Silicon Photonics denotes the integration of waveguides and optoelectronic devices on a silicon substrate using CMOS-type fabrication processes. The maturity and robustness of these processes make silicon, which is transparent at telecom and datacom wavelengths, the best vehicle for very high volume optical component applications, when they appear.
Therefore, Silicon Photonics is of strategic importance to Innolume’s business, in spite of the fact that we manufacture compound semiconductors and laser diodes exclusively. This is because of: 1) the looming electronic signaling (computer interconnect) bottleneck, which will be fixed by optical signaling; 2) the huge future market optical interconnect offers for lasers in computers and negligible likelihood of an integrated silicon laser because of silicon’s indirect band gap.
Thus, III-V lasers will be the optical power supplies for future Silicon Photonics interconnect systems in hundreds of millions of computers. Furthermore, due to the economies of scale in silicon, the packaged and coupled off-chip laser will be the most expensive item. Cost will be reduced as hybrid laser packaging, e.g., flip-chip and bonding, matures and is accepted by computer chip companies. Therefore, Silicon Photonics offers tremendous opportunities for the semiconductor laser industry. The only questions are when will the market take off, and how best to position ourselves?
The computer interconnect laser market should become significant in the next 6 to 9 years, particularly given the multi-core architectures, e.g., >10, that will soon begin to dominate the computer landscape. In the meantime, say 2 to 6 years, there are ample opportunities in high speed optical interconnects and proprietary high performance computing applications. To this end, Innolume has acquired/developed valuable Silicon Photonics IP, e.g., novel fiber- and laser-to-chip coupler assemblies and waveguide detectors.
Nonetheless, it is still too early to jump on any particular bandwagon since, in today’s fluid computer/internet market, no single technology, application, or company is expected to win the day. Innolume needs to partner and grow with a well-chosen base of companies and technologists. We are ideally placed to partner effectively since our core competency covers the lowest common denominator, the laser. Thus, Innolume provides ubiquitous foundation technology, but success depends on presenting a suite of compelling solutions.
One of Innolume’s unique offerings is the quantum dot comb laser, which is also supported by low cost laser coupling and packaging strategies for commodity applications. For the first time in history, our comb laser makes low cost, low power wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) a practical option for short-reach computer interconnects. WDM is a necessity for high bandwidth communications, i.e., filling the fiber pipe. Telecom has amply demonstrated the benefits of WDM but only by using very expensive laser arrays. Now the comb laser will empower WDM for commodity applications in Silicon Photonics! 
