Photonic Integrated Circuits

This seminar report is submitted to Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering

(An Autonomous Institution Affiliated to Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University)

in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the course code ET327 of

BE in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering

by

Abhay Kukade Roll no. 40 Sem. 6th/ Sec.A

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

Nagar Yuwak Shikshan Santhas

YESHWANTRAO CHAVAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,

(An autonomous institution affiliated to Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur)

NAGPUR 441 110 2012-2013

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

Certified that the project report entitled Photonic Integrated Circuits has been successfully completed by Abhay Kukade in recognition to the partial fulfillment for the award of the Course Code ET327 of BE in Electronics and Telecommunication

Engineering, Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering (An Autonomous Institution

Affiliated to Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University).

Signature of Examiner-1 Name:

Signature of Examiner-2 Name:

Signature of Examiner-3 Name:

Date of Examination:

Signature Dr. P. L. Zade (HoD, ET Dept.)

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Contents
Page No. ii iii iv v vii ix x xi xii

Title Page Certificate of Approval Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Literature Review Chapter 3 Description Chapter 4 Advantages & Disadvantages Chapter 5 Applications Chapter 6 Conclusion and Future scope References

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Chapter 1 Introduction

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) or integrated optical circuit is a device that integrates multiple photonic functions and as such is analogous to an electronic integrated circuit. The major difference between the two is that a photonic integrated circuit provides functionality for information signals imposed on optical wavelengths typically in the visible spectrum or near infrared i.e 850 nm-1650 nm. Photonic chips generate, manipulate, and detect light rather than electrons. The technology of electronic integrated circuits has reflected numerous achievements such as complex, powerful microprocessors containing million transistors, specialised signal processors or computer memory chips with voluminous data storage capacity. It is expected that all major networking optical function like amplification, mux/demux, switching, transmitting or receiving will be performed by a single chip. A 2005 development solved a quantum noise problem that prevented silicon from being used to generate laser light, permitting new integrated circuits to use high-bandwidth laser light generated within the circuit itself as a signal medium. Many optical devices like optical amplifiers, multiplexers, de-multiplexers, optical lasers, attenuators and also detectors are integrated on to a Photonic Integrated Circuit. For a large-scale operation of such a device thousands of optical devices will be integrated on to the device.

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

Photonic Integrated Circuit is considered as a technology for next generation networks. In 2004, David Welch, cofounder of Infinera, an optical networks company, introduced a chip with 50 nanoscale optical components patterned into its surface named as Photonic Integrated Circuit. This is the fastest Optical Chip, 2 cm wide strip featuring four patterned gold-coloured rectangles, which contain a total of 240 patterned optical components. This chip developed by Infinera, 1.6 terabit version is considered as the fastest optical chip in the world and is expected to commercialise very soon. The 1.6 terabit version comprises of 40 lasers, 40 detectors, 40 modulators, 40 channels, and every modulator encodes data four times faster. The previously developed chips succeeded in integrating only a few devices on a single chip. The 100 gigabit version was the first device and was efficient to send and receive 100 gigabits of information per second. The 100 gigabit version comprised of 10 lasers, 10 detectors, 10 modulators that encode data by switching light on and off, and 10 waveguides that direct photons into a multiplexer. Due to recent investments by government and industry, silicon-based photonics has a chance of becoming the mainstream photonics technology. This paper presents a survey of recent results found in journal articles and conference proceedings Emerging trends in silicon-based photonic components (waveguides, ultrafast modulators, switches, light sources, detectors, direct bandgap SiGeSn/GeSn devices, photonic-crystal and plasmonic devices) are identified and discussed. In principle, Si PICs and OEICs can operate anywhere within the 0.3 to 100 m wavelength rangeenabling transceivers, onchip processing, and interfacing with fibers or free-space light beams. Thus, in addition to the very important 1.55 m telecomm applications, there are significant Si photonic opportunities throughout the infrared-and visible spectrum. The push towards smarter, ever-denser on-chip photonic networks, drives a convergence of micro-, nano- and plasmo- photonic techniques for progressively smaller devices (Moores law for photonics) and for improved functionality of modulators, switches, emitters, detectors, waveguides, resonators, tapers and filters. This convergence includes composite components: monolithic integration of microstrip waveguides, 2D and 3D photoniccrystal elements and metal/Si plasmon-optics that ultilize buried or surface-mounted 2D arrays of metal stripes or nanodots. v

Today, the telecomm/datacomm applications at 1.5-1.6 m are the principal drivers of silicon photonics (1.55 m is also an eye-safe wavelength for military applications), however it is worth considering applications at other wavelength regions because those uses could become economically significant. The wavelength range over which a Sibased photonic integrated circuit (PIC) or optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) can operate depends upon whether the photonic waveguide material is silicon or another material. Intrinsic silicon is transparent from its 1.1 m indirect bandgap wavelength out to about 100 m, allowing a wide scope for silicon waveguide operation. Moreover, if the core layer of the silicon waveguide is very thin (several nanometers) and is quantum confined, then the Si bandgap widens and the Si transparency extends to shorter wavelengths, 800 nm or less, enabling visible and near-infrared waveguide transmission. In situations where the optical signal beams are incident normally from free space upon the OEIC chip, as in the optical interconnect arrangement, the chip will work over 450 to 850-nm if the chip contains Si photodetectors and Si CMOS light emitters. A waveguided version of this OEIC will be feasible if the waveguide cores are silicon nitride..

