Flip-Chip Integration of a GaSb Semiconductor Optical Amplifier W Si Photonics

Interesting... there are also other chiplet based optical components that are probably closer to production. I suspect this one is related to Araya's TeraPHY.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/intel-...

I was intrigued by the claim of coupling without a spot size converter. But then I see that they are using a 3um thick silicon slab for the waveguide patterning.

I'm used to work in the 220nm CMOS based SOI slab, and It's virtually impossible to couple (even more in a laser cavity!) a GaSb mode to a the silicon mode without a spot size converter.

I am sceptical about microrings.

The big point of putting optics on chip, or at least close to the chip is to reduce power consumption.

Huge terabit class router chips spend 1/3 of TDP to drive PHYs.

If you just replace a power hungry copper transmitter with a power hungry optical transmitter, you don't gain in power budget, and lose on cost.