12.5-Gb/s operation with 0.29-V·cm V(π)L using silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator based-on forward-biased pin diode.

We present high-speed operation of pin-diode-based silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators that have side-wall gratings on both sides of the waveguide core. The use of pre-emphasis signals generated with a finite impulse response digital filter was examined in the frequency domain to show how the filter works for different filter parameter sets. In large signal modulation experiments, V(π)L as low as 0.29 V·cm was obtained at 12.5 Gb/s using a fabricated modulator and the pre-emphasis technique. Operation of up to 25-Gb/s is possible using basically the same driving configurations.