power at 0V is highly dependent on the coupling of the fiber (angle and distance) so some of the variance is due to coupling and some is due to the different extinction due to phase bias differences. In Fig 5-5, the DC extinction Vpi was measured for different optical powers going into the modulator at different wavelengths.

Fig 5-5 Vpi for 200m long device as a function of optical input power to one branch and wavelength

173

The SOA bias was varied from 20mA to 150mA. The logarithmic optical power dependence is considerably larger than the wavelength dependence of Vpi indicating a large change in temperature within the device since the optical power is high in this integrated device.

5.2 RF EXTINCTION OF DEVICES

The RF extinction was measured at 10Gbit/s with a PRBS 27-1 as a function of wavelength for various peak-to-peak voltage outputs with the 0 level at the null of the modulator characteristic. Although the DC extinction for each device

has been demonstrated in the previous section, under RF modulation not as much heating takes place and photocurrent competition occurs making the modulation not as efficient. Also, in order to have high speed, a parallel

resistor is used in which less current flows through the device. As can be seen in fig 5-6ab, there is much more wavelength dependence with a singleended drive.

174

Fig 5-6a 250m Single ended drive RF extinction at 10Gbit/s PRBS 2 -1 for various wavelengths

Fig. 5-6b 250m lumped series push-pull with 50 ohms in parallel

175

As the operation of the device is limited by the worst channel, there is a factor of two improvement by using series-push-pull for a wide wavelength range. As there is more photocurrent generated at lower wavelengths even though there is also more index shift and absorption the drive is opposing this photocurrent, and the RF extinction tends to be superior for the longer wavelengths. In the series push-pull case, one branch opposes the

photocurrent and one is in the same direction giving less wavelength sensitivity. Clearly the devices are temperature sensitive. Taking the change in index as a function of voltage from fig. 3-6 one can estimate the drive voltage for different optical powers as shown in fig. 5.7.

Fig 5.7 RF Vpi at 10Gbit/s model taken from DC extinction data in fig 3-6 for different optical powers.

176

The modeled data is compared to piecewise measured RF Voltages using 10Gbit/s BERT with maximum of Vpp of 2V. As can be seen on the plots, at RF the modulator does not heat up as much and the voltage is higher than one would expect from looking at DC characteristics alone. Also shown on the plot is a comparison of Vpi with different terminations27. As one would expect, unterminated the drive voltage is much lower due to reflections off the end of the stub and more interaction with the modulator. Also, using a low termination of 25 ohms degrades the Vpi but it is not linear related to the bandwidth enhancement of low termination.

27

Performed on device #20

177

5.3 BANDWIDTH COMPARISON

The main trends of the bandwidth are shown in fig. 5-8. Extrapolated curves go through the single side modulation, and the SPP modulation from data in fig. 4-3 with 50 ohm front side termination.

Fig 5-8 Small-signal optical response for different modulator designs. 50ohm termination

Devices with Ts and end-50ohm termination have even better performance due to the improved characteristic impedance mismatch and traveling wave design. Using low termination resistors would enhance the bandwidth further as was discussed in Chap 4. 178

5.4 CHIRP MEASUREMENTS

Although direct modulation of the SGDBR offers a simple solution as a transmitter, as noted before, the chirp parameter is positive and ranges from approximately 3-9[330] over the C-Band. Chirp in Externally Modulated Lasers(EML) is caused by the electro-optic effect in the modulator, electrical crosstalk between the laser sections and the modulator and from reflected optical power[505]. Residual feedback from the output facet induces chirp and relaxation oscillations resulting in a lower transmission distance (between repeaters). In order to provide an adequate transmission distance

particularly at higher bit rates, one desires a chirp parameter that is slightly negative usually in the range of 0 to -1 for 10Gbit/s operation[515] as was shown in the introduction.

5.5 CHIRP MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES

Chirp can be measured with a few different techniques. One of the easiest ways is the Gated-Delayed Self-Heterodyne (GDSH) technique. This setup consists of a modulated laser with a gated sinusoidal signal where the output is connected to a fiber interferometer similar to that of the linewidth measurement in Chap. 1. One arm has a delay of approximately 3.5s. Both signals are combined and measured using an RF spectrum analyzer. 179

For a Mach-Zehnder modulator, the chirp can be expressed from the intensity and phase of the output signal. Where
I= Ei 1 + g 2 + 2g cos(j1 - f 2 4
2

[5.3]

sin j1 + g sin j 2 j = tan -1 cos j1 + g cos j 2

[5.4] [5.5]

j '1 +g 2j '2 +g (j '1 +j '2 ) cos(j1 - j 2 ) a= - g (j '1 -j '2 ) sin(j1 - j 2 )

V1 + g 2V2 + g (V1 + V2 ) cos{ h (V1 - V2 ) sin vt - hVb } a= - g (V1 - V2 ) sin{ h (V1 - V2 ) sin vt - hVb }
so for the small-signal regime[516] V1 + g 2V2 a= g (V1 - V2 )

[5.6]

[5.7]

However, the self-heterodyne method only gives the magnitude of the chirp parameter. Alternatively, one can measure the magnitude and sign of the chirp parameter using a network analyzer as discussed in [514,520] where the resonant frequencies of the fiber frequency response as measured from the network analyzer[514].

fu L =

c 2 D l2

2 1 + 2u - arctan(a ) p

[5.8]

where a is the chirp parameter, l is the wavelength, u is the number of the minimum in the response, D is the Dispersion parameter of the fiber, L is the length of the fiber

180

-5 -10
Alpha 1525nm Alpha 1545nm

Output Power (dBm)

Chirp Parameter

-15 -20

-2

-4 -25 -6
(Power (dBm) 1525nm Power (dBm) 1545nm

-30 -35

-8 -4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0

Arm #1 DC Bias (V)

Fig. 5-9 Chirp Parameter as a function of DC extinction curve for pi-shifted case with 550m device (1.38um waveguide) Generation1 device

As can seen by fig. 5-9, with a one-sided modulation scheme with a pi-shift configuration, the device exhibits negative chirp. In the small-signal regime, the chirp parameter can be expressed as[541]:
a = 2I df dI

[5.9]

where I is the intensity and j is phase. This means that at the maximum in the output power curve, we have high chirp since the change in intensity is minimal. It is the chirp in the on state that affects the transmission

performance and this is often refered to as the 3dB rule[515]. When the device is off the chirp parameter is slightly positive and increasingly negative as the modulation depth is increased close to the maximum output power. A push-pull scheme lowers this negative chirp so that the modulation depth can 181

be increased further. This was measured for a 250m long device as shown in fig. 5-10.

Fig 5-10 small-signal chirp parameter for inverting and non-inverting operation for parallel pushpull and single-sided drive

Although examining the small-signal chirp parameter is illustrative of the dynamic device operation, performance under large signal operation is preferred. A time-resolved or dynamic measurement of the chirp parameter can be achieved using a setup utilizing an optical filter which is either a FabryPerot etalon, waveguide grating router, Mach-Zehnder interferometer[542] or Optical Spectrum Analyzer monochromator and high-speed oscilloscope[505]. By using this setup one can see dynamically how the frequency shifts on the rising and falling edge during modulation at 10Gbit/s. 182

Fig 5-11 Dynamic chirp measurement demonstrating how a chirp parameter of -0.7 can be achieved by adjusting the gain in the two branches of the MZ performed at 10 Gbit/s

The alpha parameter can be changed by varying the power in the two branches either with gain using SOAs or loss with the passive sections. It is fairly easy to achieve 0 chirp using a SPP electrode structure, however if negative chirp is desired, it is easier to use a single sided drive modulation as shown in fig 5-11.

