Silicon light chip from the future, inTaking a step forward in 2023.Since the beginning of 2023, a lot of speculation has been carried out around Silicon Opticology, and a large number of investment has been made, especially for light computing, light I/O, and various sensing applications.

Market research institutionYole Intelligence said that in 2022, the market value of the silicon optical chip is worth $ 68 million, and it is expected to exceed $ 600 million by 2028, and the average annual growth rate of a compound annual growth rate from 2022-2028 will be 44%.The main factor to promote this growth is the 800G of high -speed data center interconnection and the 800G of machine learning with higher throughput and lower -delayed requirements.

One，What is silicon lightIs it believed?
useCMOS technology (that is, silicon optical) manufacturing optical circuit not only provides the scale of semiconductor wafer -level manufacturing, but also uses the characteristics of light in terms of computing, communication, sensing, and imaging.

For these reasons, silicon optical learning is increasing  (AI) application.Until recently, the main challenge of Silicon Optics has always been the cost of adding a separate laser as a photon circuit power supply, including manufacturing and the assembly of these laser on the photon chip.

Light can be manifested like waves or particles, and this behavior can be manipulated.The term optics refers to the study of light, which is usually used to talk about the light visible to the human eye (for example, the light reflected by lens reflection such as light, magnifying glass such as headlights, etc.).The term photonology refers to a system that reflects or manipulates light with a much small scale (less than a few micron).Integrated photonology refers to the use of semiconductor technology and wafers processed in clean room facilities to make photomic systems.If the manufacturing process used is very similar to CMOS manufacturing, it is called silicon optical studies.

In other words, Silicon Opticology is a material platform that can use insulators to silicon (SOI) Walls as semiconductor substrate materials to make photon integrated circuits (PIC).This technology has become more popular and feasible than ever, which is an important reason.

Initially, integrated photonology began to use materials such as doped quartz glass, lithium crickets, or phosphoricate as the surface of the material, especially for telecommunications and long -distance data communication applications.However, the vast majority of semiconductor industries use silicon as the main materials to create integrationThe CMOS circuit has achieved very high output and low cost.The physical characteristics of photonology make it very suitable for the CMOS process used on the old silicon node to pattern and manufacture photonic devices and circuits.The use of mature manufacturing processes has opened up an economical and feasible road for large -scale production. Therefore, integrated silicon optical studies have taken off.

Today, Silicon Optics has used matureThe CMOS manufacturing and design ecosystems have begun to build an integrated optometry system. The ecosystem has proven to be very cost -effective in terms of scale.

The main advantage

Now, the industry can make efficient manufacturing on silicon wafersAll the advantages brought by PIC and Silicon Light can begin to be used in mainstream electronics.One of the main advantages of PIC is that they can achieve, expand and increase data transmission.Historically, for a longer distance, the copper link first reaches the restrictions of bandwidth and energy consumption.Recently, optical fiber connections have been used in data centers to achieve shorter and shorter connections in the network architecture.The latest trend is to move the light to the position of the same packaging from the switch to the position of the switch ASIC by using the same packaging from the switch to the switch.This shorten the distance of the high -speed electrical seldes link, thereby reducing the overall energy consumption of I/O.

In addition to being used for data centers, silicon light can also be used for sensing, which is conducive to various industries.For example, the receiving of optical sensing, signal transmission, and reflection or transmission signal can help determine the characteristics of the surrounding environment.This sensing activity is conducive to health and biomedical applications, such as diagnosis and analysis, as well as consumer healthy wearable applications, and laser radar used for industrial automation and autonomous driving.

Solid -state laser radar chips are becoming more and more popular in the field of autonomous vehicles and industrial automation.LIDAR does not use radio frequency (RF) signals, but uses surface reflex light to analyze and provide key information about the situation on the road, and provide inputs about how the car should reflect (for example, the direction of the object movement, there may be obstacles, there may be obstacles.Place, etc.).Of course, designing everything that will be used in the automotive industry needs to consider many safety regulations.As far as the wide and large amount of consumption applications are concerned, the enhanced virtual reality has been introduced in some smartphones.Another possible large -scale application of Silicon Optics is human health measurement, including the heart rate, saturation and hydration level of wearable devices such as smart watches and medical equipment in the body.

Like any product development process, it is necessary to carefully consider which technology is most suitable for specific applications, including cost, performance requirements, how long it takes for listing, and existing relationships with customers.

