High-temperature-resistant silicon-polymer hybrid modulator operating at up to 200 Gbit s−1 for energy-efficient datacentres and harsh-environment applications

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 4224
• Main Authors: Lu, Guo-Wei, Hong, Jianxun, Qiu, Feng, Spring, Andrew M., Kashino, Tsubasa, Oshima, Juro, Ozawa, Masa-aki, Nawata, Hideyuki, Yokoyama, Shiyoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.08.2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/624/1075/187; 639/624/1075/401; 639/624/399/1028; 639/624/399/1099; Ambient temperature; Bandwidths; Component reliability; Cooling; Cooling systems; Data centers; Dielectric constant; Durability; Energy consumption; Energy efficiency; Glass transition temperature; Heat resistance; High temperature; Humanities and Social Sciences; Modulators; multidisciplinary; Optical communication; Optoelectronics; Polymers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Silicon; System effectiveness; Temperature; Thermal stability; Transition temperatures; Ultrahigh temperature
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18005-7

To reduce the ever-increasing energy consumption in datacenters, one of the effective approaches is to increase the ambient temperature, thus lowering the energy consumed in the cooling systems. However, this entails more stringent requirements for the reliability and durability of the optoelectronic components. Herein, we fabricate and demonstrate silicon-polymer hybrid modulators which support ultra-fast single-lane data rates up to 200 gigabits per second, and meanwhile feature excellent reliability with an exceptional signal fidelity retained at extremely-high ambient temperatures up to 110 °C and even after long-term exposure to high temperatures. This is achieved by taking advantage of the high electro-optic (EO) activities (in-device n 3 r 33  = 1021 pm V −1 ), low dielectric constant, low propagation loss ( α , 0.22 dB mm −1 ), and ultra-high glass transition temperature ( T g , 172 °C) of the developed side-chain EO polymers. The presented modulator simultaneously fulfils the requirements of bandwidth, EO efficiency, and thermal stability for EO modulators. It could provide ultra-fast and reliable interconnects for energy-hungry and harsh-environment applications such as datacentres, 5G/B5G, autonomous driving, and aviation systems, effectively addressing the energy consumption issue for the next-generation optical communication. Information and communication datacentres require a large amount of energy for their cooling systems, which could be decreased by working at higher temperatures. Here, the authors introduce a silicon-polymer hybrid modulator that maintains high data rates for long periods at high temperatures that could be used under such conditions, to reduce energy consumption.