183

5.7 LINEARIZATION OF MODULATORS

For analog modulation, a high degree of linearization is desired to maintain the dynamic range of a photonic link. Mach-Zehnder modulators generally exhibit nonlinear transfer characteristics. Fiber optic RF links require

sufficient linearity for applications such as satellite communications, radar, CATV, and others. A number of different techniques have been employed to achieve linearity using external modulators. Approaches have included the use of directional coupler modulators[524], Mach Zehnder modulators[525], and Electro-absorption modulators[526] and combinations of these in dual parallel and series configurations[5]. Alternatively, electrical linearization can be performed using optical negative feedback, phase-shift modulation, feedforward or pre-distortion techniques although an all optical scheme avoids complicated electrical circuits and their frequency responses.

The combination of multiple modulators allows for modification of the nonlinear response of either to cancel out the nonlinearity of the total response. A series combination will decrease the bandwidth. The null in the third-derivative occurs at Vpi for a Mach-Zehnder and at a bias with significant modulation efficiency for a Franz-Keldysh EAM[2]. This leads to the increase in SFDR without sacrificing power for high gain links.

184

For narrowband applications (< 1 octave) the Spur free dynamic range is governed by only the odd order inter-modulation terms- however for broadband applications all harmonics and orders of inter-modulation distortion must be considered. [2]. Spur-free dynamic range (SFDR) is defined as the range of input powers over which the output power at the carrier frequency is above the noise floor while the third-order distortion products remain below the noise floor.

Fig 5.12 Fundamental signals (500MHz) and 3 order distortion signals

rd

When a two-tone RF signal is applied, the bias voltage is given by:

V = Vb [1 + mo (cos w 1t + cos w 2 t )]
where mo is the modulation depth and Vb is the dc bias voltage [5].

[5.10]

185

The inter-modulation distortion is highly dependent on the bias conditions as shown in fig. 5-13.

Fundamental Second harmonic 0 Detected Power (dBm) -20 -40 -60 -80 0 0.5 1 1.5

Third harmonic Optical Power

2.5

Reverse bias (V)

Fig 5-13. Detected average optical power and RF power of fundamental and distortion products for 0 dBm modulation power.

The narrowband SFDR was measured for device #5, at 500MHz with a optimized phase section bias.

186

20 0 -20 Output RF Power, dBm -40 -60 -80 -100 -120 -140 -160 -140 -120 -100 -80 -60 -40 -20 Input RF Power, dBm 0 20 SFDR=112dB-Hz
2/3

l=1551.30 nm

f=0.5GHz

IIP3=25.2dBm

fundamental

3rd-order distortion

Fig. 5-14 Spur-free dynamic range measured on device #5 SOA = 100mA Gain = 100mA Phase = 1.2mA Modulator bias = -1V

These results demonstrate that fairly good linearity can be obtained for optimized bias points.

187

REFERENCES
[500] Saavedra AA, Rigole P-J, Goobar E, Schatz R, Nilsson S. Amplitude and frequency modulation characteristics of widely tunable GCSR lasers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.10, no.10, Oct. 1998, pp.1383-5. [501] D. A. Neamen, Semiconductor Physics and Devices Basic Principles Second edition Irwin, Chicago 1997. [502] Nishimoto H, Okiyama T, Kuwata N, Arai Y, Miyauchi A, Touge T. New method analyzing eye patterns and its application to high-speed optical transmission system. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.6, no.5, May 1988, pp.678-85.. [503] Cartledge JC, Debregeas H, Rolland C. Dispersion compensation for 10 Gb/s lightwave systems based on a semiconductor Mach-Zehnder modulator. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.7, no.2, Feb. 1995, pp.224-6. [504 Adams DM, Rolland C, Fekecs A, McGhan D, Somani A, Bradshaw S, Poirier M, Dupont E, Cremer E, Anderson K. 1.55 um transmission at 2.5 Gbit/s over 1102 km of NDSF using discrete and monolithically integrated InGaAsP-InP Mach-Zehnder modulator and DFB laser. Electronics Letters, vol.34, no.8, 16 April 1998, pp.771-3. [505] Agilent 86146B-DPC Time Resolved Chirp Application Users Guide 2001. [506] Saavedra AA, Rigole P-J, Goobar E, Schatz R, Nilsson S. Relative intensity noise and linewidth measurements of a widely tunable GCSR laser. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.10, no.4, April 1998, pp.481-3. [507] Henry CH. Theory of the linewidth of semiconductor lasers. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.QE-18, no.2, Feb. 1982, pp.259-64. [508] Arnaud J. Natural linewidth of semiconductor lasers. IEE Proceedings-J Optoelectronics, vol.134, no.1, Feb. 1987, pp.2-6. [509] Osinski M, Buus J. Linewidth broadening factor in semiconductor lasersan overview. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.QE-23, no.1, Jan. 1987, pp.9-29. 188

[510] Harder C., K. Vahala, A. Yariv, Measurement of the Linewidth Enhancement Factor of semiconductor lasers, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol 42, no. 15, pp.328-330, Feb. 1983. [511] M. Aoki, K. Uom, T. Tsuchiya, S. Sasaki, M. Okai, N. Chinone, DFB Laser, IEEE. J. Quantum Electron. , Vol. 27, no.2, pp.1782, Feb. 1991. [512] Amann M-C, Schimpe R. Excess linewidth broadening in wavelengthtunable laser diodes. Electronics Letters, vol.26, no.5, 1 March 1990, pp.279-80. [513] Wang SJ, Dutta NK. Intermodulation and harmonic distortion in GaInAsP distributed feedback lasers. Electronics Letters, vol.25, no.13, 22 June 1989, pp.850-2. [514] Devaux F, Sorel Y, Kerdiles JF. Simple measurement of fiber dispersion and of chirp parameter of intensity modulated light emitter. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.11, no.12, Dec. 1993, pp.1937-40. [515] Dorgeuille F, Devaux F. On the transmission performances and the chirp parameter of a multiple-quantum-well electroabsorption modulator. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol.30, no.11, Nov. 1994, pp.256572. . [516] Hoon Kim, Gnauck AH. Chirp characteristics of dual-drive. MachZehnder modulator with a finite DC extinction ratio. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.14, no.3, March 2002, pp.298-300. [517] Sung Kee Kim, Mizuhara O, Park YK, Tzeng LD, Kim YS, Jichai Jeong. Theoretical and experimental study of 10 Gb/s transmission performance using 1.55 um LiNbO/sub 3/-based transmitters with adjustable extinction ratio and chirp. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.17, no.8, Aug. 1999, pp.1320-5. [518] Devaux F, Sorel Y, Kerdiles JF. Chirp measurement and transmission experiment at 10 Gbit/s with Wannier-Stark modulator. Electronics Letters, vol.29, no.9, 29 April 1993, pp.814-16. [519] Fells JAJ, White IH, Gibbon MA, Penty RV, Thompson GHB, Wright AP, Saunders RA, Armistead CJ. Controlling the chirp in electroabsorption modulators under digital modulation. Electronics Letters, vol.30, no.24, 24 Nov. 1994, pp.2066-7.

