+44 (0)24 7671 8970
More publications     •     Advertise with us     •     Contact us
 
Loading...
News Article

Intel announces hybrid III-V/silicon 8-wavelength DFB laser array

News

Tightly controlled eight-wavelength laser array on a silicon wafer has matched power and uniform spacing

Intel Labs has announced the demonstration of a hybrid III-V/silicon eight-wavelength distributed feedback (DFB) laser array integrated on a silicon wafer. It delivers output power uniformity of +/- 0.25 decibel (dB) and wavelength spacing uniformity of ±6.5 percent that exceed industry specifications.

“This new research demonstrates that it’s possible to achieve well-matched output power with uniform and densely spaced wavelengths. Most importantly, this can be done using existing manufacturing and process controls in Intel’s fabs, thereby ensuring a clear path to volume production of the next-generation co-packaged optics and optical compute interconnect at scale", said Haisheng Rong, senior principal engineer at Intel Labs

Recent co-packaged optics solutions using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology have shown the promise of increasing bandwidth while significantly reducing the physical size of photonic chips. However, it has been very difficult to produce DWDM light sources with uniform wavelength spacing and power until now.

Intel says this new advancement ensures consistent wavelength separation of light sources while maintaining uniform output power, resulting in meeting one of the requirements for optical compute interconnect and DWDM communication. The next generation of compute I/O using optical interconnect can be tailor-made for the extreme demands of tomorrow’s high-bandwidth AI and ML workloads.

The illustration above shows eight micro-ring modulators and optical waveguide. Each micro-ring modulator is tuned to a specific wavelength. By using multiple wavelengths, each micro-ring can individually modulate the light to enable independent communication.

The eight-wavelength DFB array was designed and fabricated using Intel’s commercial 300 mm hybrid silicon photonics platform, which is used to manufacture production optical transceivers in volume.

Intel says this innovation marks a significant advancement in the capabilities of laser manufacturing in a high-volume CMOS fab by utilizing the same lithography technology used to manufacture 300 mm silicon wafers with tight process control.

For this research, Intel used advanced lithography to define the waveguide gratings in silicon prior to the III-V wafer bonding process. This technique resulted in better wavelength uniformity compared to conventional semiconductor lasers manufactured in 3-inch or 4-inch III-V wafer fabs. In addition, due to the tight integration of the lasers, the array also maintains its channel spacing when the ambient temperature is changed.

EMCORE announces integration of PICs into its products
Scottish photonics consortium wins £4.7m in UKRI funding
Yuanjie Semiconductor to supply lasers to POET
Fraunhofer IPMS announces government funding for quantum photonic chip
POET Technologies partners with Yuanjie Semiconductor Technology
SiLC announces silicon photonics systems for machine vision
Scientists develop novel optical modulators for integrated photonics
Scientists report integrated photodiodes on TFLN
Coherent wins award for innovative photonics product
FBH to present quantum technology developments at EQTC 2023
Skorpios and FormericaOE demonstrate PICs in 800G optical transceivers
EFFECT Photonics verifies fully integrated InP PIC
NASA awards grant for silicon photonics project
OpenLight and Spark Photonics partner on PIC design services
DustPhotonics announces 800G chip for hyperscale data centres and AI
Lightwave Logic Receives Industry Innovation Award
Imec announces SiGe BiCMOS optical receiver
SiFotonics announces silicon photonics 800G LPO solutions
Rockley Photonics progresses noninvasive biomarker monitoring
MantiSpectra secures €4 million for miniaturised spectrometers
Sivers to demo next-gen laser arrays at ECOC 2023
ASMPT AMICRA and Teramount collaborate on silicon photonics packaging
Quantum Computing Inc. selects Arizona site for photonic chip foundry
German government to fund ams OSRAM optoelectronic semiconductor development
Luceda Photonics introduces new PIC design software
Vodafone explores silicon photonics for future mobile networks
Coherent introduces 1200 mW pump laser module
Photonics startups invited to apply to Luminate NY accelerator
New tool could improve lithography for smaller, faster chips
InP-based lasers surpass 2.2 mm
Indie Semiconductor buys Exalos AG
New technique controls direction and wavelength of emitted heat

×
Search the news archive

To close this popup you can press escape or click the close icon.
Logo
×
Logo
×
Register - Step 1

You may choose to subscribe to the PIC Magazine, the PIC Newsletter, or both. You may also request additional information if required, before submitting your application.


Please subscribe me to:

 

You chose the industry type of "Other"

Please enter the industry that you work in:
Please enter the industry that you work in: