Reliable 50Gb/s silicon photonics platform for next-generation data center optical interconnects

Abstract

The next generations of data centers require a scalable optical transceiver technology. In this paper we present a silicon photonics platform supporting single-channel data rates of 50Gb/s and above. Advanced process options include 50GHz GeSi electro-absorption modulators, high efficiency thermo-optic phase shifters with Pπ <5mW and silicon carrier depletion-based phase-shifters supporting Mach-Zehnder and micro-ring modulators. The performance and reliability of the key library components such as modulators, detectors, fiber couplers and heaters is described.