189

[520] Srinivasan RC, Cartledge JC. On using fiber transfer functions to characterize laser chirp and fiber dispersion. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.7, no.11, Nov. 1995, pp.1327-9. [521] Zadok A, Shalom H, Tur M, Cornwell WD, Andonovic I. Spectral shift and broadening of DFB lasers under direct modulation. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.10, no.12, Dec. 1998, pp.1709-11. [522] Koch TL, Corvini PJ. Semiconductor laser chirping-induced dispersive distortion in high-bit-rate optical fiber communications systems. IEEE International Conference on Communications '88: Digital Technology Spanning the Universe. Conference Record (Cat. No.88CH2538-7). IEEE. 1988, pp.584-7 vol.2. [523] Cummings UV, Bridges WB. Bandwidth of linearized electrooptic modulators. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.16, no.8, Aug. 1998, pp.1482-90.. [524] Cox CH III, Betts GE, Johnson LM. An analytic and experimental comparison of direct and external modulation in analog fiber-optic links. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Techniques, vol.38, no.5, May 1990, pp.501-9. [525] Welstand RB, Sun CK, Liu YZ, Pappert SK, Zhu JT, Chen JM, Yu PKL. High dynamic range in electroabsorption modulator for analog links. SPIE-Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. Proceedings of Spie - the International Society for Optical Engineering, vol.2560, 1995, pp.44-9. USA. [526] Farwell ML, Lin Z-Q, Wooten E, Chang WSC. An electrooptic intensity modulator with improved linearity. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.3, no.9, Sept. 1991, pp.792-5. USA. [527] Lam JF, Tangonan GL. A novel optical modulator system with enhanced linearization properties. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.3, no.12, Dec. 1991, pp.1102-4. [528] Sung-Il Sohn, Sang-Kook Han. Linear optical modulation in a serially cascaded electroabsorption modulator. Microwave & Optical Technology Letters, vol.27, no.6, 20 Dec. 2000, pp.447-50. . [529] Cummings UV, Bridges WB. Effects of velocity mismatch and transit time on linearized electro-optic modulators. Conference Proceedings. LEOS '96 9th Annual Meeting. IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society 1996 190

Annual Meeting (Cat. No.96CH35895). IEEE. Part vol.2, 1996, pp.174-5 vol.2. . [530] Bridges WB, Cummings UV, Schaffner JH. Linearized modulators for analog photonic links. International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics. MWP '96 Technical Digest. Satellite Workshop (Cat. No.96TH8153). IEEE. 1996, pp.61-4. [531] Price AJ, Pierre L, Uhel R, Havard V. 210 km repeaterless 10 Gb/s transmission experiment through nondispersion-shifted fiber using partial response scheme. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.7, no.10, Oct. 1995, pp.1219-21. [532] Devaux F. Optimum prechirping conditions of externally modulated lasers for transmission on standard fibre. IEE Proceedings Optoelectronics, vol.141, no.6, Dec. 1994, pp.363-6. [533] Cartledge JC. Combining self-phase modulation and optimum modulation conditions to improve the performance of 10-Gb/s transmission systems using MQW Mach-Zehnder modulators. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.18, no.5, May 2000, pp.647-55. [534] Jackson MK, Smith VM, Hallam WJ, Maycock JC. Optically linearized modulators: chirp control for low-distortion analog transmission. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.15, no.8, Aug. 1997, pp.1538-45. [535] Cartledge JC. Optimizing the bias and modulation voltages of MQW Mach-Zehnder modulators for 10 Gb/s transmission on nondispersion shifted fiber. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.17, no.7, July 1999, pp.1142-51. [536] Laliew C, Lovseth SW, Xiaobo Zhang, Gopinath A. A linearized optical directional-coupler modulator at 1.3 um. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.18, no.9, Sept. 2000, pp.1244-9. [537] Elrefaie AF, Wagner RE, Atlas DA, Daut DG. Chromatic dispersion limitations in coherent lightwave transmission systems. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.6, no.5, May 1988, pp.704-9. [538] Simons RN, Goverdhanam LK, Katehi LPB. Novel low loss wide-band multi-port integrated circuit technology for RF/microwave applications. 2001 Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems. Digest of Papers (IEEE Cat. No.01EX496). IEEE. 2001, pp.603. 191

[539] Nakamoto H, Akiyama Y, Matsuda M, Yamaji K, Kotaki Y, Hajikano Y, Kubota M, Machida H, Hamano H. 10-Gbit/s single mode fibre transmission using a negative-chirp modulator integrated DFB-LD transmitter and APD receiver. 11th International Conference on Integrated Optics and Optical Fibre Communications 23rd European Conference on Optical Communications IOOC-ECOC 97 (Conf. Publ. No.448). IEE. Part vol.1, 1997, pp.7-10 vol.1. [540] Fells JAJ, Gibbon MA, White IH, Thompson GHB, Penty RV, Armistead CJ, Kimber EM, Moule DJ, Thrush EJ. Transmission beyond the dispersion limit using a negative chirp electroabsorption modulator. Electronics Letters, vol.30, no.14, 7 July 1994, pp.1168-9. [541] Koyama F, Oga K. Frequency chirping in external modulators. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.6, no.1, Jan. 1988, pp.87-93. [542] Laverdiere C, Fekecs A, Tetu M. A new method for measuring timeresolved frequency chirp of high bit rate sources. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.15, no.3, March 2003, pp.446-8. [543] Shinhee Won, Jaehoon Lee, Yonghoon Kim, Seongha Kim, Jichai Jeong. Performance limits of 10-Gb/s optical duobinary transmissions using reduced bandwidth single-arm Mach-Zehnder modulators considering residual chirp and dc-bias offset. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.15, no.3, March 2003, pp.479-81. [544] Welstand RB, Zhu JT, Chen WX, Clawson AR, Yu PKL, Pappert SA. Combined Franz-Keldysh and quantum-confined Stark effect waveguide modulator for analog signal transmission. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.17, no.3, March 1999, pp.497-502. [545] Welstand RB, Sun CK, Pappert SA, Liu YZ, Chen JM, Zhu JT, Kellner AL, Yu PKL. Enhanced linear dynamic range property of Franz-Keldysh effect waveguide modulator. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.7, no.7, July 1995,

192

Chapter 6
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

Although the device performance shown here rivals some of the best discrete components, there are always improvements that could be done to enhance the performance further. Higher output power will improve the transmitter characteristics markedly as not only will the heating in the modulator make it more efficient, but the required drive voltage will be reduced considerably. A less conservative SGDBR design would give higher output power and more efficiency in the modulator. Alternatively, using longer SOAs or enhancing the saturation power by widening the ridges would improve the output power. Using a QWI integration platform would improve the gain of the material with centered wells which improves the laser at the expense of the SOA saturation characteristics. Using the quantum well-intermixing platform would allow for more than 2 bandgaps - providing low loss waveguides in the passive regions and higher efficiency in the modulator electrode region.

Although much better matching of Zo than many CPW TW EAMs, neither the characteristic impedance or the microwave index are completely matched and this can be improved further by reducing the capacitance of the PN junction as the parasitics are quite low using BCB and a SI substrate. Using a 193

slightly lower doped waveguide would give a better confinement factor as the depletion region would move out and overlap more with the optical mode. Also, integration of the termination resistor would make testing easier and remove the electrical reflections inherent in wirebonds/ribbonbonds.

