Abstract
Silicon photonics has been heralded for a number of high technology fields, but access to a high quality technology has been limited to vertically integrated design/fabrication companies, or fabless companies with significant resources to engage high volume fabs. More recently, research and development hubs have developed and released process design kits and multi-project wafer programs to lower the barrier. We present the first silicon photonics multi-project wafer (MPW) service produced in a state-of-the-art 300 mm fabrication facility. The MPW service is enabled by a best-in-class process design kit (PDK) which allows designers to layout and obtain photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that work properly on the first run. The fabrication of these circuits is carried out at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute which operates a world class 300 mm cleanroom that, besides silicon photonics, develops sub-7 nm CMOS architectures. The industrial-level management of this facility and its equipment provides high quality photonic devices which are repeatable from run-to-run along with rapid turnaround time. The devices that are available to designers via the process design kit are produced by Analog Photonics and have been verified on actual runs. The performance of these devices is comparable to the state-of-the-art and enables a wide variety of silicon photonic applications.
Highlights
O VER the past twenty years the popularity of silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs) has increased as their reported performance improves
Customer designs are due to MOSIS in advance of the fabrication run to allow time for the fab to review design rule check (DRC) results, for MOSIS to insert IP blocks from the process design kit (PDK) component library and assemble the designs, and for the mask house to fabricate the reticles
The passive components in current APSUNY PDK include waveguides, edge couplers, vertical couplers, 1% and 10% power taps, 3-and 4-port splitters, layer transitions, polarization rotators, polarization splitter/rotators, and waveguide crossings. The use of both silicon and silicon nitride waveguides is unique to this PDK and essential for supporting low PIC-to-fiber coupling losses, low propagation losses at diverse operation wavelengths, tight bend radii, low polarization dependence, and active functionality for applications ranging from optical computing and interconnect, to sensors and nonlinear optics (Fig. 3(a))
Summary
O VER the past twenty years the popularity of silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs) has increased as their reported performance improves. Bridging the gap between closed high volume fabs and smaller boutique fabs (or academic labs) are larger research and development consortia such as IMEC, CEA-Leti, AMR, and (in the United States) the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics) at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute [6]. Each of these organizations operate a multi-project wafer (MPW) service which allows small to medium sized businesses, academic researchers, and government labs to access the silicon photonics integrated circuits by sharing the development and fabrication costs in their state-of-the-art cleanroom facilities [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
