ניתוח ואיפיון מעגלים פוטוניים משולבים פסיביים בסיליקון

Analysis and characterization of passive silicon-photonic integrated circuits

Data rates of internet and wireless communications are growing exponentially. The future support of such growth requires data-center and computer communication of larger scale, lower cost, reduced power consumption and smaller size. These demands can only be met by silicon photonics, the research and development field that is looking to implement the functionalities of an optical communications link on the silicon material platform, in close integration with electronics. Silicon photonics is among the main technological challenges of our time, and it is met with immense investments world-wide by industry and academia alike.

In Israel, a five-year national consortium for data-communication has been established last year by the Innovation Authority (formerly the Chief Scientist Office). This 120M NIS effort brings together dozens of industrial and academic partners who are active in the field, including our research group. Partners include Mellanox, ECI Telecommunications, TowerJazz Semiconductor, and more.

In the previous year our group has completed the design and the transfer to production of a test wafer which includes a large variety of passive silicon-photonic circuits. The center-piece of the design is a 1x8 wavelength-division channel multiplexer, which supports up to Tbit/s of information. Thy devices are being fabricated by a commercial silicon fab: TowerJazz. The delivery of devices is expected during the summer months.

The objective of the proposed project is the experimental characterization of these high-end devices, the tuning of their response using various post-fabrication techniques, and their use in data transfer within larger test-beds. Research activities would include the analysis and simulation of the devices functionalities, over COMSOL Multiphysics commercial platform and using in-house matlab code, and the use of the device characterization and tuning setup of our group.

Milestones and formal requirements include:

• A written mid-term report (to be submitted March 2018, in English)
• Mid-term presentation in the Zadok group meeting (to be given March 2018, in Hebrew)
• A final report (to be submitted no later than September 2018, in English)
• An oral defense and presentation of the project, in front of an examination committee consisted of the project advisors and external experts (to be given in Hebrew, no later than October 2018).

הפרוייקט בשיתוף עם התעשייה

דרישות:

Electro-optics track (mandatory); Nano-electronics track (advantage).

מקורות:

Dvir Munk, "Silicon-Photonic Integrated Filters: Analysis and Fabrication," M.Sc. Thesis, Faculty of Engineering, Bar-Ilan Univ., Ramat-Gan, Israel, 2015.

http://www.eng.biu.ac.il/zadoka/files/2011/06/Thesis_Dvir_Munk-Followin…