Computing as a service is rapidly becoming the new normal for many sectors of the
economy. The widespread availability of broadband internet has allowed an extensive
range of services to be delivered on-demand from centralized computing systems known
as ‘data centers’. These systems have evolved to be enormously complex. Optical-based
communication is desired to increase data center capability and efficiency, however
traditional optical technologies are not feasible due to cost and size. Silicon photonics
aims to deliver optical communications on an integrated and affordable platform for use
in data centers by leveraging the existing capabilities of complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor manufacturing.
This thesis contains a description of the development of monolithic silicon
photodiodes for use in photonic integrated circuits in, and beyond, the current
telecommunications wavelength windows. The focus is on methods which are compatible
with standard silicon processing techniques. This is in contrast to the current approaches
which rely on hybrid material systems that increase fabrication complexity.
Chapter 1 and 2 provide background information to place this work into context.
Chapter 3 presents an experimental study of resonant devices with lattice defects which
determines the refractive index change in silicon-on-insulator waveguides. High-speed
operation of resonant photodiodes is demonstrated and is found to be limited by
resonance instability. Chapter 4 demonstrates high responsivity avalanche photodetectors
using lattice defects. The detectors are shown to operate error-free at 10 Gbit/s, thus
confirming their capability for optical interconnects. Chapter 5 presents photodiodes
operating with absorption through surface-state defects. These detectors show fast
operation (10 Gbit/s) and have an extremely simple fabrication process. Chapter 6
demonstrates photodiodes operating beyond the traditional telecommunications window.
Operation at 20 Gbit/s, at a wavelength of 1.96 µm is demonstrated, offering potential for
their use in the next generation of optical communication systems which will exploit the
thulium doped fiber amplifier. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis describes photodiodes constructed on silicon optical waveguides. The photodiodes are notable for their high-speed performance and simple fabrication methods. Such devices may find use within chip-integrated optical transceivers, which are desired for optical interconnects within large-scale computing systems such as data centers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/17192 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Ackert, Jason |
| Contributors | Knights, Andrew, Jessop, Paul, Engineering Physics |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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