Report Acknowledges Rockley Photonics’ Unique Approach To Silicon Photonics

Ovum, a market-leading data, research and consulting business, has recognized Rockley Photonics' unique approach to silicon photonics (SiPh) in its latest analysis of the silicon photonics market.

Ovum's silicon photonics market report summarizes, analyzes and compares the companies that are leading in the SiPh space and gives its view of each of their businesses.

Ovum's report recognizes that Rockley's approach to silicon photonics is fundamentally different to other suppliers stating: “Instead of trying to force the silicon chip manufacturing into a SiPh solution, Rockley has developed its technology focused on how the silicon chip manufacturing can be modified to be used for SiPh engines. The result is a large waveguide photonics platform that offers multiple benefits over conventional solutions.”

Lisa Huff, Principle Analyst, Optical Components, Ovum explained why this unique approach has such potential: “Rockley started from a clean sheet and has designed a process that is bespoke for SiPh. Results demonstrate that its technology enables low-power, cost-effective optical modules. By incorporating all the transceiver functions in the chip, Rockley can integrate optical transceiver functionality directly inside its OptoASIC package, delivering on the highly versatile capability of the platform.”

Andrew Rickman, chief executive of Rockley said: “Because photons behave differently to electrons, silicon photonics requires bespoke processes and solutions to realize the technology's full potential. Our unique manufacturing processes, expertise and solutions put us several years ahead of the competition.”

Rockley's technology is relevant to communication interconnect applications and is already being strongly considered in AI compute cluster environments - liberating data from the constraints of electrical connections. The technology also has huge potential within sensor applications, for example in healthcare, biosensing, 3D laser imaging and autonomous vehicles, and will have massive impact on society.

Rickman concluded: “Applying photonics to sensors can unlock extraordinary applications and we are delighted that Ovum has recognized the qualities of our unique approach.”