VPIphotonics, Infinera offer design tool for clients of Infinera InP open foundry services

Feb. 6, 2020
VPItoolkit PDK Infinera is a pluggable toolkit extension to VPIcomponentMaker Photonic Circuits that supports the process design kit (PDK) building blocks for Infinera’s open foundry process.

Software design tool developer VPIphotonics and Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN) have collaborated to provide a way for users of Infinera’s InP open foundry services to leverage VPIphotonics technology to enable a design workflow that starts from a graphical photonic integrated circuit design and system simulation environment. VPItoolkit PDK Infinera is a pluggable toolkit extension to VPIcomponentMaker Photonic Circuits that supports the process design kit (PDK) building blocks for Infinera’s open foundry process.

The companies assert that use of VPItoolkit PDK Infinera enables designers to quickly prototype application-specific photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with prerequisite functionality without needing to go deep into the details of device layout and fabrication process. Once the designer finishes his or her work, the resulting schematic can be exported to a netlist and passed to Infinera’s InP foundry for physical layout implementation, verification, and fabrication. The new tool can leverage the standard modules and instrumentation from the VPIphotonics Design Suite, particularly VPIcomponentMaker Photonic Circuits (for circuit level design and analysis) and VPItransmissionMaker Optical Systems (system-level evaluation). The ecosystem transparently supports hierarchical circuit designs and advanced parameter scripting, sweep and optimization of parameters, sensitivity and yield analysis, as well as systems benchmarking and characterization.

VPIphotonics and Infinera says the ability to embed these building blocks into the VPIphotonics software framework enables the simulation and modeling of complex photonic integrated circuits with a high degree of reliability.

The Infinera Optical Innovation Center

The open foundry services fall under the purview of the Infinera Optical Innovation Center, which Infinera Senior Vice President of Marketing Rob Shore describes as the company’s version of the old AT&T Bell Labs. The center houses Infinera’s expertise and activities in such fields as PIC design, DSP design, and packaging development, as well as foundry services. The center also will be the hub of development for at least some of Infinera’s upcoming optical modules (see “Infinera offers Infinite Network pluggable coherent module strategy details”) as well as partner collaboration as Infinera’s XR Optics initiative further develops (see “Infinera unveils XR optics single-source coherent point-to-multipoint transmission technology”).

Shore says that Infinera has made its InP foundry capabilities available to customers who want to collaborate on the design of custom analog components. He said the company is supplying the services to customers “in the handful range.” Shore was reluctant to discuss the customers in detail, although the PDK announcement mentions that the foundry services, delivered from a facility in California, were developed in collaboration with AIM Photonics and the U.S. Department of Defense. The Infinera Optical Innovation Center will be highlighted in upcoming press releases leading up to OFC next month, Shore revealed, so additional details may be forthcoming.

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About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.

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