Cloud native EDA tools & pre-optimized hardware platforms
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a critical technology for self-driving cars. Traditional LiDAR devices have a few qualities that pose challenges to practical use. These drawbacks include:
LiDAR-On-Chip is an alternative solution that includes a number of benefits to help further commercialize this technology. These benefits include:
Design optimization is essential to making on-chip LiDAR practical for the commercial market. It's important that designs are optimized to minimize insertion loss and increase output optical power, increase beam steering range, narrow the emitting beam, and reduce size. Reliable simulation tools are critical to achieving design tasks, reducing development time and cost and allowing designs to be tested and modified without fabricating costly prototypes. RSoft provides a variety of simulation tools for optimizing the design of various components. These tools include:
RSoft tools can support the complicated design layout of an on-chip LiDAR device. No single simulation tool can solve the complex problem of a design of this nature. Combining RSoft tools, using FullWAVE for the Emitter, Multiphysics Utility for the T-O Phaser, and BeamPROP for the splitter will achieve the optimal layout.
Figure 2. Structure by Gent University & IMEC. Referenced from: Van Acoleyen, Karel, et al. "Off-chip beam steering with a one-dimensional optical phased array on silicon-on-insulator." Optics letters 34.9 (2009): 1477-1479.
Figure 3. Combined RSoft tools used for different elements of the LiDAR-On-Chip design.
Watch our webinar providing a detailed explanation of the simulation methodology described above.