JePPIX is the European platform that offers ccess to Indium Phosphide based technology for proof of concept, prototyping and large volume manufacturing. This is enabled by using a generic integration technology

Leijtens, X.J.M.

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JePPIX : the platform for InP-based photonics

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 JePPIX : the platform for InP-based photonicsCitation for published version (APA):Leijtens, X. J. M. (2010). JePPIX : the platform for InP-based photonics. In Proceedings of the 15th EuropeanConference in Integrated Optics, ECIO 2010, April 6-9, 2010, Cambridge, United Kingdom (pp. ThG3-1/2).Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).Document status and date:Published: 01/01/2010Document Version:Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers)Please check the document version of this publication:• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can beimportant differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. Peopleinterested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit theDOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and pagenumbers.Link to publicationGeneral rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, pleasefollow below link for the End User Agreement:www.tue.nl/taverneTake down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at:openaccess@tue.nlproviding details and we will investigate your claim.Download date: 04. Oct. 2023JePPIX: the platform for InP-based photonicsXaveer LeijtensCOBRA Research Institute, Eindhoven University of Technology, the NetherlandsEmail: X.J.M.Leijtens@TUe.nlAbstract—JePPIX is the European platform that offersaccess to Indium Phosphide based technology for proofof concept, prototyping and large volume manufacturing.This is enabled by using a generic integration technology.I. INTRODUCTIONThe joint European platform for InP-based componentsand circuits, JePPIX, is a technology platform for the de-velopment and promotion of Photonic Integrated Circuits(PICs) in Indium Phosphide. JePPIX aims at a genericintegration technology in which a variety of photonicintegrated circuits can be designed and fabricated usingthe same process. This concept is well known in elec-tronics; in photonics it is new and can lead to huge costreductions by realizing photonic ICs for a broad varietyof applications using a small set of basic building blocksthat are integrated in a generic foundry process.JePPIX is one of the three photonic integration platformsthat were started from ePIXnet, the EU FP6 Networkof Excellence, besides ePIXfab (silicon photonics) andTriPleX (dielectric waveguides).II. GENERIC INTEGRATION TECHNOLOGYOne of the main challenges for photonic integration isto develop a technology that supports a small set ofbuilding blocks with good performance, with which abroad class of functionalities can be realized. At COBRAwe use a technology that offers active-passive butt-joint integration: three-step epitaxy by MOVPE, self-aligned CH4-H2 RIE process for etching, planarizationand metallization. This process integrates the followingbuilding blocks:1) Passive waveguide devices (PHMs), including themost widely used components such as waveguidebends, multi-mode interference couplers, arrayedwaveguide grating demultiplexers (AWGs), and ta-pers. Shallow and deep-etched PWDs are available,figure 1 and 2, for low and high contrast, respec-tively.Figure 1. Shallow etchedwaveguide.Figure 2. Deep etched wave-guide.2) Phase modulators (PHMs) to control the phaseof the optical signals. When used in an interfer-ometric configuration, such as a Mach-Zehnderinterferometer, phase modulators provide a meansfor signal intensity modulation or space switchingas well.3) Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), figure 3.The importance of the SOA for photonics is similarto that of the transistor for electronics: it providesamplification but it also supports a broad classof non-linear signal operations, like wavelengthconversion, 2R and 3R signal regeneration, opticaltime-domain demultiplexing, clock extraction andother digital signal operations. When operating theSOAs in reverse bias, they can be used as