25 March 2016

Kaiam demos first complete 100Gb/s CWDM4 silicon photonics transceiver

At the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition (OFC 2016) in Anaheim, CA, USA (22-24 March), Kaiam Corp of Newark, CA, USA - a private company founded in 2010 commercializing hybrid photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology - has demonstrated what it claims is the first silicon photonics-based 100Gb/s CWDM4 transceiver.

To showcase the capability of the QSFP28 transceiver, Kaiam conducted a live demonstration with the module connected to a standard directly modulated laser (DML) version of the firm's CWDM4 transceiver through 10km of single-mode fiber. The silicon photonics module combines all the high-speed electronics - modulator driver, transimpedance amplifier (TIA) and clock & data recovery (CDRs) - together with high-performance silicon modulators and detectors in a single 3D chip stack. The wavelength multiplexing and demultiplexing is realized in the firm's glass-based planar lightwave circuits (PLCs), while the continuous-wave (CW) light is generated by indium phosphide (InP) lasers, coupled to the PLCs using Kaiam's proprietary MEMS-based alignment technology. Standard grating couplers connect the glass PLCs to the silicon photonics IC.

"Data-center operators are continually looking for performance and cost improvements as many of them transition to WDM interfaces," says VP of engineering Dr Ron Kaneshiro. "This silicon photonics transceiver highlights that Kaiam has the tools available to deliver products in volume [via its large-scale manufacturing in Livingston, Scotland, UK] to meet and exceed our customers' demands," he adds.

"Each material system has its own strengths and weaknesses. Our technology allows us to combine the best materials for each function in a simple low-cost integrated module," notes CEO Dr Bardia Pezeshki. "For example, implementing wavelength multiplexing and demultiplexing in silicon photonics has traditionally been difficult in uncooled applications. By combining Kaiam's temperature-insensitive and low-cost PLC technology with silicon photonics ICs, we can bring benefits of electronic integration to applications requiring WDM interfaces," he adds. "Our demonstration further shows that Kaiam's MEMS approach is well suited for hybrid integration of a range of optical technologies from DMLs to silicon photonics."

Tags: QSFP28 100G optical modules

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