Design Considerations for Phase Modulation in Testable Photonic Systems and Co-packaged Optics

Abstract

As silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs) scale in complexity, testing and calibration increasingly depend on effective phase modulation mechanisms. This work compares thermally induced phase modulation and carrier-based electrical modulation in Mach-Zehnder and microring modulators. The devices are designed and evaluated for extinction ratio, tuning efficiency, power consumption, and modulation bandwidth. The study identifies key trade-offs among modulation speed, energy consumption, and tuning controllability that directly influence the suitability of these methods for test signal generation and calibration tasks. The results highlight the relative advantages and limitations of thermal and electrical approaches across different operating regimes. These findings provide practical design guidance for selecting phase modulation strategies in scalable silicon photonic systems with integrated test and calibration requirements.