From Technologies to Markets

© 2020

Si Photonics market perspectives: from

pluggable transceivers to co-packaged switches ASIC

Dr. Eric MOUNIER

Yole Développement

2

Yole Développement,who are we?

Why Si Photonics?

Market forecast

Players

Going further than pluggable transceivers: co-packaging

Outlook

CONTENT

© 2020

From Technologies to Markets

Yole Développement

Who are we?

4©2019 | www.yole.fr | About Yole Développement

FIELDS OF EXPERTISE COVERING THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY

Semiconductor, Memory &

Computing

o Semiconductor Packaging and Substrates

o Semiconductor Manufacturing

o Memory

o Computing and Software

Power & Wireless

o RF Devices & Technologies

o Compound Semiconductors & Emerging

Materials

o Power Electronics

o Batteries & Energy Management

Photonics & Sensingo Photonics

o Lighting

o Imaging

o Sensing & Actuating

o Display

5

PART OF YOLE GROUP OF COMPANIES

M&A

and evaluation of companies

Direct acces to the analysts

Market, technology, and

strategy consulting

Teardown and reverse

engineering

Cost simulation tools

Structure, process and cost

analysis

6

A WORLDWIDE PRESENCE

100+ collaborators in 8 different countries

Headquarters

› Lyon – Yole Développement

› Nantes – System Plus Consulting

Singapore

TokyoShenzhen

Hsinchu

Lyon

Frankfurt

Nantes Boise

CorneliusRaleighPhoenix

AustinSeoul

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https://www.i-micronews.com/products/silicon-photonics-2020/

OUR NEW SI PHOTONICS REPORT

Intel Silicon Photonic 100G PSM4 QFSP28 Transceiver

Intel Silicon Photonic 100G CWDM4 QFSP28 Transceiver

Why Silicon Photonics?

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SILICON PHOTONICS - MOTIVATIONS

Lower power consumption

High data rates

Lower $/Gbps

Leverage the semiconductor industry

Better reliability

Smaller photonics components

Optics and ICs are getting closer

10

COMPARING SILICON PHOTONICS WITH OTHER PIC PLATFORMS

InP-based PICs have been demonstrated for all building blocks.

Nowadays, optical components are built using many kinds of materials, each with their respective merits and drawbacks. These include element semiconductors

(Si and Ge-related), compound semiconductors (InP and GaAs-based), dielectrics (SiO2 and SiNx-related), polymers, and nonlinear crystal materials (i.e.

LiNbO3). The material properties of different material systems place them into desirable, but discrete functionality regimes.

Building Block InP SiPh SiN Glass Polymer Silica LiNbO3

Passive components ++ ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ Hybrid

Polarization

components++ ++ ++ + + Hybrid Hybrid

Lasers +++ Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid

Modulators +++ ++ + Thermal +++ Hybrid ++++

Switches ++ ++ + + + + Hybrid

Optical amplifiers +++ Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid

Detectors +++ ++ Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid Hybrid

PROs•Best for laser

integration

•Best for

electronic/optical integration

•Low cost

•Small size

•Simple process,

low cost

•Compatible with

Si/InP platforms

•Low losses

•Low cost

•Very good

modulation function

CONs

•High cost and low

yield for components

integrating other elements.

•No light

generation

•Material

properties are process-

dependent

•Few functions

are possible

•Reliability /

thermalmanagement

issues

•No active

functionalities

•Not a thin-film

tech yet

INDUSTRY STATUSHIGH-VOLUME

LASER

RAMPING UP TO

high-volume

transceiver

LOW-VOLUME

PRODUCTIONPRE-SERIES

R&D/

QUALIFICATIONHIGH-VOLUME

couplers and ??HIGH-VOLUME

modulators

• There are two major industrial platforms: InP and SiPh.

• SiN is commercialized by LioniX with TripleX platform.• Polymer is only developed by LightWave Logic.

• Glass is a simple technology, but only a few optical functions are possible.

• LiNbO3 is best for modulation.• Silica is low-loss and low-cost.

