Luxtera Samples ChipLuxtera Samples Chip

Luxtera announced the industry's first single-chip integrated photonics-electronics device implemented in a standard CMOS process

August 22, 2006

2 Min Read

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Luxtera Inc., a leading innovator in CMOS photonics, today announced the industry's first single-chip integrated photonics-electronics device implemented in a standard CMOS process. Luxtera's breakthrough technology integrates high-performance optics and mainstream electronics on a single die, bringing fiber connectivity directly to the chip. Fabrication in a standard, high volume 0.13 micron SOI CMOS process makes fiber optics feasible and economical for everyday life. Additional digital logic can be integrated into the same chip with optical devices, further reducing overall solution size, power consumption and cost.

Luxtera is currently sampling prototype devices for preliminary testing by strategic development partners. The technology incorporates two lasers and photodetectors mounted directly on a monolithic CMOS die that also includes all logic equivalent to two complete XFP modules including TransImpedance Amplifiers (TIA), Mach-Zehnder modulators, as well as transmit and receive Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) circuits. This complete single chip solution is one-quarter the size of existing XFP module solutions.

The company will launch a commercial transceiver product line based on this underlying technology early in 2007. Initial product offerings will consist of multi-port transceivers for communications, storage, and computing applications. Additionally, Luxtera is currently working with customers to develop new applications for CMOS Photonics.

The first commercial application is expected to be high speed, high bandwidth enterprise data communications. Driven by the high bandwidth capabilities of new multi-core, high performance processors, the need for low cost, low latency and low power 10G, and faster interconnects is here. CMOS Photonics technology will enable the widespread adoption of 10G interconnects, which today are very expensive to deploy, by driving the cost of 10G optical ports to well below $100.

"The potential impact on the industry of combining photonic and electronic elements on a single CMOS die is substantial," said Lawrence Gasman, president of CIR. "Many applications, including those in the cost sensitive consumer markets, will benefit from the improvements in cost, power consumption and size."

Luxtera Inc.

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