I-Corps: Fiber to Chip Photonic Packaging with Low Loss

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是光子集成电路封装技术的开发和翻译，这将有助于集成光子学的进步和可扩展性。硅光子器件有望进入数据通信、电信和激光雷达等大规模市场。集成光子市场预计将从2017年的6亿美元增长到2022年的16亿美元，到2025年数据通信市场的光收发器将增长到40亿美元。 然而，硅光子器件高达80%的成本都在包装中。光学封装的主要成本驱动因素是以高光学效率将光纤永久地附接到光子芯片。 所提出的技术大大减少了光子器件的占地面积，并将光子器件的性能提高了目前标准的四倍。目前，光子器件总成本的80%来自封装和测试，而不是制造。用于将光纤附接到芯片而不耗散电能或电磁能（损耗）的当前技术是耗时的和/或使用用于封装的笨重固定装置。所提出的技术使用激光熔接将光纤永久地连接到芯片上，该技术坚固耐用，损耗低，可扩展到大批量制造。I-Corps项目基于集成光子器件封装解决方案的开发。该技术提供了一种使用熔接封装集成光子器件的新方法，具有最低的损耗、成本和时间。激光熔接工艺将光纤在玻璃-玻璃界面处熔化成集成光子芯片。该技术包括一个模式转换器，它提高了器件的性能，并作为一个接口，有效地将光纤拼接到芯片上。最近的结果表明，光纤融合到光子芯片后，每个面的损耗为1dB，这是完全封装的光子器件中测得的最低损耗。所提出的技术可以以比现有技术更低的成本、更快的速度和更高的性能来扩大光子芯片的制造。此外，该技术可实现更高的温度处理，从而简化当前的封装工艺，进一步降低成本。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development and translation of a photonic integrated circuit packaging technology that will help in the advancement and scalability of integrated photonics. Silicon photonic devices are poised to enter high volume markets such as data communications, telecommunications, and laser-based radar. The integrated photonics market is predicted to grow from $600M in 2017 to $1,600M by 2022 and to $4,000M in optical transceivers in the data communications market by 2025. However, up to 80% of the cost of a silicon photonic device is in the packaging. The main cost driver for optical packaging is permanently attaching fiber to the photonic chip with high optical efficiency. The proposed technology substantially decreases the footprint of a photonic device and increases the performance of a photonic device by four times the current standard. Currently, 80% of the total cost of a photonic device comes from packaging and testing, not from fabrication. Current techniques for attaching the fiber to a chip without dissipating electrical or electromagnetic energy (loss) are time consuming and/or use bulky fixtures for packaging. The proposed technology permanently attaches a fiber to a chip using laser fusion splicing, which is robust, low loss, and scalable to high volume manufacturing.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a packaging solution for integrated photonic devices. The technology provides a novel method for packaging integrated photonic devices using fusion splicing, with the lowest loss, cost, and time. The laser fusion splicing process melts a fiber to an integrated photonic chip at the glass-glass interface. The technology includes a mode converter, which improves the performance of the device and acts as an interface for splicing the fiber to the chip efficiently. Recent results show a loss of 1dB per facet after fusing a fiber to a photonic chip, which is the lowest measured loss in a completely packaged photonic device. The proposed technology may scale manufacturing of photonic chips at a lower cost, faster speed, and higher performance than existing technologies. Further, the technology enables higher temperature processing, which simplifies current packaging processes leading to additional cost reductions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.