## 1 Introduction  
Data from Cisco telecommunication suggests that mobile traffic users will grow to 66% of the global population by 2023 [1; 2; 3; 4]. This growth, along with most countries opting for green energy, advocates the shift towards the optical mode of communication, which solves the electric bottleneck by offering high bandwidth, low power consumption and a smaller footprint [2; 3; 4]. Over the years, scientists and research groups have investigated various techniques such as thermo-optic effects, free-carrier plasma dispersion, micro-optoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS) and electro-optic effects for enabling high-speed optical modulation [4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11]. Among these, modulators based on the thermo-optic effect suffer from slow response time (5-200 us), while the performance of plasma-dispersion-based modulators is hindered by coupled attenuation losses with phase change. MOEMS devices offer a small footprint and low crosstalk; however, they require high operating voltages and are incompatible with CMOS technology. The electro-optic effect allows a faster response with no coupled attenuation and offers CMOS-compatible platforms. Among these platforms, x-cut thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) has drawn significant attention as it provides a wide transparent window, high-temperature stability, a high refractive index contrast, a large bandwidth, low optical losses, a large Pockel's coefficient and narrow gap electrodes reducing the half-wave voltage \((V_{\pi})\)[2; 11]. To meet the modern communication demands, modulators must be designed for high bandwidth operations considering fabrication limitations and tolerances. In high-speed TFLN-based modulators coplanar waveguide traveling wave electrodes allowing push-pull configuration is used. This is due to the large length of the phase shifters compared to the wavelength [12]. To obtain THz operation, electrode design needs to be precise,taking care of the three primary factors: (i) velocity matching, (ii) impedance matching and (iii) low RF attenuation [13]. With accurate design technology and maturity in TFLN MZI fabrication, the performance metric of the device can be predicted reliably. EOM performance is investigated through the figures of merit (FOM) defined by half-wave voltage and length product \((V_{\pi}L)\), modulation bandwidth and modulation efficiency. Maturity in fabrication technology allows fabrication of multiple devices on a compact chip specially for space and defence applications which require fabrication of device in various orientations. Multiple device orientations are also common in programmable photonic circuits. However, due to the inherent anisotropy of lithium niobate, the device performance is bound to be affected by a change in orientation of the device, which makes analyzing the effects of orientation on the device's performance essential. Apart from these, assessing the device's intermodulation distortion and digital performance is necessary to implement the modulator in practical communication links. Intermodulation distortions (IMD) are unavoidable due to the inherent nonlinearity associated with the optical modulators. Thus, the spurious free detection range (SFDR) calculation quantifying the device's nonlinearity becomes an important FOM. Bulky conventional lithium niobate (LN) modulators offer a high SFDR of around 110-120 dB/Hz \({}^{2/3}\), compared to etched LN waveguide modulators with an SFDR of around 97.2 dB/Hz\({}^{2/3}\)[14]. Suppressing IMDs in optical modulators is challenging, and various linearization techniques [15; 16; 17] are utilized to improve SFDR. However, these are out of the scope of this article. Modern-day communication links such as 5G/ 6G, satellite communication and multi-system operators in the television industry utilize digital communication to transmit information.