Fiber-chip grating coupler based on interleaved trenches with directionality exceeding 95%

We propose a fiber-chip grating coupler that interleaves the standard full and shallow etch trenches in a 220 nm thick silicon layer to provide a directionality upward exceeding 95%. By adjusting the separation between the two sets of trenches, constructive interference is achieved in the upward direction independent of the bottom oxide thickness and without any bottom reflectors, overlays, or customized etch depths. We implement a transverse subwavelength structure in the first two grating periods to minimize back-reflections. The grating coupler has a calculated coupling efficiency of CE similar to -1.05 dB with a 1 dB bandwidth of 30 nm and minimum feature size of 100 nm, compatible with deep-UV lithography. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America