A monolithic CMOS compatible photonic/electronic platform and short reach data link transmitter figures of merit

CMOS Integrated Nano Photonics (CINPs) hold promise for bringing semiconductor industry efficiency and dramatic cost reductions to optical interconnect applications [1]. IBM has developed a CINP technology (TX) (CMOS9WG) in a sub-100nm CMOS platform where electronic and photonic components are monolithically integrated into the CMOS circuit analog and mixed-signal frontend. This minimizes processing steps, mask levels, component parasitics, and packaging/assembly complexity, and is designed to enabled multi-channel short reach optical interconnects up to 25 Gbaud rates [2]. Hybrid technology solutions also exist, where electrical and optical components are on separate chips [3]. Hybrid and monolithic platforms each offer unique advantages. However, the monolithic platform has the distinct advantage of being able to address both the hybrid and monolithic approaches.