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Towards high resolution trimming of silicon photonic waveguides

Towards high resolution trimming of silicon photonic waveguides
Towards high resolution trimming of silicon photonic waveguides
Methods for high resolution phase trimming of silicon Mach-Zehnder Interferometers via the electrical annealing of amorphized waveguide sections are presented. A high resolution of phase change is necessary to accurately trim the performance of individual devices to correct fabrication errors and when scaling to large programmable photonic circuits. On-chip microheaters positioned above amorphous waveguide sections are driven by short voltage pulses causing a degree of recrystallization, controllably changing the material’s refractive index. An average resolution of phase change per voltage pulse of 0.0007π is demonstrated if an adaptive method is employed where the voltage step between successive pulses is set to be dependent on the average phase change brought about by the previous three voltage pulses.
Silicon Photonics, Phase Tuning, Programmable, Trimming, Ion Implantation
2699-9293
Logan, April M.
e8358307-2b35-4326-bc11-3800a5b82a28
Chen, Xia
64f6ab92-ca11-4489-8c03-52bc986209ae
Yu, Xingshi
a368e8ff-5e3d-4538-8166-aa0011812bd0
Shen, Weihong
2facca30-447b-4303-9e4c-5f19abf1e3d7
Yan, Xingzhao
e1f3f636-74e4-42d5-81c7-04feec2b85ba
Zhang, Weiwei
1a783f97-c5ac-49e9-a5a0-49b8b2efab36
Mashanovich, Goran Z.
c806e262-af80-4836-b96f-319425060051
Reed, Graham T.
ca08dd60-c072-4d7d-b254-75714d570139
Thomson, David J.
17c1626c-2422-42c6-98e0-586ae220bcda
Logan, April M.
e8358307-2b35-4326-bc11-3800a5b82a28
Chen, Xia
64f6ab92-ca11-4489-8c03-52bc986209ae
Yu, Xingshi
a368e8ff-5e3d-4538-8166-aa0011812bd0
Shen, Weihong
2facca30-447b-4303-9e4c-5f19abf1e3d7
Yan, Xingzhao
e1f3f636-74e4-42d5-81c7-04feec2b85ba
Zhang, Weiwei
1a783f97-c5ac-49e9-a5a0-49b8b2efab36
Mashanovich, Goran Z.
c806e262-af80-4836-b96f-319425060051
Reed, Graham T.
ca08dd60-c072-4d7d-b254-75714d570139
Thomson, David J.
17c1626c-2422-42c6-98e0-586ae220bcda

Logan, April M., Chen, Xia, Yu, Xingshi, Shen, Weihong, Yan, Xingzhao, Zhang, Weiwei, Mashanovich, Goran Z., Reed, Graham T. and Thomson, David J. (2026) Towards high resolution trimming of silicon photonic waveguides. Advanced Photonics Research, 7 (2), [e202500298]. (doi:10.1002/adpr.202500298).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Methods for high resolution phase trimming of silicon Mach-Zehnder Interferometers via the electrical annealing of amorphized waveguide sections are presented. A high resolution of phase change is necessary to accurately trim the performance of individual devices to correct fabrication errors and when scaling to large programmable photonic circuits. On-chip microheaters positioned above amorphous waveguide sections are driven by short voltage pulses causing a degree of recrystallization, controllably changing the material’s refractive index. An average resolution of phase change per voltage pulse of 0.0007π is demonstrated if an adaptive method is employed where the voltage step between successive pulses is set to be dependent on the average phase change brought about by the previous three voltage pulses.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 12 January 2026
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 February 2026
Published date: 1 February 2026
Keywords: Silicon Photonics, Phase Tuning, Programmable, Trimming, Ion Implantation

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 509430
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509430
ISSN: 2699-9293
PURE UUID: 03e297e0-da06-4185-be07-852fa06bf9ce
ORCID for April M. Logan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5759-3965
ORCID for Xia Chen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0994-5401
ORCID for Goran Z. Mashanovich: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2954-5138
ORCID for Graham T. Reed: ORCID iD orcid.org/0009-0002-5314-6604

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 23 Feb 2026 17:34
Last modified: 24 Feb 2026 03:06

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Contributors

Author: April M. Logan ORCID iD
Author: Xia Chen ORCID iD
Author: Xingshi Yu
Author: Weihong Shen
Author: Xingzhao Yan
Author: Weiwei Zhang
Author: Goran Z. Mashanovich ORCID iD
Author: Graham T. Reed ORCID iD
Author: David J. Thomson

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