High efficiency optical switches with Heater-on-Slab (HoS) structures

We propose optical switches in which the heater is fabricated directly on the slab region of the rib waveguide. Two types of Heater-on-Slab (HoS) switches were investigated. In the first type, the silicon slab regions are doped highly to form the heaters. For this type of switches, the switching power is ~85 mW and the switching time is ~27 μs. In the second type, a strip of metal in direct contact with the silicon slab forms the heater. For this type of switches, the switching power is ~25 mW and the switching time is ~17 μs. An extinction ratio of ~28.4 dB was also achieved.