SBIR Phase II: Development of a Chip Technology for Cheaper and Easier Photonic Device Manufacturing

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in improved data communications, which are pushing electronic devices out of the way to make room for photonic devices. Photonic devices are components that generate, manipulate, or detect light (photons) for various applications. The photonic devices have improved performance and reduced costs compared to electronic devices, but the cost of photonic device packaging and power loss minimization are hindering widespread adoption. This project will enable customers to package optical devices with high efficiency, low cost, and at high volumes. This will increase the manufacturability of photonic devices with increased complexity. Better manufacturability of photonic device will directly benefit advanced technologies that require higher performance and large-scale production. The outcomes of this project are expected to significantly decrease cost, time, and complexity due to high volume manufacturing of high performance, low loss integrated photonic devices. The proposed project will realize technologies with the lowest coupling losses possible. The development of the PIX Attach machine, an advanced semiconductor packaging and assembly tool used for photonic integrated circuits, will enable users to fuse the optical fiber to the chip with the press of a button, dramatically decreasing the time it takes to package a single chip while creating a better performing device. With simple processes for the user to initiate fusion and fast physical attachment of the fiber, the technology will save customers’ time and money, enabling the production of more photonic devices in the same amount of time with improved specifications. A process design kit will be developed for a novel mode converter element, which has been found to decrease losses when packaged either with traditional methods or with a preliminary version of the PIX Attach machine. The following objectives will be achieved: (1) Creating a laser control system for the attachment of optical fibers, (2) Incorporating fiber alignment stages and ensuring communication with the laser control system, (3) Creating a housing unit to perform packaging with developed technology, (4) Developing a process design kit for mode converter manufacturing, and (5) Pilot the developed technology. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.