Modeling Silicon-Based Periodic Waveguides for Optical Interconnects

ABSTRACTTo assist the precision and stability of wavelength at 1550 nm and 1300 nm in planar optical waveguides, hybrid semiconductor-metal corrugated gratings with nanometer period are integrated into silicon-based optical interconnects. This work utilizes multi-parametric optical waveguide models to compute the mode-coupling coefficients in the silicon photonic devices. For such a semiconductor-metal hybrid structure, a proper photonic technique needs to be utilized to solve this computational complexity. The optical method and the photonic method are used to compute coupling coefficients. Both methods have close numerical values shown in figures. Numerical results demonstrate how the normalized corrugation amplitudes of metal gratings can affect the coupling coefficients. Further physical interpretation and discussion can support and explain the above results. The modeling results can help engineers decide the values of parameters used in the design and fabrication of optical waveguides.