Mach-Zehnder modulator modeling based on imec-ePixFab ISIPP25G SiPhotonics

This paper presents the design of a modulator using a silicon photonics technology known as ePixFab ISIPP25G. By modeling a Mach-Zehnder architecture, to achieve high modulation rates, and employing physical parameters and data for silicon waveguides taken from standard libraries, we demonstrate that, for a bit rate of 20 Gb/s, it is possible to dimension a modulator with a figure of merit equal to 0.95 V.cm to induce intensity modulation. In addition, to ensure the modulation format, an amplifier with a gain of 26 dB was inserted into the external circuit of the device. Finally, when configuring the arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) with pulse width equal to 25% of the period (square wave), it was possible to calculate the capacitive time constant (τ = 0.423 ps) and observe that the modulator achieves maximum modulation intensity by varying the voltage between 0 and 9.5 V on each arm of the structure. For this, the rise (10% to 90%) and fall (90% to 10%) times of the real modulation signal were calculated, where τ
_r
= 26.5 ps and τ
_f
= 10.8 ps were measured, respectively.