3D Integration of Microcombs

Paper in proceeding, 2023

Microcombs based on silicon nitride are a promising technology in applications such as sensing, metrology and telecommunication [1]. These applications often require to combine a nonlinear waveguide with a linear integrated processor on the same chip to perform functionalities such as splitting, demultiplexing, and optical buffering. However, there is a fundamental performance tradeoff between linear and nonlinear waveguides. For microcomb generation, thick waveguide cores are necessary to achieve the desired anomalous dispersion, while for linear operation a thin core improves the loss of a single mode (SM) waveguide [2]. The dissimilar requirements in waveguide thickness brings challenges for planar integrated technologies. Here, we propose and demonstrate wafer-level three-dimensional integration of microcombs using two different Si3N4 core thicknesses: a thick core featuring dispersion-engineered microcombs and a thinner core for linear processing (see Fig. 1a). This technology breaks off the fundamental tradeoff between loss and confinement in thick waveguides and opens the door to combine high-performance microcombs with ultra-low-loss silicon nitride waveguide technology [3]. We demonstrate this approach by efficiently coupling a microcomb between two layers of Si3N4 and demultiplexing a few lines with an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) (Fig 1b).