Design and Simulation of an Integrated Fiber-to-Chip Coupler for Silicon-on-Insulator Waveguides

We report a novel design for a monolithically integrated fiber to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide coupler. The structure consists of a relatively large silicon block on top of a sub-micrometer dimensional silicon rib waveguide. The block and the waveguide are separated by a thin oxide layer, which acts as an efficient etch stop during fabrication. The optical facet is $5\times 5\ \mu \mathrm{m}$ (the cross-sectional area of the block at …