CompoundTek delivers silicon photonics PDK in partnership with Mentor and Lumerical

Singapore-based silicon photonic (SiPh) foundry services provider CompoundTek Pte Ltd recently partnered with electronic design automation (EDA) software provider Mentor (a Siemens business) and photonic simulation software provider Lumerical Inc of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to deliver CompoundTek’s SiPh process design kit (PDK) across its global commercial customer base.

Available immediately, the PDK’s predictive capabilities enable photonics designers to validate designs prior to manufacturing, enabling a reduction in the time from product design to market launches.

“Together with our design partners, this photonics design automation solution by Lumerical and Mentor, combined with CompoundTek’s open SiPh manufacturing process platform, will accelerate SiPh adoption for applications ranging from datacom transceivers, bio-sensing, smart sensors, LiDAR, quantum computing and artificial intelligence,” says CompoundTek’s chief operating officer KS Ang.

The PDK includes active and passive devices such as optical waveguide devices, fibre-to-waveguide couplers, high-speed waveguide germanium (Ge) photodetectors and high-speed modulators. SiPh designers can leverage these pre-developed blocks to design and verify their photonics products more quickly and efficiently before fabricating physical prototypes.

A complete design flow enabled by the PDK includes photonic simulation, schematic capture, custom layout, layout automation, and physical verification. Tools enabled include Lumerical INTERCONNECT, as well as Mentor’s L-Edit Photonics, LightSuite Photonic Compiler, and Calibre platform physical verification tools.

“The development of the ecosystem is imperative to the ongoing productization of photonics,” says Lumerical’s chief technology officer Dr James Pond. “Successful flows must be built with the cooperation of EDA, photonic design automation, and foundries, with unrelenting focus on the customers’ needs,” he adds.

“Our partnership with CompoundTek and Lumerical provides our mutual customers with the ability to design complex custom photonic integrated circuits using their proprietary photonic process,” says Greg Lebsack, general manager Integrated Circuit Design Solutions (ICDS). “The CompoundTek PDK supports both an automated design flow with LightSuite Photonic Compiler, an interactive design flow using L-Edit Photonics, and integrated full system simulation with Lumerical’s INTERCONNECT.”

In partnership with Mentor and Lumerical, CompoundTek is presenting live demos at the 16th International conference on Group IV Photonics (GFP2019) at the Singapore Hilton (28-30 August) in CompoundTek’s booth #3, Mentor’s booth #9 and Lumerical’s booth #5. The partners are also presenting live demos in shared booth 1A64-9 (Hall #1) at the China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE 2019) in the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Centre (4-7 September).

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Tags: silicon photonics PIC Simulation software EDA software

Visit: https://compoundtek.com

Visit: www.lumerical.com

Visit: www.mentor.com