Equivalent Circuit Model of the Carrier-Depletion-Based Push-Pull Silicon Optical Modulators With T-Rail Slow Wave Electrodes

Abstract

The t-rail electrode is an effective method to enhance the silicon optoelectronic modulator's performance. To design and optimize T-rail electrodes, engineers often rely on finite-element numerical simulations that require complex device modeling and enormous computing resources. In this paper, we present an equivalent circuit model for carrier-depletion-based push-pull silicon modulators with T-rail electrodes. The analytical solution for the bandwidth of the modulator can be derived from the equivalent circuit. The utilization of the analytical solution offers advantages in terms of memory conservation and flexibility. The values calculated by the equivalent circuit model are in excellent agreement with the numerical full-wave HFSS simulations. Hence, the proposed model can accurately and efficiently develop silicon optical modulators.