Low-power and tunable silicon-photonics micro-ring WDM device with NiSi heater

Abstract A tunable wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) device has been demonstrated based on thermo-optically tuned silicon micro-ring resonators. The NiSi heater was formed on the silicon slab region surrounding the ring, so that the heat can be efficiently transferred to the ring resonator through the silicon slab layer. Various channel spacing can be obtained by tuning the applied voltage of the heater. Meanwhile, the ring resonator is suspended by removing the adjacent SiO2 layer and the underlying silicon substrate. The thermo-optic efficiency (~5.8 mW/FSR) improved about one order of magnitude as compared to a similar structure without the air-isolation trench. The channel spacings of 50 GHz, 100 GHz and 200 GHz were realized with low power consumption of 11.05 mW, 5.96 mW and 6.06 mW, respectively.