High speed and low heat make this technology essential, but it’s extremely complex and talent is hard to find and train.
Silicon photonics is undergoing a resurgence as traditional approaches for reducing power and heat become more difficult and expensive, opening the door to a whole new set of technological challenges and driving up demand for a skill set that is in short supply today.
From a technology standpoint, photonics is extremely complex. Signals drift, they are modulated with heat, and structures like interconnects and waveguides are very different from traditional electrical designs. From a skills standpoint, there is a shortage of expertise at all levels, and one that may be exacerbated by talent shortages in other parts of the chip industry. So there is a steep learning curve for everyone, and skills are not easily transferable from electrical to light. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. For those who like a challenge, it’s well worth the effort.
“We have to think very carefully about professional backgrounds anytime we’re opening a position,” said Manish Mehta, vice president of marketing and operations in the Optical Systems Division at Broadcom. “There is limited commonality between designing electrical ICs and photonic ICs. Typically, industry design engineers are focused on one or the other. Design managers understand both types of designs and typically have advanced experience in one or the other. At senior levels, there is a deep level of experience and understanding in both.”
In photonic IC design, silicon photonic foundries typically provide process design kits (PDKs), to vendors, which either use the designs directly or customize them for use. “Although silicon photonics does utilize the same CMOS manufacturing processing for scale and low cost, the design between them is very different and requires different areas of expertise,” Mehta said.
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