CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre launches Open Platform for PIC innovation
The Southampton-based centre says the platform, now live on GitHub, provides access to PDKs and components compatible with CORNERSTONE Foundry and also supports contributions from the wider community, enabling open-source collaboration and accelerating innovation in silicon photonics
CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre (C-PIC), the UK’s dedicated Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) for silicon photonics, has launched its new Open Platform, which aims to enable true open-source collaboration for researchers and industry.
In line with its commitment to open access, C-PIC is making its CORNERSTONE Foundry-compatible silicon photonics Process Design Kits (PDKs), components, and building blocks available via its Open Platform GitHub.
As well as allowing access to C-PIC’s information, the platform seeks to support contributions from the wider community, allowing researchers, individuals, and commercial organisations to upload and reuse trusted design elements. By providing open access to these elements in a single, easy-to-access environment, C-PIC says the Open Platform shortens design cycles and creates an ecosystem where innovation can be shared and scaled rather than reinvented.
The first CORNERSTONE Foundry-compatible releases are a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) 220 nm active PDK, and a silicon nitride 300 nm PDK. The former is designed for datacom and telecom applications, while the latter supports datacom, quantum technologies, biosensing, and space applications.
C-PIC also plans to release additional platforms, including: germanium-on-silicon, designed for mid-infrared sensing, abri-tech, and space applications; suspended silicon, for gas and environmental monitoring; SOI 340 nm, suited to datacom and telecom applications; SOI 500 nm, developed for high-power defence applications; and silicon nitride 200 nm for visible light range for biosensing applications.
Alongside its own contributions, C-PIC says the Open Platform will feature at launch content from the wider community that is compatible with the CORNERSTONE Foundry. Contributors include CSA Catapult, Tyndall National Institute, and individuals from universities such as the University of Pavia (Università di Pavia) and the University of Sheffield. According to C-PIC, early uploads range from educational kits and discrete components to complete circuit designs, demonstrating strong adoption by both academic and commercial users.
Beyond PDKs, the platform also supports Open Data, covering simulation and test results. This area is predicted to expand significantly moving forward, and C-PIC plans to add new resources intended to dramatically improve silicon photonics innovation in the future, reflecting the centre’s roadmap towards a comprehensive open-source ecosystem.
“The Open Platform represents a significant milestone in open-source photonics,” said Emre Kaplan, PDK manager at C-PIC. “By enabling the sharing of photonic integrated devices and circuits we can help users accelerate research and industry innovation, allowing the photonics community to build on each other’s work rather than starting from scratch.”
Developed with the support of the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account and the University of Southampton, the Open Platform is now live on GitHub, providing a hub for the photonics community to explore, contribute to, and accelerate the advancement of silicon photonics technologies.
