Photonic Integration by Hybrid Silicon/Silica Waveguide Systems

Photonic integration by hybrid silicon/silica waveguide systems is attractive for realizing various optical devices and optical integrated circuits. Silicon waveguides and silica-based waveguides have complementary characteristics, although those waveguides can be formed on identical SOI wafers by a CMOS compatible process. Therefore, photonic integration by a hybrid silicon/silica waveguide system was proposed. We introduce the concept and a photonic integration method with these waveguide systems. We also investigated both the low-loss waveguide junction and the hetero waveguide crossing between Si-wire waveguides and silica-based waveguides. Finally, we introduce optical devices and circuits with the hybrid silicon/silica waveguide system.