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SMART Photonics and Lumerical Announce Availability of Compact Model Library for SMART's InP Integrated Photonics Platform
[April 09, 2018]

SMART Photonics and Lumerical Announce Availability of Compact Model Library for SMART's InP Integrated Photonics Platform


SMART Photonics announced today the availability of a new compact model library (CML) for their InP integrated photonics platform and the associated PDK, resulting from a close collaboration with Lumerical. The CML enables circuit designers to reliably model behavior and performance of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) within Lumerical's photonic integrated circuit simulator, INTERCONNECT, reducing costly design errors and dramatically accelerating time-to-market. Combined with SMART Photonics' frequent MPW shuttle run, this provides designers with an excellent platform to prototype and refine new circuit designs quickly and efficiently.

"As a developer of a silicon planar optical MEMS platform, AEPONYX supports the development of III-V components optimized for efficient hybrid integration. It's exciting to see two recognized industry leaders, like Lumerical and SMART Photonics, working together towards industry standardization," commented Francois Menard, CTO & Co-Founder of AEPONYX Inc. "Having a reliable set of parametrized compact models on a powerful platform like INTERCONNECT is a game-changing development to achieve first-time-right designs."

The new CML contains more than twenty-five parametrized compact models, which have been carefully calibrated with a combination of experimental data, provided by SMART, and high-accuracy 3D physical simulations using Lumerical's industry-leading suite of component-level modeling tools. The library includes passive and active devices, such as phase modulators, amplifiers and photodetectors, providing an extensive and flexible set of building blocks for creating complex PIC designs. Each model in the library enables both frequency- and time-domain circuit simulation, equipping designers with a complete set of analysis tools to design PICs for any application.

"We are very pleased by the collaborative work done by our partners at Lumerical to rapidly develop a comprehensive compact model library for our InP-based integration platform," said Luc Augustin, CTO at SMART Photonics. "This CML is especially unique in its design, as it brings together simulated data from trusted tools and real, measured performance for increased reliabilty. PIC designers around the world will be able to confidently use a schematic driven layout flow for a pure-play InP PIC foundry."



With applications including high speed data communications, and biological and environmental sensing in fast moving fields like IoT and automotive, SMART's frequent MPW shuttle runs afford designers the ability to quickly iterate through design-manufacture-test cycles to optimize PIC performance.

"Through this collaboration, we have deployed the leading 3D photonic simulation tools to help SMART enhance their PDK with the most advanced models available for both time- and frequency-domain simulation," stated Dr. James Pond, CTO at Lumerical. "These accurate models are critical for PDK-driven design and enable engineers to focus on circuit performance rather than individual components."


Interested parties are invited to attend Dr. Luc Augustin's talk at PIC International at 11:35am on April the 11th, or review SMART's upcoming MPW schedule at http://smartphotonics.nl/mpw-runs-2018/. More information about the CML including its availability can be obtained by contacting SMART Photonics.

About Smart
Headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands as of 2012, SMART Photonics is trusted by the world's leading companies, because of its proven track record in InP research, development and production. SMART Photonics is an independent pure-play foundry, which means they only make products using designs from their customers and there is no conflict of interest in the market. Indium phosphide chips are proving to be the best choice in many applications ranging from next generation low-power consumption data-centres to a variety of sensing applications for structural monitoring and medical diagnostics. Integrated photonics also plays an increasingly important role in the aircraft industry, air quality monitoring, autonomous driving and ultra-secure cryptography. www.smartphotonics.nl

About Lumerical
Lumerical develops photonic simulation software - tools which enable product designers to understand light, and predict how it behaves within complex structures, circuits, and systems. Since being founded in 2003, Lumerical has grown to license its design tools in over 50 countries and its customers include 10 of the top 15 companies in the S&P 1200 Global IT index, and 46 of the top 50 research universities as rated by the Times Higher Education rankings. Lumerical's substantial impact on the photonic design and simulation community means its tools are among the most widely cited in the scientific press, with references in more than 10,000 academic publications and patents. Lumerical enables its customers to achieve more with light, and establish a leading position in the development of transformative technologies employing photonics. www.lumerical.com


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