Monolithic back-end-of-line integration of phase change materials into foundry-manufactured silicon photonics

14Citations
Citations of this article
28Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Monolithic integration of novel materials without modifying the existing photonic component library is crucial to advancing heterogeneous silicon photonic integrated circuits. Here we show the introduction of a silicon nitride etch stop layer at select areas, coupled with low-loss oxide trench, enabling incorporation of functional materials without compromising foundry-verified device reliability. As an illustration, two distinct chalcogenide phase change materials (PCMs) with remarkable nonvolatile modulation capabilities, namely Sb2Se3 and Ge2Sb2Se4Te1, were monolithic back-end-of-line integrated, offering compact phase and intensity tuning units with zero-static power consumption. By employing these building blocks, the phase error of a push-pull Mach–Zehnder interferometer optical switch could be reduced with a 48% peak power consumption reduction. Mirco-ring filters with >5-bit wavelength selective intensity modulation and waveguide-based >7-bit intensity-modulation broadband attenuators could also be achieved. This foundry-compatible platform could open up the possibility of integrating other excellent optoelectronic materials into future silicon photonic process design kits.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Wei, M., Xu, K., Tang, B., Li, J., Yun, Y., Zhang, P., … Lin, H. (2024). Monolithic back-end-of-line integration of phase change materials into foundry-manufactured silicon photonics. Nature Communications, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47206-7

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free