The integration of microelectronic and photonic circuits on a single silicon chip for high-speed and low-power optoelectronic technology

Abstract

The combining microelectronic devices and associated technologies onto a single silicon chip poses a substantial challenge. However, in recent years, the area of silicon photonics has experienced remarkable advancements and notable leaps in performance. The performance of silicon on insulator (SOI) based photonic devices, such as fast silicon optical modulators, photonic transceivers, optical filters, etc., have been discussed. This would be a step forward in creating standalone silicon photonic devices, strengthening the possibility of single on-chip nanophotonic integrated circuits. Suppose an integrated silicon photonic chip is designed and fabricated. In that case, it might drastically modify these combined photonic component costs, power consumption, and size, bringing substantial, perhaps revolutionary, changes to the next-generation communications sector. Yet, the monolithic integration of photonic and electrical circuitry is a significant technological difficulty. A complicated set of factors must be carefully considered to determine which application will have the best chance of success employing silicon-based integrated product solutions. The processing limitations connected to the current process flow, the process generation (sometimes referred to as lithography node generation), and packaging requirements are a few of these factors to consider. This review highlights recent developments in integrated silicon photonic devices and their proven applications, including but not limited to photonic waveguides, photonic amplifiers and filters, on-chip photonic transceivers, and the state-of-the-art of silicon photonic in multidimensional quantum systems. The investigated devices aim to expedite the transfer of silicon photonics from academia to industry by opening the next phase in on-chip silicon photonics and enabling the application of silicon photonic-based devices in various optical systems.