Parameter extraction from fabricated silicon photonic devices

Area of Science:

• Photonics and optical engineering.
• Materials science and semiconductor device characterization.

Background:

• Silicon photonics enables integrated optical circuits.
• Accurate material property extraction is crucial for device performance prediction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To extract effective refractive indices for silicon photonic devices.
• To validate extracted indices by reconstructing experimental transmission spectra.

Main Methods:

• Combined analytical and numerical modeling.
• Fabrication and in-house measurement of micro-ring resonators, racetrack resonators, and directional couplers.
• Dispersion curve analysis to determine effective index as a function of wavelength.

Main Results:

• Extracted dispersion curves show linearity with wavelength in the S and C bands.
• Effective indices accurately reconstruct measured transmission spectra, showing close agreement with experiments.
• The method provides plausible results for silicon photonic devices.

Conclusions:

• The extracted effective indices are reliable for characterizing silicon photonic devices.
• This approach can inform and constrain fabrication parameters like waveguide dimensions and coupling gaps.
• The findings support the use of effective indices for predicting device performance in silicon photonics.