OPTICAL NETWORKING FEATURED ARTICLE

POET Technologies, SilTerra: A Match Made in Optical Interposer Heaven

April 10, 2018

By Joanna Fanuko - Content Producer

POET Technologies announced a developmental partnership with SilTerra, geared towards manufacturing POET’s Optical Interposer Platform. Good news for both POET and SilTerra: joining forces to tailor single-module transceivers with high bandwidth optical engines will likely add depth to the companies’ customer reach.

What’s All the Optical Interposer Buzz About?

Targeting 100G transceiver capabilities and working with 200G and 400G products, the Optical Interposer Platform will be fast as a whip. Along with an ability to run interconnections between electronic-optic combined microchips, the cost will be microscopic too. By combining SilTerra’s Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and inexpensive 8” silicon processing copper with POET’s waveguide photonic circuits, CEO of the latter, Dr. Suresh Venkatesan looks forward to responding to the need for affordable versions of optical and electronic components.

If You Commercialize It, They Will Come

Significantly, the company pairing opens up opportunities for commercialization of POET’s Optical Interposer. Capable of creating low-cost wafers, SilTerra will lend their foundry in Kulim, Malaysia to test-drive the prototype using newly purchased equipment.  SilTerra CEO, Firdaus Abdullah is giddy with the union as well. He looks forward to marrying silicon photonics with electronic devices creating Micro-Chip-Modules (MCMs), boxed-and-ready for implementation into broader data center markets. Abdullah sees the co-company relationship as prosperous and essential to “the future for the integration and co-optimization of ASIC’s and DSP’s with photonics at the interposer and chip level.”

Coming to a Data Application, Near You

Major applications of POET’s Optical Interposer Platform include optimization of transceivers and engines, computing performance, and LIDAR systems for automotives. A 10x improvement in optical loss with the dielectric stack renders it stably lossless in a number of applications like Arrayed Waveguide gratings (AWGs), Laterally Coupled gratings, and Pass-Through Waveguides.

Put the Optoelectronic Pieces Together

At their Malaysian foundry, SilTerra plans to financially assist POET with semiconductor testing, incorporating tried-and-true fabrication flows in the development of the Optical Interposer. Combining the steady wafer supply from SilTerra’s semiconductor foundry with the photonic electronics process developed by POET, the Optical Interposer will be built for more massive consumption. The main goal of teaming up is to advance data center interconnects. Both companies look forward to working together on various projects over a three-year commitment.

Edited by Mandi Nowitz

http://www.transformingnetworkinfrastructure.com/topics/optical-networking/articles/437780-poet-technologies-silterra-match-made-optical-interposer-heaven.htm