A high-speed heterogeneous lithium tantalate silicon photonics platform
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866912274160025600 |
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| author | Niels, Margot Vanackere, Tom Vissers, Ewoud Zhai, Tingting Nenezic, Patrick Declercq, Jakob Bruynsteen, Cédric Niu, Shengpu Moerman, Arno Caytan, Olivier Singh, Nishant Lemey, Sam Yin, Xin Janssen, Sofie Verheyen, Peter Singh, Neha Bode, Dieter Davi, Martin Ferraro, Filippo Absil, Philippe Balakrishnan, Sadhishkumar Van Campenhout, Joris Roelkens, Günther Kuyken, Bart Billet, Maximilien |
| author_facet | Niels, Margot Vanackere, Tom Vissers, Ewoud Zhai, Tingting Nenezic, Patrick Declercq, Jakob Bruynsteen, Cédric Niu, Shengpu Moerman, Arno Caytan, Olivier Singh, Nishant Lemey, Sam Yin, Xin Janssen, Sofie Verheyen, Peter Singh, Neha Bode, Dieter Davi, Martin Ferraro, Filippo Absil, Philippe Balakrishnan, Sadhishkumar Van Campenhout, Joris Roelkens, Günther Kuyken, Bart Billet, Maximilien |
| contents | The rapid expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has driven the demand for faster optical components in data centres to unprecedented levels. A key advancement in this field is the integration of multiple photonic components onto a single chip, enhancing the performance of optical transceivers. Here, silicon photonics, benefiting from mature fabrication processes, has gained prominence. The platform combines modulators, switches, photodetectors and low-loss waveguides on a single chip. However, emerging standards like 1600ZR+ potentially exceed the capabilities of silicon-based modulators. To address these limitations, thin-film lithium niobate has been proposed as an alternative to silicon photonics, offering a low voltage-length product and exceptional high-speed modulation properties. More recently, the first demonstrations of thin-film lithium tantalate circuits have emerged, addressing some of the disadvantages of lithium niobate enabling a reduced bias drift and enhanced resistance to optical damage. As such, making it a promising candidate for next-generation photonic platforms. However, a persistent drawback of such platforms is the lithium contamination, which complicates integration with CMOS fabrication processes. Here, we present for the first time the integration of lithium tantalate onto a silicon photonics chip. This integration is achieved without modifying the standard silicon photonics process design kit. Our device achieves low half-wave voltage (3.5 V), low insertion loss (2.9 dB) and high-speed operation (> 70 GHz), paving the way for next-gen applications. By minimising lithium tantalate material use, our approach reduces costs while leveraging existing silicon photonics technology advancements, in particular supporting ultra-fast monolithic germanium photodetectors and established process design kits. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_10557 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A high-speed heterogeneous lithium tantalate silicon photonics platform Niels, Margot Vanackere, Tom Vissers, Ewoud Zhai, Tingting Nenezic, Patrick Declercq, Jakob Bruynsteen, Cédric Niu, Shengpu Moerman, Arno Caytan, Olivier Singh, Nishant Lemey, Sam Yin, Xin Janssen, Sofie Verheyen, Peter Singh, Neha Bode, Dieter Davi, Martin Ferraro, Filippo Absil, Philippe Balakrishnan, Sadhishkumar Van Campenhout, Joris Roelkens, Günther Kuyken, Bart Billet, Maximilien Optics Applied Physics The rapid expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has driven the demand for faster optical components in data centres to unprecedented levels. A key advancement in this field is the integration of multiple photonic components onto a single chip, enhancing the performance of optical transceivers. Here, silicon photonics, benefiting from mature fabrication processes, has gained prominence. The platform combines modulators, switches, photodetectors and low-loss waveguides on a single chip. However, emerging standards like 1600ZR+ potentially exceed the capabilities of silicon-based modulators. To address these limitations, thin-film lithium niobate has been proposed as an alternative to silicon photonics, offering a low voltage-length product and exceptional high-speed modulation properties. More recently, the first demonstrations of thin-film lithium tantalate circuits have emerged, addressing some of the disadvantages of lithium niobate enabling a reduced bias drift and enhanced resistance to optical damage. As such, making it a promising candidate for next-generation photonic platforms. However, a persistent drawback of such platforms is the lithium contamination, which complicates integration with CMOS fabrication processes. Here, we present for the first time the integration of lithium tantalate onto a silicon photonics chip. This integration is achieved without modifying the standard silicon photonics process design kit. Our device achieves low half-wave voltage (3.5 V), low insertion loss (2.9 dB) and high-speed operation (> 70 GHz), paving the way for next-gen applications. By minimising lithium tantalate material use, our approach reduces costs while leveraging existing silicon photonics technology advancements, in particular supporting ultra-fast monolithic germanium photodetectors and established process design kits. |
| title | A high-speed heterogeneous lithium tantalate silicon photonics platform |
| topic | Optics Applied Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.10557 |