Ebook: Nanostructured Silicon for Photonics

The use of light to channel signals around electronic chips could solve several current problems in microelectronic evolution including: power dissipation, interconnect bottlenecks, input/output from/to optical communication channels, poor signal bandwidth, etc. It is unfortunate that silicon is not a good photonic material: it has a poor light-emission efficiency and exhibits a negligible electro-optical effect. Silicon photonics is a field having the objective of improving the physical properties of silicon; thus turning it into a photonic material and permitting the full convergence of electronics and photonics.