Silicon Nitride in Silicon Photonics

Silicon Nitride in Silicon
Photonics
This paper reviews the state of the art of silicon nitride waveguide platforms, with their
capabilities complimentary to those of silicon-in-insulator platforms, among others,
with respect to the loss levels and the power handling properties.
DANIEL J. B LUMENTHAL , Fellow IEEE, R ENÉ H EIDEMAN , D OUWE G EUZEBROEK , A RNE L EINSE ,
AND C HRIS ROELOFFZEN
ABSTRACT | The silicon nitride (Si3 N4 ) planar waveguide plat- filters, highly coherent lasers, optical signal processing cir-
form has enabled a broad class of low-loss planar-integrated cuits, nonlinear optical devices, frequency comb generators,
devices and chip-scale solutions that benefit from trans- and biophotonic system-on-chip. This review paper covers the
parency over a wide wavelength range (400–2350 nm) and history of low-loss Si3 N4 waveguide technology and a survey of
fabrication using wafer-scale processes. As a complimentary worldwide research in a variety of device and applications as
platform to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and III–V photonics, Si3 N4 well as the status of Si3 N4 foundries.
waveguide technology opens up a new generation of system-
KEYWORDS | Biophotonics; lasers; microwave photonics;
on-chip applications not achievable with the other platforms
optical device fabrication; optical fiber devices; optical fil-
alone. The availability of low-loss waveguides (<1 dB/m) that
ters; optical resonators; optical sensors; optical waveguides;
can handle high optical power can be engineered for linear and
photonic-integrated circuits; quantum entanglement; silicon
nonlinear optical functions, and that support a variety of pas-
nitride; silicon photonics; spectroscopy
sive and active building blocks opens new avenues for system-
on-chip implementations. As signal bandwidth and data rates
continue to increase, the optical circuit functions and com- I. I N T R O D U C T I O N
plexity made possible with Si3 N4 has expanded the practical Photonic-integrated circuits (PICs) are poised to enable an
application of optical signal processing functions that can increasing number of applications including data commu-
reduce energy consumption, size and cost over today’s digital nications and telecommunications [1], [2], biosensing [3],
electronic solutions. Researchers have been able to push the positioning and navigation [4], low noise microwave
performance photonic-integrated components beyond other synthesizers [5], spectroscopy [6], radio-frequency (RF)
integrated platforms, including ultrahigh Q resonators, optical signal processing [7], quantum communication [8], and
atomic clocks [9]. Emerging system-on-chip applications
are driving the demand for PICs that operate over an
Manuscript received February 19, 2018; revised July 10, 2018; accepted July 11, unprecedented optical bandwidth range, from the visi-
2018. Date of publication September 26, 2018; date of current version
November 20, 2018. This work was supported in part by Defense Advanced
ble wavelength (∼400 nm) out to beyond the infrared
Research Project Agency (DARPA) Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) Space (>2.3 μm), and deliver performance previously only
and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) (DoD-N
W911NF-04-9-0001 iPhoD HR0011-09-C-01233, EPHI HR0011-12-C-0006, iWOG
achievable with bulk optic technologies.
HR0011-14-C-0111, PRIGM:AIMS N66001- 16-C-4017) and Keysight In this paper, we review the history and state of the
Technologies. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those
of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies of
art in silicon nitride (Si3 N4 ) photonics, a third inte-
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the U.S. Government or gration platform that is complimentary in characteris-
KeySight Technologies. (Corresponding author: Daniel J. Blumenthal.)
D. J. Blumenthal is with the Department of Electrical and Computer
tics and performance to the silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
Engineering, University of California–Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 photonics and group III–V photonics platforms and is
USA (e-mail: danb@ucsb.edu).
compatible with foundry-scale processes. Si3 N4 PIC tech-
R. Heideman, D. Geuzebroek, A. Leinse, and C. Roeloffzen are with LioniX
International BV, 7521 AN Enschede, The Netherlands (e-mail: nology offers low optical attenuation, from the visible to
r.g.heideman@lionix-int.com; d.h.geuzebroek@lionix-int.com;
beyond the infrared, a range not accessible with the other
a.leinse@lionix-int.com; c.g.h.roeloffzen@lionix-int.com).
platforms. Today, SOI offers large volume photonic inte-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JPROC.2018.2861576 gration through traditional complementary metal–oxide–
0018-9219 c 2018 IEEE. Translations and content mining are permitted for academic research only. Personal use is also permitted,
but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Vol. 106, No. 12, December 2018 | P ROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE 2209
Blumenthal et al.: Silicon Nitride in Silicon Photonics
Fig. 1. Bend radii, propagation loss, and window of transparency for published Si3 N4 , SOI, and InP waveguides.
semiconductor (CMOS) infrastructure. Traditional SOI II. H I S T O R Y O F Si3 N4 I N T E G R AT E D

