AIM-Photonics Visible-to-Near-Infrared Silicon-Nitride-Based Silicon-Photonics Platform and Component Library

Silicon-photonics platforms operating at visible and near-infrared wavelengths are essential for a growing range of applications, including biosensing, chemical detection, Raman spectroscopy, quantum, optogenetics, and displays. However, unlike their infrared counterparts, visible-wavelength platforms have lacked comprehensive component libraries with pre-characterized devices, limiting the ability to rapidly design photonic integrated circuits for these applications. In this work, we present the design, fabrication, and broadband experimental characterization of a comprehensive visible-to-near-infrared-spanning component library for the AIM-Photonics 300-mm-wafer silicon-nitride-based platform, which features two silicon-nitride waveguiding layers, a sensing trench, thermo-optic phase shifters for modulation, and a dicing trench for fiber-to-chip edge coupling. We design and characterize components for both the fundamental quasi-transverse-electric and quasi-transverse-magnetic modes for wavelengths spanning from 450 to 1000 nm. To enable this characterization, we utilize a spectrum-spanning broadband measurement setup and methodology. The component library includes passive waveguides, edge couplers, grating couplers, multimode-interferometer splitters, directional couplers with varying splitting ratios, waveguide crossings, interlayer-transition escalators, polarization rotators, polarization splitters, sensing-trench components, and thermo-optic phase shifters. This work provides a foundry-compatible pre-characterized library of photonic building blocks that enables the rapid design and deployment of visible-to-near-infrared photonic integrated circuits for sensing, quantum, biomedical, display, and other emerging applications.