Based on Vpi RF and bandwidth measurements, rear termination seems to be superior due to the reduced microwave reflections at the input. This along with a low resistance termination gives an enhancement in the S21 characteristics without reducing the drive voltage as much. More modeling of the microwave properties of these devices and loaded transmission lines that give the desired index and characteristic impedance is needed.

As can be seen in fig. 6-1, the current power management shows that we have approximately 20mW output from the SGDBR untuned which is amplified approximately 5-7dB depending on the SOA length then is attenuated around 5dB. This means that the SOA compensates mostly for the insertion loss of the modulator. Unfortunately, with the lensed fiber this 20mW quickly becomes 5mW fiber coupled. The integration of a mode converter would make this design more in-line with typical supplier requirements of 10mW fiber coupled output power.

194

~20mW SGDBR SOA +5dB

~60mW -5dB

~20mW ~5mW coupled fiber

Fig. 6-1 Power management through the device.

Going to a shorter electrode will have a prohibitively high drive voltage >8V RF. This doesnt seem to be a good option unless the device is coupled with more output power or a higher Q waveguide used to make the device more efficient although it is more wavelength dependent. Another possibility is the use of shallow MQW in the waveguide which also most likely will need to be designed carefully to prevent excessive wavelength dependence and optical losses. Although not desirable in terms of complexity, a butt-joint regrowth is always possible to reduce the capacitance in the modulator. This is always a compromise with efficiency however if the layers are not doped highly the propagation loss could be reduced so that the device could be longer.

In the foreseeable future, tunable Mach-Zehdner based transmitters could be found useful in more complex photonic integrated circuits such as photocurrent driven wavelength converters.

195

6.1 WAVELENGTH CONVERTERS

Tunable wavelength converters represent a novel class of highly sophisticated photonic integrated circuits that are crucial in the function of future optical networks. They allow for the manipulation of wavelengths in WDM optical switches, routers and add/drop multiplexers. Many different implementation of non-tunable wavelength converters have been proposed using cross phase modulation(XPM) in SOAs and fiber[2,3], and cross absorption

modulation(XAM) of SOAs [1],

Many of these architectures have been

demonstrated to perform the significant feature of digital signal regeneration including improvements in extinction ratio, signal to noise ratio, pulse width etc. More recently, monolithically-integrated tunable all-optical wavelength

converters (TAO-WC)[4] have been demonstrated and have shown promise to allow for the conversion of one wavelength to another without requiring the signal to pass through electronics. One further extension of the work in this thesis is in the integration of the Mach-Zehnder-SOA-SGDBR with a photodetector to provide wavelength conversion over a wide tuning range[717].

196

SGDBR Laser Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Mach-Zehnder Modulator

l2

MZ optical waveguide Franz-Keldysh

st

l1

Fig. 6-1. Device layout for the 1 demonstration of an OEIC wavelength converter using the Mach-Zehnder-SOA-SGDBR transmitter and Franz-Keldysh detector.

The first implementation of wavelength converters used a Franz-Keldysh detector that does not involve quantum wells. This type of detector gives a fairly linear response. Improvements on the design of wavelength converters will focus on decreasing the optical input requirements with the integration of SOAs before the detector and investigation of the linearity and efficiency of using integrated active quantum-well detectors.

197

Fig. 6-2. Photocurrent Generated in the Franz-Kelydsh detector as a function of optical power

Nonetheless, first results using this configuration seem promising as the extinction ratio is sufficient to provide <2dB power penalty over the tuning range of the transmitter[617].

198

FUTURE WORK REFERENCES

[600] Cao S-C, Cartledge JC. Characterization of the chirp and intensity modulation properties of an SOA-MZI wavelength converter. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.20, no.4, April 2002, pp.689-95. [601] Masanovic ML, Lal V, Barton JS, Skogen EJ, Coldren LA, Blumenthal DJ. Monolithically integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer wavelength converter and widely tunable laser in InP. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.15, no.8, Aug. 2003, pp.1117-19. [602] Nielsen ML, Nord M, Petersen MN, Dagens B, Labrousse A, Brenot R, Martin B, Squedin S, Renaud M. 40 Gbit/s standard-mode wavelength conversion in all-active MZI with very fast response. Electronics Letters, vol.39, no.4, 20 Feb. 2003, pp.385-6. [603] Suzuki Y, Ito T, Shibata Y. Monolithically integrated wavelength converter: Sagnac interferometer integrated with parallel-amplifier structure (SIPAS) and its application. 2002 Digest of the LEOS Summer Topical Meetings (Cat. No.02TH8610). IEEE. 2002, pp.WB2-1-2. [604] Schubert C, Ludwig R, Watanabe S, Futami E, Schmidt C, Berger J, Boerner C, Ferber S, Weber HG. 160 Gbit/s wavelength converter with 3Rregenerating capability. Electronics Letters, vol.38, no.16, 1 Aug. 2002, pp.903-4. [605] Akiyama T, Kuwatsuka H, Simoyama T, Sugawara A, Ishikawa H. Design optimisation of SOA-integrated DFB laser wavelength converter. Electronics Letters, vol.38, no.5, 28 Feb. 2002, pp.239-41. [606] Nishimura K, Tsurusawa M, Usami M. First demonstration of 40 Gbps wavelength conversion with no pattern effect utilizing cross-phase modulation in an electroabsorption waveguide. Conference Proceedings. 2001 International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials. 13th IPRM (Cat. No.01CH37198). IEEE. 2001, pp.444-7. [607] Nishimura K, Tsurusawa M, Usami M. Wavelength conversion with no pattern effect at 40 Gbps using an electroabsorption waveguide as a phase modulator. OFC 2001. Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibit. Technical Digest Postconference Edition (IEEE Cat. 01CH37171). Opt. Soc. America. Part vol.3, 2001, pp.WK5-1-3 vol.3.

199

[608] Kato M, Nakano Y. Proposal of a novel wavelength converter using photo-induced refractive index change in multiple-quantum-well electroabsorption modulators. Trends in Optics and Photonics. Integrated Photonics Research. Vol.45. Technical Digest. Postconference Edition. Opt. Soc. America. 2000, pp.292-4. [609] Olsson B-E, Ohlen P, Rau L, Blumenthal DJ. A simple and robust 40Gb/s wavelength converter using fiber cross-phase modulation and optical filtering. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.12, no.7, July 2000, pp.846-8. [610] Wolfson D, Fjelde T, Kloch A, Janz C, Poingt F, Pommereau F, Guillemot I, Gaborit F, Renaud M. Detailed experimental investigation of allactive dual-order mode Mach-Zehnder wavelength converter. Electronics Letters, vol.36, no.15, 20 July 2000, pp.1296-7. [611] Janz C, Poingt F, Pommereau F, Grieshaber W, Gaborit F, Leclerc D, Guillemot I, Renaud M. All-active dual-order mode (DOMO) Mach-Zehnder wavelength converter for 10 Gbit/s operation. Electronics Letters, vol.35, no.21, 14 Oct. 1999, pp.1862-3. [612] Nagai S, Yagai M, Suzuki J, Utaka K, Tanaka S. Novel wavelength converter using multi-mode interference semiconductor optical amplifier (MIWC). 25th European Conference on Optical Communication. ECOC '99 Conference. Soc. Electr. Electron. Part vol.1, 1999, pp.338-9 vol.1. [613] Spiekman LH, Wiesenfeld JM, Koren U, Miller BI, Chien MD. All-optical Mach-Zehnder wavelength converter with monolithically integrated preamplifiers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.10, no.8, Aug. 1998, pp.1115-17. [614] Spiekman LH, Koren U, Chien MD, Miller BI, Wiesenfeld JM, Perino JS. All-optical Mach-Zehnder wavelength converter with monolithically integrated DFB probe source. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.9, no.10, Oct. 1997, pp.1349-51. [615] Ratovelomanana F, Vodjdani N, Enard A, Glastre G, Rondi D, Blondeau R, Jourdan A. Monolithic integration of a Michelson all-optical wavelength converter. OFC'96. Optical Fiber Communication. Vol.2. 1996 Technical Digest Series. Conference Edition (IEEE Cat. No.96CH35901). Opt. Soc. America. 1996, pp.124-5. [616] Schilling M, Daub K, Idler W, Baums D, Koerner U, Lach E, Laube G, Wunstel K. Wavelength converter based on integrated all-active three-port 200

Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Electronics Letters, vol.30, no.25, 8 Dec. 1994, pp.2128-30. [617] Barton J.S, Masonovic, Sysak M.N., Skogen E.J., Hutchinson J.M., Blumenthal D.J., Coldren L.A., A novel monolithically integrated widely-tunable wavelength converter based on a SGDBR-SOA-MZ transmitter and integrated photodetector. PS2003 Photonics and Switching Conference Paris, France, 2003. [618] Cao S-C, Cartledge JC. Measurement based model of an SOA-MZI wavelength converter. LEOS 2002. 2002 IEEE/LEOS Annual Meeting Conference Proceedings. 15th Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and ElectroOptics Society (Cat. No.02CH37369). IEEE. Part vol.1, 2002, pp.113-14 vol.1. [619] Xu L, Oxenlowe LK, Chi N, Mork J, Jeppesen P, Hoppe K, Hanberg J. Experimental characterisation of wavelength conversion at 40Gb/s based on electroabsorption modulators. LEOS 2002. 2002 IEEE/LEOS Annual Meeting Conference Proceedings. 15th Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and ElectroOptics Society (Cat. No.02CH37369). IEEE. Part vol.1, 2002, pp.111-12 vol.1. [620] Wong CS, Tsang HK. High extinction ratio wavelength conversion at 10 Gbit/s using birefringence switching in semiconductor optical amplifier. Electronics Letters, vol.38, no.16, 1 Aug. 2002, pp.897-8. [621] Luo Y, Ansari N. Restoration with wavelength conversion in WDM networks. Electronics Letters, vol.38, no.16, 1 Aug. 2002, pp.900-1. [622] Summerfield MA, Tucker RS. Optimization of pump and signal powers for wavelength converters based on FWM in semiconductor optical amplifiers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.10, Oct. 1996, pp.1316-18. [623] Durhuus T, Mikkelsen B, Joergensen C, Lykke Danielsen S, Stubkjaer KE. All-optical wavelength conversion by semiconductor optical amplifiers. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.14, no.6, June 1996, pp.942-54. [624] Joergensen C, Danielsen SL, Hansen PB, Stubkjaer KE, Schilling M, Daub K, Lach E, Laube G, Idler W, Wunstel K. All-optical 40-Gbit/s compact integrated interferometric wavelength converter. Conference on Optical Fiber Communications. Technical Digest. Postconference Edition. 1997 OSA Technical Digest Series. Vol.6 (IEEE Cat. No.97CH36049). Opt. Soc. America. 1997, pp.72-3. [625] Wang CC, Tucker RS, Summerfield MA. Tunable optical wavelength converter with reconfigurable functionality. Conference on Optical Fiber 201

Communications. Technical Digest. Postconference Edition. 1997 OSA Technical Digest Series. Vol.6 (IEEE Cat. No.97CH36049). Opt. Soc. America. 1997, pp.76-7. [626] Dagens B, Janz C, Leclerc D, Verdrager V, Poingt F, Guillemot L, Gaborit F, Ottenwalder D. Design optimization of all-active Mach-Zehnder wavelength converters. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.11, no.4, April 1999, pp.424-6. [627] Janz C, Dagens B, Bisson A, Poingt F, Pommereau F, Gaborit F, Guillemot I, Renaud M. Integrated all-active Mach-Zehnder wavelength converter with -10 dBm signal sensitivity and 15 dB dynamic range at 10 Gbit/s. Electronics Letters, vol.35, no.7, 1 April 1999, pp.588-90. [628] Wolfson D, Fjelde T, Kloch A, Janz C, Coquelin A, Guillemot I, Gaborit F, Poingt F, Renaud M. Experimental investigation at 10 Gb/s of the noise suppression capabilities in a pass-through configuration in SOA-based interferometric structures. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.12, no.7, July 2000, pp.837-9. [629] Edagawa N, Suzuki M, Yamamoto S, Akiba S. Novel wavelength converter using an electroabsorption modulator: conversion experiments at up to 40 Gbit/s. Conference on Optical Fiber Communications. Technical Digest. Postconference Edition. 1997 OSA Technical Digest Series. Vol.6 (IEEE Cat. No.97CH36049). Opt. Soc. America. 1997, pp.77-8. [630] Wolfson D, Kloch A, Fjelde T, Janz C, Dagens B, Renaud M. 40-Gb/s alloptical wavelength conversion, regeneration, and demultiplexing in an SOAbased all-active Mach-Zehnder interferometer. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.12, no.3, March 2000, pp.332-4. [631] Kauer M, Leuthold J, Duelk M, Girault M. Rapidly tunable all-optical wavelength converter based on single semiconductor optical amplifier delay interferometer. Optical & Quantum Electronics, vol.35, no.2, Jan. 2003, pp.139-46. [632] Pleumeekers JL, Leuthold J, Kauer M, Bernasconi P, Burrus CA, Cappuzzo M, Chen E, Gomez L, Laskowski E. All-optical wavelength conversion and broadcasting to eight separate channels by a single semiconductor optical amplifier delay interferometer. Optical Fiber Communications Conference. (OFC). Postconference Technical Digest (IEEE Cat. No.02CH37339). Opt Soc. America. Part vol.1, 2002, pp.596-7 vol.1.

