Exploitation
The project has formally started January 1st, 2016. Only the deliverables under the dissemination work package (WP6) are public, this website being the second public deliverable. Next follow the summary and conclusions of the
Second release of the exploitation plan
Summary
The WIPE project consortium expresses the ambition to proof the concept of a generic technology platform that combines industrially produced BiCMOS silicon electronics with mature InP-based integrated optics. Short term exploitation will be the incorporation of several new Basic Building Blocks into the Process Design Kits (PDKs) of both InP-based integrated optics manufacturers in the project; the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute and SMART Photonics, such as
• a vertical mirror structure for out-coupling and optical on-wafer characterization,
• a vertical adiabatic coupler to connect InP membrane circuits with polymer waveguides,
• a horizontal spot size convertor to efficiently connect to conventional optical fibers,
• a Distributed FeedBack laser with Al containing Quantum Wells, and
• an Electro-Absorption Modulator.
The electronic building blocks, (co-)design methodology insights, and deep knowledge acquired during the development and design of the low-power transimpedance amplifier and modulator driver circuits is applied in other applications. Both the Technical University Eindhoven as Ghent University – imec have a good track record for creating spin-offs. Two of the project partners; SMART Photonics and EFFECT Photonics, both spin-offs from TU/e, are proof of that. BiFast was founded as a spin-off from Ghent University in June 2017. Their current focus is on single-lane 100Gb/s Transceiver (TRx) for short intra-rack copper interconnect. BiFast will most likely expand its TRx offering with optical developments based on in-house IP. More than eight PhD students are currently working in the WIPE field of expertise, each mentoring master students. They will be entering the workforce in 2 – 3 years, thus ensuring an effective technology and know-how transfer to industry. The latest insights gained within WIPE on high speed electronic design are incorporated into three courses at Ghent University, reaching over 25 master students, while the Technical University Eindhoven is investigating to make electronic-optic co-design part of their curriculum. The WIPE project contributes greatly to the visibility of its academic partners for partnerships. They are currently engaged in over ten H2020 projects with an exploitation strategy targeted towards bilateral industry contacts. Partners that are potentially interested in the WIPE technology include the Ferdinand Braun Institute (Berlin, Germany), NXP Semiconductors (Nijmegen, Netherlands), and III-V Labs (Palaiseau, France). Dissemination and publicity on the newly developed techniques, building blocks and Process Design Kits to the photonic integration community has and will be via the websites of the associated companies and institutes, the regular JePPIX newsletter and communication channels, partner networks, over 20 papers and presentations at conferences such as ECOC, OFC and PIC, and during trade shows. Moreover, a series of articles for professionals was published on the social media channel LinkedIn. Several industrial partners continue to express their strong interest in taking the next step in wafer-scale photonic – electronic (photronic) integration, in spite of the relative immaturity of the techniques and technologies developed within WIPE. Both EFFECT Photonics (transceivers) and IBM (servers) have photronic integration as a long-term vision on their respective roadmaps. The project’s demonstrator can be used as a stepping stone towards an industrialized transceiver commodity for data centers. Upon success, EFFECT Photonics also plans to exploit the technology for non-telecom markets such as industrial and medical sensing. Commercial European PIC manufactures such as Oclaro and SMART Photonics, as also the semi-commercial Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, have enunciated a close interest in the stacked hetero-technology under development. After a successful completion of the WIPE project, the JePPIX organisation will facilitate and support initial technology access for industry and academia via multi-project wafer runs. Beyond WIPE, the Technical University Eindhoven studies the limitations of photronic processing in terms of stress, bow, mechanical stability, temperature, durability, etc. One resulting idea is to replace the silicon-based electronics with InP-based electronics, which would remove any possible problem with thermal expansion mismatch in bonding.
• a vertical mirror structure for out-coupling and optical on-wafer characterization,
• a vertical adiabatic coupler to connect InP membrane circuits with polymer waveguides,
• a horizontal spot size convertor to efficiently connect to conventional optical fibers,
• a Distributed FeedBack laser with Al containing Quantum Wells, and
• an Electro-Absorption Modulator.
