plasMon ASSisTed electro-optical modulatOR – MASSTOR

Growing needs for increased data traffic drive the development of CMOS based optical circuits that include various building blocks such as waveguides, couplers, sources, detectors and modulators, in the IR telecom range. The latter components solutions span from mature and non-integrated devices made from LiNbO3 and III-V materials, to leading edge integrated Si modulators. Innovative concepts of electro-optical modulators are required to address the needs for more integrated and reduced energy consuming operation.

This basic research project aims at developing a new concept of integrated electro-optical modulator, based on the use of plasmon modes. Metal are ubiquitous in modulator structures but usually rejected apart from the active area of the device because of its associated photonics losses. However, the recent booming of activity in the field of plasmonics, enabled by the modern development of nanopatterning techniques, has shown that properly designed metal nanostructures feature nanosize footprint and advanced optical functions. The output of this project will therefore be a fast (>10Gb/s) electro-optical modulator fabricated with CMOS compatible processes. Both electrical and optical conceptions will be conducted jointly, gathering nanophotonics and nanoelectronics expertise, to achieve the applicative objectives of more compact design. Due to this significant size reduction of the design, we expect less energy consumption from that kind of devices, with potential application in energy-greedy data servers, for example.

The project MASSTOR gathers three major players in plasmonics and Si photonics/microelectronics, namely Institut Carnot de Bourgogne, Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale and CEA/Leti, so as to develop the multidisciplinary approach required to fulfill the objectives of the project. The project is organized along the workflow from conception to electro-optical characterization, aiming at the first experimental integration of such plasmon-assisted devices on a SOI platform. The choice of large scale CMOS compatible processes is key to emulate a fast transfer to industry, and will require the development of specific nanofabrication processes.

It is worth noting here that the MASSTOR project was submitted to the 2010 P2N call and selected in the complementary list. This year, the consortium has been complemented by a new partner (IEF), whose internationally recognized expertise in silicon modulator is strengthening the proposal. As state of the art of plasmon assisted silicon modulators is evolving rapidly, the technical content has also been adjusted accordingly.