202

[633] Kauer M, Leuthold J, Duelk M, Girault M. Rapidly tunable all-optical wavelength converter based on single semiconductor optical amplifier delay interferometer. Optical & Quantum Electronics, vol.35, no.2, Jan. 2003, pp.139-46. [634] Leuthold J. Signal regeneration and all-optical wavelength conversion. LEOS 2002. 2002 IEEE/LEOS Annual Meeting Conference Proceedings. 15th Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (Cat. No.02CH37369). IEEE. Part vol.1, 2002, pp.107-8 vol.1. [635] Yoo SJB. Wavelength conversion technologies for WDM network applications. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.14, no.6, June 1996, pp.955-66. [636] Yates JM, Lacey JPR, Rumsewicz MP, Summerfield MA. Performance of networks using wavelength converters based on four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers. Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.17, no.5, May 1999, pp.782-91. [637] Summerfield MA, Tucker RS. Optimization of pump and signal powers for wavelength converters based on FWM in semiconductor optical amplifiers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.10, Oct. 1996, pp.1316-18. [638] Kodama S, Yoshimatsu T, Ito H. 320 Gbit/s optical gate monolithically integrating photodiode and electroabsorption modulator. Electronics Letters, vol.39, no.4, 20 Feb. 2003, pp.383-5. [639] Joergensen C, Danielsen SL, Durhuus T, Mikkelsen B, Stubkjaer KE, Vodjdani N, Ratovelomanana F, Enard A, Glastre G, Rondi D, Blondeau R. Wavelength conversion by optimized monolithic integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.8, no.4, April 1996, pp.521-3. [640] Ratovelomanana F, Vodjdani N, Enard A, Glastre G, Rondi D, Blondeau R, Joergensen C, Durhuus T, Mikkelsen B, Stubkjaer KE, Jourdan A, Soulage G. An all-optical wavelength-converter with semiconductor optical amplifiers monolithically integrated in an asymmetric passive Mach-Zehnder interferometer. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.7, no.9, Sept. 1995, pp.992-4. [641] Durhuus T, Joergensen C, Mikkelsen B, Pedersen RJS, Stubkjaer KE. All optical wavelength conversion by SOA's in a Mach-Zehnder configuration. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.6, no.1, Jan. 1994, pp.53-5. 203

[642] Geraghty DF, Lee RB, Verdiell M, Ziari M, Mathur A, Vahala KJ. Wavelength conversion by four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.10, no.1, Jan. 1998, pp.69-71. [643] Cao S-C, Cartledge JC. Measurement based model of an SOA-MZI wavelength converter. LEOS 2002. 2002 IEEE/LEOS Annual Meeting Conference Proceedings. 15th Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and ElectroOptics Society (Cat. No.02CH37369). IEEE. Part vol.1, 2002, pp.113-14 vol.1. [644] Cao S-C, Cartledge JC. Measurement-based method for characterizing the intensity and phase modulation properties of SOA-MZI wavelength converters. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol.14, no.11, Nov. 2002, pp.1578-80.

204

Appendix A Material Properties

Material Properties of InP

Lattice Constant (ao) C11 [102] Elastic-stiffness constants C12 [102] C44 [105] Eo / P Hydrostatic pressure coefficient [105] a (Hydrostatic deformation potential) [102] b (Shear deformation potential) [102] Density Melting Pt. Debye Temperature Direct Energy Gap (300K) Band gap at 0K Eg(0) Effective mass (conduction band) Effective mass(heavy hole) Effective mass (light hole) Effective mass (split-off) Refractive Index near band gap Dielectric Constant e (0) n-substrate Dielectric Constant Semi-insulating sub [431] Dielectric Constant He implanted epi on SI[431] High Frequency Dielectric Constant e () Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (1e-6/C) Thermal Conductivity (W/cm K) Spin Orbit splitting Ionic Bonding Conductivty (ohm-cm) Base Wafer Specs Inpact Doping conc. S doped Fe doped 5.5e18 (2-8 wafer 1e16

5.8687 1.022x1012 dyn/cm2 0.576x1012 dyn/cm2 0.46x1012 dyn/cm2 11x10-12 eV/dyncm-2 -8.0eV -1.55eV 4.81 g/cm3 1335K 321K 1.34eV 1.421eV 0.075 (mo) 0.56 (mo) 0.12 (mo) 0.12 (mo) 3.41 12.61 13.3 15.5 9.61 4.75 0.68 0.11eV 42%

Thickness

Resistivity (ohm-cm)

center 330-370um across 330-370um 1.5E7

Etch density (cm-2) 500 4.9E4

Pit

205

THERMAL PROPERTIES OF SELECTED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS FROM CRC HANDBOOK Thermal Density Heat Capacity Conductivity Material (g/cm3) (J/kg/K) (W/cm K) BCB 0.29 SILK 0.19 AlN 1.7-1.9 3.25 819.7 Al2O3 0.36 3.9 BeO 2.6 2.85 Gold 3.15 19.3 Air 0.00026 Aluminum 2.47 Brass (70Cu-30Zn) 1.15 Copper 3.98 8.96 384.56 Diamond 25 Epoxy 0.0019 Magnesium 1.7 Platinum 0.734 Silver 4.28 Silicon 1.41 Solder (63Sn0.5 37Pb) Sapphire (a-axis) 0.32 Sapphire (c-axis) 0.35 Silicon Carbide 0.9
Silicon Dioxide (amorphous) Silicon Nitride Titanium Tungsten Zinc 0.014 0.16 - 0.33 0.157 1.78 1.13 2.843

206

Property Electrical Resistivity Dielectric Constant Dielectric Loss Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Bending Strength Hardness (Knoop) Youngs Modulus

Units Ohm-cm

AIuminum Nitride (AlN) >1014 8.9 0.0001 - 0.001

Al2O3 >1014 9.8 0.0002 8.2 380 14.1 372

BeO >1014 6.7 0.0003 8.5 230 9.8 345

10-6/oC MPa GPa GPa

4.6 290 11.8 331

207

APPENDIX B DEIMBEDDING MICROWAVE INDEX

TRL based calibration was done, using picoprobe 75um probes and a calibration substrate. Usually, traveling wave electrode structures desire

matching of both the characteristic impedance and the microwave index. The phase velocity was extracted from S parameter data on the transmission lines. This was done using an ABCD matrix[304]

(1+ s11 )(1+ s 22 ) - s12 s 21 - s 22 ) + s12 s 21 Z0r (1+ s11 )(12 s 21 2 s 21 A B = C D 1 (1- s11 )(1- s22 ) - s12 s21 (1- s11 )(1+ s22 ) + s12 s21 2 s 21 2 s 21 Z oR

[A-1]

Z0r is the impedance reference 50ohms.

The propagation constant is given by[304]

2 ( 1 (A + D) A + D) g = ln - 1 = a + jb L 2 2

[A-2]

Alpha is the attenuation coefficient (Np/unit length); Beta is the phase constant (rad/unit length)

208

The characteristic impedance is given by[304]:

Zo = B 2B R + jw L = Zo = = C D - A ( A + D) 2 - 4 g = R + jw L G + jw C

[A-3]

From the above equations we can determine the phase velocity:

v phase = 2pf b

[A-4]

209

APPENDIX C PROCESS
The process involves 12 different stepper plates as shown in the following table. Mask Levels Active/Passive Sampled Grating Layer Ridges Isolation etch InGaAs etch n-metal etch n-metal dep BCB Via Big Via Small P-Metallization

1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12

Modulator Process Semi-insulating Substrate

Step # 1 2 Description Base Structure Growth - Growth # Cleave into 4 quarters - Clean Acetone/Isopropanol/N2 PECVD Silicon Nitride Deposition Pre-clean PECVD 30 min SiN clean Deposit 1000 SiNx [SiN10] Measure on Ellipsometer Record index (n)_________________ Record Thickness___________ Photolithography Step #1 (Active/Passive) Hot plate bake [60 sec. at 110C] Spin coat HMDS [60 sec. at 4krpm] Photoresist coat Comments

Make sure the alignment is correct for the ridges!!!

