Photonic Integrated Circuit Testing: Accelerating R&D From Lab to Fab
AIM Photonics Design Enablement Manager Amit Dikshit shares insights on silicon photonics increasingly making the transition from lab to fab, being deployed in a range of applications such as data and telecommunications, as well as LiDAR and sensor technology in the September issue of Tech Briefs and Photonics Imaging & Technology.
Testing integrated photonic circuits poses several technical challenges that exceed the capabilities of many of the current generation of tools and equipment originally developed for testing conventional electronic devices. In this Tech Briefs and Photonics Imaging & Technology article, we discuss some of the more pressing challenges that AIM Photonics is addressing.
While the promise of smaller, better, faster, lighter devices enabled by integrated photonics technologies is indeed the ultimate goal for the work being done at AIM Photonics, the actual path to high-volume manufacturing isn’t necessarily a smooth ride for photonic integrated circuit (PIC) designers, developers and engineers.
This is not to say that the technology has hit a roadblock, in fact silicon photonics is increasingly making the transition from lab to fab and is already being deployed in a range of applications such as data and telecommunications, as well as LiDAR and sensor technology.
But perhaps one of the greatest hurdles in making the transition from research and development into high-volume manufacturing is determining how to test for manufacturability when the technology itself is still in its early stages.