photonics employs high-contrast waveguides formed from PHOTONICS
a silicon core surrounded by oxide cladding, keeping the Si3 N4 waveguides have been of interest since the late
light tightly confined to the core [1]. These strongly con- 1970s with several historical summaries written, including
fining waveguides lead to very compact photonic circuits an invited article by Munoz et al. [16] and several arti-
with small bend radii and moderate waveguide losses on cles in the recent IEEE J OURNAL ON S ELECTED A REAS
the order of 0.1 dB/cm. The widely used group III–V IN Q UANTUM E LECTRONICS (IEEE JSTQE) Special Issue
photonics material indium phosphide (InP) is a foundry on Ultralow Loss Planar Waveguides and Their Appli-
scale process that provides waveguides with optical gain cations [17]. Early motivation to investigate Si3 N4 pho-
and efficient signal modulation in the telecommunications tonic circuits was a platform that resided on a silicon
wavebands [10]. InP is used in many standalone PIC appli- substrate, utilized compatible silicon processing technolo-
cations and as a gain block for SOI PICs with a tradeoff in gies, and addressed applications at wavelengths where
higher waveguide losses (2 to 0.4 dB/cm [11]) and larger silicon is absorbing [toward the short end of infrared (IR)
bend radii, as compared to SOI. into the visible]. Today, a wealth of applications have
Si3 N4 PIC technology provides lower loss waveguides emerged that leverage this third wafer-scale platform to
and building blocks complimentary to SOI and III–V PICs. complement the capabilities of SOI and III–V waveguide
Si3 N4 is traditionally used in standard CMOS processes technologies.
to insulate individual transistors, known as local oxi-
dation of silicon (LOCOS), and is also used as gate
material in ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFETs) A. The Early Days
purposes [12]. Optical waveguides employ a core layer of Early work focused on fabrication of thin film slab
Si3 N4 embedded in a surrounding silicon dioxide (SiO2 ) waveguides that guided 632-nm light [18], [19] and
cladding material. The refractive index of the cladding employed Si3 N4 cores with a silicon dioxide lower cladding
at 1.55-μm wavelength (1.98 for SiO2 ) and core (1.45 layer formed on a silicon substrate. These structures
for Si3 N4 ) allows for designs that range from low- to were formed by thermally oxidizing silicon to form a
high-contrast waveguides with low propagation losses in lower waveguide cladding layer on top of the silicon
the range of 0.3 dB/m to 1.0 dB/cm over the range substrate, followed by subsequent deposition of Si3 N4
from ∼400 to – 2350 nm. In general, the waveguide loss as the waveguide core layer. As is the case today, the
and minimum bend radius are design tradeoffs based on thermally grown lower cladding layer thickness must be
desired performance, footprint and optical power density, sufficient (in the several micrometers to 15-μm range) to
and vary for each integration platform. Fig. 1 summarizes minimize absorption in the silicon substrate, and is depen-
published data on waveguide propagation loss, minimum dent on the optical waveguide confinement. Thermally
bend radius, and wavelength operating range for Si3 N4 , oxidized silica remains one of the lowest loss oxide-based
SOI, and InP waveguides [13]– [15]. cladding materials due to a low surface roughness from
2210 P ROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE | Vol. 106, No. 12, December 2018
the original high-quality silicon substrate and the absence LASOR project at UCSB was funded under this pro-
hydrogen in the material and growth process. The higher gram to demonstrate a photonic chip-based all-optical
index waveguide core is formed using deposition tech- packet router [27], [28]. PICs were developed for packet
niques like chemical vapor deposition (CVD) followed by synchronization, buffering, and switching [29] using
patterning and etch steps to form channel waveguides. hybrid-integrated InP, SOI, and silica waveguide chips.
Early devices employed an air upper cladding design, with Optical packet buffers were designed to store packets as
later advancements in upper cladding oxide deposition is done in electronic routers. The buffers used InP 2 × 2
used to reduce losses dominated by surface roughness and optical switches to direct packets in and out of silica on
lithography induced waveguide scattering and material silicon waveguide delays [30], but the delay line and InP
optical absorption. to silica waveguide coupling losses limited storage to less
One of the first reported silicon nitride/silicon diox- than ten packet circulations. In the 2009 period, DARPA
ide (Si3 N4 /SiO2 ) waveguides was a single-mode channel established the iPHOD program to address on-chip losses
waveguide [20] with 1–2-dB/cm propagation loss. These and to provide compact, low-cost, power-efficient, high
early stage losses compared favorably to today’s state-of- power handling waveguide technologies for a spectrum
the-art SOI waveguide losses ∼0.3 dB/cm [21] and optical of applications including RF microwave photonic links
fiber 0.4160-dB/km record loss [22]. Efforts focused on [31], [32], true time delay antenna beam steering using
loss reduction by minimizing variations in core and upper switchable optical delay lines [33], and optical gyroscopes
cladding material density and lithography and etching [34] as well as packet storage. The primary goal of
induced waveguide roughness. Thermal annealing tech- iPHOD was to reduce on-chip waveguide propagation loss
niques were employed after deposition to drive out absorp- to 0.01 dB/m over lengths of 25 m, several orders of
tion impurities. Combined with improved CVD processes, magnitude lower than what had been achieved previously.
record low losses (0.1 dB/cm) at the time were achieved. UCSB’s iPHOD effort, in collaboration with LioniX, led
Annealing at elevated temperatures led to densification to a record low 0.045-dB/m loss at 1580 nm in 20-m-
of the deposited films and reduced optical scattering by long waveguide spiral delay lines [35]. High aspect ratio
unwanted material clusters formed during CVD. In 1987, Si3 N4 cores with a 40-nm Si3 N4 thick core minimized
lower than 0.3-dB/cm loss in the communications wave- sidewall scattering. A thin layer of conformal LPCVD was
bands (1.3–1.6 μm) was reported by Henry et al. [23]. deposited over the etched waveguides and planarized
These waveguides were designed with tightly confined using chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). The thermally
optical modes for low-loss coupling to buried heterostruc- grown oxide upper cladding layer was wafer-bonded to
ture semiconductor lasers. Losses in the telecommunica- the planarized LPCVD layer, to reduce absorption losses
tions waveband due to hydrogen (H)-based absorption and other loss mechanisms associated with deposited
peaks at 1.52 μm (in the Si3 N4 core) and 1.40 μm (in the oxide films [36], [35]. These waveguides supported high
SiO2 cladding) were identified with contributions of 1.2 optical power with very small induced nonlinear optical
and 2.2 dB/cm, respectively. phase shifts [37] as well as highly selective single mode
In 1993, fabrication of the first Si3 N4 PIC, designed transverse electric (TE) polarization propagation (>75-dB
for highly sensitive immuno-sensing [24], was reported. transverse magnetic loss relative to TE) [38]. However, the
Detection of the presence of proteins occurred in an etched bonded upper cladding approach limits the types of devices
portion of the waveguide cladding, where the mode in and PICs as well as added fabrication complexity and lower
the exposed optical core was influenced by the test mate- yield. Low-loss waveguides today employ tetraethoxysi-
rial. A low-loss visible wavelength sensing interferometer lane precursor plasma-enhanced chemical vapor depo-
on-chip demonstrated the capabilities of the emerging sition (TEOS–PECVD) upper cladding oxide deposition,
Si3 N4 PIC process. By the late 1990s, process and device resulting in losses on the order of 0.3 dB/m [14].
development in a related nitride-based material, silicon
oxynitride (SiOx Ny ) [25], [26], further advanced device C. Increasing Circuit Density and Optical
design and process capabilities of the nitrides as a whole. Nonlinearities
A wide range of SiOx Ny 1550-nm telecommunications The desire to make compact Si3 N4 devices [39], [40]
devices including filters, polarization splitters, fiber to and increase mode confinement for efficient optical non-
waveguide mode transformers, tunable optical add/drop linear interactions led researchers to develop thick nitride
multiplexers, thermally controlled optical switches, and waveguides (600 nm–6.5 μm) technologies and processing
bus-coupled ring resonators were demonstrated. techniques. The challenge was to overcome cracking that
precipitated from induced stresses of thick nitride films.
The MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology using inverted
B. The Push for Ultralow-Loss Waveguides slot designs for waveguides up to 900 nm in thickness
In 2003, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project [41] and Kippenberg’s group at EPFL developed the pho-
Agency (DARPA) established the data in the optical tonic Damascene process [42] for core thickness up to
domain networking (DOD-N) research program to advance 1.35 μm. Lipson’s group advanced a two-step nitride depo-
integrated optical packet routing PIC technologies. The sition technique where mechanical isolation trenches were
employed for waveguides with a core thickness of 910 nm

to fabricate a resonator with Q of seven million [43].
Advances in thick nitride waveguide technology continues
to push losses continually lower.
D. From Laboratory to Foundry

