Overview >>                      HELIOS - Photonics Electronics functional Integration on CMOS

 

Photonics is a rapidly growing sector in the global economy. Optical communications, optical storage, imaging, lighting, optical sensors or security are just a few examples. Even if photonics could bring improved characteristics to electronic components as low propagation losses, high bandwidth, wavelength multiplexing and immunity to electromagnetic noise, the high cost of photonic components and there assembly is a major obstacle to their deployment in most of application fields. Yet, just like in micro-electronics, many applications can be realized in a much more compact and cost-effective way by integrating the required functionality in a single chip.

 

Silicon photonics (or more precisely CMOS Photonics) is a way to tackle the problem of integration by developing a small number of generic integration technologies with a level of functionality that can address a broad range of applications. Such technologies, which should be made accessible via foundries, can address markets that are sufficiently large to pay back the development costs.

 

HELIOS is an integrated project which is funded under the Seventh Framework Program. In HELIOS, IHP is developing a generic electronic-photonic front-end technology with the purpose of offering the technology as a foundry service to external partners at a later stage. The electronic specifications of the new technology should be equivalent to that of the present high performance IHP BiCMOS RF technologies. Within HELIOS, we established collaboration with major European Silicon photonics players.

 

Link: www.helios-project.eu