Programmable Non-Volatile Photonic Analog-to-Digital Converter Based on Back-End-of-Line Compatible Phase-Change...

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Materials Science
• Electrical Engineering

Background:

• Electronic analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) face limitations in bandwidth, precision, and power consumption.
• Photonic ADCs offer a promising alternative to overcome these challenges in signal processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a programmable photonic ADC by integrating phase-change materials (PCMs) with silicon photonics.
• To demonstrate high resolution and energy efficiency in optical analog-to-digital conversion.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a photonic ADC using foundry-processed silicon photonics and phase-change materials.
• Demonstration of 2-bit and 4-bit photonic ADCs on a single chip.
• Experimental validation of 65-state PCMs to achieve high resolution.

Main Results:

• Achieved zero energy consumption during quantization due to the non-volatile nature of PCMs.
• Demonstrated an 8-bit resolution photonic ADC, the highest reported for optical technologies.
• Integrated photonic ADCs with optical sampling for an all-optical system converting a 321 MHz RF signal at 40 MS/s.

Conclusions:

• The developed programmable photonic ADCs offer significant advancements in energy efficiency and speed.
• This technology represents a major step forward for high-performance signal processing and telecommunication systems.
• Photonic ADCs provide a viable solution to the inherent limitations of current electronic ADCs.