WIPE: Wafer scale Integration of Photonics and Electronics

The European H2020 project WIPE aims at developing a technology to solve the problem of speed limitation when connecting electronic (ICs) and photonic chips (PICs), by placing them on top of each other, thus eliminating the need for bond wires. To reduce the cost of this approach, the ICs and PICs will be connected when they are still embedded on the production 'wafer' of semi-conductor material. For this reason, the project is called ‘Wafer scale Integration of Photonics and Electronics (WIPE)’. This ‘wafer scale integration' technology enables the creation of high performance, high density photonic-electronic (also called ‘photronic’) modules, having higher data transmission rates at lower energy consumption, lower complexity and lower cost compared to modules using more traditional connection techniques of wire-bonded separate chips. Next to this novel bonding technology of ICs and PICs, an integrated module development methodology is created for the efficient co-design of the ICs and PICs which need to fit exactly onto each other, physically, electronically and thermally. A library consisting of photonic/electronic standard design elements is created, leveraging the process design kits (PDKs) of the most important European manufacturers of photonic chips with that of a powerful IC-manufacturer. These tools are of significant importance to the industry, since they offer photronic module designers a standardised approach that highly facilitates the module design abilities of SMEs and affordable manufacturing by the photonic and electronic foundries. The WIPE platform is demonstrated by prototyping a 400Gb/s transceiver for data center applications. In doing so, the WIPE project aims at bringing photonics to a new level by developing a concept that can be well industrialised. The consortium consists of the Technical University Eindhoven (lead), IMEC-IMinds, Heinrich Hertz Institute, IBM Zuerich, EFFECT Photonics, SMART Photonics and Berenschot. EU grant 688572