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SILICON PHOTONICS - APPLICATIONS

Low volumes

DATA CENTER INTERCONNECTS

(In row/inter/intra/metro/long haul/sub-sea)

>100M units

$0.10 to $5

<1M units

$100 to $5000

AUTOMOTIVE LIDAR

>10M units

$1 to $50

AERONAUTICS

High volumes

>1M units

$10 to $500

DEFENSE

MEDICAL SENSORS

HPC, computing, AI 5GTELECOM

AI: Artificial intelligence

HPC: High-performance computing

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SiPh IN OPTICAL COMMUNICATION - APPLICATIONS

Inter datacenter100/200/400G

DWDM

100G

SMF

100G

SMF

100G

SMF

25G

Cu or AOC

AOC: Active Optical Cable

DWDM: Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing

SMF: Single-Mode Fiber

Silicon

photonics can

be applied here.

10km - metro

500m – 2km

300m – 2km

100m – 500m

1m – 30m

Datacenter

Market Forecast

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SILICON PHOTONICS FORECAST, BY APPLICATION

2019 - 2025 forecast

Optical communication is and will remain silicon photonics’ most important application.

2025e2019

Datacenter transceivers

Long haul transceivers

Optical interconnects

Immunoassay

$364M

$3.6B

CAGR 46%

$186M

CAGR 8%

Total

$480M

Total

$3.9B

CAGR 42%

$117M

$22M

CAGR -

$18M

CAGR -

5G transceivers

$61M

CAGR -

Fiber-optic gyroscope

$20M

CAGR -

Automotive LiDAR

$44M

CAGR -

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SILICON PHOTONICS SHIPMENTS, PER APPLICATION

Silicon photonics shipments will reach 26Munits in 2025, with a CAGR of 36%.

Si photonics players

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SIPH SUPPLY CHAIN FOR OPTICAL TRANSCEIVERS

Design SOI substrate Epi wafer Foundry Transceiver Systems

(out of business)

Coherent optical communication

Systems include servers, routers, and switches

And more…

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DATACENTER SiPhTRANSCEIVERS - 2019 MARKET SHARE

3.4 Munits

• In datacenter silicon photonics transceivers for 2019, Intel and Cisco/Luxtera were the main players, with Inphi and Sicoya also

shipping products. Things could change in the coming years, since several companies will introduce silicon photonics transceivers

with 400G DR4 and 400ZR standards.

Going further thanpluggable transceivers:

co-packaging

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CO-PACKAGED OPTICS FOR NETWORK SWITCHES

In order to increase the data rate density in switches, co-packaged optics is a solution.

courtesy of Intel

courtesy of Intel

In co-packaged optics, the switch ASIC and the optical

transceivers are packaged in the same device. This

allows for reducing the physical distance between the

ASIC and the transceivers, thus reducing heat dissipation.

It is a key technology for reaching higher data-rate

densities, and silicon photonics is a key enabler for

co-packaged switches.

Prototype of a 25.6 Tbps switch from Intel.

The green part is an interposer.

Each photonics engine consists of 16 100G

channels operating at PAM4, thanks to micro-ring

modulators (MRM).

courtesy of Sumitomo Electric Industries

Side-view of co-packaged optics.

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DATACENTER SWITCHES AND TRANSCEIVERS -TRENDS

The continuous increase of data rate could result in a change from pluggable to co-packaged transceivers for network switches.

Switch data rate

Transceiver data rate

2017 2020 2022 2025

5Tbps

100G *200G 400G 800G

4 channels at 25G

PSM or CWDM

25G channels are NRZ

50G channels are PAM4

4 channels at 50G

PSM or WDM

8 channels at 25G

Ex.: 48 ports at 100G

x2 x2 x2

x2 x2 x2

8 channels at 50G

PSM or WDM

16 channels at 25G

Ex.:

32 channels at 50G

Pluggable transceivers

Co-packaged transceivers

Ex.:

16 channels at 100G

Co-packaged

switch ASIC

Pluggable

Co-packaged

*Some companies

could skip the 200G

step.

