Towards Reproducible Ring Resonator Based Temperature Sensors

Abstract: In recent years photonic devices have emerged as a powerful tool for developing novel, highsensitivity sensors. In particular, tremendous progress has been reported in developing photonic temperature sensors using a wide variety of materials including optical fiber and on-chip silicon photonic devices. We recently reported on ultra high sensitivity temperature sensor based on silicon ring resonator structure that has a noise floor of 80 µK. Here we have systematically examined the impact of structural parameters on the performance of silicon ring resonator photonic thermometers. Our results suggest that consistently high performance temperature sensors are obtained from the zone of stability (waveguide width > 600 nm, air gap ≈ 130 nm and ring radius > 10 μm) such that quality factors are consistent ≈ 10 4 and the temperature sensitivity is in the 70 pm/K to 80 pm/K range. The zone of stability identified in this work is a useful starting point for future testing of inter-changeability wafer-scale produced sensors