210

SPR 950 [60 sec. at 4krpm] Hot plate bake [60 sec. at 95C] Stepper Program __MZ2/1 Expose Resist Pattern Develop resist [30 sec. in MF 701] DI rinse After Develop Inspection RIE#3 (Etch 1000 SiNx) 30 sec 250V O2 10mT descum in chamber 250V with CF4(20sccm) & O2(1.8sccm) at 10mT for 7min (32Watts) 3 min PR burn 200V O2 10mT Flood Expose - 2min develop MF-701. Acetone/Isopropanol/N2 Measure on Dektak Wet Etch (approx 1500A) Etch in H3PO4:HCl (3:1) - until bubbles subside - they tend to stick (1min to make sure it is through) Rinse in DI for 2min under a stream of water Mix H2SO4:H2O2:H2O (1:1:10) Let cool to room temperature (>30min) Etch 1min Time Thickness

Focus = __-16__ Exp = 1sec Translate Origin Pass Shift x = -11 ; y = 2.5 x = 19.25; y = 3.00

Nitride Mask Pattern

Nitride Thickness:

InP Cap Thickness:

Etch for additional 1/2 intervals until you reach the desired depth

Strip Nitride BOE Dip 20 minutes

Measure total height

PECVD Silicon Nitride Deposition Pre-clean PECVD 30 min SiN clean Deposit 200 SiNx w/ reference Si sample Measure on Ellipsometer Record index (n)

Record Thickness

211

10

11

Photolithography #2 (Sampled Grating Bursts) Dehydration Bake 2min at 105C Spin coat HMDS [1 min at 4krpm] SPR 950 [1 min at 4krpm] Hot plate bake [1 min. at 95C] Expose Sample Stepper Program MZ2/2 Exposure __1.5sec__Focus -10 Develop resist [25sec in MF-701] DI rinse RIE#3 (Etch 200 SiNx) 45 sec 200V O2 10mT descum in chamber 2.5 min etch [10mT] 200V 3 min PR burn 200V O2 10mT Flood expose develop 3min Acetone/Isopropanol/DI Measure on Dektak Record readings_______________ Strip Resist Expose Sample under aligner Develop in MF701 for 2 min. Acetone/Isopropanol/DI Stripper @ 90C 10minutes DI Rinse Photolithography #3 (Grating) (test sample 1st, then live sample) Turn laser on to warm up for 1 hr minimum Hot plate bake [1min at 105C] Spin coat HMDS [1 min at 5krpm] Spin on SPR 3001 [1 min at 5krpm] Hot plate bake [1min at 95C] Load sample on the vacuum holder Adjust angular alignment on the holder Grating pattern exp. [35mJ] Develop resist 25sec MF701 DI rinse with slight agitation in DI beaker N2 Dry very carefully Mount sample on test stage Place turning mirror in laser path Align reflection to pass through both slits Read L from ruler distance between

Translate Origin x = -11; y = 2.5 Pass Shift x = 18.4624; y = 3.9507

[CF4 = 20 sccm] [O2 = 1.8sccm] 20 Watts

Note: if the water sticks to the sample the 3001 will also.

Notes: this step is tricky. Sometimes the PR will not stick properly

Should give approx 700A PR thickness

D = 23 inches For 1545nm center, the L should be close to .95.

212

12 13 14

15

16

17 18

19

20 21

incident and diffracted beams Calculate the grating period Period ______________nm PEII 10 sec. at 100W AFM to Insure that the gratings are okay Dry Etch Gratings (RIE II) Clean chamber w/O2 20 sccm 30 min at 125mT and 500V Precoat with MHA 4/20/10 sccm 15 min at 75mT and 200V Load sample Etch using MHA 4/20/10 sccm 7.5 min at 75mT and 170V O2 Plasma 20 sccm 5 min at 200V Strip Resist ACE/ISO/N2/ Stripper 10min 80C AFM to examine the gratings H2SO4 dip 1 min SiN Removal BOE (10:1) dip for 20 min. DI rinse 5min UV- Ozone 1 hour BOE (10:1) dip for 15 sec. DI rinse 5min Regrowth SiNx Deposition Pre-clean PECVD 30 min SiN clean Load sample Deposit 1000 SiNx Measure thickness Measure refractive index Photolithography (Ridge) Bake [ 105C 1min] HMDS [ 1min 4krpm] SPR 950 [ 1min 4krpm] Bake [ 95C 1min] Expose on stepper MZ2/2 Develop in MF701 25 sec Descum (RIE#3) 15 sec. at 200V and O2 at 10 mT RIE 3 (Etch 1000 SiNx)

If gratings are good the area will appear blue

Focus -16 Exposure 1.5sec

213

22

23

24

Preclean Chamber O2 20 sccm 20 min at 50mT and 500V Load sample Etch SiNx CF4/O2 20sccm/1.8sccm 7 min at 250V Descum O2 20 sccm 5 min at 10mT and 200V Strip Resist Flood expose/ Develop in MF701 2min ACE/ISO/N2/ Stripper 10min 80C Dry Etch Ridge (RIE II) Clean w/O2 20 sccm 20 min at 125mT and 500V Precoat with MHA 4/20/10 sccm 15 min at 75mT and 500V Load sample Etch using MHA 4/20/10 sccm 10min at 75mT and 500V O2 Descum 5 min at 125mT and 300V Wet Etch (selective clean up etch) Mix H3PO4:HCl (3:1) Wet etch sample until bubbles stop (2min) DI rinse with beam / N2 blow dry Passivation Etch Lower C in modulators Bake [105C 2min] HMDS [4000RPM 1min] 220-7 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [115C 1min] Pattern with BCB layer 4.5sec exposure Develop 1.5minutes MF701 Passivation Dry Etch (RIE II) Clean chamber w/O2 20 sccm 30 min at 125mT and 500V Precoat with MHA 4/20/10 sccm 15 min at 75mT and 200V Load sample Etch using MHA 4/20/10 sccm 7.5 min at 75mT and 170V O2 Plasma 20 sccm 5 min at 200V SiNx Removal BOE (10:1) dip for 15 min.

Measure on Dektak

Time based on exp. Measure on Dektak

25

/Detectors

26

27

214

28

29

30

DI rinse 5min SiNx Deposition Pre-clean PECVD 30 min SiN clean Load sample Deposit 2000 SiNx Measure thickness Measure refractive index Photolithography [n-etch] Bake [105C 2min] HMDS [4000RPM 1min] 220-7 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [115C 90sec] Exposure MZ2/netch RIE #3 SiNx Etch (2000A) Preclean Chamber O2 20 sccm 20 min at 50mT and 500V Load sample Etch SiNx CF4/O2 20sccm/1.8sccm 7 min at 250V Descum O2 20 sccm 5 min at 10mT and 200V Strip Resist Flood expose/ Develop in MF701 2min ACE/ISO/N2/ Stripper 10min 80C RIE #2 Etch Clean chamber w/O2 20 sccm 30 min at 125mT and 500V Precoat with MHA 4/20/10 sccm 15 min at 75mT and 200V Load sample Etch using MHA 4/20/10 sccm (15 + 20 + 6) min at 75mT and 450V O2 Plasma 20 sccm 5 min at 200V InP Wet Etch Mix H3PO4:HCl (3:1) Wet etch sample until bubbles stop (2min) Dektak Photolithography N-Metal Bake [105C 2min] HMDS [4000RPM 1min] PMGI SF11 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [165C 1min]

4.5sec

31

32

Need to etch through QWs and waveguide in certain areas then a wet etch can proceed.

