Development of Silicon Photonic MEMS Wavelength Switch Networks for Optical Communication Systems

在电子商务、社交媒体和云计算等应用的推动下，互联网数据流量的增长继续推动高速光数据网络的低成本、紧凑和高性能光学组件的发展。光通信系统运行的核心是波长交换网络（wsn），它根据需要路由和连接数据通道。因此，光网络的数据传输能力在很大程度上取决于无线传感器网络可以容纳的波长通道和物理端口的数量。现有的无线传感器网络通常基于自由空间微机电系统（MEMS）开关，这些开关体积庞大，难以扩展以适应增加的数据通道数量。利用硅光子集成电路（Si PICs）的低成本和紧凑性以及MEMS光开关的高性能，本提案旨在开发基于硅光子集成电路和MEMS在cmos兼容芯片上的单片集成的紧凑，低电压和可扩展的WSN架构。为了减轻制造引起的变化并提高器件成品率，该项目将采用一种基于飞秒激光照射的技术，用于不需要连续电源的硅PICs的制造后微调。该项目的成果将是一个功能齐全的WSN原型，可以扩展以满足行业规范，并为在Si pic中实现mems应用提供低成本平台。行业合作伙伴是Preciseley Microtechnology Corp.，一家总部位于埃德蒙顿的公司，在电信市场的光学MEMS产品设计和制造方面拥有16年的经验。作为MEMS技术的市场领导者，Preciseley拥有通过该项目开发的技术的经验和资源，并促进其立即转移到市场。该项目还将通过培训高素质人才和在光子学、半导体制造和电信领域发展本土专业知识，为加拿大经济带来直接利益。

The growth of internet data traffic, driven by applications such as e-commerce, social media and cloudcomputing, continues to drive the development of low-cost, compact and high-performance opticalcomponents for high-speed optical data networks. Central to the operation of an optical communicationsystem are wavelength switch networks (WSNs), which route and connect data channels on demand. The datatransmission capacity of an optical network thus depends to a great extent on the number of wavelengthchannels and physical ports the WSNs can accommodate. Existing WSNs are typically based on free spacemicro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) switches, which are bulky and difficult to scale up to accommodateincreased data channel count. By leveraging the low cost and compactness of silicon photonic integratedcircuits (Si PICs) and the high performance of MEMS optical switches, this proposal aims to develop acompact, low-voltage and scalable WSN architecture based on the monolithic integration of Si PICs andMEMS on a CMOS-compatible chip. To mitigate fabrication-induced variations and improve device yield, theproject will employ a technique based on femtosecond laser irradiation for post-fabrication finetuning of Si PICs that does not require continuous power supply. The outcome of the project will be a fully functional WSN prototype that can be scaled to meet industry specifications and to provide a low-cost platform for realizing MEMS-enabled applications in Si PICs. The industry partner is Preciseley Microtechnology Corp., an Edmonton-based company with 16 years ofexperience in designing and manufacturing optical MEMS products for the telecom market. As a marketleader in MEMS technology, Preciseley has the experience and resource to capitalize on the technologydeveloped through the project and facilitate its immediate transfer to the market. The project will also bringdirect benefits to the Canadian economy through the training of highly-qualified personnel and thedevelopment of home-grown expertise in the photonics, semiconductor manufacturing and telecom sectors.