About the project

The goals of WIPE

Photonic Integrated Circuits do not work in isolation; they have optical Input/Output (I/O) channels and electric I/O. The various active optical components in the PIC (the modulators, detectors, lasers, etc.) require sophisticated analog and digital electronic circuits and precision control. E.g. the 100G and 400G telecom transmitters require state of the art electronic circuits for digital signal processing.

Momentarily, the PIC’s and IC’s are mounted in one housing, connected by traditional wire bonds (a System in a Package). However, this impairs the performance for both technologies both technically and economically. Bringing the photonics and micro-electronics chips together (the so-called hybrid integration) allows for futher miniaturization and subsequently energy and cost savings.

The WIPE project aims to develop a technology which enables the direct connection of optical InP-based PIC’s and electronic CMOS IC’s at a wafer scale. The chips are electrically connected in the shortest way by VIA’s through the insulating layer between PIC and IC. This strongly reduces parasitics and enables a far higher performance of the system than is currently present.

The second goal of WIPE is to devise a chip design technology for an effective and efficient co-design of the matching optical and electronic circuits.

LinkedIn blog series on WIPE:

• 1. General Introduction
• 2. Advantages for Tele- and Datacom
• 3. Electronic-Photonic Co-Design
• 4. Technology for Wafer-Scale Integration

WIPE flyer for engineers:

• WIPE technical flyer

WIPE general public summary

• WIPE general summary

Background on Photonic Integrated Circuits:

• About photonic integrated circuits