33

34

215

35

36

37

4110 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [95C 30sec] 4110 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [95C 1min] Exposure MZ2/netch Deposition Preparation 30sec RIE #3 250V or PE II UV Ozone 10min BOE Dip (1:10) 30 sec. 5 min DI rinse HCl (1:10 H20) 15 sec 2 min DI rinse Load Immediately N Metal Deposition Load sample in E-Beam #1 Evaporate Ni/AuGe/Ni/Au (50/200/200/10000) Lift-off with Acetone and pipette Remove SF11 with Stripper 10min 80C DI Rinse Anneal Strip Annealer 430-450C 30sec SiNx Deposition Pre-clean PECVD 30 min SiN clean Load sample Deposit 2000 SiNx Measure thickness Measure refractive index Photolithography - Isolation Etch Bake [105C 2min] HMDS [4000RPM 1min] 220-7 [3000RPM 1min] Bake [115C 90sec] Exposure Isolation Etch MZ2/2 Develop 1.5min MF-701 RIE #2 Etch Clean chamber w/O2 20 sccm 30 min at 125mT and 500V Precoat with MHA 4/20/10 sccm 15 min at 75mT and 200V Load sample Etch using MHA 4/20/10 sccm

2.5sec Exposure

1 pellet of AuGe deposited to completion

Test the contacts make sure they are good.

38

39

3.75sec exposure

40

Want to etch through 500A n+ InGaAs layer and 0.5um n-InP layer

216

41

42

10 min at 75mT and 450V O2 Plasma 20 sccm 5 min at 200V Photolithography (Implant) Bake [105C 2min] HMDS [4000RPM 1min] PMGI SF15 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [165C 1min] 220-7 [3000RPM 1min] Bake [115C 90sec] Expose MZ2/2 Develop MF-701 90 sec. DUV Exposure 5 minutes Develop SAL-101 1 min. Deep UV Flood exposure 100 sec. Develop SAL-101 30sec Dektak PR thickness Implant (Isolation Implant ) Implant with H per table 20keV 4x10E13cm-2 55keV 5x10E13cm-2 110keV 7x10E13cm-2 175keV 9x10E13cm-2 Strip Resist Flood expose/ Develop in MF-701 2min ACE/ISO/N2 Stripper 10min 80C SiNx Removal BOE (10:1) dip for 15 min. DI rinse 5min SiNx Deposition (3000A) Pre-clean PECVD 30 min SiN clean Load sample Deposit 3000 SiNx Measure thickness Measure refractive index Photo-lithography InGaAs Etch Bake [105C 1min] 220-3 [4000RPMs 1min] Bake [115C 90sec] Exposure MZ2/ Develop MF-701 1min RIE 3 (Etch 3000 SiNx)

4.5sec Exposure

43

44

45

46

2.5sec

47

217

48

49

50

51

52

53

Preclean Chamber O2 20 sccm 20 min at 50mT and 500V Load sample and align laser monitor Etch SiNx CF4/O2 20sccm/1.8sccm 21 min at 250V Descum O2 20 sccm 5 min at 10mT and 250V Strip Resist Flood expose/ Develop in MF-701 2min ACE/ISO/N2 Stripper 10min 80C Remove InGaAs contact layer Etch InP Cap off H3PO4:HCl 3:1 10sec DI Rinse 2min H3PO4/H2O2/H20 (3:1:50) DI Rinse Deposit BCB Spin BCB Adhesion Promoter [5000RPM 1min] Photo-BCB [5000RPMs 1min] Cure [70C 1min] Exposure MZ2/BCB2 5sec Develop on Spinner Puddle BCB developer 1min Spin [1 min 4000RPMs] Puddle BCB developer 1min Spin [1 min 4000RPMs] Bake in Programable oven program #2 Deposit SiNx (1000A) Pre-clean PECVD 30 min SiN clean Load sample Deposit 1000 SiNx Measure thickness Measure refractive index BCB Via #1 Bake [105C 1min] HMDS [4000RPMs 1min] 220-7 [4000RPMs 1min] Bake [115C 1min] Expose MZ2/Via 3.75sec Develop MF-701 1.5min RIE #3 Etch SiN + BCB

1min

X = 3.9498; Y = -2.9607

218

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

Preclean Chamber O2 20 sccm 20 min at 50mT and 500V Load sample Etch SiNx CF4/O2 20sccm/1.8sccm 7 min at 250V Etch BCB CF4/O2 4sccm/16sccm 20mT 350V 10 + 10 + 5 + 3 min BCB Via #2 Bake [105C 1min] HMDS [4000RPMs 1min] 220-3 [4000RPMs 1min] Expose MZ2/Via 2sec Develop MF-701 1min RIE #3 Etch SixNy Preclean Chamber O2 20 sccm 20 min at 50mT and 500V Load sample Etch SixNy CF4/O2 20sccm/1.8sccm 16 min at 350V Laser Via Bake [105C 1min] 220-7 [4000RPMs 1min] Bake [115C 90sec] Exposure MZ2/Via2 1.2sec exp Develop MF-701 35sec RIE #3 O2 Preclean Chamber O2 20 sccm 20 min at 50mT and 500V Load sample Etch O2 20sccm 300V 5 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 1 + 1.5 + 2 + 2 RIE #3 SiNy etch Etch SixNy CF4/O2 20sccm/1.8sccm 18 min at 350V Strip Resist Flood expose/ Develop in MF-701 2min ACE/ISO/N2 Stripper 10min 80C Photolithography P-Metal Bake [105C 2min] HMDS [4000RPM 1min] PMGI SF11 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [165C 1min]

Etch widens out with O2 so another Patterning is required

X = 3.9498; Y = -2.9607

Etch widens out with O2 so another patterning is required

219

61

62

63

64

4110 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [95C 30sec] 4110 [4000RPM 1min] Bake [95C 1min] Exposure MZ2/pmetal Develop AZ400K [1:4 1min] DUV 5min Develop SAL-101 1min PEII [30sec 100W] UV Ozone 10min BOE [1:10 30sec] DI Rinse 5min P-Metal Deposition Load sample in E-Beam #3 Evaporate Ti/Pt/Au (200/400/5000) Load into E-Beam #1 Evaporate Ti/Au (200/10000) Lift-off with Acetone and pipette Remove SF11 with Stripper 10min 80C DI Rinse Photolithography SiNy on nmetal Etch Bake [105C 2min] HMDS [4000RPM 1min] 220-7 [3000RPM 1min] Bake [115C 90sec] Exposure N-metal Dep MZ2/nmetal Develop 1.5min MF-701 RIE #3 SiNy Etch Preclean Chamber O2 20 sccm 20 min at 50mT and 500V Load sample Etch SiNx CF4/O2 20sccm/1.8sccm 21 min at 350V Descum O2 20 sccm 5 min at 10mT and 200V Verify that the contacts are good before thinning wafer Wafer Thinning Attach sample to Silicon wafer with crystalbond Use wood pieces to insure that the sample is flat. Place vacuum on top of sample and Let cool to room temperature Lap sample to 100um using 12um grit in

2.5sec Exposure

No Angle Angled Spinning

3.75sec exposure

220

65

66

67

68 69

a figure 8 pattern. Dismount the silicon wafer for metalization. N-Type metallization Place sample in Ebeam #3 Deposit Ti/Pt/Au 200/400/5000 for back side Contact Metal Anneal Strip annealer 30 sec at 390C Cleave samples into Bars Heat the silicon wafer to 130C and gently slide the samples off the silicon Clean in Acetone/Isopropanol Scribe and cleave into laser bars AR Coating Test Devices

221