Optical Alignment Optimization for High Throughput Testing of Photonic Integrated Circuits

Test processes are among the top cost contributors to the production of integrated photonics. This is mainly a result of the absence of standardized, high-throughput systems and solutions, and reliance on highly customized and time-demanding approaches that do not scale well with the production volume demands. One of the main challenges of testing photonics is the probing of optical signals. A comprehensive overview of the progress made in scaling up testing and characterization methods, and structured approach to Test-as-a-Service for photonic integrated circuits at PITC and TU/e laboratories is provided, with the focal point lying in the development and improvement of an automated measurement setup, and optimization of the optical alignment routines. A robust data analysis framework enables rapid processing and visualization of extensive datasets generated during automated tests. Furthermore, the measurement data was used together with machine learning techniques to develop a classification scheme for quantifying the optical alignment quality.