Multiple commercial foundry platforms have evolved
including LioniX’s TriPleX [44], Ligentec’s Damascene
[45], IMECs BioPIX [46], and the IMB-CNM [47]
processes. Commercialization of moderate optical mode
confinement Si3 N4 waveguides began in the 1980s and
early 1990s with transition of research at the University
of Twente, The Netherlands. Two efforts transitioned in
parallel, PECVD SiOx Ny [48], [49] and LPCVD Si3 N4 .
Waveguide geometries at the time were applicable to
sensing applications [50] due to the intrinsic maximum
thickness of ∼300 nm associated with LPCVD Si3 N4 . Tech-
nological developments in the late 1990s [39] led to
the formation of LioniX in 2001 and commercialization
of the TriPleX platform in 2003. The TriPleX technology
uses a multilayer approach to overcome the restriction of
a single-layer 300-nm-thick Si3 N4 layers [40]. In 2016,
Ligentec commercialized a waveguide geometry tailored
for nonlinear optics based on the photonic Damascene Fig. 2. Si3 N4 waveguide types, cross sections and SEM
process [42], a spinout technology from Kippenberg’s photographs: (a) single stripe; (b) multilayer structures comprising
group at EPFL. The Damascene waveguide design pro- both double stripe (DS) and asymmetric double stripe (ADS and box
shapes); and (c) buried waveguides [13].
vides strong optical confinement with core thickness up to
6.5 μm, suitable for highly compact and nonlinear opti-
cal applications including compact Kerr-comb generation
an important consideration. The Si3 N4 core thickness,
resonators [51]. Today, IMEC fabricates devices using a
waveguide width, and waveguide bend radius form a
PECVD nitride in order to keep the process in their CMOS
design space, conveniently illustrated using the ring res-
line, illustrating the benefits of CMOS compatible foundry
onator quality factor (Q) as shown in Fig. 3(a). The
processes.
waveguide loss, resonator Q, and free spectral range (FSR)
vary as the core thickness is increased. Straight and large
III. S i3 N4 T E C H N O L O G Y A N D P L AT F O R M to moderate radius waveguide losses are dominated by the
Three types of waveguides are used today with varia- core sidewall scattering. As the bend radius is decreased
tions in core geometry and fabrication process. Waveguide below a critical value, bend losses dominate. It can be seen
cross-section geometries and SEM images for the sym- that for a fixed waveguide width a given core thickness,
metric double-stripe (DS), asymmetric double-stripe (ADS) designing bends above the critical radius sets the lower
and box shape, and the buried waveguide are shown in loss as shown in Fig. 3(b). Thin cores and small bend
Fig. 2. The single- and double-stripe geometries are part of radii are chosen when resonators with a small FSR and
the TriPleX foundry platform [13], [52] and used in the high Q are required, as shown on the left side of Fig. 3(a).
ultralow-loss waveguides developed at the University of Increasing the core thickness creates a more confined
California Santa Barbara (UCSB) [53]. The buried designs optical mode and is appropriate for designs with smaller
are part of the TriPleX and Photonic Damascene foundry bend radii that can accommodate larger FSRs and lower Q
processes. Waveguides are fabricated on an extremely flat as shown on the far right of Fig. 3(a). Fig. 3(c) illustrates
substrate, typically single-crystal silicon, and in some appli- the loss contributions as a function of the core width for a
cations fused silica glass substrates when transparency in 100-nm-thick core [55]. When the optical mode diameter
the visible light region is required. The stripe waveguide is approximately equal to the core width the waveguide
geometries consist of an alternating layer stack of SiO2 is in the high confinement regime. As the core width is
cladding layers and Si3 N4 core layers. Further details of the decreased, the optical mode diameter grows rapidly and
fabrication processes for the TriPleX and the Damascene enters the squeezed out regime. The PIC designer can
platforms can be found in [52] and [54]. choose the loss and its sensitivity to device footprint with
PIC building blocks typically contain straight and curved the appropriate core thickness by moving between bend
waveguide sections with a tradeoff between waveguide loss limited and scattering loss limited regimes as shown
propagation loss and the minimum bend radius being in Fig. 3(d) [56].
Fig. 3. Weakly and moderately guiding high-aspect ratio Si3N4 waveguides. (a) Tradeoffs between core thickness, loss, FSR, and minimum
bend radius. Reprinted with permission from [14], IEEE
c 2018. (b) Critical bend radius for various core thicknesses. Reprinted with
permission from [55], OSA
c 2011. (c) Mode confinement as a function of core width. Reprinted with permission from [55], OSA
c 2011.
(d) Sensitivity to device footprint with the appropriate core thickness by moving between bend loss limited and scattering loss limited
design regimes [56].
Thinner core resonators with a bonded upper cladding to yield a loaded Q as high as 42 million and propa-
layer have been used to fabricate two-mode waveguides gation loss of ∼0.3 dB/m [57]. Single-mode waveguide
with lower losses than their single-mode counterparts, resonators have been demonstrated with Q as high
Table 1 Si3 N4 Waveguide Types
as 30 million and propagation loss ∼0.5 dB/m [14]. One the fabrication process used in a variety of design tools
can choose thicker core designs for more compact struc- used in designing a PIC. A PDK is created by the foundry
tures, as with a third-order filter with loaded Qs on the and passed to the end user to use during the design
order of two million, propagation loss of ∼17 dB/m and process who in turn uses the PDK to design, simulate,
a radius of ∼0.3 mm [14]. An important quantity is the draw, and verify the design. A finished design is transferred
mode field area (MFA), defined where the optical power back to the foundry to produce chips. Several PDKs are
has dropped to 1/e2 of the maximum intensity. The MFA available for today’s Si3 N4 foundries that are supported by
for a 40-nm core design is on the order of 28 μm2 , whereas a broad range of optical design software at different levels
for the 175-nm core it is on the order of 4.5 μm2 . Large ranging from circuit design to optical wave propagation.
MFAs are used where low-loss and high optical power The availability of these PDKs is a good measure that
handling without inducing nonlinear phase shifts [37] is Si3 N4 photonics has reached a mature state within multiple
required. A summary of the different waveguide types in foundries.
Si3 N4 with their general use with example references is
given in Table 1.
V. F U N C T I O N S A N D A P P L I C AT I O N S
Applications range from the visible wavelength range to
IV. I N T E G R AT I O N B U I L D I N G B L O C K S
the mid-infrared (MIR), and span a wide variety of areas
AND PROCESS DESIGN KIT (PDK)
from communications, to sensing and biophotonics. In this
A wide variety of building blocks have been realized in section, we cover examples that span from the IR down
the Si3 N4 platform including bends, crossings, gain blocks, through the MIR, near-infrared (NIR), and visible.
and directional couplers [52], [59]. Examples of building The IR range (1.0–2.3 μm) takes advantage of the trans-
blocks are summarized in Table 2 and can be used to real- parency and low loss as well as the ability to copackage
ize higher level photonic functions and circuits including Si3 N4 circuits with SOI and InP. Applications include lasers,
spot-size converters, thermal and stress-optic actuators, optical filters, delay lines, true time delays, optical signal
and optical signal filtering and optical resonators. processors, and optical frequency comb generation. While
As Si3 N4 photonics has reached wafer-scale processing these components have been primarily demonstrated in
stability, designers can choose from guaranteed build- the IR, they can be migrated to the visible and NIR with
ing blocks as a functional element without knowing the waveguide geometry adjustments and swapping out the
processing details and assemble these blocks into higher sources and detectors to the waveband of interest.
level functions and circuits. The process design kit (PDK) In the visible light (400–700 nm) and NIR
is a collection of (digital) files used to describe and model (700–1000 nm) wavebands Si3 N4 compliments the
Table 2 Si3 N4 Building Blocks Used to Form Higher Level Photonic Functions and Circuits
capabilities of SOI photonics. Applications include

