Silicon Photonics

Delivering a New Era of More in Silicon Photonics

Conventional copper wire connections are becoming prohibitive from power consumption, data rate, and bandwidth perspectives. GF silicon photonics (SiPh) platforms address the increasing need for data centers to handle ever-higher data rates and volumes with greater power efficiency.

#delivering-a-new-era-of-more-in-silicon-photonics

The SiPh platforms integrate photonic components with high-performance CMOS logic and RF to enable a fully integrated, monolithic electrical and optical computing and communications engine while optimized for low-signal loss degradation. In addition, light input and light output from GF’s monolithic SiPh platform is enabled with high-density fiber-optic arrays, on-die integrated lasers, and copper metallization for 2.5D and 3D heterogeneous integration with other semiconductor die.

These technologies are also relevant to other applications such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR), quantum computing and consumer optical networks such as Fiber to the Home (FTTH).

  • The industry’s only high-volume 300mm CMOS manufacturing foundry for silicon photonics
  • Monolithic RF/CMOS with comprehensive, high-performance state of the art libraries and PDK that support co-design of RF CMOS and photonics
  • Advanced optical 3D packaging including passive alignment of Fiber Attach and Cu Pillar/Receive

Silicon Photonics are here and GlobalFoundries is innovating

Moving data at the speed of light

The world’s forty-two billion connected and intelligent devices, increased data center power consumption, along with the maturity of Moore’s Law, is driving the need for innovative solutions to move more data faster and more efficiently. As a result, moving from electrons to photons is now an essential technical disruption.

#moving-data-at-the-speed-of-light

Transporting the enormous volumes of data within and between data centers fuels the insatiable need for more bandwidth. To address this bandwidth demand, there is a growing need for high-speed communications systems that are also power efficient.

GlobalFoundries’ (GF) silicon photonics portfolio addresses the increasing need for higher data rates with greater power efficiency, supercharging fiber-optic communication networks while minimizing signal loss and degradation.

This portfolio includes GF Fotonix™, the 2nd generation silicon photonics platform.

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GF Fotonix™ features:

  • Monolithic electro-optical integration of high-performance CMOS, RF and photonic components on the same chip that benefits from the scale, efficiencies and process controls of 300 mm silicon manufacturing
  • The highest level of integration onto a PIC so customers can integrate more product functions and simplify their BOMs. As a result, end customers can realize greater growth through increased capacity and capability
  • Innovative packaging solutions such as the passive attachment of larger fiber arrays, the support for 2.5D packaging and on-die lasers

In addition, for customers needing discrete, high-performance RF solutions for optical systems, GF also announced it is adding new features onto the its high-performance silicon-germanium (SiGe) platform.

GF’s SiGe solutions are designed to deliver the speed and bandwidth required to transport information through next-generation fiber-optic high-speed networks. Click here for full news release

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Full News Release

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