Just like the voltage source in the circuit, the laser is the power of the silicon optical circuit.At present, due to the indirect gap of the material, it is impossible to manufacture light sources (or laser) in silicon.

This is why phosphate and other materials are used to make a semiconductor lasers used in wavelengths for telecommunications and data communication.Companies such as OpenLight have houted various technologies and integrated phosphate into a silicon optical chip to create integrated laser, modulation and detectors that drive photonic circuits.This enables customers to obtain the advantages of standard manufacturing technology and many performance advantages of silicon optical scholarship.In addition, multiple laser that can be used in the same system can be used to further expand.In the past, hybrid connecting laser chips caused people's concerns about reliability, but integrated lasers improved reliability and opened up the possibility for multiple laser or amplifying major applications.However, designers should not ignore the heat problem, because the laser will generate heat, and this needs to be considered when designing circuits and packaging.

The silicon light industry has just started because of its huge technology and economic value.Light input/Output (I/O) is closer to the core silicon (through 2.5/3D heterogeneous integration), the smaller the impact on communication, which makes it very suitable for high -performance computing and artificial intelligence applications.

Material

The field of silicon optics is not limited to single substrates or materials.Traditionally, the efficiency of silicon as a optical transmitter is limited, mainly due to its low quantum efficiency.However, if a source optical element is created on the silicon base, Silicon Optics has achieved a major breakthrough in large -scale production.

Manage massive data throughput

Ultra -high -density optical chip uses silicon optical learning to provide more number of channels on a single chip.This is essential for parallel processing of a large amount of laser radar data points to ensure that the system can meet the needs of real -time analysis.The integration of silicon optical can enhance data processing capabilities and improve the performance and overall efficiency of lidar system.

Accelerate the processing task

Data transmission speed is a key factor in real -time processing capacity of the lidar system.Silicon optical studies can integrate many components to a single chip to transmit data at a speed of light.This is in stark contrast to the traditional copper -based system, resulting in significantly accelerating processing speed.The integration of components not only improves the speed, but also improves the efficiency of overall data processing, reduces delay and ensures real -time and accurate environmental analysis.

Second, large factoryFollow the direction of light
It was reported last year that TSMC will jointly develop silicon optical technology and encapsulate optical elements (New products such as CO-Packaged Optics, CPOs), process technology extended from 45nm to 7nm, and began to usher in a large order as soon as in the second half of next year, and reached the volume stage around 2025.

For this rumor, TSMC stated that it would not respond to customers and product conditions.However, TSMC is optimistic about the future scene of silicon photon technology in the future.

At a semiconductor symposium, Yu Zhenhua, deputy director of TSMC, also publicly revealed his views on silicon photon technology:If a good silicon optical integration system can be provided, the two key issues of energy efficiency and AI computing capabilities can be solved.This will be a new paradigm transfer.We may be at the beginning of a new era.

For TSMC, the product that the main push in this field was namedCoupe (compact universal photon engine) packaging technology is characterized by reducing power consumption and increasing bandwidth.TSMC plans to use it in a research and development project in depth with Nvidia to combine multiple AI GPUs into a GPU.The R & D project will last for several years and must wait until the silicon optical ecosystem is mature to complete.

Starting from the beginning of the 21st century, companies and academic institutions led by Intel and IBM began to focus on the development of silicon chip optical signal transmission technology. It is hoped that one day to replace the data circuit between chips with optical channels to continue Moore's law.

In 2010, after Intel developed the first 50GB/S ultra -short silicon -based integrated optical transceiver chip, the silicon light chip began to enter the industrialization stage.Subsequently, a group of traditional integrated circuits and photoelectric giants in Europe and the United States quickly entered the field of silicon optical sectors to seize highlands.Intel is currently the most comprehensive company in the field of silicon light.

In the manufacturing process, although the photon chip and the electronic chip are similar to the process and complexity, the requirements for the structure of the photon chip are not as strict as the electronic chip, generally a hundred nano -level.This greatly reduces the dependence on advanced craftsmanship and eases the bottleneck of the current chip development to a certain extent.

Silicon optical studies are becoming a revolutionary force, and the industry may surpass the scope of traditional applications such as laser radar.This technology involves the use of silicon -based components to produce, manipulate and detect light, which not only breaks through the boundaries of automotive innovation, but also made significant progress in markets such as warehouse automation, data centers and telecommunications.

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