Integrated Silicon Nitride Devices via Inverse Design

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ruiz, Julian L. Pita, Dalvand, Narges, Ménard, Michaël
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ruiz, Julian L. Pita
Dalvand, Narges
Ménard, Michaël
author_facet Ruiz, Julian L. Pita
Dalvand, Narges
Ménard, Michaël
contents Integrated photonic devices made of silicon nitride (SiN), which can be integrated with silicon-on-insulator and III-V platforms, are expected to drive the expansion of silicon photonics technology. However, the relatively low refractive index contrast of SiN is often considered a limitation for creating compact and efficient devices. Here, we present three freeform SiN devices-a coarse wavelength-division multiplexer, a five-mode mode-division multiplexer, and a polarization beam splitter-while systematically benchmarking both the design capability and the fabrication repeatability and robustness of inverse-designed components. We demonstrate up to a 1200x reduction in footprint while maintaining relatively large minimum feature sizes of up to 160 nm, showing that inverse-designed SiN devices can be as compact as their silicon counterparts. These results enable high-density integration in SiN photonics and pave the way for multidimensional data transmission and quantum applications, as the inverse design technique can be applied to different SiN thicknesses and is potentially extendable to other low- and mid-index platforms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_02662
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Integrated Silicon Nitride Devices via Inverse Design
Ruiz, Julian L. Pita
Dalvand, Narges
Ménard, Michaël
Optics
Applied Physics
Integrated photonic devices made of silicon nitride (SiN), which can be integrated with silicon-on-insulator and III-V platforms, are expected to drive the expansion of silicon photonics technology. However, the relatively low refractive index contrast of SiN is often considered a limitation for creating compact and efficient devices. Here, we present three freeform SiN devices-a coarse wavelength-division multiplexer, a five-mode mode-division multiplexer, and a polarization beam splitter-while systematically benchmarking both the design capability and the fabrication repeatability and robustness of inverse-designed components. We demonstrate up to a 1200x reduction in footprint while maintaining relatively large minimum feature sizes of up to 160 nm, showing that inverse-designed SiN devices can be as compact as their silicon counterparts. These results enable high-density integration in SiN photonics and pave the way for multidimensional data transmission and quantum applications, as the inverse design technique can be applied to different SiN thicknesses and is potentially extendable to other low- and mid-index platforms.
title Integrated Silicon Nitride Devices via Inverse Design
topic Optics
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.02662