Silicon photonics for next generation computing systems

Although InP-based photonic ICs (PICs) have been researched for many years, widespread acceptance of the viability of such technologies has not occurred until recently. A few relatively new commercial existence proofs have now proven that multiple functions can be successfully performed on a single InP chip with advantages in cost, size, performance, and power dissipation. As a result of these, as well as some market realities and an ever growing body of research existence proofs, the development of viable PIC products now seems to be a key goal of many component suppliers. This tutorial will review current integration approaches and results, with some slight emphasis on our UCSB work.