Silicon Photonics enables fast, energy-efficient data processing.

The silicon photonics market should reach $2.6 billion by 2025: Gartner.

Silicon photonics seamlessly integrates optical components with electronic circuits on a single, silicon chip. It harnesses the power of photonics (light) for information transfer, facilitating faster and more energy-efficient, data processing, with minimal latency. It does this by using ultra-high–density optical chips which are reshaping modern computing and communication systems.

Adam Carter, explains, “Silicon photonics is part of an emerging ecosystem that includes designers, foundries and integrators. OpenLight’s new PASIC platform is designed to reduce the barriers to entry on the design side and our PDK sampler enables customers to comprehensively test PDK elements in their own lab. This is exactly what happened with the recent release of our 224G InP-based modulator. We collaborate closely with Tower Semiconductor for production, but as we scale up our open-foundry business, we will bring more foundries onboard.”

The article goes on to look at the positive impact open-platform, silicon photonics can have on:

• LiDAR systems for autonomous vehicles and advanced robotics.
• Managing massive data throughput with ultra-high–density optical chips, ensuring LiDAR systems meet the demands of real-time data analysis.
• Speeding up processing tasks enabled by the integration of numerous components onto a single chip.
• Energy efficiency by consolidating multiple functions onto a single chip.
• Advancements in frequency-modulated, continuous-wave (FMCW) technology for accurate distance measurements, velocity, and movement of multiple objects – essential for autonomous vehicles.
• Detecting objects at longer distances by utilising high-power, semiconductor optical amplifiers.
• LiDAR integration with ultra-high–density optical chips with standardised interfaces and enhanced system performance, such as accuracy and speed.

Silicon photonics is helping to overcome thermal management and heat dissipation; reduce power consumption; and resolve alignment challenges in manufacture to improve yield.

Silicon photonics is revolutionizing warehouse automation with real-time data; data center interconnectivity, by reducing latency and enhancing efficiency in the transition from 800G to 1.6-Tb/s; telecommunications, with faster and more reliable, long-distance data transmission; and artificial intelligence and machine learning, with compact PASICs.

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