sensing and spectroscopy, atomic physics, quantum
communication and computation, microscopy, biophoto-
nics, and astronomy. Portable and remote sensing appli-
cations can leverage chip-scale integration of chemical
and biological sensors. Other visible and NIR applications
include LIDAR, free-space communications, laser-based
display and vision applications. Two areas that have
received increasing attention are biophotonic sensing,
spectroscopic sensing, and chemical sensing. Biophotonic
sensing is used to measure and image optical processes in
biological systems including cells and tissue. Spectroscopic
sensing [78] allows measurements to be made without
specifying the types of cells and without labeling the cells
so that living cells can be characterized [79]. Chemical
sensing including detection of label-free gases in ambient
atmosphere, such as CO2 and volatile organic compounds.
Si3 N4 photonics promises to bring these applications to
the “lab-on-a-chip” level [80].
A. Lasers
Si3 N4 platform offers multiple approaches to high-
performance lasers on-chip, with emission from the visible
Fig. 4. An InP–Si3 N4 hybrid external cavity laser. (a) Principle
to IR possible through the wide wavelength transparency components: InP-based gain section (SOA) connected to tunable
and a suitable pump source or gain material. Si3 N4 lasers mirror in Si3 N4 platform. (b) Assembled device as seen in [84].
fall into three categories, external cavity resonators with
c Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Reproduced with permission.
a semiconductor gain block hybrid attached or bonded

to the Si3 N4 PIC, optically pumped rare earth ions or
quantum dots with the gain material incorporated into medium. Compared to semiconductor-based hybrid Si3 N4
the Si3 N4 guiding region, and scattering processes such lasers, rare-earth-ion-doped lasers exhibit relatively nar-
as Brillouin and Raman. The quality of light, measured rower lasing linewidths (∼3-kHz integral), higher degrees
in terms of coherence (or linewidth) and relative intensity of temperature stability, and lower laser noise as with their
noise (RIN) as well as other parameters including output fiber counterparts [85]. Low linewidth WDM distributed
power, wavelength, wavelength tuning range drive, and Bragg reflector (DBR) and distributed feedback (DFB) laser
power consumption drive the choice of design. Low-loss arrays are fabricated using an active layer of cosputtered
Si3 N4 cavities give the laser designer the ability to store erbium ions (Er3+ ) and aluminum oxide (Al2 O3 :Er3+ )
many photons in extremely high Q resonators or long on sidewall etched Si3 N4 waveguides [71]–[73]. These
on-chip cavities. lasers exhibit stable high-temperature operation typical of
External cavity lasers traditionally combine semiconduc- erbium-doped lasers, up to 400 ◦ C, with minimal perfor-
tor optical amplifiers (SOAs) gain blocks with external high mance degradation [86]. Such devices require only a single
Q discrete components such as fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) lithography and etch step of the nitride core to define the
to realize tunable sources with linewidths as low as 15- Bragg mirrors as shown in the SEM images in Fig. 5(a).
Hz fundamental linewidth [81]. This level of performance Simple fabrication processing of WDM laser arrays, using
has the potential to move on-chip using Si3 N4 high Q CMOS deep UV (DUV) lithography is used to fabricate
resonators or long side-wall etched gratings. A compact WDM lasers arrays by adjusting the grating period Λ
hybrid laser with 13-kHz integral linewidth was demon- [Fig. 5(b)]. Optical spectrum traces in Fig. 5(c) show
strated with an InP gain block coupled to a high Q Si3 N4 emission over a wide wavelength range with well-defined
microring resonator (MRR) external laser mirror [82]. wavelengths.
A variation of this approach, as shown in Fig. 4, incorpo- Microlasers with emission at 630 nm use colloidal quan-
rates a long photon lifetime Si3 N4 MRR tuning section with tum dots formed between two Si3 N4 resonator layers and
tunable wavelength output and fundamental linewidth less coupled to a Si3 N4 waveguide [77]. This microdisc laser
than 300 Hz [83]. consists of a Si3 N4 microdisc with a colloidal quantum dot
The performance of erbium doped fiber lasers and layered on a SiO2 on silicon lower cladding. The microdisc
amplifiers can be moved on-chip by combing the low is then is vertically coupled to a Si3 N4 waveguide bus
loss of Si3 N4 waveguides with long, low kappa sidewall and optically pumped as illustrated in Fig. 6(a). The emis-
grating filters as mirrors and erbium ions as the gain sion photoluminescence (PL) below and above threshold
via chains of weakly coupled high-Q optical cavities [90].

