Moving towards generic foundries for photonic integrated

PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
Moving towards generic foundries
for photonic integrated circuits
Building
Roel
Baets
on the silicon CMOS technology base
Photonics Research Group, Ghent University – IMEC
Center for Nano- and Biophotonics, Ghent University
roel.baets@ugent.be
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
1
Integrated Optics / Photonic Integration
A little bit of history
• 1969 + seventies: foundational basis of integrated optics
(Marcatili, Marcuse, Yariv, Kogelnik...)
• eighties and nineties:
• discrete integrated optic devices have a game-changing impact on optical
telecoms, optical recording, metrology, high power lasers, …
• photonic integrated circuits (PICs) do NOT leave the research labs
• 2000-2010:
• the dot-com bubble and subsequent bust damage the field badly
• emergence of major research initiatives with focus on PICs
• small number of industrial PIC product developments
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
2
Barriers causing slow industrial take-up
“Roadmap”
Large diversity in materials
and technology options
No “standards”
Cost
Investment cost in PIC fab
+
NRE costs for PIC-process
are HUGE
Food chain
Lack of suitable
design tools and packaging
solutions
Knowledge
Lack of knowledge about
potential of PICs in
application fields
(other than telecom)
3
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
Mitigating the Barriers
“Roadmap”
Large diversity in materials
and technology options
No “standards”
Consolidation on FEW
“generic” technology
platforms:
Silicon, InP, glass/nitride
Cost
Investment cost in PIC fab
+
NRE costs for PIC-process
are HUGE
Create access to “generic”
technology platforms:
develop a “foundry” model
Food chain
Lack of suitable
design tools and packaging
solutions
Identify and involve all
stakeholders
Develop standards
Knowledge
Lack of knowledge about
potential of PICs in
application fields
(other than telecom)
Develop demonstrators
with convincing
performance
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
4
“Generic”: what’s in a name
make use of standardized building blocks and a highly reproducible
process flow that can serve many functions
• no (or little) design freedom in the out-of-plane direction
• large design freedom in the in-plane direction
• benefits:
• few process flows to maintain: high yield and moderate NRE-costs
• cost sharing in a MPW-approach both for masks and for processing
• result: “do more with less” (and do so at lower cost)
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
5
The generic technology platforms
• InP
• “all-in-one”
• unique for light emission and amplification
• existing fab capacity (discrete photonic components)
• silicon
• CMOS technology base with existing 200-300 mm fab capacity
• SOI: standard wafer with built-in high-index contrast
• standardization driven by available CMOS process technology and by SOIwafer availability
• CMOS community embraces silicon photonics as a potential interconnect
solution
• glass/nitride
• also builds on silicon technology and infrastructure
• adjustable index contrast
• very low loss
• very broad wavelength coverage (including visible)
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
6
Building the “foundry model”: what does it take?
Network of Excellence: ePIXnet (2004-2008)
Large-scale research projects
• consensus building on the roadmap
• initiate action in Europe
• silicon: HELIOS
• InP: EuroPIC, PARADIGM
MPW-services
• typically limited to the most basic generic process
• ePIXfab, IME, OpSIS, JePPIX, Triplex
Small volume PIC-manufacturing
• typically a generic process + some customization
• silicon: IMEC; Si3N4/SiO2: Lionix; InP: several
Industry-driven technology development
• Optical I/O program at IMEC (serving CMOS industry)
Supporting actions
• create awareness in various application domains
• training
Medium to large volume manufacturing
• when and where?
