Fabrication of an electro-optical Bragg modulator based on plasma dispersion effect in silicon

In this paper we present a design as well as the fabrication procedure of a new type of electro-optical modulator based on plasma dispersion effect. The device consists from a regular single mode silicon waveguide and periodically patterned electrodes made out an indium thin oxide (ITO) located along both sides of the optical core through which the photonic signal is propagating. By applying voltage on the electrodes a periodic change in the free electrons is occurred along the optical core. This change affects both the imaginary and real part of the refractive index resulting in the generation of periodic change in the refractive index that creates an effective Bragg reflector. Different fabrication strategies are reported.

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► We present an electro-optical modulator based on plasma dispersion effect.
► The modulation is based on periodically patterned electrodes.
► The device enables high extinction ratio in terms of modulation/length.
► We examine three electronic resists for fabricating the modulator device.