Chapter 4
Silicon Plasmonics
Ilya Goykhman, Boris Desiatov and Uriel Levy
Abstract The implementation of plasmonic components using silicon platform
holds a great promise for the development of advanced nanoscale on-chip photonic
functionalities. The combination of high optical mode confinement offered by plasmonics together with mature and well established CMOS technology makes the field
of silicon plasmonics a promising technological solution for intra-chip integration
of nanoscale optical and opto-electronic devices operating side by side with modern electronics. The great opportunity of the silicon plasmonic platform resides in
bridging the dimensionality gap between the photonic and electronic components
on-chip, while moderating the loss-confinement limitation of plasmonic structures.
In this section we refer to the fundamental problems of silicon-plasmonic integration and review the current state of the art demonstrations in the field with special
emphasis on the advantages of using plasmonics for the purpose of constructing of
novel nanoscale devices such as modern plasmonic modulators, concentrators and
photodetectors for on-chip applications.
Keywords Silicon · Plasmonics · Integrated devices · Nanotechnology
4.1 Introduction
In the past few decades we have been witnessing a revolution in electronics, in
which computation capacity has been increasing very rapidly, following Moore’s
law that was originally declared over 45 years ago. However, the improvement in
performance of VLSI circuits is now saturating, primarily because of fundamental
limitations in device scaling, signal delay, signal distortion and heat dissipation. In
order to allow further growth in data rates, there is an urgent need for a paradigm
I. Goykhman · B. Desiatov · U. Levy (B)
Department of Applied Physics, The Benin School of Engineering and Computer Science,
The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904
Jerusalem, Israel
e-mail: ulevy@mail.huji.ac.il
T. V. Shahbazyan and M. I. Stockman (eds.), Plasmonics: Theory and Applications,
149
Challenges and Advances in Computational Chemistry and Physics 15,
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-7805-4_4, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Silicon Plasmonics
Ilya Goykhman, Boris Desiatov and Uriel Levy
Abstract The implementation of plasmonic components using silicon platform
holds a great promise for the development of advanced nanoscale on-chip photonic
functionalities. The combination of high optical mode confinement offered by plasmonics together with mature and well established CMOS technology makes the field
of silicon plasmonics a promising technological solution for intra-chip integration
of nanoscale optical and opto-electronic devices operating side by side with modern electronics. The great opportunity of the silicon plasmonic platform resides in
bridging the dimensionality gap between the photonic and electronic components
on-chip, while moderating the loss-confinement limitation of plasmonic structures.
In this section we refer to the fundamental problems of silicon-plasmonic integration and review the current state of the art demonstrations in the field with special
emphasis on the advantages of using plasmonics for the purpose of constructing of
novel nanoscale devices such as modern plasmonic modulators, concentrators and
photodetectors for on-chip applications.
Keywords Silicon · Plasmonics · Integrated devices · Nanotechnology
4.1 Introduction
In the past few decades we have been witnessing a revolution in electronics, in
which computation capacity has been increasing very rapidly, following Moore’s
law that was originally declared over 45 years ago. However, the improvement in
performance of VLSI circuits is now saturating, primarily because of fundamental
limitations in device scaling, signal delay, signal distortion and heat dissipation. In
order to allow further growth in data rates, there is an urgent need for a paradigm
I. Goykhman · B. Desiatov · U. Levy (B)
Department of Applied Physics, The Benin School of Engineering and Computer Science,
The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904
Jerusalem, Israel
e-mail: ulevy@mail.huji.ac.il
T. V. Shahbazyan and M. I. Stockman (eds.), Plasmonics: Theory and Applications,
149
Challenges and Advances in Computational Chemistry and Physics 15,
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-7805-4_4, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013