Thermo-optic phase shifter based on amorphous silicon carbide

Abstract

We report the preliminary experimental results for an amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) thermo-optic phase shifter (TOPS). This device is based on microring resonator (MRR) structure with a titanium (Ti) heater placed on the top of the device, separated by 1.5 μm thick SiO2 to reduce the optical loss. The proposed a-SiC microring has a thickness and a radius of 1.1 μm and 33 μm, respectively. By applying an electrical power in the Ti heater, a resonance wavelength shift at an optical wavelength of λ=1550 nm is shown, and the extracted thermal tunability is 52.2 pm/mW.