US Patent 7116853 PN diode optical modulators fabricated in rib waveguides

High speed optical modulators can be made of a reverse biased lateral PN diode formed in a silicon rib optical waveguide disposed on a SOI or other silicon based substrate. A PN junction is formed at the boundary of the P and N doped regions. The depletion region at the PN junction overlaps with the center of a guided optical mode propagating through the waveguide. Electrically modulating a reverse biased lateral PN diode causes a phase shift in an optical wave propagating through the waveguide. Prior art forward biased PN and PIN diode modulators have been relatively low speed devices.