25.6Tbps 51.2Tbps12.8Tbps

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CO-PACKAGED OPTICS - PLAYERS INVOLVED

Intel acquired Barefoot

Networks in June 2019

Tofino 2 Switch

ASIC

Co-packaged SiPh

transceivers

Using TSMC 7nm

foundry

Co-packaged SiPh

transceivers

Network switch Network switch

Cisco acquired Luxtera

in February 2019

Cisco acquired Leaba in

March 2016

Switch/Router ASIC

Co-packaged

SiPh transceivers

Optical

interconnection

Co-packaged Optics

Collaboration (June 2019)

Specifications

Optical interposers

Co-packaged SiPh

transceivers

Fiber V-groove

interconnects

Co-packaged fine-pitch

socket interposer

Fiber-optic connectivity

Co-packaged fine-pitch

socket interposer

Co-packaged SiPh

transceivers

Si-fly copperTGA

Integration

courtesy of Intel

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CO-PACKAGED OPTICS - EXAMPLES (1/2)

Several companies have demonstrated co-packaged optics for network switches.

In March 2020 Intel demonstrated a network switch

using co-packaged optics. The silicon photonics engines

are capable of 1.6Tbps. The switch is expected to

achieve 25/6Tbps with 16 engines and the Tofino2

switch ASIC. Co-packaging is achieved using interposers.

In March 2020 Rockley Photonics, in collaboration with

Accton, Molex, and TE Connectivity, demonstrated a

co-packaged optic switch with 6Tbps with a target of

51.2 Tbps.

courtesy of Intel courtesy of Rockley

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CO-PACKAGED OPTICS - EXAMPLES (2/2)

Several companies have demonstrated co-packaged optics for network switches.

In March 2020, Ranovus announced a collaboration with

IBM, TE Connectivity, and Senko for co-packaged optics

targeting 51.2 Tbps network switches.

courtesy of Ranovus courtesy of IBM

IBM Canada has developed several packaging

technologies for optical fibers. IBM will provide optical

interconnect technologies that enable automated

and scalable assembly for co-packaged optics.

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DARPA’S PIPES PROJECT

Photonics in the Package for Extreme Scalability (PIPES)

Aiming for above 100Tbps chip-to-chip interconnect speeds.

Optically connected FPGA board developed by

Intel and Ayar Labs.

source: Ayar Labs

The DARPA PIPES project, involving leading silicon photonics companies, aims at increasing chip-to-chip interconnection speed by using silicon photonics. Recently, Intel and Ayar Labs demonstrated 2Tbps communication on an FPGA. The project’s aim is to achieve communications above 100Tbps.

Outlook

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SILICON PHOTONICS - ROADMAP

FMCW: Frequency Modulated Continuous Waves

FOG: Fiber Optic Gyroscope

OCT: Optical Computed Tomography

OPA: Optical Phased Array

RFOG: Resonant FOG

2020 20252016

100G pluggable

transceivers using coherent and direct

detection

400G DR4 transceivers for

datacenters

400ZR coherent transceivers

Co-packaged optic switch at

25.6 or 51.2Tbps

Photonic FOG

Data &

telecom

Automotive

Medical

RFOG

FMCW LiDAR

for ADAS or robo-taxi

OPA LiDAR

Immunoassay for

point-of-need

OCT for

ophthalmology or other applications

With volume production in

pluggable transceivers, silicon

photonics is expanding into

new applications: automotive,

medical, and consumer.

ConsumerE-noses in

smart white-goods

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CONCLUSIONS

Silicon photonics

Pluggable transceivers are silicon photonics’ main market. Other applications are on the way.

• Pluggable transceivers using silicon photonics are now sold in millions. This means silicon photonics

technology is now well established in an important number of foundries.

• Co-packaged optics for network switch, in which optical functions and electronic functions are

packaged in the same device, is expected to be the major silicon photonics application in the future. It

appears to be a key technology for enabling 25.6Tbps and 51.2Tbps switches.

• The vertical integration of silicon photonics transceiver companies and silicon photonics platforms is

still on the way. Moreover, several companies are now entering the silicon photonics transceiver

market.

• The diffusion of silicon photonics technologies in various foundries allows for developing new

applications.

© 2020

From Technologies to Markets

Eric Mounier

YOLE DEVELOPPEMENT

eric.mounier@yole.fr