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The exponential demand for bandwidth in data centers is on high alert with the increase in data traffic. In this scenario, the design of optical modulators is crucial for the continuous evolution of communication systems. For data center interconnect (DCI) applications, this mean that modulators should offer high bandwidth and low optical loss. In addition, devices must operate with low power consumption and be compatible with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) processes for low-cost and large-scale manufacturing. These facts show the importance of advancement in Silicon (Si) modulators solutions, since they have the potential to fulfill all these requirements. However, designing a device that meets all these requirements at the same time is still challenging, because there are several trade-offs problems involved for which different Silicon modulators types are not yet able to solve. In this context, this paper reviews the challenges in Silicon photonics (SiPh) modulators for data center interconnect applications.

A Silicon (Si) modulator and a design methodology using a system-oriented numerical approach are proposed. The main contributions of this work are to provide a Silicon modulator as an alternative solution for intra-data center interconnect (DCI) applications and a single figure-of-merit (FOM) for the modulator design, which takes as input the main device parameters (modulation efficiency ( V π × L ), optical loss, and electro-optical bandwidth ( f 3 d B )) and provides a global optical system optimization. By using a numerical approach, the modulator physical parameters are analyzed according to system performance metrics such as the required receiver sensitivity to reach a target bit error rate (BER), and the required transmitter launch power. A capacitive Silicon device and a 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-4) system simulator is presented. The results show an efficient modulator ( V π = 3.5 V ) with high bandwidth ( f 3 d B > 38 GHz ), which is promising for data centers solutions, where power consumption is critical and high-speed is required.

We propose and demonstrate a polarization splitter and rotator (PSR) operating in the range of 1530–1590 nm, built on the SOI platform and based on a new bow tie converter TM0-to-TE1. Comparing with other compact (