Efficient thermo-optic micro-ring phase shifter made of PECVD silicon-rich amorphous silicon carbide

2022/09/26 by Li-Yang Sunny Chang, Chang, Li-Yang Sunny, Steve Pappert +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Optics (physics.optics) #Photonic Crystals and Applications #Photonic and Optical Devices #Thin-Film Transistor Technologies

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2209.13033

openalex publication_date 2022/09/26 · openalex created_date 2022/10/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

In this work, the thermo-optic coefficient (TOC) of the silicon-rich amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) thin film deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition is characterized. We found that the TOC of the film increases as its silicon content increases. A more than three-fold improvement in the TOC is measured, reaching a TOC as high as 1.88 × 10^-4 K^-1, which is comparable to that of crystalline silicon. An efficient thermo-optic phase shifter has also been demonstrated by integrating the silicon-rich a-SiC micro-ring structure with a NiCr heater. Its tuning efficiency P_π as low as 4.4 mW has been measured at an optical wavelength of 1550 nm. These findings make silicon-rich a-SiC a good material candidate for thermo-optic applications in photonic integrated circuits.

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