​Silicon photonics (SiPh)—the fabrication of photonic components using semiconductor-grade silicon and conventional microelectronics-industry processes—is heralded as a critical technology for tomorrow's high-speed computing and communications scenarios. Research conducted under the IRT Nanoelec Photonic Sensors  program led by CEA-Leti in conjunction with Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics) has led to the release of a new process design kit (PDK).

The kit includes a library of validated components (optical guides, photodetectors, modulators, etc.) from CEA-Leti's portfolio of mature technologies created using Siemens EDA's new Tanner CAD software, which also packs in several innovations. With the easy-to-use Tanner design flow, based on CAD standards, designers can arrange and connect electrical and optical components. Tanner ensures that there are no design-rule-related errors.

CEA-Leti is targeting use cases at several wavelengths. Specifically, two libraries of key components have been identified to address a wide range of scenarios such as Lidar, communications, computing (HPC, etc.), and optical gas sensors for medical applications.