Monolithic cointegration of QD-based InP on SiN as a versatile platform for the demonstration of high performance and low cost PIC transmitters

Project Information

MOICANA

Grant agreement ID: 780537

DOI

10.3030/780537

Project closed

EC signature date 21 November 2017

Start date 1 January 2018

End date 31 August 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 3 999 302,50

EU contribution

€ 3 999 302,25

Coordinated by

ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MOICANA (Monolithic cointegration of QD-based InP on SiN as a versatile platform for the demonstration of high performance and low cost PIC transmitters)

Reporting period: 2019-07-01 to 2021-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The wide-spread adoption of optical transceivers in a plethora of application domains is urgently calling for low-cost, high power efficient and large-volume manufacturing integration technology capable of meeting the various specifications required and scaling up to serve the growing telecom and datacom markets.

MOICANA aims to produce the technological background for growing InP QDs directly on Si prior synergizing InP QD structures with the best-in-class, in terms of losses and temperature sensitivity, in a CMOS fab, i.e. the SiN waveguide technology. It aims to shape the necessary framework for the delivery of a low-cost and large volume manufacturing monolithic InP QD-on-SiN transmitter PIC platform, through the demonstrations of a whole new series of cooler-less, energy-efficient and high-performance single-channel and WDM transmitter modules for DataCenter Interconnects, for 5G Mobile fronthaul and for coherent communication applications.

By the end of the project, the MOICANA consortium achieved the following technological advancements:

1. Development of an extensive passive portfolio based on MOICANA’s SiN platform and generation of Process Design Kit (PDK) software library
2. Development of Si-Rich Nitride material and waveguide formation compatible with SiN LPCVD process
3. Development of InP-to-Si-Rich Nitride and Si-Rich Nitride -to-SiN interfaces
4. Monolithic growth process establishment and development of III-V QD on Si devices
5. Development of Low-linewidth Hybrid Integrated External Cavity Laser for coherent communications
6. Assembly and packaging of MOICANA’s DMLs and SOAs

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main outcomes of MOICANA throughout the first half of its lifetime are highlighted below:

-Establishment of monolithic integration process of QD InP on Si
-Development of SRN material for interfacing the active InP QD section to the SiN platform
-Deposition of SRN on SiN achieving adiabatic coupling
-Development of a new DFB CW laser with record low linewidth


By the end of the project, the outcomes of MOICANA are the following:

1. Development of an extensive passive portfolio based on MOICANA’s SiN platform and generation of Process Design Kit (PDK) software library
2. Development of InP-to-Si-Rich Nitride and Si-Rich Nitride -to-SiN interfaces
3. Monolithic growth process establishment and development of III-V QD on Si devices
4. Development of Low-linewidth Hybrid Integrated External Cavity Laser for coherent communications
5. Assembly and packaging of MOICANA’s DMLs and SOAs

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

MOICANA targeted to demonstrate for the first time electrically pumped InP-based QD lasers directly grown on Si that will operate under both CW and Directly Modulated mode. Additionally, due to the co-integration with the SiN platform it will feature enhanced WDM capabilities reaching capacities up to 400Gb/s.

The MOICANA DML-DFB laser wil be the first InP-based QD DML encompassing a Bragg Grating for the definition of the emission wavelength, while providing narrow linewidth of 300KHz. Due to the high power emitted from the laser reaching 10dBm at RT and 5.8dBm at 600C, the MOICANA DML will be capable to reach transmission distances up to 40Km error free with dispersion compensation, but without any FEC.

MOICANA targeted to the demonstration of modulator structures that will enable high modulation depth from short devices that directly affects the required voltage that will up to ±2V for the provision of 6dB modulation depth in a 20nm spectral window, the losses that will be either neutral or 3dB loss and also the 3dB bandwidth that will be at least 7GHz allowing modulation up to 10Gbaud. Finally, this will be the first QD modulator that will be co-integrated with SiN allowing low loss MUX/DEMUX capabilities and easy access to external fibers.

MOICANA SiN platform relies on the advanced capabilities of LGC’s in the fabrication of crack free waveguides with LPCVD at heights up to 2.5um with their patented DAMASCENE process.

MOICANA developed for the first time an efficient coupling interface between the InP and the SiN platforms that will allow their co-integration in a monolithic way. The loss imposed in the signal will be lower 2dB/transition without any need for post-processing of the device. Additionally, its appliance will not be limited only to single facets devices like e.g lasers, but it will be also applicable to dual facet one like modulators and SOAs.

MOICANA aimed to demonstrate for the first time a high power (>10dBm) tunable laser source by exploiting the high modal gain provided by the InP based QD active layers. Furthermore, with the novel SiN-to-aSi-to-InP interface it will be possible to insert filters in both sides of the active medium towards exploiting the Vernier effect for the emission of light with very high coherency due to the 20KHz linewidth. The tunability will mainly limited by the DBRs placed at both sides of the laser, but it will exceed 32nm.

ΜOICANA’s unique InP-based QD technology exploits the low linewidth (<300KHz) due to the overgrown gratings and the low a-factor (<1) stemming from the QD properties towards the demonstration of 1λ- and 4λ- transmitters at 100Gb/s and 400Gb/s, respectively. Each channel will be modulated with a 16QAM signal at 25Gbaud for temperatures up to 600C. With digital dispersion compensation, the 100G and 400G channels will be detected at the receiver side error free under FEC for distances up to 10Km.

MOICANA sets the path for demonstrating a 4λ-EML transmitter that will be capable to operate TEC-free up to 600C by exploiting the QD properties of the DFB laser. No EDFA will be required at the receiver side due to the launched power of 4.5dBm/lane. Furthermore, the total power consumption will be only 1.4W.

MOICANA paves the way towards 1λ- and 4λ-DML transmitters that will be capable to provide error free transmission at distances up to 10Km with NZ-DSF, without any need to add TEC for laser cooling. Considering -18dBm receiver sensitivity (for BER=2e-4 and FEC) from 803.3bs standard, the power budget per link is set to 18.5dB that easily allows PON connections with links up to 40Km if dispersion compensation is employed.

moicana-logo.png