Design, Tools Aim for Accessible Silicon Optical Chips Published Dec. 13, 2011 By Maria Callier, AFRL/AFOSR-RSPP Office of Scientific Research ARLINGTON, Virginia -- In an effort to make it easier to build inexpensive, next-generation silicon-based electro-optical chips, which allow computers to move information with light and electricity, a University of Washington research team is developing design tools and using commercial nanofabrication tools. The Air Force Research Lab is funding this effort in silicon photonics, called Optoelectronic Systems Integration in Silicon, or OpSIS, at the university's Nanophotonics Lab in Seattle. Unlike most research groups that design, build and test silicon photonic devices or optical chips in-house rather than at commercial chip fabrication facilities, the UW researchers are using shared infrastructure at the foundry at BAE Systems in Manassas, Virginia. There they are working toward creating high-end, on-shore manufacturing capabilities that will be made available to the wider community. In the past few years, complex photonic circuitry has not been accessible to researchers because of the expense and a lack of standard processes. The UW researchers are working on system design and validation so they can imitate what has been done in electronics by stabilizing and characterizing some processes so that the transition from photonics to systems can be smooth. "The OpSIS program will help advance the field of silicon photonics by bringing prototyping capability within reach of startup companies and researchers," said research team leader Dr. Michael Hochberg. "They will provide design rules, device design support and design-flow development so that even non-experts will be able to design and integrate photonics and electronics." Silicon photonics has developed over the last decade, and the transition from using devices to systems is something that has only recently occurred.