Monolithically Integrated High-Extinction-Ratio MZM With a Segmented Driver in Photonic BiCMOS

In this letter, a dual-drive Si depletion-type Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) monolithically integrated with a segmented driver using 0.25-μm SiGe:C photonic bipolar complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology is demonstrated. The phase shifter on each MZM arm has a total length of 6.048 mm and is divided into 16 sections, driven by the driver segments. Extinction ratio (ER) higher than 11 dB is shown at 28 and 32 Gb/s at ON-OFF keying with a differential input voltage swing of 800 mVpp (3.5 V pp on the phase shifters). The power consumption equals to 64 pJ/b at 28 Gb/s. This is one of the highest ER values shown by a monolithically integrated Si MZM at this data rate.