Authors:	M. Rakowski, J. Ryckaert, M. Pantouvaki, H. Yu, W. Bogaerts, K. de Meyer, M. Steyaert, P. Absil, J. Van Campenhout
Title:	Low-Power, 10-Gbps 1.5-Vpp Differential CMOS Driver for a Silicon Electro-Optic Ring Modulator
Format:	International Conference Proceedings
Publication date:	9/2012
Journal/Conference/Book:	IEEE Custom Integrated Circuit Conference (invited)
Location:	San Jose, United States
DOI:	10.1109/cicc.2012.6330643
Citations:	8 (Dimensions.ai - last update: 15/12/2024) 5 (OpenCitations - last update: 10/5/2024) Look up on Google Scholar
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Abstract

We present a novel driver circuit enabling electro-optic modulation with high extinction ratio from a co-designed silicon ring modulator. The driver circuit provides an asymmetric differential output at 10Gbps with a voltage swing up to 1.5Vpp from a single 1.0V supply, maximizing the resonance-wavelength shift of depletion-type ring modulators while avoiding carrier injection. A test chip containing 4 reconfigurable driver circuits was fabricated in 40nm CMOS technology. The measured energy consumption for driving a 100fF capacitive load at 10Gbps was as low as 125fJ/bit and 220fJ/bit at 1Vpp and 1.5Vpp respectively. After flip-chip integration with ring modulators on a silicon-photonics chip, the power consumption was measured to be 210fJ/bit and 350fJ/bit respectively.

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• All-Silicon Modulators