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
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European Network of Excellence on
Photonic Integrated Components and Circuits
Mission: To provide Europe with a strategic
advantage in Photonic Integration
by joining forces of Europe’s key players and
organising access to unique and
expensive technological infrastructure
2004-2009
32 Partners + 18 Affiliates
•
•
•
22 Academic
11 research institutes
17 industrial
1st European Photonic Integration Forum, December 10 2008
ePIXnet Platforms
• Organize access to:
• Very expensive and unique infrastructure
• Offering stable and mature technologies
• For research on photonic integration
• With economic viability through cost sharing
• With a roadmap towards industrial foundries
1st European Photonic Integration Forum, December 10 2008
ePIXnet: integration platforms
JePPIX
ePIXfab
Nanostructuring
InP-based active/passive
integration process
- Silicon photonics
Nanostructuring platform
for Photonics Integration
- PIC design and training
- PIC design support
-Wafer scale processing
in CMOS lines
- Electron Beam
lithography
- PIC Fabrication
- IMEC and LETI 200mm
pilot lines (24/7)
ePIXpack
Persyst
Cluster Computing
- Flip-chip and
assembly
- High speed
component
characterisation
CLUSTER with 247
CPUs (part of BEgrid)
- Fiber pig-tailing
- Packaging
- Dry etching
- MEEP
- Telecom system
transmission tests
1st European Photonic Integration Forum, December 10 2008
- CAMFR
ePIXnet: integration platforms
JePPIX
ePIXfab
Nanostructuring
InP-based active/passive
integration process
- Silicon photonics
Nanostructuring platform
for Photonics Integration
- PIC design and training
- PIC design support
- PIC Fabrication
-Wafer scale processing
TripleX
in CMOS lines
- Multi-project
of 200mm
Silicon
- IMEC andruns
LETI
nitride/silicon
oxide
PICs
pilot lines
(24/7)
- Electron Beam
lithography
- Dry etching
- Based on LioniX technology
ePIXpack
Persyst
- Coordinated
by U. Twente
- High speed
component
characterisation
- Flip-chip and
assembly
- Fiber pig-tailing
- Packaging
Cluster Computing
CLUSTER with 247
CPUs (part of BEgrid)
- MEEP
- Telecom system
transmission tests
- CAMFR
1st European Photonic Integration Forum, December 10 2008
ePIXfab MPW shuttle service
send in design
users
mask
integration
fabrication
Some facts (since 2006)
wafers
distributed
16 MPW shuttles, 187 designs
65 different users:
44 universities, 12 research institutes, 7
SMEs, 1 larger company
37 Europe, 15 N-America, 10 Asia, 2
Australia, 1 Middle-East
5 training events, 4 workshops
>650 website visitors, >10000 website visits
12
ePIXfab
Access to silicon photonics technology for academic and industry R&D
MPW service
Training
Outreach events
CAD
Transfer to production
Partially funded by the EC
www.epixnet.org
www.photonfab.eu
13
Generic Foundry Model
Partners:
Europe’s leading
• Chip manufacturers & pack.
• Photonic CAD companies
• Equipment Manufacturers
• Research Labs
Oclaro, FhG-HHI, III-V Lab, CIP
Phoenix, Photon Design, Filarete
ASML, Aixtron, Oxford Plasma Technologies
COBRA – TU/e (coordinator), Cambridge
Program:
Step 1 Small scale access to COBRA process for research purposes (from 2007)
Step 2 Investigate the feasibility of industrial foundry operation
- EuroPIC (2009, 5.5 M€, 17 partners, platforms Oclaro, HHI)
- PARADIGM (2010, 13 M€, 17 partners, platforms Oclaro, HHI & COBRA)
- Dutch STW & IOP (2011, many partners, > 6 M€ total budget)
Target: commercial foundry operation before 2014
A revolution in Photonic Integration
TNO, Eindhoven, 30 mei 2011
14/33
Diversity in Genericity
• A generic technology approach limits the technical and scientific
degrees of freedom, BUT…
• The generic processes evolve over time
• Endless potential in “hybrid” approaches: generic process
enriched with custom post-processing
• III-V on silicon hybrid approaches (FP7-HELIOS)
• Silicon-Organic-Hybrid (FP7-SOFI)
• Si3N4 waveguides on silicon waveguides + Ge detectors (Bell Labs – IME)
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
15
Integrated Optics / Photonic Integration
A little bit of history
• 1969 + seventies: foundational basis of integrated optics
(Marcatili, Marcuse, Yariv, Kogelnik...)
• eighties and nineties:
• discrete integrated optic devices have a game-changing impact on optical
telecoms, optical recording, metrology, high power lasers, …
• photonic integrated circuits (PICs) do NOT leave the research labs
• 2000-2010:
• the dot-com bubble and subsequent bust damage the field badly
• emergence of major research initiatives with focus on PICs
• small number of industrial PIC product developments
• 2011-2020:
• generic PIC-technologies in a foundry-like model become a reality
PHOTONICS RESEARCH GROUP
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