Low power 2 × 2 thermo-optic SOI waveguide switch fabricated by anisotropy chemical etching

✍ Scribed by Jinsong Xia; Jinzhong Yu; Zhangtao Wang; Zhongchao Fan; Shaowu Chen

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 287 KB
• Volume: 232
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0030-4018
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2003.12.074

✦ Synopsis

A 2 Â 2 thermo-optic (TO) Mach-Zehnder (MZ) switch based on silicon waveguides with large cross section was designed and fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. The multi-mode interferometers (MMI) were used as power splitter and combiner in MZ structure. In order to get smooth interface, anisotropy chemical wet-etching of silicon was used to fabricate the waveguides instead of dry-etching. Additional grooves were introduced to reduce power consumption. The device has a low switching power of 235 mW and a switching speed of 60 ls.