Silicon photonics R&D yields 25 Gbit/s transceivers

Imec (Leuven, Belgium, www2.imec.be) has released information on its integrated silicon photonics platform (iSiPP25G) for high-performance 25 Gbits/s+ optical transceivers. The research organization described low loss (2.5 dB/cm) strip waveguides, highly efficient grating couplers (2.5 dB insertion loss), 50 GHz Germanium waveguide photodiodes, and 25 Gbit/s Mach-Zhender and Micro-ring modulators. The Germanium waveguide photodiodes feature a responsivity of 0.5 A/W and a dark current of less than 50 nA.

“Companies can benefit from our silicon photonics capability through established standard cells, or explore the functionality of their own designs in Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) runs,” said Philippe Absil, program director at imec. Imec and its associated laboratory at Ghent University offer the platform for passive silicon photonic components via ePIXfab and Europractice IC service. The device first run is now open for registration, with tape-in on November 8th and first wafers out in June 2014.