In 2023, imec demonstrated the co-integration of its high-quality SiN waveguide technology with its active silicon photonics platform. This enables single-PIC solutions to combine active and passive functions.

Build your own prototype with iSiPP200 or iSiPP300

Imec’s 50G silicon photonics platform co-integrates a wide variety of passive and active 50Gbd building blocks in a single platform. The platform targets cost-effective, high-performance 50Gb/s NRZ and 100Gb/s PAM-4 optical link solutions for telecom and datacom.

The key components such as the Mach-Zehnder modulators, the monitor photodetector, the high-bandwidth photodetector, and the thermo-optic phase shifters have successfully passed reliability qualification.

The versatility of the platform also enables other integrated photonics applications, such as coherent lidar, biosensing, and computing.

Custom designs are made by our fabless partners, who send their GDS tape to imec. A silicon validated process design kit (PDK) is available, which is supported by various EDA tools, such as the Synopsys OptoCompiler design platform. Photonic circuit schematic capture and simulation is enabled by Synopsys Optsim, allowing electro-optic co-simulation and analysis together with industry standard electronic simulators. Synopsys IC validator is used to seamlessly realize Photonics LVS and DRC verification. The PDK libraries are updated with enhanced performance components developed through imec’s Optical IO program leveraging the Synopsys TCAD suite of products

After design verification, processing is done on either 200mm (iSiPP200) or 300mm (iSiPP300) wafers. As part of the integration flow, iSiPP50G imec offers standard modules as well as extra module options.

At the end of the process, the individual building blocks are tested using process control module tests on a fully-automated wafer-scale tester.

Learn more about imec: https://www.imec-int.com/en