Performance Analysis of Variable Optical Attenuator on Different Materials

In this paper Ridge, S-bend waveguide design and analysis has been performed for C-band using various materials like Silica (SiO
₂
), Silicon Nitride (Si
₃
N
₄
), Barium Fluoride (BaF
₂
) and Titanium Dioxide (TiO
₂
). We have performed a comparative study and identified Si
₃
N
₄
as the most suitable material for silicon photonics platform based on lower insertion and propagation losses. Si
₃
N
₄
based ridge waveguide reduces insertion loss to 5.68dB and propagation loss to less than 1dB/cm. These designed waveguides will be used in variable optical attenuator. Here in this paper, we also propose a variable optical attenuator based on the configurations of a Si
₃
N
₄
-BaF
₂
and TiO
₂
-Si
₃
N
₄
S-bend waveguides. The thermo-optic characteristics of Si
₃
N
₄
and BaF
₂
materials are fully utilized for making variable optical attenuator (VOA). After performing software simulation, simulation results are verified with theoretical results. We get Optical attenuation of 1 to 50 dB with an applied electrical voltage of 0 to 20 V for length of 100 um device with low insertion loss.