Fabless silicon photonics operation and design trends LETI - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
1 July 2018 Fabless silicon photonics operation and design trends LETI INNOVATION DAYS 2018 CONFIDENTIAL Outline Vertical vs. Horizontal / fabless business model Fabless model in photonic integration Fabless silicon photonics
1 July 2018 CONFIDENTIAL
LETI INNOVATION DAYS 2018
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Vertical model
✔✔ State-of-the art device ✘✘ Huge investment Test Packaging Fabrication Design Definition Characterization
Traditional optical component manufacturers (lasers, PDs, splitters, AWGs, modulators, etc.)
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Vertical model
✔✔ State-of-the art device ✘✘ Huge investment
Horizontal model
Test Packaging Fabrication Design Definition Characterization Test Packaging Characterization Fabrication Design Definition ✔ Performing device ✔✔ Low Investment
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Vertical model
✔✔ State-of-the art device ✘✘ Huge investment
Horizontal model
Test Packaging Fabrication Design Definition Characterization Test Packaging Characterization Foundry Design Definition Fabrication
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Vertical model
✔✔ State-of-the art device ✘✘ Huge investment
Horizontal model
Test Packaging Fabrication Design Definition Characterization Test Packaging Characterization Foundry Design house Definition Fabrication Design
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Vertical model
✔✔ State-of-the art device ✘✘ Huge investment
Horizontal model
Test Packaging Fabrication Design Definition Characterization Test Outsourced Semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) Foundry Design house Definition Fabrication Design Characterization Packaging
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Source: Statista
In two decades...
revenues have grown, becoming the predominant manufacturing model.
larger given the large concentration in few players, fabless sales have been growing faster and at a more stable rate
decades.
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1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
EU fabless Investment 100 Gb/s TX/RX InP, 2004 40 Gb/s AOC SOI, 2007
Optical component Manufacturers
Lasers Photodiodes Passives Splitters AWGs VOAs
Beam combiner Si3N4, 2012
Global investment
FBG interrogator InP, 2015 OCT SOI, 2015
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PUBLICATIONS EACH YEAR
(Conferences not included)
Start of industrial interest
Courtesy Roel Baets, IMEC/UGhent
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$866M
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Photonics lags 30 years behind!
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heavily investing and partnering with smaller photonic design tool vendors.
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Asia following IC trends.
actives (heaters, Ge PDs, Modulators, heterogeneous InP)
pillars, etc.)
Source: IC Insights
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place at most foundries, compiling design libraries with many mature building blocks for several processes.
brokers for low-cost prototyping.
process and allow to scale-up production.
VLC Photonics technical foundries report:
foundries, 6 brokers
capabilities, & PIC developments
references
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Back-end (post fab) processes comprise:
Challenges in photonics still remain:
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Company Type Characteristics Typical size ID design consultants 1-2 person operation focusing on consulting on particular specialties 0.2 to 0.5M € PIC design house Always fabless, 3-25 people, sometimes also brokers fabrication or
0.5 to 2M € IP / Technology licensing company Usually focused on one technology or product area, engineering oriented management 2 to 15M € Fabless chip firm Growing fast to a niche product or market; usually fabless, strong marketing, product development and distribution departments, 20-200 people < 200M €
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semiconductor markets.
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Foundries
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Fabless fjrms
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EDA vendors
Source: Semico research Source: IBS Source: Mentor
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–
Lack of market volume and enough licensee base,
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Low maturity of fabrication processes, risky and expensive IP development,
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IP usually limited to building blocks, not circuits,
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Diffjcult IP usage, checking and enforcing,
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Expensive patent/semiconductor topography registration, maintenance and defence, specially for SMEs. Fabless firms Foundries EDA vendors
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market demands, and silicon photonics is profjting from all experience of the CMOS world.
photonic integration fjeld.
end processes.
consolidating, while design IP will take longer to become a market reality.
info@vlcphotonics.com
www.vlcphotonics.com @vlcphotonics linkedin.com/company/vlc-photonics