The story of optics and processing has always been on of silicon devices making strides faster and cheaper than optics. The idea of creating optical switches has been generally relegated to academic exercises or niche markets. This research takes a view of optical processing that is complimentary to silicon. Silicon wafers produce extremely dense, high quality devices but producing truly 3D integrated circuits has been a challenge. It would be advantageous to not need to bond wafers to create a 3D active structure. An argument for an optical switch that has a simple structure and uses industry established fabrication methods is given. The proposed switch uses the material indium tin oxide nanoparticles in niobum oxide glass (ITO/NbOx) as the active layer. The transmittance through this material is proportional to the electric field applied to it meaning the structure of a capacitor could be used to control it. It uses a metal for one plate of the capacitor and the ITO/NbOx as the other plate with the light running through ITO/NbOx plate. Each of the plates are separated from one another and surrounded by a dielectric material. Simulations show that silicon dioxide (SiO2) can be used effectively to turn the ITO/NbOx into a light guide with a transmittance controllable using an applied voltage and that the proposed structure can be created using industry established wafer fabrication processes.
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