Abstract
Upcoming generations of coherent intra/inter data center interconnects currently lack a clear path toward a reduction of cost and power consumption, which are the driving factors for these data links. In this work, the tradeoffs associated with a transition from coherent C-band to O-band silicon photonics are addressed and evaluated. The discussion includes the fundamental components of coherent data links, namely the optical components, fiber link and transceivers. As a major component of these links, a monolithic silicon photonic BiCMOS O-band coherent receiver is evaluated for its potential performance and compared to an analogous C-band device.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the projects EPIC-Sense (ZI 1283-6-1) and EPIDAC (ZI 1283-7-1), by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through project PEARLS (13N14932), and the European Commission through project H2020-SPACE-ORIONAS (822002).
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Pascal M. Seiler received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany in 2015 and 2017, respectively. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree with the Institute of High-Frequency and Semiconductor System Technologies at Technische Universität Berlin. His research interests include electronic-photonic transceivers and VCSEL-based coherent interconnects.
Galina Georgieva received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany in 2013 and 2016, respectively. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree with the Institute of High-Frequency and Semiconductor System Technologies at the Technische Universität Berlin. Her research interests include the field theory of silicon photonic components and their practical realization.
Georg Winzer received his Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Technische Universität Berlin, Germany in 2012. From 2006 to 2012 he was working as a Student Assistant with the Institute of High-Frequency and Semiconductor System Technologies, Technische Universität Berlin. He was dealing with measurements of photonic integrated circuits and their layout. Since 2012, he works with IHP - Leibniz-Institut für innovative Mikroelektronik, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. His research interests include the design and layout of PIC and EPIC devices and their characterization and the setup of a photonic designkit.
Anna Peczek received the B.Sc. degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering and M.Sc. degree in Technical Physics (with a specialization in optoelectronics) from Lodz University of Technology, Poland in 2013 and 2014, respectively. In 2014, she joined IHP - Leibniz-Institut für innovative Mikroelektronik, Germany as a student and later as a scientist in the Silicon Photonics Group. Since 2017, she is working as project manager and measurement specialist in IHP Solutions GmbH, being involved in evaluation of optoelectronic circuits on silicon photonics platform and development of novel characterization systems.
Karsten Voigt received his Magister and Ph.D. degrees from the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany in 2005 and 2012, respectively. From 2005 to 2020, he was with the Institute of High-Frequency and Semiconductor System Technologies at the Technische Universität Berlin. Since 2020, he is with the IHP - Leibniz-Institut für innovative Mikroelektronik, Germany. His current research interests include the research and the development in the field of integrated optics.
Stefan Lischke received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Physics with specialization in Semiconductor Technology from the Technical University Brandenburg, Germany in 2005 and 2007, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany in 2017. He is currently a Researcher in the group “Emerging Devices & Technologies” within the Technology department of IHP - Leibniz-Institut für innovative Mikroelektronik, Germany. His current work is focused on germanium photo detectors and the integration of photonic devices into IHP’s photonic BiCMOS process. He received several best paper awards.
Adel Fatemi received the M.Sc. degree from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany in 2012, and the Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Mixed-signal Circuit Design at the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, focusing on the design of silicon photonic modulator driver circuits. From 2016 to 2018, he was as a mixed-signal design engineer with Phyforce Semiconductor GmbH, where he was involved in the design of transceiver circuits for electro-optical communication systems. Since 2019, he has been with the IHP - Leibniz-Institut für innovative Mikroelektronik, Germany. His current research interests include high-speed mixed-signal integrated circuits for optical communication systems.
Lars Zimmermann received a higher education (undergraduate) from Friedrich-Schiller University, Germany, Brunel University London, UK, and TU Delft, The Netherlands. He moved to Belgium for his postgraduate studies at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In Leuven, he was affiliated with IMEC where he conducted research toward his Ph.D. for five years. His scientific work at IMEC dealt with the development of extended short-wave infrared detector arrays and sensor assembly processes. In 2004, he moved to Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. In Berlin, he worked for five years on silicon-based optical motherboard technology, realizing early hybrid assemblies of silicon waveguides with lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, and detectors. In 2008, he moved to IHP, the Leibniz Institute für innovative Mikroelektronik where he has been directing silicon photonics R&D activities. In 2018, he rejoined TU Berlin where he became a Professor in the field of silicon photonics, while keeping his affiliation with IHP. His current work focuses on high-performance photonic-electronic integration for optical communications and for nonlinear optical signal processing. He also works on novel devices to enhance performance and functionality of integrated silicon photonics.
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Seiler, P.M., Georgieva, G., Winzer, G. et al. Toward coherent O-band data center interconnects. Front. Optoelectron. 14, 414–425 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-021-1242-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-021-1242-0
Keywords
- coherent communication
- data center
- O-band
- silicon photonics