Collaboration demonstrates InP-on-silicon design flow for next-gen optical transceivers

X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE, SMART Photonics, and Epiphany Design are collaborating to develop a new heterogeneous photonics integration platform that combines the strengths of InP and SOI technologies, enabling multi-terabit data rates for datacom and telecom applications.

Through the co-optimisation of SOI, InP, and Micro-Transfer-Printing (MTP) technologies, the new platform strives to manage customer requirements for high-speed data rates and energy efficiency in high-volume manufacturing of optical transceivers. It also allows new functionalities and improved system performance while lowering integration costs through relaxed photonics packaging requirements. Pioneered by X-Celeprint, MTP technology delivers a broad degree of freedom for the system and product designers by permitting flexible integration of chiplets into the product design.

The collaboration has made considerable progress, resulting in the development of a design flow and PDK that allows the design of photonics circuits integrating InP chiplets on an SOI platform. This design flow is implemented in Luceda's IPKISS EDA tool. Luceda's technical expertise and support enabled the design of the demonstrator. Epiphany Design – an X-FAB innovation and XCHAIN partner – has successfully demonstrated the new heterogeneous InP-on-SOI design flow with an optical transceiver demonstrator as part of this development.

Jörn Epping, CEO of Epiphany Design, comments: "By bringing together the integration density of silicon with the high performance of InP actives, we enable new possibilities for disruptive innovation in telecom, datacom, and beyond. This approach empowers PIC designers with greater flexibility and a clear path towards scalable, high-performance PIC-based solution."

This collaboration builds upon the PhotonixFAB EU funding project, which supports the development of industrial pilot lines for silicon photonics SOI, micro-transfer print ready InP chiplets, and MTP of InP chiplets on SOI and SiN photonics wafers.

This collaboration will be showcased at the 50th Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC). The companies will be available at OFC 2025: Epiphany Design on stand # 6065 (NL Pavilion), SMART Photonics on stand # 6067 (NL Pavilion), and X-FAB on stand # 4961.