high-speed photo-detectors.Figure 3. Shallow etched SOAor photo-detector.Figure 4. Isolation section,where top layer is locally re-moved (angled top-view).4) Isolation sections, figure 4. These are regionswhere the highly conductive p+-layer is locallyremoved to provide electrical isolation betweendifferent SOAs and/or phase modulators.At the moment JePPIX is offering small-scale access tothe COBRA generic integration process of TU Eindhoven.III. ACCESS TO MULTI-PROJECT WAFER RUNSHaving a technology that makes use of standard buildingblocks will greatly reduce the costs of photonic ICs,because the development cost of that technology will beshared by all users of that technology. For smaller-scaleprojects, those costs can be even further reduced, bymaking use of multi-project wafer runs. In this approach,different users share cells on the same wafer, and therebythey share the cost of that run, typically proportional tothe total chip area that they use.Figure 5. View of the cell layoutof a JePPIX MPW-run at COBRA,consisting of test cells (T1–T3)and multi-project user cells (A–F).COBRA offers accessto multi-project runsto external users, whoare first trained in thedesign of photonic ICsin a two-week courseat the COBRA institutein Eindhoven. The runsthen consist of processingactive-passive 2-inch epi-wafers, split into 9 cells(typically 4 × 4 mm2),see figure 5; three ofwhich are reserved fortest structures (T1–T3, toqualify the processing)and 6 cells host thedesigned PICs of the users (A–F). Each user can makean independent design, even without the need to knowanything about the neighboring cell. This is achievedby using pre-defined positions and dimensions ofthe input and output waveguides, see figure 6. Thesewaveguides may be placed on a 25 µm pitch, eitherstraight or angled, where the 7◦ angle greatly reducesthe reflections from the cleaved chip-facet.A number of novel devices made from these basicbuilding block in a JePPIX multi-project wafer run at CO-BRA have been demonstrated, including a mode-lockedwaveguidescleave regionUser 1 User 2Figure 6. Standardized waveguide locations at cell boundary.Figure 7. Discretely tunable laser with ns switching time.ringlaser [1], which uses a combination of the SOA, iso-lation and PWD building blocks; a pulse-compressor [2],using combinations of PHM and PWD building blocks;a fast tunable laser [3], integrating SOAs with PWDbuilding blocks. Figure 7 shows a photograph of thattunable laser. Clearly visible are the gold contact pads forthe current injection of the SOAs (three bottom contacts),eight contact pads on the top, which connect to shortSOA-sections that act as optical gates which select thewavelength, and an AWG acting as wavelength filter isvisible on the right side of the picture.IV. OUTLOOKCOBRA offers small scale access to its process forgaining experience with the generic foundry process. Inthe EuroPIC project, http://europic.org, transfer of thismodel to industrial fabs is presently being investigated.Two EuroPIC partners, Oclaro Technology in the UKand the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute in Germany,whose processes are conceptually similar to the processof COBRA, are presently preparing their processes forexperimental generic foundry runs. When the EuroPICproject is succesful, COBRA will move its activity todevelopment of improved or novel features for laterintegration in the industrial foundry processes.REFERENCES[1] Y. Barbarin, E. Bente, M. Heck, J. den Besten, G. Guidi, Y. Oei,J. Binsma, and M. Smit, “Realization and modeling of a 27-GHz integrated passively mode-locked ring laser,” IEEE Photon.Technol. Lett., vol. 17, pp. 2277–2279, Nov. 2005.[2] M. Heck, P. Muñoz, B. Tilma, E. Bente, Y. Barbarin, Y. Oei,R. Nötzel, and M. Smit, “Design, fabrication and characterizationof an InP-based tunable integrated optical pulse shaper,” IEEEJ. Quantum Electron., vol. 44, pp. 370–377, Apr. 2008.[3] M. Heck, A. L. Porta, X. Leijtens, L. Augustin, T. de Vries,E. Smalbrugge, Y. Oei, R. Nötzel, R. Gaudino, D. Robbins, andM. Smit, “Monolithic AWG-based discretely tunable laser diodewith nanosecond switching speed,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett.,vol. 21, pp. 905–907, July 2009.

