AIM Photonics & Analog Photonic Deliver Improved Manufacturability Through Statistical Compact Models

“The simulation capabilities enabled by the AIM CML in Lumerical’s INTERCONNECT allow us to focus on the application of our designs rather than worry about the function of the individual components, which significantly accelerates our development timelines. The new release that adds the ability to address yield analysis through Monte Carlo simulations in INTERCONNECT will be a critical element in our technology’s commercialization path.”

— Timothy Creazzo, Phase Sensitive Innovation

Challenges

Design flows continue to mature to meet the cost and scalability demands of manufacturing necessary for broad commercial markets. The introduction of photonic/electronic process design kits (PDKs) in recent years raised the level of abstraction for photonics design to produce unprecedented levels of productivity. This has been made possible by introducing advanced circuit-level design flows, including Ansys Lumerical’s circuit simulation tool INTERCONNECT. There’s a growing demand for statistical-enabled PDKs and flows to improve yield and reduce time to market.

Engineering Solution

AIM Photonics, NY CREATES, Analog Photonics, and Ansys set out to address the need for a statistical-enabled PDK. The PDK component library, owned by Analog Photonics, was the first to support statistical models in INTERCONNECT based on the measured wafer-scale data of photonic components. It provides statistical variation data for waveguides and passive and active components. The PDK provides SMEs with a critical resource for the development of the baseline technology and design of photonic products manufactured by AIM Photonics’ multi-project wafer (MPW) services, produced at NY CREATES’ Albany Nanotech advanced 300-mm microelectronics chip fabrication facility.

Dr. Erman Timurdogan, director of PDK Development at Analog Photonics, said, “With PDK v4.0a, users have access to statistical models for full-build, passive technologies based on the experimental data, and the component library is adapted to support a brand-new technology offering: Active Interposer. The statistical models allow for the prediction of the device, system, or product performance; yield; and corner analysis without spending the time and money to fabricate and test it. The models will also help with design for manufacturability (DFM) practices at AIM Photonics.”

Results

The 25-plus statistically enabled compact models empower photonic circuit designers to perform MonteCarlo analysis in Lumerical INTERCONNECT to account for manufacturing variations in waveguide width, height, and doping profiles (active elements). The compact model for this c-band ring modulator accounts for fabrication variations in the width and height of the ring waveguide. The plots show the variations in the resonant wavelength and the FSR of the ring from a Monte Carlo simulation run in INTERCONNECT.