CMOS-compatible thermal compensator based on a modified Mach-Zender-Interferometer

A novel CMOS-compatible thermal compensator which can compensate most of silicon photonic integrated devices with the positive thermal-optical effect was demonstrated using a modified asymmetric Mach-Zender-Interferometer. Furthermore, an athermal waveguide was designed using the demonstrated thermal compensator to compensate the conventional waveguide with the positive thermal-optical effect. Based on simulations, the temperature dependence of the athermal compensated waveguide is stable within the temperature range of 25-52°, and the temperature range can be largely extended through optimizing the structure of the thermal compensator. In addition, the different length of conventional waveguide can be compensated by adjusting some parameters.