The electronic building blocks, (co-)design methodology insights, and deep knowledge acquired during the development and design of the low-power transimpedance amplifier and modulator driver circuits is applied in other applications. Both the Technical University Eindhoven as Ghent University – imec have a good track record for creating spin-offs. Two of the project partners; SMART Photonics and EFFECT Photonics, both spin-offs from TU/e, are proof of that. BiFast was founded as a spin-off from Ghent University in June 2017. Their current focus is on single-lane 100Gb/s Transceiver (TRx) for short intra-rack copper interconnect. BiFast will most likely expand its TRx offering with optical developments based on in-house IP. More than eight PhD students are currently working in the WIPE field of expertise, each mentoring master students. They will be entering the workforce in 2 – 3 years, thus ensuring an effective technology and know-how transfer to industry. The latest insights gained within WIPE on high speed electronic design are incorporated into three courses at Ghent University, reaching over 25 master students, while the Technical University Eindhoven is investigating to make electronic-optic co-design part of their curriculum. The WIPE project contributes greatly to the visibility of its academic partners for partnerships. They are currently engaged in over ten H2020 projects with an exploitation strategy targeted towards bilateral industry contacts. Partners that are potentially interested in the WIPE technology include the Ferdinand Braun Institute (Berlin, Germany), NXP Semiconductors (Nijmegen, Netherlands), and III-V Labs (Palaiseau, France). Dissemination and publicity on the newly developed techniques, building blocks and Process Design Kits to the photonic integration community has and will be via the websites of the associated companies and institutes, the regular JePPIX newsletter and communication channels, partner networks, over 20 papers and presentations at conferences such as ECOC, OFC and PIC, and during trade shows. Moreover, a series of articles for professionals was published on the social media channel LinkedIn. Several industrial partners continue to express their strong interest in taking the next step in wafer-scale photonic – electronic (photronic) integration, in spite of the relative immaturity of the techniques and technologies developed within WIPE. Both EFFECT Photonics (transceivers) and IBM (servers) have photronic integration as a long-term vision on their respective roadmaps. The project’s demonstrator can be used as a stepping stone towards an industrialized transceiver commodity for data centers. Upon success, EFFECT Photonics also plans to exploit the technology for non-telecom markets such as industrial and medical sensing. Commercial European PIC manufactures such as Oclaro and SMART Photonics, as also the semi-commercial Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, have enunciated a close interest in the stacked hetero-technology under development. After a successful completion of the WIPE project, the JePPIX organisation will facilitate and support initial technology access for industry and academia via multi-project wafer runs. Beyond WIPE, the Technical University Eindhoven studies the limitations of photronic processing in terms of stress, bow, mechanical stability, temperature, durability, etc. One resulting idea is to replace the silicon-based electronics with InP-based electronics, which would remove any possible problem with thermal expansion mismatch in bonding.
Conclusions
The immediate exploitation of the developments within the WIPE project will be the incorporation of several new photonic building blocks into the portfolio and Process Design Kits of the fabrication partners Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute and SMART Photonics. The novel electronic building blocks, (co-)design methodology insights, and deep knowledge acquired during the development and design of the low-power transimpedance amplifier and modulator driver circuits is applied in other applications and has become an integral part of the partner university curricula. More than eight PhD students are currently working in the WIPE field of expertise, each mentoring master students. These will enter the workforce in 2 – 3 years, ensuring an effective technology and know-how transfer to industry. The application partners EFFECT Photonics (transceivers) and IBM (servers), and the manufacturing partners SMART Photonics and Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute have the photronic integration technology as a long-term vision on their respective roadmaps. Publicity and dissemination on the new techniques, electronic and optical building blocks and Process Design Kits to the photonic integration world has and will be via the websites of the associated companies and institutes, the regular JePPIX newsletter and communication channels, partner networks, over 20 papers and presentations at conferences such as ECOC, OFC and PIC, and during trade shows. A completing series of articles for professionals is published on the social media channel LinkedIn. After successful completion of the WIPE project, the JePPIX organisation will facilitate and support initial technology access for industry and academia via multi-project wafer runs, paving the way for a unique European photronics platform.
