ADVA leads project to create advanced optical transceivers
PEARLS consortium is using quantum dot technology to integrate lasers onto electro-photonic silicon chips
ADVA, a German optical communications company, has announced that it’s leading a three-year initiative to create advanced optical transceiver chips with integrated lasers. The consortium comprises ADVA, FormFactor, Fraunhofer IZM, IHP, IHP Solutions, Sicoya, Technion and the University of Kassel.
By squeezing more technology onto a single chip than ever before, we’re creating a platform for miniaturised optical transceivers able to deliver the space and bandwidth density needed for tomorrow’s DCI networks.
The PEARLS project is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). Its multi-disciplinary engineering team is aiming to take a silicon-based electro-photonic chip platform – which offers monolithic integration of electronics and photonics as already proven in the ADVA-led SPEED project – and extend it to incorporate a third key element: Nanotechnology lasers will be added to the chip, saving space and reducing energy consumption compared to off-chip approaches. This will be achieved with quantum dots just a few nanometers in size. Able to withstand extreme temperatures, they facilitate wafer-scale integration without the need for a thermo-electric cooler or a hermetic package.
“Within this very exciting project, IHP will develop the technology platform. Together we’re breaking new ground and laying the foundations for the next generation of low-energy, space-efficient optical transceivers,” commented Bernd Tillack, managing director, IHP GmbH. “The PEARLS project will pave the way for optical transceiver chips – modular transceiver chips with an unprecedented level of optical and electronic integration. Built on top of a standard BiCMOS process flow, the new technology will also be a major step forward for sustainable DCI networking.”
