5 x 25 Gbit/s WDM Transmitters Based on Passivated Graphene-Silicon Electro-Absorption Modulators

Today, one of the key challenges for the exploitation of graphene devices is establishing fabrication processes that can ensure performance stability, repeatability and that can eventually enable produc- tion in high volumes. In this paper we use up-scalable fabrication processes to demonstrate three 5- channel wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmitters, each based on 5 graphene-silicon electro- absorption modulators (EAM). A passivation-first approach is used to encapsulate graphene, which re- sults in hysteresis-free and uniform performance across the 5 channels of each WDM transmitter, for a total of 15 modulators. Open eye diagrams are obtained at 25 Gb/s using 2.5 Vpp, thus demonstrating potential for multi-channel data transmission at 5 x 25 Gb/s on each of the three WDM transmitters.