Silicon photonics platform supports 50 Gb/s NRZ optical lanes
Through process and design optimizations, imec has improved the operating speed of the silicon based traveling-wave mach-zehnder modulators and ring modulators to reach 50 Gb/s NRZ lane rates. In addition, a C-band GeSi electro-absorption modulator was developed with electro-optical bandwidth beyond 50 GHz, enabling NRZ modulation at 56 Gb/s and beyond. All modulator types can be driven with competitive drive voltages of 2 Vpp or below, enabling compatibility with power efficient CMOS driver circuits.
The responsivity of the high-speed Ge photodetectors has been improved to 1 A/W, enabling highly sensitive 50 Gb/s NRZ receivers both in the C-band and the O-band. Also, edge coupling structures were developed for broadband optical coupling to high-NA and lensed fiber with less than 3dB insertion loss in the C-band. Moreover, designers can exploit the superior patterning fidelity provided by 193-nm lithography, enabling robust active and passive waveguide devices.
The 50 Gb/s components are included in imec’s 200mm silicon photonics multi-project wafer (MPW) offer, and are supported by a Process Design Kit (PDK). The MPW service is available via Europractice IC service and MOSIS, a provider of low-cost prototyping and small volume production services for custom ICs. Imec’s active iSiPP50G run is now open for registration (deadline June 28th 2016) with first wafers out in January 9th 2017.
Imec also provides technology customization options with dedicated wafer fabrication services supported by a PDK. This service enables the use of full-size reticles, delivery of full wafers, and access to specialty modules enabling high efficiency integrated heaters, MOSCAP devices and flip-chip assembly amongst others.
The PDK’s have been validated with silicon data, based on a minimum of two process runs for most of the components, and describe the process and device performance statistics. They are supported in various EDA environments and include DRC, supporting first-time right designs.
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