Global foundry services provider CompoundTek has unveiled a 106-Gbps PAM4 Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) silicon modulator in its intellectual property (IP) design. Use of the PDK IP in optical transceiver designs for 400G/600G/800G applications could save engineers almost two years in commercialization and time-to-market while minimizing manufacturing risks and respins, the company asserts.
CompoundTek says it has verified the performance of the modulator IP via simulation and on-chip fabrication through CompoundTek’s proprietary process flow. A third-party independent company made the performance measurements, CompoundTek points out. The 2.5-mm-long modulator’s typical reach is 3 dB OE bandwidth of 40 GHz at 4 V, 3.25 dB loss, 4 dB extinction ratio (ER) with modulator efficiency of 17 V.mm. CompoundTek says a customer has already licensed the IP block, leveraging the foundry services provider’s post-fab Cu pillars/bump integration with suspended edge coupler, and silicon deep trench for electronic circuits integration.
“This innovation is line with CompoundTek’s services expansion goals, ensuring we bring to customers solutions that save both time and significant investment dollars while meeting performance metrics throughout their prototype-to-market journey. With this transceiver-focused IP design, customers looking to strengthen their 400G to 800G capabilities and reduce the number of iterations can be assured that critical pain points are addressed,” explained K.S. Ang, chief operating officer of CompoundTek.
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