John Puthenparampil George

Lanthanide-Assisted Deposition of Strongly Electro-optic PZT Thin Films on Silicon: Toward Integrated Active Nanophotonic Devices

The electro-optical properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films depend strongly on the quality and crystallographic orientation of the thin films. We demonstrate a novel method to grow highly textured PZT thin films on silicon using the chemical solution deposition (CSD) process. We report the use of ultrathin (5-15 nm) lanthanide (La, Pr, Nd, Sm) based intermediate layers for obtaining preferentially (100) oriented PZT thin films. X-ray diffraction measurements indicate preferentially oriented intermediate Ln2O2CO3 layers providing an excellent lattice match with the PZT thin films grown on top. The XRD and scanning electron microscopy measurements reveal that the annealed layers are dense, uniform, crack-free and highly oriented (>99.8%) without apparent defects or secondary phases. The EDX and HRTEM characterization confirm that the template layers act as an efficient diffusion barrier and form a sharp interface between the substrate and the PZT. The electrical measurements indicate a dielectric constant of ∼650, low dielectric loss of ∼0.02, coercive field of 70 kV/cm, remnant polarization of 25 μC/cm(2), and large breakdown electric field of 1000 kV/cm. Finally, the effective electro-optic coefficients of the films are estimated with a spectroscopic ellipsometer measurement, considering the electric field induced variations in the phase reflectance ratio. The electro-optic measurements reveal excellent linear effective pockels coefficients of 110 to 240 pm/V, which makes the CSD deposited PZT thin film an ideal candidate for Si-based active integrated nanophotonic devices.

Preferentially oriented BaTiO3 thin films deposited on silicon with thin intermediate buffer layers.

Barium titanate (BaTiO3) thin films are prepared by conventional 2-methoxy ethanol-based chemical solution deposition. We report highly c-axis-oriented BaTiO3 thin films grown on silicon substrates, coated with a lanthanum oxynitrate buffer layer of 8.9 nm. The influence of the intermediate buffer layer on the crystallization of BaTiO3 film is investigated. The annealing temperature and buffer layer sintering conditions are optimized to obtain good crystal growth. X-ray diffraction measurements show the growth of highly oriented BaTiO3 thin films having a single perovskite phase with tetragonal geometry. The scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy studies indicate the presence of smooth, crack-free, uniform layers, with densely packed crystal grains on the silicon surface. A BaTiO3 film of 150-nm thickness, deposited on a buffer layer of 7.2 nm, shows a dielectric constant of 270, remnant polarization (2Pr) of 5 μC/cm2, and coercive field (Ec) of 60 kV/cm.

Digitally Controlled Phase Shifter Using an SOI Slot Waveguide With Liquid Crystal Infiltration

We demonstrate a phase shifter using a silicon slot waveguide infiltrated with liquid crystal. For a 1-mm long device we achieve 73π phase shift with a 5 V voltage, with a voltage-length product of 0.0224 V· mm ~1 V. We drive the phase shifter with a digital 1 V, duobinary pulsewidth-modulated signal, or a 1 V frequency-modulated signal. This enables direct digital CMOS control of an analog optical phase shifter.

Ferroelectric thin films with liquid crystal for gradient index applications

We report on the first ever combination of a thin film of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) with a liquid crystal (LC) layer. Many liquid crystal applications use a transparent conductive oxide to switch the liquid crystal. Our proposed processing does not, instead relying on the extremely high dielectric constant of the ferroelectric layer to extend the electric field from widely spaced electrodes over the liquid crystal. It eliminates almost entirely the fringe field problems that arise in nearly all the liquid crystal devices that use multiple addressing electrodes. We show, both via rigorous simulations as well as experiments, that the addition of a PZT layer over the addressing electrodes leads to a markedly improved LC switching performance at distances of up to 30 μm from the addressing electrodes with the current PZT-layer thickness of 0.84 μm. This improvement in switching is used to tune the focal length of the microlens with electrodes spaced at 30 μm.

Multi-electrode tunable liquid crystal lenses with one lithography step

Electrically tunable lenses offer the possibility to control the focal distance by applying an electric field. Different liquid crystal tunable lenses have been demonstrated. In order to minimize lens aberrations, multi-electrode designs allow us to fine-tune the applied voltages for every possible focal distance. In this Letter, we provide a novel multi-electrode design in which only one lithography step is necessary, thereby offering a greatly simplified fabrication procedure compared to earlier proposed designs. The key factor is the use of a high-permittivity layer, in combination with floating electrodes.

New materials for modulators and switches in silicon photonics (Conference Presentation)

In this presentation we will report on our recent work on new materials that can be monolithically integrated on high-index contrast silicon or silicon nitride photonic ICs to enhance their functionality. This includes graphene and other 2D-materials for realizing compact electro-absorption modulators and non-linear devices, ferroelectric materials for realizing phase modulators and adiabatic couplers for realizing bistable switches.

New materials and devices for optical interconnect

In this paper we show how new materials such as InP epitaxially grown on silicon, graphene and ferroelectric materials with strong electro-optic coefficient can be integrated with silicon waveguides and enhance the functionality of the silicon photonics platform.