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e-Article

Process Variation-Aware Compact Model of Strip Waveguides for Photonic Circuit Simulation
Document Type
Periodical
Source
Journal of Lightwave Technology J. Lightwave Technol. Lightwave Technology, Journal of. 41(9):2801-2814 May, 2023
Subject
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Photonics and Electrooptics
Integrated circuit modeling
Optical waveguides
Semiconductor device modeling
Indexes
Scattering
Behavioral sciences
Strips
Silicon photonics
compact modeling
process variation
thermo-optic
waveguide
Language
ISSN
0733-8724
1558-2213
Abstract
We report a novel process variation-aware compact model of strip waveguides that is suitable for circuit-level simulation of waveguide-based process design kit (PDK) elements. The model is shown to describe both loss and—using a novel expression for the thermo-optic effect in high index contrast materials—the thermo-optic behavior of strip waveguides. A novel group extraction method enables modeling the effective index's ($n_{\text{eff}}$) sensitivity to local process variations without the presumption of variation source. Use of Euler-bend Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) fabricated in a 300 mm wafer run allow model parameter extraction at widths up to 2.5 $\mu$m (highly multi-mode) with strong suppression of higher-order mode excitation. Experimental results prove the reported model can self-consistently describe waveguide phase, loss, and thermo-optic behavior across all measured devices over an unprecedented range of optical bandwidth, waveguide widths, and temperatures.