CMOS-compatible hybrid bi-metallic TE/TM-pass polarizers based on ITO and ZrN

Transverse-magnetic (TM) and transverse-electric (TE) pass polarizers based on a silicon-on-insulator platform are studied and analyzed. The proposed structures are CMOS-compatible based on indium tin oxide and zirconium nitride as alternative plasmonic materials. The bi-metallic combination of the plasmonic materials exhibit large coupling between one of the modes (TE or TM) in the silicon core and the surface plasmon mode, while the other mode can propagate with low losses. The numerical simulations for the TE-pass polarizer predict 32.7 dB extinction ratio (ER) and 0.13 dB insertion loss (IL) at a compact device length of 1.5 μm. Additionally, the TM-pass polarizer has 31.5 dB ER and 0.17 dB IL at a device length of 2 μm at an operating wavelength of 1.55 μm.