A Figure of Merit Based Transmitter Link Penalty Calculation for   CMOS-Compatible Plasma-Dispersion Electro-Optic Mach-Zehnder Modulators
  We derive equations that quantify silicon Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) modulator impact upon optical link budget for NRZ transmissions based solely upon modulator extinction ratio (ER), the efficiency-loss figure of merit (FOM), and peak-to-peak drive voltage (Vpp). Our modulator link penalty equations transform the modulator efficiency-loss FOM from a simple device quality metric into a means of predicting how design and technology choices impact system margin. Our results indicate that, with a 17.8 V-cm FOM and 1 Vpp drive, designing an MZI to have an ER anywhere within the large range from 3.5-10 dB leads to nearly constant link margins, identical to within 0.5 dB. 
D. M. Gill (1), W. M. J. Green (1), S. Assefa (1), J. C. Rosenberg   (1), T. Barwicz (1), S. M. Shank (2), H. Pan (1), Y. A....
physics.optics