Leijtens, XJM Xaveer

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 JePPIX : the platform for InP-based photonicsCitation for published version (APA):Leijtens, X. J. M. (2010). JePPIX : the platform for InP-based photonics. In Proceedings of the 15th EuropeanConference in Integrated Optics, ECIO 2010, April 6-9, 2010, Cambridge, United Kingdom (pp. ThG3-1/2).Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).Document status and date:Published: 01/01/2010Document Version:Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers)Please check the document version of this publication:• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can beimportant differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. Peopleinterested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit theDOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and pagenumbers.Link to publicationGeneral rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, pleasefollow below link for the End User Agreement:www.tue.nl/taverneTake down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at:openaccess@tue.nlproviding details and we will investigate your claim.Download date: 17. Nov. 2023JePPIX: the platform for InP-based photonicsXaveer LeijtensCOBRA Research Institute, Eindhoven University of Technology, the NetherlandsEmail: X.J.M.Leijtens@TUe.nlAbstract—JePPIX is the European platform that offersaccess to Indium Phosphide based technology for proofof concept, prototyping and large volume manufacturing.This is enabled by using a generic integration technology.I. INTRODUCTIONThe joint European platform for InP-based componentsand circuits, JePPIX, is a technology platform for the de-velopment and promotion of Photonic Integrated Circuits(PICs) in Indium Phosphide. JePPIX aims at a genericintegration technology in which a variety of photonicintegrated circuits can be designed and fabricated usingthe same process. This concept is well known in elec-tronics; in photonics it is new and can lead to huge costreductions by realizing photonic ICs for a broad varietyof applications using a small set of basic building blocksthat are integrated in a generic foundry process.JePPIX is one of the three photonic integration platformsthat were started from ePIXnet, the EU FP6 Networkof Excellence, besides ePIXfab (silicon photonics) andTriPleX (dielectric waveguides).II. GENERIC INTEGRATION TECHNOLOGYOne of the main challenges for photonic integration isto develop a technology that supports a small set ofbuilding blocks with good performance, with which abroad class of functionalities can be realized. At COBRAwe use a technology that offers active-passive butt-joint integration: three-step epitaxy by MOVPE, self-aligned CH4-H2 RIE process for etching, planarizationand metallization. This process integrates the followingbuilding blocks:1) Passive waveguide devices (PHMs), including themost widely used components such as waveguidebends, multi-mode interference couplers, arrayedwaveguide grating demultiplexers (AWGs), and ta-pers. Shallow and deep-etched PWDs are available,figure 1 and 2, for low and high contrast, respec-tively.Figure 1. Shallow etchedwaveguide.Figure 2. Deep etched wave-guide.2) Phase modulators (PHMs) to control the phaseof the optical signals. When used in an interfer-ometric configuration, such as a Mach-Zehnderinterferometer, phase modulators provide a meansfor signal intensity modulation or space switchingas well.3) Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), figure 3.The importance of the SOA for photonics is similarto that of the transistor for electronics: it providesamplification but it also supports a broad classof non-linear signal operations, like wavelengthconversion, 2R and 3R signal regeneration, opticaltime-domain demultiplexing, clock extraction andother digital signal operations. When operating theSOAs in reverse bias, they can be used as high-speed photo-detectors.Figure 3. Shallow etched SOAor photo-detector.Figure 4. Isolation section,where top layer is locally re-moved (angled top-view).4) Isolation sections, figure 4. These are regionswhere the highly conductive p+-layer is locallyremoved to provide electrical isolation betweendifferent SOAs and/or phase modulators.At the moment JePPIX is offering small-scale access tothe COBRA generic integration process of TU Eindhoven.III. ACCESS TO MULTI-PROJECT WAFER RUNSHaving a technology that makes use of standard buildingblocks will greatly reduce the costs of photonic ICs,because the development cost of that technology will beshared by all users of that technology. For smaller-scaleprojects, those costs can be even further reduced, bymaking use of multi-project wafer runs. In this approach,different users share cells on the same wafer, and therebythey share the cost of that run, typically proportional tothe total chip area that they use.Figure 5. View of the cell layoutof a JePPIX MPW-run at COBRA,consisting of test cells (T1–T3)and multi-project user cells (A–F).COBRA offers accessto multi-project runsto external users, whoare first trained in thedesign of photonic ICsin a two-week courseat the COBRA institutein Eindhoven. The runsthen consist of processingactive-passive 2-inch epi-wafers, split into 9 cells(typically 4 × 4 mm2),see figure 5; three ofwhich are reserved fortest structures (T1–T3, toqualify the processing)and 6 cells host thedesigned PICs of the users (A–F). Each user can makean independent design, even without the need to knowanything about the neighboring cell. This is achievedby using pre-defined positions and dimensions ofthe input and output waveguides, see figure 6. Thesewaveguides may be placed on a 25 µm pitch, eitherstraight or angled, where the 7◦ angle greatly reducesthe reflections from the cleaved chip-facet.A number of novel devices made from these basicbuilding block in a JePPIX multi-project wafer run at CO-BRA have been demonstrated, including a mode-lockedwaveguidescleave regionUser 1 User 2Figure 6. Standardized waveguide locations at cell boundary.Figure 7. Discretely tunable laser with ns switching time.ringlaser [1], which uses a combination of the SOA, iso-lation and PWD building blocks; a pulse-compressor [2],using combinations of PHM and PWD building blocks;a fast tunable laser [3], integrating SOAs with PWDbuilding blocks. Figure 7 shows a photograph of thattunable laser. Clearly visible are the gold contact pads forthe current injection of the SOAs (three bottom contacts),eight contact pads on the top, which connect to shortSOA-sections that act as optical gates which select thewavelength, and an AWG acting as wavelength filter isvisible on the right side of the picture.IV. OUTLOOKCOBRA offers small scale access to its process forgaining experience with the generic foundry process. Inthe EuroPIC project, http://europic.org, transfer of thismodel to industrial fabs is presently being investigated.Two EuroPIC partners, Oclaro Technology in the UKand the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute in Germany,whose processes are conceptually similar to the processof COBRA, are presently preparing their processes forexperimental generic foundry runs. When the EuroPICproject is succesful, COBRA will move its activity todevelopment of improved or novel features for laterintegration in the industrial foundry processes.REFERENCES[1] Y. Barbarin, E. Bente, M. Heck, J. den Besten, G. Guidi, Y. Oei,J. Binsma, and M. Smit, “Realization and modeling of a 27-GHz integrated passively mode-locked ring laser,” IEEE Photon.Technol. Lett., vol. 17, pp. 2277–2279, Nov. 2005.[2] M. Heck, P. Muñoz, B. Tilma, E. Bente, Y. Barbarin, Y. Oei,R. Nötzel, and M. Smit, “Design, fabrication and characterizationof an InP-based tunable integrated optical pulse shaper,” IEEEJ. Quantum Electron., vol. 44, pp. 370–377, Apr. 2008.[3] M. Heck, A. L. Porta, X. Leijtens, L. Augustin, T. de Vries,E. Smalbrugge, Y. Oei, R. Nötzel, R. Gaudino, D. Robbins, andM. Smit, “Monolithic AWG-based discretely tunable laser diodewith nanosecond switching speed,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett.,vol. 21, pp. 905–907, July 2009.

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JePPIX : the platform for InP-based photonics

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