Silicon Photonics Manufacturing Ramps Up


Circuit scaling is starting to hit a wall as the laws of physics clash with exponential increases in the volume of data, forcing chipmakers to take a much closer look at silicon photonics as a way of moving data from where it is collected to where it is processed and stored. The laws of physics are immutable. Put simply, there are limits to how fast an electron can travel through copper. The... » read more

Photonics: The Former And Future Solution


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to talk about where photonics is in the hype cycle and its secure role in data centers, with James Pond, fellow at Ansys; Gilles Lamant, distinguished engineer at Cadence; and Mitch Heins, business development manager for photonic solutions at Synopsys. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. [L-R]: Ansys’ Pond, Cadence�... » read more

Directly Writing and Rewriting Photonic Chips on Low-Loss Phase-Change Thin Films


A technical paper titled “Freeform direct-write and rewritable photonic integrated circuits in phase-change thin films” was published by researchers at University of Washington, University of Maryland, and Tianjin University. Abstract: "Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with rapid prototyping and reprogramming capabilities promise revolutionary impacts on a plethora of photonic technolo... » read more

Shedding More Light On Photonics For Multi-Die Systems


By Kenneth Larsen and Twan Korthorst Photonics harness the speed of light for fast, low-power, high-capacity data transfer. A tremendous amount of data needs to be moved swiftly across different components in a multi-die system. Considering this, exploiting the advantages of light is one way to mitigate heat dissipation and energy consumption concerns while delivering fast data transmission.... » read more

Lego-Like Photonics Chip With Expanded RF Bandwidth And Advanced Filter Control


A technical paper titled “Integrated microwave photonic notch filter using a heterogeneously integrated Brillouin and active-silicon photonic circuit” was published by researchers at University of Sydney and Australian National University. Abstract: "Microwave photonics (MWP) has unlocked a new paradigm for Radio Frequency (RF) signal processing by harnessing the inherent broadband and tu... » read more

Front-end patterning and epitaxy approach on Si photonics 220nm SOI substrates


A new technical paper titled "Lateral Tunnel Epitaxy of GaAs in Lithographically Defined Cavities on 220 nm Silicon-on-Insulator" was published by researchers at Cardiff University and University of Southampton. Abstract "Current heterogeneous Si photonics usually bond III–V wafers/dies on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate in a back-end process, whereas monolithic integration by di... » read more

Research Bits: October 17


High-entropy multielement ink semiconductors Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley developed a high-entropy semiconducting material called ‘multielement ink’ that can be processed at low-temperature or room temperature. “The traditional way of making semiconductor devices is energy-intensive and one of the major sources of carbon emissions,” said Pei... » read more

Fabless Approach To Embed Active Nanophotonics in Bulk CMOS By Co-Designing The BEOL Layers For Optical Functionality (MIT)


A technical paper titled “Metal-Optic Nanophotonic Modulators in Standard CMOS Technology” was published by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Abstract: "Integrating nanophotonics with electronics promises revolutionary applications ranging from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to holographic displays. Although semiconductor manufacturing of nanophotonics in Silicon ... » read more

Hardware Security for Silicon Photonic-Based AI Accelerators


A technical paper titled “Integrated Photonic AI Accelerators under Hardware Security Attacks: Impacts and Countermeasures” was published by researchers at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and Colorado State University. Abstract: "Integrated photonics based on silicon photonics platform is driving several application domains, from enabling ultra-fast chip-scale communication in high-perfor... » read more

Performance Enhancement Of An Si Photodetector By Incorporating Photon-Trapping Surface Structures


A technical paper titled “Achieving higher photoabsorption than group III-V semiconductors in ultrafast thin silicon photodetectors with integrated photon-trapping surface structures” was published by researchers at University of California Davis, W&WSens Devices Inc., and University of California Santa Cruz. Abstract: "The photosensitivity of silicon is inherently very low in the vis... » read more

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