CROW structures can be used for frequency filtering,
light transmission, optical delay lines, and optical non-
linear interactions. The first CROW filter in a Si3 N4 -like
waveguide was demonstrated in SiOx Ny waveguides [91].
A polarization-independent extinction ratio of 15 dB was
achieved with 100- and 50-GHz FSR designs, an optical
bandwidth of 7.4-GHz bandwidth, and a 4.4-dB inser-
tion loss. The three-resonator low-loss Si3 N4 bus-coupled
CROW filter, illustrated in Fig. 7(a), was fabricated using
low-loss 175-nm-thick core and 600-μm-diameter res-
onators [14]. This third-order filter demonstrated an ultra-
high 80-dB extinction ratio (ER) with low insertion loss
(<1.3 dB) and a flat passband [Fig. 7(b)]. The filter center
frequency was tuned over the full 48-GHz FSR [Fig. 7(c)]
using thermal tuning elements located in each of the
three rings. A photomicrograph of the fabricated device is
shown in Fig. 7(d). Filters with this level of ER and filter
shape performance are used in a wide range of application
including pump-signal separation in Brillouin, four-wave
mixing (FWM), second-order nonlinear generation, spec-
troscopy, and receiver channelization in RF photonics.
Filter channelization is used in RF photonic and WDM
optical communications to tune individual channel band-
widths in addition to center frequency tuning, adding
to circuit complexity and device and waveguide loss
and linearity requirements. Channelization is used to
set the bandwidth of transponders, to separate channels
Fig. 5. Erbium-doped aluminum oxide (Al2 O3 :Er3+) Si3 N4
waveguide lasers. (a) SEM images of sidewall etched DBR and DFB
waveguide cores. Reprinted with permission from [72], OSA
c 2014.
(b) Monolithic WDM laser array from [75]. (c) Optical spectrum
output. Reprinted with permission from [72], OSA
c 2014.
[Fig. 6(b)] and optical pump power versus laser bus output
power demonstrates lasing threshold [Fig. 6(c)].
B. Optical Filters
Optical filters are used to select frequencies transmit-
ted on an optical fiber, shape the spectral or temporal
contents of transmitted and received signals, optimize
optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR), and perform signal
processing functions on digital and analog optical signals.
Microwave photonics (MWPs) involves the transmission of
RF (∼300 kHz–300 GHz) and microwave (∼300 MHz–
300 GHz) signals over optical fiber and free space optics
[31], [87]. MWP devices and systems face unique chal-
lenges inherent to transmission of high fidelity analog sig-
nals including linearity, OSNR, and power handling [88].
Integrated microwave photonics (IMWPs) [89] is an area
of extreme interest due to the need drive down cost and
weight while maintaining high performance for applica-
Fig. 6. Optically pumped visible emission colloidal quantum dot
tions like next-generation radio over fiber and phased
Si3 N4 laser. (a) Laser geometry. (b) Photoluminescence (PL)
antenna arrays for next-generation 5G mobile networks. emission spectrum below and above lasing with 630-nm lasing
A widely used filter design is the coupled-resonator opti- observed. (c) Pump power versus PL demonstrating lasing
cal waveguide (CROW) structure where light propagates threshold. Reprinted with permission from [77], OSA
c 2016.
Output
Output
Fig. 7. (a) Schematic of low-loss third-order tunable CROW filter. (b) Measured 80-dB extinction ratio. (c) Filter tuning across a full FSR. (d)
Photomicrograph of fabricated filter. Reprinted with permission from [14], OSA
c 2018.
prior to amplification, and to control adjacent channel technologies. A CROW-based bandpass filter fabricated in
interference. Si3 N4 , with its low-loss elements, brings a the TriPleX platform is capable of selecting a channel
solution to large, complex, tunable, for chip-scale chan- in a frequency-division subcarrier satellite communication
nelizers that has been difficult to fabricate in other system [92]. The basic functional circuit is shown in
Fig. 8. Optical channelizer for subcarrier satellite communication system. (a) Functional circuit design. (b) Three-dimensional chip layout.
(c) Photomicrograph under red laser illumination. (d) Measured channelizer transmission output power. Reprinted with permission from [52],
IEEE
c 2018.
Fig. 8(a). Thermally tuned phase shifters at each res- A photomicrograph of the actual chip and experimental
onator are combined with thermally tuned power couplers power transmission with 72-MHz passband for two chan-
to enable arbitrary filter programming. Center frequency nels are shown in Fig. 8(c) and (d).
tuning over a full FSR in addition to tunable channel A generalizable programmable RF filter network can be
bandwidth as small as tens of megahertz can be performed. fabricated using low-loss tunable filter arrays, enabling
For example, a Ku -band input multiplexer (IMUX) requires multiple dynamically configurable complex filter func-
a channel bandwidth ranging from 27 to 95 MHz for tions on the same chip. Arrays of Si3 N4 programmable
the frequency band from 10.7 to 12.75 GHz. Fig. 8(b) Mach–Zehnder (MZ) couplers can be interconnected to
shows a 3-D layout of eighth-order coupled ring resonator implement a wide class of filter types (e.g., FIR and
network, with an FSR of 1.4 GHz, that comprises an optical IIR) [94]. The 2-D lattice mesh network of interconnected
carrier-sideband demultiplexer and a multiplexer with a MZ couplers, shown in Fig. 9(a), uses thermal phase tuning
highly frequency-selective optical filter in between [93]. elements to configure each MZ coupler as a 2 × 2 coupler
Fig. 9. (a) Programmable complex filter structures based on 2-D arrays of interconnected Si3 N4 ring bus resonator filters and tunable MZ
couplers. (b) Examples of programmable filter functions realized by programming two cells of the array into the associate configurations.
Reprinted with permission from [94], OSA
c 2015.
or an optical switch. Each MZ element simultaneously forming, optical signal processing, information coding,
controls the optical amplitude and phase of its optical out- digital data storage and synchronizers, and pulse shaping,
put. The range of circuit parameters (amplitude and phase and offer the potential for large power savings over dig-
of each optical path in the circuit) can realize multiple ital electronic counterparts. Two different types of delay
simultaneous programmable filter functions on the same lines, resonant and nonresonant, are used standalone or
chip, e.g., notch and bandpass filters, Hilbert transforms, in combination. Nonresonant delays are used for RF and
and tunable delay lines, as shown in Fig. 9(b). analog functions like transversal and FIR filters, IIR filters,
and other discrete time signal processors [95]. Discrete
C. Delay Lines, True Time Delays, and Optical delay lines are applicable for feedforward structures like
Signal Processors transversal and lattice filters, and in combination with opti-
Optical delay lines are desirable for a wide variety of cal switches as recirculating delays and storage elements.
applications including RF and digital filtering, optical beam Broadband Si3 N4 delays provide discrete, medium to large
Fig. 10. (a) Schematic layout of a three-stage ring resonator filter. (b) Calculated normalized group delay response. The bold line
represents the sum (three-stage response) of the thin lines (single-stage responses). [96]
delays, up to 250 ns on a single chip (tens of meters in coil (spiral) configurations. Low-loss coils are fabricated
length). Resonant delay lines are more compact than their using a 40-nm core and 10-mm minimum bend radius on
nonresonant counterpart, and are continuously tunable a large area (2 cm × 2 cm) chip [97]. The large area
over a fine to medium delay range (e.g., picoseconds to and uniformity of processing requires techniques such as
order of a nanosecond). However, the resonance used for large area deep UV (DUV) lithography. Single-layer coil
delay typically supports only narrowband signals and the designs utilize multiple turns and 90◦ crossovers to allow
resonance must be tightly controlled. Optical ring res- input and output waveguide access. A single-layer 3-m coil
onator (ORR)-based delays [96] can be tuned by adjusting with 25 turns and 50 crossings with measured 0.78-dB/m
the bus to ring coupling ratio as shown in Fig. 10(a). These waveguide loss and 0.0156-dB/crossing loss [97] illumi-
all-pass structures typically tradeoff the maximum amount nated with red laser light is shown in Fig. 11(a).
of delay with the signal bandwidth. A simulation of group Optical beam forming networks (OBFNs) for
delay [Fig. 10(b)] shows a maximum delay of 1.2 ns for a phased-array antennas is another high impact application
signal with 500-MHz bandwidth. for Si3 N4 PICs. These systems require broad instantaneous
Nonresonant Si3 N4 waveguides provide about 12.5 ns bandwidth, continuous amplitude, and array element
per meter delay. Delay lines up to 25 m in length with delay tunability, scalable to a large number of element
250-ns delay are fabricated on a single-layer chip using arrays. Low propagation loss combined with high linear
aMZIs are thermally tuned in one arm of each 2 × 2

directional coupler. The time delays are chosen to be an
integer multiple of the unit delay ΔL, making the filter
discrete in the time domain and periodic in the frequency
domain. The frequency periodicity is chosen to be the
channel spacing in a WDM transmission system. This filter
can simultaneously dispersion compensate multiple WDM
channels at the same time, which combined with the
low loss has advantages over high loss bulky dispersion
compensating fiber (DCF) and power savings over digital
signal processor (DSP) based [102]. The fabricated chip
has a footprint of 2.23 cm2 and utilized delays ΔL = 2 mm
[Fig. 14(b)] with the capability to continuously tune dis-
persion from −500 to 500 ps/nm for each channel on a
100-GHz grid with a single device. The transmission and
group delay tuning curves for one channel are shown in
Fig. 14(c).
D. Optical Frequency Comb Generation

