Plasmonic modulator using CMOS-compatible material platform

A design of ultra-compact plasmonic modulator is proposed and numerically analyzed. The device layout utilizes alternative plasmonic materials such as transparent conducting oxides and titanium nitride which potentially can be applied for CMOS compatible process. The modulation is obtained by varying the carrier concentration of the transparent conducting oxide layer and exciting plasmonic resonance in the structure. The analysis shows that an extinction ratio of 46 dB/μm can be achieved at the telecommunication wavelength. Proposed structure is particularly convenient for integration with existing insulator-metal-insulator plasmonic waveguides as well as novel photonic/electronic hybrid circuits.