This hands-on introduction to silicon photonics engineering equips students with everything they need to begin creating foundry-ready designs.

In this book, silicon photonic integrated circuits are combined with electro-optic organic materials for realizing energy-efficient modulators with unprecedented performance. These silicon-organic hybrid Mach-Zehnder modulators feature a compact size, sub-Volt drive voltages, and they support data rates up to 84 Gbit/s. In addition, a wet chemical waveguide fabrication scheme and an efficient fiber-chip coupling scheme are presented.

Finding new materials for copper/low-k interconnects is critical to the continuing development of computer chips. While copper/low-k interconnects have served well, allowing for the creation of Ultra Large Scale Integration (ULSI) devices which combine over a billion transistors onto a single chip, the increased resistance and RC-delay at the smaller scale has become a significant factor affecting chip performance. Advanced Interconnects for ULSI Technology is dedicated to the materials and methods which might be suitable replacements. It covers a broad range of topics, from physical principles to design, fabrication, characterization, and application of new materials for nano-interconnects, and discusses: Interconnect functions, characterisations, electrical properties and wiring requirements Low-k materials: fundamentals, advances and mechanical properties Conductive layers and barriers Integration and reliability including mechanical reliability, electromigration and electrical breakdown New approaches including 3D, optical, wireless interchip, and carbon-based interconnects Intended for postgraduate students and researchers, in academia and industry, this book provides a critical overview of the enabling technology at the heart of the future development of computer chips.

Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) has become one of the most widespread technologies for spatial light modulation in optics and photonics applications. These reflective microdisplays are composed of a high-performance silicon complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) backplane, which controls the light-modulating properties of the liquid crystal layer. State-of-the-art LCoS microdisplays may exhibit a very small pixel pitch (below 4 μm), a very large number of pixels (resolutions larger than 4K), and high fill factors (larger than 90%). They modulate illumination sources covering the UV, visible, and far IR. LCoS are used not only as displays but also as polarization, amplitude, and phase-only spatial light modulators, where they achieve full phase modulation. Due to their excellent modulating properties and high degree of flexibility, they are found in all sorts of spatial light modulation applications, such as in LCOS-based display systems for augmented and virtual reality, true holographic displays, digital holography, diffractive optical elements, superresolution optical systems, beam-steering devices, holographic optical traps, and quantum optical computing. In order to fulfil the requirements in this extensive range of applications, specific models and characterization techniques are proposed. These devices may exhibit a number of degradation effects such as interpixel cross-talk and fringing field, and time flicker, which may also depend on the analog or digital backplane of the corresponding LCoS device. The use of appropriate characterization and compensation techniques is then necessary.

High-speed electro-optic modulators in silicon platform are introduced and experimentally verified. The devices rely on plasmonic and photonic slot waveguides and are combined with efficient organic electro-optic materials. The bandwidth limitation of conventional silicon-organic-hybrid modulators is circumvented by capacitive coupling of the microwave signal. An advanced terahertz link that upconverts data directly from a 360 GHz carrier to an optical carrier is demonstrated for the first time.

Silicon photonics is currently a very active and progressive area of research, as silicon optical circuits have emerged as the replacement technology for copper-based circuits in communication and broadband networks. The demand for ever improving communications and computing performance continues, and this in turn means that photonic circuits are finding ever increasing application areas. This text provides an important and timely overview of the ‘hot topics’ in the field, covering the various aspects of the technology that form the research area of silicon photonics. With contributions from some of the world’s leading researchers in silicon photonics, this book collates the latest advances in the technology. Silicon Photonics: the State of the Art opens with a highly informative foreword, and continues to feature: the integrated photonic circuit; silicon photonic waveguides; photonic bandgap waveguides; mechanisms for optical modulation in silicon; silicon based light sources; optical detection technologies for silicon photonics; passive silicon photonic devices; photonic and electronic integration approaches; applications in communications and sensors. Silicon Photonics: the State of the Art covers the essential elements of the entire field that is silicon photonics and is therefore an invaluable text for photonics engineers and professionals working in the fields of optical networks, optical communications, and semiconductor electronics. It is also an informative reference for graduate students studying for PhD in fibre optics, integrated optics, optical networking, microelectronics, or telecommunications.

The growing demand for instant and reliable communication means that photonic circuits are increasingly finding applications in optical communications systems. One of the prime candidates to provide satisfactory performance at low cost in the photonic circuit is silicon. Whilst silicon photonics is less well developed as compared to some other material technologies, it is poised to make a serious impact on the telecommunications industry, as well as in many other applications, as other technologies fail to meet the yield/performance/cost trade-offs. Following a sympathetic tutorial approach, this first book on silicon photonics provides a comprehensive overview of the technology. Silicon Photonics explains the concepts of the technology, taking the reader through the introductory principles, on to more complex building blocks of the optical circuit. Starting with the basics of waveguides and the properties peculiar to silicon, the book also features: Key design issues in optical circuits. Experimental methods. Evaluation techniques. Operation of waveguide based devices. Fabrication of silicon waveguide circuits. Evaluation of silicon photonic systems. Numerous worked examples, models and case studies. Silicon Photonics is an essential tool for photonics engineers and young professionals working in the optical network, optical communications and semiconductor industries. This book is also an invaluable reference and a potential main text to senior undergraduates and postgraduate students studying fibre optics, integrated optics, or optical network technology.