Fig. 11. Single-layer multiple turn coil that use very low-loss 90◦
crossings to allow access to input and output. Shown is a red light Si3 N4 optical frequency comb generators provide a sin-
illuminated large area 3-m coil with 25 turns and 50 crossings. gle source of multiple well-defined equally spaced frequen-
Reprinted with permission from [97], IEEE
c 2017. cies over extremely broad ranges (e.g., 70 THz) in the
visible, NIR, and MIR wavebands. Comb generators are
an attractive solution to replace large arrays of power
power handling is essential for IMWP OBFN solutions [98]. hungry WDM lasers for high capacity fiber communi-
An example chip uses resonant Si3 N4 ORRs as continuous cations systems. Other applications include spectroscopy
tunable delay elements for a phased array antenna frequency generation, laser sensing, waveform synthesis,
system for mobile broadband satellite communications optical metrology, and optical frequency referencing. Early
with 16 inputs, a 4.5-GHz optical bandwidth, and a comb generators were constructed using discrete compo-
maximum delay of 290 ps [58]. This level of performance nent mode-locked lasers (MLLs) and feedback stabiliza-
translates to the functional equivalent of a 16 × 1 tion [103]. Chip-scale comb designs include mode-locked
binary-tree combining circuit inserted symmetrically with lasers (MLLs) [104], high-speed phase modulators [105],
a total of 40 ORR-based delay lines, an optical sideband gain switched comb sources (GSCS) [106], and microres-
filter (OSBF) using an asymmetric MZI with two ORRs, onator Kerr frequency combs [51], [107]. Si3 N4 Kerr
and an optical carrier reinsertion coupler. A schematic of microresonator combs have the advantage of a wide comb
the beam former architecture and a chip layout mask are spacing (>100 GHz) that is difficult to achieve with other
shown in Fig. 12(a) and (b). comb techniques. Kerr microresonators exhibit extremely
Larger true time delays for phased array radar and uniform mode spacing and high stability. Early comb gen-
other RF applications can be fabricated using nonresonant erators were fabricated in silicon [108] and silica [51].
delay lines combined with optical switches [99]. The 4-bit These concepts were migrated to Si3 N4 resonator technol-
tunable delay layout and a photograph of a red laser illu- ogy enabling comb generation in the visible and near to
minated fabricated chip are shown in Fig. 13. Experimental mid-IR. The absence of nonlinear losses mechanisms (like
temporal delays up to 12.35 ns with resolution of 0.85 ns two-photon absorption in silicon) for efficient Kerr-driven
were demonstrated, with a total of 2.407 m of propagation FWM in the visible, NIR, and MIR make this a powerful
length. platform for expansion of applications beyond the far
A Si3 N4 programmable optical lattice filter leverages the IR. Given the flexibility in Si3 N4 photonics to design a
ability to fabricate many stages of low-loss discrete delays wide range of low-loss waveguide resonators with different
with tunable optical couplers, providing a low-power, FSRs, the comb generator line spacing can be optimized for
low-cost alternative to high-bandwidth digital process- a given application. Of particular interest is the dissipative
ing. A programmable tenth-order lattice filter with cas- Kerr soliton (DKS) microresonator comb generator [109]
caded asymmetric MZIs (aMZIs) can be designed with that balances nonlinear four-wave mixing parametric gain,
an FSR matched to the WDM channel spacing, allow- cavity loss, and dispersion to generate continuously cir-
ing dispersion compensation for multiple optical chan- culating pulses in an optical microresonator that yield a
nels simultaneously [100], [101]. The lattice filter was frequency comb output as illustrated in Fig. 15(a). The
realized using 21 cascaded aMZIs to realize a ten-stage output of a Si3 N4 240-μm radius ring resonator, shown
programmable tenth-order lattice filter [Fig. 14(a)]. The in Fig. 15(b), generates a 3-dB bandwidth of 6 THz,
Fig. 12. Optical beam forming networks PIC. (a) Schematic of the 16 × 1 OBFN chip. (b) Chip mask layout. Reprinted with permission from
[98], OSA
c 2013.
covering the full telecommunications C- and L-band [110]. comparison of integrated optical comb techniques are pro-
This comb generator was used to demonstrate a parallel vided in [112] and [107].
WDM coherent fiber communications link operating at
tens of terabits per second [111]. A conceptual illustration E. Supercontinuum Generation
of a terabit per second chip-scale transmitter is shown Ultrabroadband optical spectra can be obtained by
in Fig. 15(c). More in-depth reviews and experimental supercontinuum generation (SCG) and is used in
Fig. 13. A 4-bit tunable delay for broadband phased array antenna applications with resolution of 0.85 ns and total delay of 12.35 ns.
Reprinted with permission from [99], IEEE
c 2013.
Fig. 14. (a) Programmable tenth-order lattice filter configuration with 21 cascaded tunable aMZIs. (b) Photograph of fabricated chip. (c)
Transmission and group delay tuning curves for one channel. Reprinted with permission from [101] OSA
c 2016.
applications such as biophotonics, optical coherence shorter wavelength pump is required as well as suitable
tomography, coherent spectroscopy, and frequency metrol- dispersion for the shorter pump wavelength. This prin-
ogy. Of particular interest is extending SCG into the ciple was used to demonstrate the widest SCG output
visible range. Early work on SCG in integrated Si3 N4 at the time [41], extending from the visible (470 nm)
waveguides used ultrashort pulses at 1.3 μm in a to the IR spectral range (2130 nm). The output com-
4.3-cm-long waveguide [113] and 1.5 μm in a 1.4-cm- prises a spectral bandwidth wider than 495 THz as shown
long waveguide [114] to generate at the edge of the in the spectrum and spectrometer output in Fig. 16(a)
visible range, 665–2025 nm and 70–2400 nm, respec- and (b). The ability to perform energy-efficient octave
tively. Extension of SCG generation into the visible toward spanning SCG in compact Si3 N4 waveguides has also
the blue range (488–978 nm) was later achieved using enabled precision stabilized low-noise frequency combs,
a 1-cm-long Si3 N4 photonic waveguide with an octave discussed in the previous section, that are self-referenced
spanning output spectral bandwidth of 310 THz [115]. and alleviate the need for extremely stable optical ref-
To obtain shorter wavelength supercontinua on a chip a erences [116], [117]. A record two-octave spanning
Fig. 15. (a) Principle of resonator-based comb generation based on degenerate and cascaded nondegenerate FWM. Reprinted with
permission from [107], AAAS
c 2011. (b) Stable, uniform, highly coherent output with 3-dB BW of 6 THz and C- and L-band coverage.
Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd.: Nature 5(46), 274-9 (2017) [110]. (c) Artist rendition of terabit per second
transmitter with Si3 N4 comb generator and silicon photonic multichannel WDM modulator. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan
Publishers Ltd.: Nat. Phot. 8, 375-80 (2014) [111].
SCG used stoichiometric Si3 N4 waveguides pumped at an optical source, a sample sensor, and spectrally selec-
telecom wavelengths [118] produced extended SCG tive optical elements and photodetectors. Spectrographic
generation from the visible (∼526 nm) to the MIR systems use absorption, emission, or scattering methods
(> 2.6 μm). (e.g., Raman) to detect the presence of and analyze infor-
mation contained in biological and chemical samples.
With absorption spectroscopy, a broadband light source
F. Spectroscopic Sensing and Lab on a Chip or wavelength tunable laser is used to probe the sam-
For portable spectrographic applications, moving today’s ple and the transmitted spectrum is analyzed using
box sized equipment to a “lab on a chip” is essential. photodetectors in combination with a dispersive opti-
Building blocks that need to be combined on chip include cal element [e.g., a prism, an arrayed waveguide
Fig. 16. Supercontinuum spectrum generated in a 5.5-mm-long Si3 N4 waveguide. (a) The optical spectrum extends more than 495 THz
from 470 to 2130 nm. (b) Photograph of imaged spectral output. Reprinted with permission from [41], OSA
c 2015.
grating multiplexer (AWG) or parallel or tunable opti- (1000–1700 nm) wavebands [119], [120]. An image of
cal filters]. Coverage over the 400–1700-nm wavelength the VIS AWG output with a broadband supercontinuum
span requires three AWG designs operating in the visi- laser fiber coupled to the input is shown in Fig. 17.
ble (VIS) (400–700 nm), NIR (700–1000 nm), and MIR Many applications require the analysis of fluidic and
gas-sensing requiring an interaction between the material
to be measured and optical waveguides. Also known as
micro–optical fluidic systems (MOFSs), these chips utilize
light to control the fluid flow or fluid flow to guide light,
at the micrometer scale and are also used to analyze and
sort particles and cells [121]. The interaction between
light and the material to be measured occurs through
either evanescent field or refractive index sensing. Evanes-
cent sensing involves local removal of the waveguide top
cladding such that the optical field is in contact with
the environment. Early work in Si3 N4 [24] and more
recently [80], [122] are examples of this approach. Refrac-
tive index-based sensing is an alternative approach that
involves etching a slot or channel through the waveguide
core to act as the fluidic sensing channel that carrier the
material. Examples include a Si3 N4 slot waveguide [123],
slotted bus-coupled ring resonator [124], and a full trench
used to both trap and analyze particles with light [6]. Sens-
ing using optical interferometric or resonator structures,
like bus-coupled ring resonators or MZIs, enhances the
sensor sensitivity with a tradeoff in reduced measurement
bandwidth.
Fig. 17. Si3 N4 photonic spectrometer for tissue sensing
