PhD Defense of Fatoumata SY

Keywords:
Reliability,photodetector,photomodulator,silicon photonic

Abstract :
Optical telecommunications currently cover a significant part in the digital data exchanges. The increasing rate of the exchanged data is pushing to the continuous improvement of involved technologies. Silicon photonics is a part of this development and aims to closely co-integrate optical and electronic components, using optoelectronics components as interfaces. This thesis is part of this theme and more particularly in the context of the characterization PIC25G technology developed by STMicroelectronics. It aims to bring optical connections directly to the servers of internet data centers in order to increase the overall data exchange performances.
Like all technologies, it is necessary to perform a continuous monitoring of its performances through electrical and, here, optical characterization. But it is also important to be able to assess as accurately as possible the lifetime of these components under nominal conditions. A reliability study of silicon photonics components was therefore essential for STMicroelectronics. However, very few studies have been done on this topic. The objective of this thesis is to present the study of the reliability of the optoelectronic components used in telecommunications applications.
This manuscript is organized into three main parts. The first will present in detail the context of this study, its challenges, and the objectives we set. A second part will be dedicated to the installation of an optoelectronic characterization bench and its validation, then will present the first tests performed on packaged components. The third chapter will present the different characterizations performed on photodetectors of PIC25G technology, we will show how the degradation of the performances observed during stress tests can be explained by a physical model that we will detail and validate. Finally, the perspectives opened by this work will be addressed in the more general context of the reliability of optoelectronic devices and integrated photonics.