Abstract:
Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are fabricated primarily in CMOS semiconductor fabrication facilities, which allows manufacturers to take advantage of the large installed base of tools and processes. However, for various reasons, traditional electronic packaging—the final step in the manufacturing process—is not equipped to handle the inherent challenges associated with packaging these advanced devices into functional products. In this presentation we explore some of these challenges, such as sub-micron alignment tolerances, sensitivity to temperature variations, optical losses, and a lack of established standards, especially as they relate to the design and manufacture of optical coupling structures.

At AIM Photonics, we have learned that the best results are obtained when the PIC manufacturing and packaging processes are co-designed to better achieve low-loss coupling, particularly between photonic integrated circuits and other elements in the system. Our “end-to-end” approach to developing an integrated photonics manufacturing ecosystem—including electronic photonic design automation (EPDA), wafer manufacturing (including interposers and heterogeneous integration), and electronic- photonic test, assembly, and packaging capabilities—enables us to develop reliable, accessible and affordable solutions that will ensure the manufacturing-readiness of this critical technology for decades to come.

David Harame received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He is the COO for AIM Photonics and the Associate Vice President managing photonics, electronic photonic design automation, test, assembly, and packaging technical areas. He has been with AIM Photonics since 2019. In his current position, David Harame manages all the technology development in the photonics and packaging areas for AIM Photonics in Albany, NY, at the Albany NanoTech Center and Rochester, NY, at the Test Assembly and Packaging facility. Prior to joining AIM Photonics, David Harame was a GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fellow and CTO for Development and Enablement. David was an IBM Fellow and CTO for Development and Enablement at IBM before joining GLOBALFOUNDRIES. David Harame is an IEEE Fellow and received the IEEE Daniel E. Noble Award in Emerging Technologies “For the development of manufacturable Silicon Germanium, HBT Bipolar and BiCMOS technologies.” David is best known for his work bringing SiGe BiCMOS into manufacturing. David also worked on foundry enablement and technology development for RF CMOS, RF PD, and FD SOI technologies.