The Emergence of Silicon Photonics as a Flexible Technology Platform
Open accessAbstract
In this paper, we present a brief history of silicon photonics from the early research papers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to the potentially revolutionary technology that exists today. Given that other papers in this special issue give detailed reviews of key aspects of the technology, this paper will concentrate on the key technological milestones that were crucial in demonstrating the capability of silicon photonics as both a successful technical platform, as well as indicating the potential for commercial success. The paper encompasses discussion of the key technology areas of passive devices, modulators, detectors, light sources, and system integration. In so doing, the paper will also serve as an introduction to the other papers within this special issue.
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Silicon photonics are distinct due to their ability to leverage mature high-volume manufacturing processes and build on the microelectronics semiconductor industry.
“In comparison, silicon photonics are distinct due to their ability to leverage mature high-volume manufacturing processes and build on the immense knowledge base of the microelectronics semiconductor industry20,21.”
From Integrated silicon photonic MEMS (2023) · cites this paper as [21]
Cites
Bogaerts, W., De Heyn, P., Van Vaerenbergh, T., De Vos, K., Kumar Selvaraja, S., Claes, T., Dumon, P., Bienstman, P., Van Thourhout, D., & Baets, R. (2012) · Laser & Photonics Reviews · doi:10.1002/lpor.201100017 · Cited by 2,643 · see citing works
Micrometre-scale silicon electro-optic modulator
Xu, Q., Schmidt, B., Pradhan, S., & Lipson, M. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03569 · Cited by 2,386 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Carrier injection devices are efficient enough to permit device lengths on the order of hundreds of micrometers and are simple to fabricate using standard CMOS techniques, but their main limitation is the operation speed with the fastest demonstrations on the order of a gigahertz [127] (although faster may be achieved…”
MethodElectrically pumped continuous-wave III–V quantum dot lasers on silicon
Chen, S., Li, W., Wu, J., Jiang, Q., Tang, M., Shutts, S., Elliott, S. N., Sobiesierski, A., Seeds, A. J., Ross, I., et al. (2016) · Nature Photonics · doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.21 · Cited by 877 · see citing works
Hybrid silicon and lithium niobate electro-optical ring modulator
Chen, L., Xu, Q., Wood, M. G., & Reano, R. M. (2014) · Optica · doi:10.1364/optica.1.000112 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
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Open-Access Silicon Photonics Platforms in Europe
Rahim, A., Goyvaerts, J., Szelag, B., Fedeli, J.-M., Absil, P., Aalto, T., Harjanne, M., Littlejohns, C., Reed, G., Winzer, G., et al. (2019) · IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics · doi:10.1109/jstqe.2019.2915949 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Self-citationIntegrated silicon photonic MEMS
Quack, N., Takabayashi, A. Y., Sattari, H., Edinger, P., Jo, G., Bleiker, S. J., Errando-Herranz, C., Gylfason, K. B., Niklaus, F., Khan, U., et al. (2023) · Microsystems & Nanoengineering · doi:10.1038/s41378-023-00498-z · Cited by 155 · see citing works
- Authors
- Chen, X., Milosevic, M. M., Stankovic, S., Reynolds, S., Bucio, T. D., Li, K., Thomson, D. J., Gardes, F., & Reed, G. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the IEEE
- Published
- 2018-12
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2101-2116
- ISSN
- 0018-9219 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-2256
- OpenAlex
- W2887956223
- Cited by
- 247
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 10.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the IEEE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L00044X/1, EP/L021129/1)
- Royal Society
- Wolfson Foundation
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Photonic and Optical Devices
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Silicon Nanostructures and Photoluminescence
- Keywords
- silicon photonics, passive optical components, electro-optic modulator, photodetectors, light sources, system integration, commercialization
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