A Non-Volatile Tunable Ultra-Compact Silicon Photonic Logic Gate

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 12; no. 7; p. 1121
• Main Authors: Peng, Zheng, Feng, Junbo, Yuan, Huan, Cheng, Wei, Wang, Yan, Ren, Xiaodong, Cheng, Hao, Zang, Shengyin, Shuai, Yubei, Liu, Hao, Wu, Jiagui, Yang, Junbo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.03.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Algorithms; Antimony compounds; Design techniques; Field programmable gate arrays; Gates (circuits); Integrated circuits; inverse design; Logic; Logic circuits; logic gate; Neural networks; Optimization; Optoelectronics; Performance evaluation; phase change material; Phase change materials; Phase transitions; Photonics; Selenides; Semiconductors; Silicon; Volatility; inverse design; phase change material; logic gate
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano12071121

Logic gates, as one of the most important basic units in electronic integrated circuits (EICs), are also equally important in photonic integrated circuits (PICs). In this study, we proposed a non-volatile, ultra-compact all-photonics logic gate. The footprint is only 2 μm × 2 μm. We regulate the phase change of optical phase change materials(O-PCMs) Sb Se to switch the function of the logic gate. The Sb Se possess a unique non-volatile optical phase change function; therefore, when Sb Se is in the crystalline or amorphous state, our device can work as XOR gate or AND gate, and our designed logic '1' and logic '0' contrasts reach 11.8 dB and 5.7 dB at 1550 nm, respectively. Compared with other traditional optical logic gates, our device simultaneously has non-volatile characteristics, tunability, and additionally an ultra-small size. These results could fully meet the needs of fusion between PICs and EICs, and developing truly chip-scale optoelectronic logic solution.