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Updated: Aug 23, 2025

Silicon Metal-oxide-semiconductor Quantum Dots for Single-electron Pumping
Published on: June 3, 2015
High-Performance Pockels Effect Modulation and Switching in Silicon-Based GaP/Si, AlP/Si, ZnS/Si, AlN/3C-SiC,
Francesco De Leonardis1, Richard Soref2
1Photonics Research Group, Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Politecnico di Bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari, Italy.
Abstract:
We propose new a Si-based waveguided Superlattice-on-Insulator (SLOI) platforms for high-performance electro-optical (EO) 2 × 2 and N × M switching and 1 × 1 modulation, including broad spectrum and resonant. We present a theoretical investigation based on the tight-binding Hamiltonian of the Pockels EO effect in the lattice-matched undoped (GaP)N/(Si2)M, (AlP)N/(Si2)M, (ZnS)N/(Si2)M, (AlN)N/(3C-SiC)M, (GaAs)N/(Ge2)M, (ZnSe)N/(GaAs)M, and (ZnSe)N/(Ge2)M wafer-scale short-period superlattices that are etched into waveguided networks of small-footprint Mach-Zehnder interferometers and micro-ring resonators to yield opto-electronic chips. The spectra of the Pockels r coefficient have been simulated as a function of the number of the atomic monolayers for "non-relaxed" heterointerfaces. The large obtained r values enable the SLOI circuit platforms to offer a very favorable combination of monolithic construction, cost-effective manufacturability, high modulation/switching speed, high information bandwidth, tiny footprint, low energy per bit, low switching voltage, near-IR-and-telecom wavelength coverage, and push-pull operation. By optimizing waveguide, clad, and electrode dimensions, we obtained very desirable values of the V performance metric, in the range of 0.062 to 0.275 V·cm, portending a bright future for a variety of applications, such as sensor networks or Internet of Things (IoT).
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