CompoundTek collaborates with Cadence and Lumerical to deliver integrated electronic-photonic design automation PDK for silicon photonics ICs

Singapore-based silicon photonic (SiPh) foundry services provider CompoundTek Pte Ltd is collaborating with electronic design automation (EDA) software provider Cadence Design Systems Inc of San Jose, CA, USA and photonics design and photonic simulation software provider Lumerical Inc of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on the delivery of a new CompoundTek process design kit (PDK) for SiPh ICs. The PDK consists of a new electronic-photonic design automation (EPDA) flow with features aimed at further advancing the development of differentiated SiPh solutions.

The PDK is based on the Cadence Virtuoso custom IC design platform, utilizing the Cadence CurvyCore engine, Cadence Spectre simulation platform and the electrical-optical co-simulation capability in Lumerical’s photonic integrated circuit simulator INTERCONNECT. The kit includes active and passive devices such as optical waveguide devices, fiber-to-waveguide couplers, high-speed waveguide germanium (Ge) photodetectors and high-speed modulators to enable SiPh designers to design and verify their photonics products more quickly and efficiently before fabricating physical prototypes.

“Our strategic collaboration with Cadence and Lumerical enables customers to leverage an integrated EPDA PDK which features an open SiPh manufacturing platform to accelerate the adoption of SiPh solutions for various applications ranging from datacom transceivers, smart sensor, bio-medical, automotive lidar, quantum computing and artificial intelligence,” says CompoundTek’s chief operation officer KS Ang.

“As the market moves toward more highly integrated electro-optical designs, accurate co-simulation of electrical and optical components becomes critical,” says Lumerical’s chief technology officer Dr James Pond. “CML Compiler allows foundries and end-users to easily build and maintain accurate photonic compact models for co-simulation with Cadence Spectre Simulator and Lumerical INTERCONNECT. Our collaboration with CompoundTek and Cadence is enabling these key capabilities for our customers,” he adds.

“Through our collaboration with CompoundTek and Lumerical, customers can now design photonics IC chips, leveraging the complete Virtuoso platform, from high-performance curvilinear shape generation with CurvyCore-based PCells to entire system-level thermal and EM analysis,” notes Glen Clark, corporate VP research and development in the Custom IC & PCB Group at Cadence. “The PDK incorporates the Cadence schematic and layout-driven photonics design flow, enabling mutual customers to achieve SoC design excellence and deliver products to market faster.”

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Tags: Silicon photonics PICs Simulation software EDA software

Visit: https://compoundtek.com

Visit: www.lumerical.com

Visit: www.cadence.com/go/virtuosorfni