OpenLight, Tower Semiconductor Unveil 400G/Lane Modulators for AI and Data Centers
OpenLight, the world leader in custom PASIC chip design and manufacturing, and Tower Semiconductor, the leading foundry of high-value analog semiconductor solutions, announced the successful demonstration of the 400G/lane modulator on Tower’s commercially available, integrated silicon photonics platform, PH18DA, achieving a better than 3.5db extinction ratio using the industry-standard PAM-4 modulation format and at a drive voltage of 0.6 volts peak-to-peak.
The 400G demonstration is built using OpenLight’s IP on Tower’s existing silicon photonics platform already supporting customers at 100G and 200G/lane.
The integrated silicon photonics demonstration is designed to support next-generation 400G/lane optical communication architectures, offering a scalable solution from 100G to 200G to 400G to fill the growing demand for high-speed data transfer in cloud computing, AI and ML applications. Operating at 400G per lane, across all four CWDM (Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing) wavelengths, this enables a commercially viable path for both DR8 and FR4 next-generation 3.2Tb solutions and beyond.
Currently, pure silicon-based modulators are unable to support bit rates of 400G, pointing out a clear need for a cost-effective solution in the industry. For datacom and AI applications, including LPO and CPO, heterogeneous integrated based devices deliver significant advantages: small size, high bandwidth, low drive voltage and volume manufacturable on a silicon photonics platform. In addition to the heterogeneous integration of 400G modulators, lasers and optical amplifiers all on a single, compact, cost- and power-efficient photonic integrated circuit (PIC) are available on the platform.
Dr. Adam Carter, CEO of OpenLight
Our partnership with Tower represents a critical step in the integration of advanced silicon photonics into the datacom landscape. The success of this demonstration sets the stage for groundbreaking advancements in high-speed networking. Utilizing our existing 200G heterogeneous modulator design, we have now future-proofed customers’ PASIC designs from 100G to 200G to 400G per lane, minimizing design, layout and time to market, as this 400G modulator is a drop-in replacement for existing 200G modulator PASIC designs. The other added benefit of using the same design is the proven high-reliability performance and the ability to use flip chip processes when packaging into an integrated optical sub-assembly.
Russell Ellwanger, CEO of Tower Semiconductor
We’re pleased to collaborate with OpenLight, leveraging their cutting-edge silicon photonics technology to create a cost-effective approach to support 400G/lane. This is an extension of our PH18DA platform currently supporting customers at 100G and 200G/lane and now providing a robust solution for 400G/lane that is immediately ready for customer prototyping. This is a significant step toward providing scalable, reliable, high-performance and manufacturable solutions for the next generation of optical communication technology. By utilizing Tower’s PH18DA platform, this collaboration allows OpenLight’s heterogeneous integration technology to provide a secure path to higher speeds without the need for complex and expensive integration alternatives like Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN), BTO or polymers.
