{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["12(1)"],"submitter":["de Cea M"],"pubmed_abstract":["The light input to a semiconductor optical modulator can constitute an electrical energy supply through the photovoltaic effect, which is unexploited in conventional modulators. In this work, we leverage this effect to demonstrate a silicon modulator with sub-aJ/bit electrical energy consumption at sub-GHz speeds, relevant for massively parallel input/output systems such as neural interfaces. We use the parasitic photovoltaic current to self-charge the modulator and a single transistor to modulate the stored charge. This way, the electrical driver only needs to charge the nano-scale gate of the transistor, with attojoule-scale energy dissipation. We implement this 'photovoltaic modulator' in a monolithic CMOS platform. This work demonstrates how close integration and co-design of electronics and photonics offers a path to optical switching with as few as 500 injected electrons and electrical energy consumption as low as 20 zJ/bit, achieved only by recovering the absorbed optical energy that is wasted in conventional modulation."],"journal":["Nature communications"],"pagination":["2326"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8055879"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"pubmed_title":["Energy harvesting optical modulators with sub-attojoule per bit electrical energy consumption."],"pmcid":["PMC8055879"],"pubmed_authors":["de Cea M","Atabaki AH","Ram RJ"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Energy harvesting optical modulators with sub-attojoule per bit electrical energy consumption.","description":"The light input to a semiconductor optical modulator can constitute an electrical energy supply through the photovoltaic effect, which is unexploited in conventional modulators. In this work, we leverage this effect to demonstrate a silicon modulator with sub-aJ/bit electrical energy consumption at sub-GHz speeds, relevant for massively parallel input/output systems such as neural interfaces. We use the parasitic photovoltaic current to self-charge the modulator and a single transistor to modulate the stored charge. This way, the electrical driver only needs to charge the nano-scale gate of the transistor, with attojoule-scale energy dissipation. We implement this 'photovoltaic modulator' in a monolithic CMOS platform. This work demonstrates how close integration and co-design of electronics and photonics offers a path to optical switching with as few as 500 injected electrons and electrical energy consumption as low as 20 zJ/bit, achieved only by recovering the absorbed optical energy that is wasted in conventional modulation.","dates":{"release":"2021-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2021 Apr","modification":"2025-04-07T00:03:54.319Z","creation":"2025-04-04T19:19:32.577Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC8055879","cross_references":{"pubmed":["33875653"],"doi":["10.1038/s41467-021-22460-1"]}}