Electronic-to-Photonic Single-Event Transient Propagation in a Segmented Mach–Zehnder Modulator in a Si/SiGe Integrated Photonics Platform

The propagation of single-event transients from the electrical to the photonic domain in a segmented Mach-Zehnder modulator was investigated using pulsed-laser measurements and lumerical simulations. Although electrical transients can heavily degrade the input data to the modulator, almost all of the degradation can be suppressed once it is converted into the optical domain. The mitigation of transients is primarily accomplished by increasing V
_π
of each segment, making electrical transients up to 6 V essentially negligible. A “folding” effect of the optical transient is also explained in relation to V
_π
. Two radiation-hardening-by-design (RHBD) approaches are suggested to mitigate transient effects.