Leti releases photonics design kit for Synopsys PhoeniX OptoDesigner suite

Leti has released an opto-electronics process design kit (PDK) that includes design rules and building blocks for the research institute’s integrated silicon photonics platform.

The PDK works with Synopsys’ PhoeniX OptoDesigner suite and will enable designers to develop onto-electronics circuits to be built on either multi-project wafers (MPW) or custom runs of the Leti Si310 process, which is also compatible with a process that STMicroelectronics runs at Crolles. This will give designers a clear pathway from low-cost MPW prototyping at Leti through to volume production at STMicroelectronics.

Leti’s integrated silicon photonics platform can be used to build opto-electronic circuits such as high-speed optical transceivers and highly integrated optical interposers. The PDK includes a catalogue of components available at Leti, which PhoeniX OptoDesigner users can integrate into their circuits.

OptoDesigner also offers passive components, such as grating couplers, silicon waveguides and transitions; and active components, such as high-speed Mach-Zehnder modulators and high-speed germanium photodiodes. It also includes physical verification tools to check whether a design will meet the constraints of the Leti Si310 process.

Andre Myko, responsible for MPW runs at Leti, said: “Fabless companies and academics can realise substantial cost savings by sharing production costs on MPW runs.”

Niek Nijenhuis, global business development manager for Synopsys’ PhoeniX OptoDesigner products, said: “In addition to the photonic elements from the standard OptoDesigner library, Leti’s PDK contains technology-specific information like mask layer names, design rules, validated building blocks, die sizes and GDS file settings.”

Leti is a technology research institute at CEA Tech, the technology research branch of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).