An example of an evanescent optofluidic sensor is
application. An imaged output of the visible wavelength AWG is shown schematically in Fig. 18(a) where the SiO2 optical
shown. Reprinted with permission from [119], IEEE
c 2017. waveguide cladding is etched down to the Si3 N4 core.
Fig. 18. (a) Schematic of a cross-sectional view of an optical signal propagating through an optical planar waveguide [13]. (b) The optical
evanescent tail interacting with a sensing window [13]. (c) Integration of evanescent optofluidic sensor into a Si3 N4 bus-coupled ring
resonator [125].
A fluidic channel is formed over a sensing window with a waveguide, a 50/50 Y-junction and a loop [Fig. 19(d)].
a secondary fluidic cover wafer bonded on top. The gas To create the trapping geometry, a gap [Fig. 19(e)] is
or liquid is passed by the waveguide sample window and opened in the loop by dry etching successively through
interacts with the evanescent tail of the optical mode, the upper cladding (SiO2 ) and the waveguide and the
which is mostly confined in the Si3 N4 core [Fig. 18(b)]. lower cladding (SiO2 ). In this way, an integrated fluidic
Fabrication of the evanescent optofluidic sensor window channel and two faceted waveguides, from which coun-
(shown in dotted oval region) into a Si3 N4 bus-coupled terpropagating beams are launched into the channel, are
ring resonator is shown in Fig. 18(c). formed in a single step. Trapping results from a force
In Raman spectroscopy, laser light incident on a sample directed transverse and a parallel to the optical beams,
is scattered and shifted in frequency by energy related to together determining the particle’s position in the trap.
molecular vibrations, yielding a “fingerprint” of the sam- Integration of the optical source using heterogeneously
ple [126]. One of the challenges with Raman spectroscopy integrated silicon photonic/III–V lasers and wavelength
is to build up a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in arrayed waveguide grating spectrometers [127] can be
the Raman spectrum. Techniques like Raman tweezers achieved in the Si3 N4 platform for operation in the MIR,
spectroscopy have been developed to address this issue by NIR, and visible.
holding the particle during analysis. In Raman tweezers
spectroscopy, the laser probe light also serves to immobi- G. Microscopy and Imaging
lize the particle by optical trapping. An integrated photonic Combining multiple visible laser lines is required for
Si3 N4 PIC for Raman tweezers spectroscopy was fabricated applications such as microscopy and display and projec-
using a dual-waveguide configuration operating at λ = tion. Combination of two to eight laser lines is used in
785 nm [6]. The waveguide is the TripleX box waveguide fluorescence detection to image or distinguish structures
shown in Fig. 19(a) and (b) and the guided optical mode with subwavelength dimensions. For example, in super res-
in Fig. 19(c). The device is fabricated as an assembly of olution microscopy, high end lasers are used at the typical
Fig. 19. (a) Trapezoidal box shape Si3 N4 waveguide design. (b) Cross-sectional SEM picture and (c) mode profile of the lowest TE mode in
the waveguide. (d) Microscope image of the Raman trapping. (e) Microscope image of the central region of the device. Reprinted with
permission from [128], OSA
c 2014.
fluorescent lines 405, 488, 562, and 638 nm. These wave- and is built out of several stages of wavelength-dependent
lengths can be combined using an integrated laser beam components, such as bus-coupled resonators, MZIs, and
combiner (ILBC) [129] into one single-mode fiber [130] AWGs [131]. The laser beam combiner in Fig. 20 shows
Fig. 20. Photograph of integrated laser beam combiner for multiwavelength source from [132]. Image reprinted from [84], Wiley-VCH
c
Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Reproduced with permission.
a photograph of the Si3 N4 combiner, four visible wave- Low optical losses, transparency from visible through the
length laser diodes, and the coupling optics within a MIR, compatibility with CMOS and wafer-scale foundry
10×10 cm area [132]. Other imaging applications that processes, and high power handling capabilities are among
have employed Si3 N4 include optical coherence tomog- the key attributes of this system.
raphy (OCT) for noninvasive 3-D imaging of biological The broad design parameter space, possible within a sin-
structures [133]. gle platform, gives designers access to linear and nonlinear
PICs. A broad set of building blocks including ultrahigh Q
H. Other Applications resonators, ultranarrow tunable filters, narrow linewidth
A wealth of other applications are poised to bene- and tunable lasers, tunable analog RF and optical signal
fit from the attributes and performance of Si3 N4 pho- processing circuits, and true time delays are available in
tonics, with state-of-the-art demonstrations including this technology. A wide array of applications will benefit
integrated optical gyros [134], [135], quantum com- from the optical transparency and low loss from the visible
munications [8], [136], NIR spectrometers for large out to the IR, including optical inertial rotation sensors,
ground- and space-based astronomical telescopes [137], microwave synthesizers, quantum communications, bio-
and LIDAR [138]. photonics, and nanoparticle analysis applications.
The successful transfer of this platform to the foundry
VI. D I S C U S S I O N A N D F U T U R E as well as availability of PDK toolkits has moved this
PROSPECTS technology from the research labs to the development and
In this paper, we have reviewed the history and back- commercialization stages. Future prospects include more
ground of the silicon nitride (Si3 N4 ) planar waveguide sophisticated integration of linear and nonlinear functions
platform. When combined with SOI and III–V devices, as well as low-energy, high-speed tuning and modulation,
the three platforms together open up a whole new gen- and application to emerging applications such as neuro-
eration of applications and system-on-chip applications. morphic computing and quantum computation.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Daniel J. Blumenthal (Fellow, IEEE) communications, optical networks, and packet nitride ultralow-loss
received the B.S.E.E. degree from the waveguide (ULLW) and InP photonics circuits, and nanophotonic
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, device technologies; and is coauthor of Tunable Laser Diodes and
USA, the M.S.E.E. degree from Columbia Related Optical Sources (New York, NY, USA: IEEE–Wiley, 2005).
University, New York, NY, USA, and the Ph.D. Dr. Blumenthal is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inven-
degree from the University of Colorado at tors (NAI) and the Optical Society of America. He has served on the
Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA, in 1993. Board of Directors for National LambdaRail (NLR) and as an elected
He is currently a Professor in the member of the Internet2 Architecture Advisory Council. He is a
Department of Electrical and Computer recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and
Engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), Engineers (PECASE), a National Science Foundation Young Investi-
Santa Barbara, CA, USA and Director of the Terabit Optical gator Award (NYI), and an Office of Naval Research Young Investi-
Ethernet Center (TOEC) and heads the Optical Communications gator Program (YIP) Award. He has served on numerous program
and Photonics Integration (OCPI) group (ocpi.ece.ucsb.edu). He is committees including OFC, Photonics in Switching and as general
cofounder of Packet Photonics and Calient Networks, startups for editor of multiple IEEE journals including the 2018 IEEE Journal on
Telecommunications and Data-Communications. He holds 22 U.S. Selected Areas in Quantum Electronics Special Issue on Ultra-Low
patents; has published over 410 papers in the areas of optical Loss Planar Silicon Nitride Waveguides and Their Applications.
René Heideman received the M.Sc. and Arne Leinse was born in The Nether-
Ph.D. degrees in applied physics from the lands in 1977. He received the Master of
University of Twente, Enschede, The Nether- Physics degree and the Ph.D. degree in
lands, in August 1988 and January 1993, the integrated optical microsystems group
respectively. from the University Twente, Enschede, The
He is an expert in the field of MST, Netherlands, in 2001 and 2005, respectively.
with more than 25 years of experience. His Ph.D. dissertation was titled “Polymeric
He specializes in integrated optics (IO), microring resonator based electro-optic
covering both (bio) chemical sensing and modulator.”
telecom applications. He is the inventor of the TriPleX tech- He joined LioniX BV where he has been involved in the inven-
nology, (co)author of more than 250 papers and holds more tion and development of the TriPleX platform from the beginning.
than 25 patents in the IO field, on more than ten different subjects. He (co)authored more than 100 articles. He has been active in
From 2001 to 2016, he was CTO of LioniX BV, which he cofounded integrated optics for more than 15 years. He was the Vice-President
in 2001. Since 2016, he has been CTO of LioniX International BV. of LioniX BV and has been with LioniX-International, Enschede, The
Since 2008, he has been board member (CTO) of Panthera BV, Netherlands, since its establishment in 2016 and is currently a Chief
a group of high-tech innovative companies focusing on creating Commercial Officer.
new business based on micro/nanotechnology. Since June 2012,
he has been a (visiting) Professor of Nanotechnology at Saxion
University of Applied Sciences, Enschede, The Netherlands. He is
a member of several Dutch and European steering committees
and, among others, board member of MinacNed (Dutch association
for microsystems and nanotechnology) and BOS-member of the
European consortium Photonics21.
Douwe Geuzebroek received the Ph.D.

degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Twente, Enschede, The Nether-
lands, at the Integrated Optical MicroSys-
tem (IOMS) group on a topic of applying Chris Roeloffzen received the M.Sc.
integrated optical microring resonators in degree in applied physics and the Ph.D.
telecommunication networks. degree in electrical engineering from the
Currently, he is is VP Marketing & Sales at University of Twente, Enschede, The Nether-
LioniX International. He has over 15 years of lands, in 1998 and 2002, respectively.
experience in integrated photonics and its applications, ranching In 2002, he became an Assistant Profes-
from R&D to product development stages. He has a strong interest sor in the Telecommunication Engineering
in matching the technical aspect of a technology to the needs of Group, University of Twente, where he was
the market. In 2005, he joined LioniX BV as a Design Engineer involved in research and education on inte-
and Project Leader focusing on microring resonators and other grated microwave photonic systems. In 2009, he founded SATRAX,
integrated optical telecommunication devices and was actively a spinoff of the University of Twente, where he was CTO. In 2017,
involved in the startup of XiO Photonics in 2008. As VP Marketing SATRAX, LioniX, and XiO Photonics merged into LioniX International.
and Sales at XiO Photonics, he supported the development of He is now Chief Scientific Officer of LioniX International. He has
the waveguide technology for visible light applications and the authored or coauthored 40 refereed journal publications and more
introduction of this technology in several products. He participated than 100 conference papers and delivered 13 invited talks at
in several research projects both national and European. Currently, various international conferences.
as VP Marketing & Sales at LioniX International, he is involved in the Dr. Roeloffzen was the technical program committee (TPC)
acquisition of new commercial and research projects for photonic Co-Chair of the IEEE Topical Meeting of Microwave Photonics (MWP
integrated modules in life science, metrology, and telecommunica- 2017). He is an MC member of the EU COST 16220: European
tion applications. Network for High Performance Integrated Microwave Photonics.

Silicon Nitride in Silicon Photonics

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Silicon Nitride in Silicon Photonics

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Silicon Nitride in Silicon

semiconductor (CMOS) infrastructure. Traditional SOI II. H I S T O R Y O F Si3 N4 I N T E G R AT E D

employed for waveguides with a core thickness of 910 nm

D. From Laboratory to Foundry

Table 1 Si3 N4 Waveguide Types

capabilities of SOI photonics. Applications include

a semiconductor gain block hybrid attached or bonded

via chains of weakly coupled high-Q optical cavities [90].

aMZIs are thermally tuned in one arm of each 2 × 2

D. Optical Frequency Comb Generation

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Douwe Geuzebroek received the Ph.D.

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