FEATURE OPTICAL COMPONENTS


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The tipping point for silicon photonics


Has silicon photonics passed a critical threshold – the tipping point – after which the technology’s spread and influence become pervasive? Roy Rubenstein investigates


a spate of silicon photonics, start-up acquisitions. More recently, silicon photonics has entered a quiet period. But in May, Acacia Communications, a maker of coherent optical modules and a silicon photonics specialist, made headlines by raising US$103.5 million in a successful initial public offering (IPO). Te IPO meets Mario Paniccia’s definition of the


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tipping point for silicon photonics. Paniccia, who was at Intel for 20 years and headed its silicon photonics development programme until 2015, defines the tipping point as when people start believing a technology is viable and are willing to invest. He cites the American Institute for


Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics) venture, the US$610 million public and private funded initiative set up last year to advance silicon photonics-based manufacturing. Other examples include the silicon photonics prototyping service coordinated by nanoelectronics research institute imec in Belgium, and the photonics capabilities developed by global chip-maker STMicroelectronics. ‘All these are places where people not only see


silicon photonics as viable, but are investing significant funds to commercialise the technology,’ said Paniccia. ‘Tere are numerous companies now selling commercialised silicon photonics, so I think the tipping point has passed.’ Graham Reed, professor of silicon photonics at


the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre, offers an academic perspective. In


14 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 12 • Summer 2016


A ladybug crawls across an experimental silicon photonics avalanche photodetector chip from the first phase of Intel’s silicon photonics development in 2007


he last decade was first characterised by a series of breakthroughs in the development of optical device building blocks using silicon photonics followed by


the 1990s it was more difficult to get funding to research silicon photonics, he says. Now, his group is regularly approached by companies from all over the world, which are either active in silicon photonics or plan to enter the market.


Status update Optical integration has long been viewed as a promising tool to enable the industry to keep pace with the demanding requirements driving the datacom and telecom markets. In both markets, data traffic continues to grow, requiring system designers to develop denser transport and switching platforms, while keeping their cost and power consumption under control. Yet a recent report on optical integration by


market research firm LightCounting highlights how only one in 40 optical components sold to the datacom and telecom markets is an integrated device, even though such components generate a third of the global optical component market’s revenues. ‘Contrary to the expectation that integration is


helping to reduce the cost of components, it is only being used for very high-end products,’ explained


Vladimir Kozlov, CEO of LightCounting. An extreme example is optical transport systems


developer Infinera, which recently launched its latest generation photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design based on indium phosphide (see also page 14). Te optical engine comprises a pair of PICs integrating hundreds of individual functions, which can deliver up to 2.4Tb/s of DWDM capacity. Tis represents a near-fivefold increase in capacity compared to Infinera’s existing 500Gb/s product, launched in 2011. LightCounting’s report forecasts the total market


for integrated devices through to 2021 and assesses the market opportunities for silicon photonics. Te report concludes that the market impact of silicon photonics will not be significant in the next five years, although it will grow threefold to become a $1 billion market by 2021. By then, one in 10 optical components will be integrated, and integrated devices will account for 60 per cent of global revenues for optical components. Sales of integrated indium phosphide and gallium arsenide products, including products based on laser arrays and electro-absorption modulated lasers (EMLs), are projected to reach $5 billion in the same time frame.


Intel


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