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Chapter 3 Description
The main difference between PIC and Electronic Integrated Circuits is in the type of material that is used for its fabrication. In the case of an electronic IC, the most dominant material that is used is silicon. But, in the case of PIC, the fabrication material mainly depends on the purpose of the device. That is the material will depend on the function that is to be integrated by the device. The most common materials that are used for its fabrication are a mixture of silica on silicon, silicon on insulator, and so on. Apart from these mixtures even some types of polymers and semiconductor materials are also used to make lasers like which are used to make semiconductor lasers such as Gallium Arsenide [GaAs] and Indium Phosphide [InP]. A light emitting diode (LED) is known to be one of the best optoelectronic devices out of the lot. The device is capable of emitting a fairly narrow bandwidth of visible or invisible light when its internal diode junction attains a forward electric current or voltage. We know that a P-N junction can connect the absorbed light energy into its proportional electric current. The same process is reversed here. That is, the P-N junction emits light when energy is applied on it. The electrons dissipate energy in the form of heat for silicon and germanium diodes. But in Galium- Arsenide-phosphorous (GaAsP) and Galium-phosphorous (GaP) semiconductors, the electrons dissipate energy by emitting photons.

The fabrication methods for both the devices are the same. Photolithographic methods for etching and deposition of material are the same.

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The difference is in the primary device that is used for fabrication. In an electronic integrated circuit the main device is the transistor. But, in PIC, there is no particular main device that dominates in the fabrication. According to its application, the ranges of fabrication devices are different as the devices that are to be integrated are more than that used in an electronic integrated circuit. The devices ranges from optical amplifiers, filters, low loss-high efficiency interconnect waveguides, detectors, power splitters, modulators and lasers. As different materials are required to fabricate all these devices on a single chip, the procedures and steps become very difficult. But lately researchers have developed methods to make PICs using resonant photonic interferometry process. Through this method, we can easily develop ultra violet light emitting diodes (LED) in a cost efficient way. With the use of such LEDs we can easily overcome optical computing problems. Photonic Integration Methods: There are mainly two types of photonic integration methods. They are: Hybrid Photonic Integration and Monolithic Photonic Integration In the case of Hybrid Photonic Integration, the developed integrated IC will be a single package. This package will consist of a number of photonic devices which is used for the same function. Due to this advantage, a lot of ICs are made through this method so as to combine a lot of integrated optic devices. In the case of Monolithic Photonic Integration, a lot of optical devices of different functions are combined together to form a single IC. The manufacture of such a device is difficult as the fabrication materials required will be numerous. All these materials have to be fabricated to construct and integrate into a common substrate. Thus, a number of functions can be done on a single chip.

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Chapter 4 Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages:
Photonic integrated circuits can allow optical systems to be made more compact and higher performance than with discrete optical components. They also offer the possibility of integration with electronic circuits to provide increased functionality. One challenge to achieving this level of integration is the size discrepancy between electronic and photonic components.The emerging field of nanoplasmonics is focused on creating ultracompact components for realizing truly nanoscale photonic devices to match their electronic counterparts. An example of the new breed of components is a recently proposed novel type of bandpass plasmonic filter that uses a response similar to electromagnetically induced transparency to achieve multichannel filtering. This allows easy control over the filtering wavelengths and bandwidths for applications in wavelength multiplexing systems for optical computing and communications in highly integrated all-optical circuits. Photonic integrated circuits should also be immune to the hazards of functionality losses associated with electromagnetic pulse (EMP), though may not be immune to highneutron flux.

Disadvantages:
One of the obstacles of PIC is cost, since optical equipment is expensive. Other obstacles are space and timedue to speedy developments, life cycles of equipment are shrinking. Optical connections between waveguides and couplers are more critical than electrical connections. They exhibit optical losses, and to overcome this problem, an optical amplifier is required.

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Chapter 5 Applications

The primary application for photonic integrated circuits is in the area of fiber-optic communication though applications in other fields such as biomedical and photonic computingare also possible. The arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) which are commonly used as optical (de)multiplexers in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) fiber-optic communication systems are an example of a photonic integrated circuit which has replaced previous multiplexing schemes which utilized multiple discrete filter elements. Another example of a photonic integrated chip in wide use today in fiber-optic communication systems is the externally modulated laser (EML) which combines a distributed feed back laser diode with an electro-absorption modulator [3] on a single InP based chip. Used in biomedical and photonic computing. Used in Optical sensors and metrology.

Chapter 6 Conclusion and Future Scope

The greater reason for optimism today is that the killer apps that proved elusive in photonics for more than 30 years have now arrived. By all accounts, Internet and IP traffic growth continues to spiral upwards, and networks are becoming strained. Recent Heavy Reading research in optical transport has shown immediate operator demand not just for 40Gbit/s transport, but also for 100G: In a worldwide survey of network operators conducted byHeavy Reading in the third quarter of 2007, 37 percent of respondents predicted that 100G transport would reach wide-scale deployment in their backbone networks in the 20102012 timeframe. It is part of recommendations by the Optical Internetworking Forum for inclusion in 100 gigahertz optical networking standards. The development of this technology has not yet reached its high end. Through constant research, people are trying to make this technology a common, low cost, and highly efficient one. But, in future it is sure that almost all electronic ICs will be replaced by PIC. There may also be cases where the integration of both electronics and optics will be possible.

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References
Books: Diode Lasers and Photonic Integrated Circuits - By Larry A. Coldren, Scott W. Corzine, Milan L. Mashanovitch Internet: circuitstoday.com computer.financialexpress.com www.wikipedia.com

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