US custom chip firm provides front end for European silicon photonics process
The partnership gives California-based MOSIS’ customers access to imec’s state-of-the-art fully integrated silicon photonics processes and Tyndall’s advanced silicon photonics packaging technology. Imec’s silicon photonics platform enables cost-effective R&D of silicon photonic ICs for high-performance optical transceivers (25Gb/s and beyond) for telecom, datacom, and optical sensing for life science applications.
The integrated components include low-loss waveguides, efficient grating couplers, high-speed silicon electro-optic modulators and high-speed germanium waveguide photo-detectors. A comprehensive design kit to access imec technologies will be provided. Moreover, the Tyndall National Institute, being a partner of ePIXfab, offers the ability to provide packaged silicon photonics devices. This includes the design and fabrication of custom photonic packages, fiber coupling (single and arrays) and electrical interconnects. Design rules to support these packaging capabilities will also be provided.
"Imec’s Silicon Photonics platform provides robust performance, and solutions to integrated photonics products. Companies can benefit from imec silicon photonics capability through established standard cells, or explore the functionality of their own designs in MultiProject Wafer runs," said Philippe Absil, program director at imec. "With this collaboration, MOSIS will offer its first access to a mature Silicon Photonics infrastructure, with the option for follow-on production," added Wes Hansford, MOSIS Director.
Imec’s Si Photonics 200mm wafer platform offers extensive design flexibility and includes 3-level patterning of 220nm top Si layer (193nm optical lithography), poly-Si overlay and patterning at 193nm optical lithography, 3-level n-type implants and 3-level p-type implants in Si and Ge epitaxial growth on Si and p-type and n-type implants in Ge.
The first ePIXfab-Europractice run for passive silicon photonics ICs is open for registration from June 2013 with design deadline September 9th 2013. MOSIS’ customers can register for this run and obtain the design kit via MOSIS in June 2013.
www.mosis.com
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