5G, Video and SDNs – High Volume Drivers for Photonic Systems-on-Chip (PSoC)

5G, Video and SDNs – High Volume Drivers for Photonic Systems-on-Chip (PSoC)
by Mitch Heins on 05-24-2016 at 7:00 am

The move towards 5G networks with demands for decreased latency ( 100 devices/m[SUP]2[/SUP]), and the desire to flexibly configure and integrate mobile, fixed, optical and satellite telecommunications is putting tremendous pressure on the design of next generation telecom equipment. Silicon photonics promises to be the… Read More


Si Photonics in a 300mm Fab – This is Getting Serious!

Si Photonics in a 300mm Fab – This is Getting Serious!
by Mitch Heins on 05-13-2016 at 7:00 am

Greater demand for more data exchange within data centers is being driven by mobile computing and the Internet-of-Everything. In 2011, it was estimated that over 1 Zettabytes (ZB) of data was pushed through the internet. That’s 1×10[SUP]21[/SUP] bytes of data. And, that amount has been doubling every 3 years since. Given… Read More


Is the Future Finally Here? What a GaAs!

Is the Future Finally Here? What a GaAs!
by Mitch Heins on 05-05-2016 at 4:00 pm

Back in 1983 I was working for Texas Instruments during the beginning of the push to let common electrical engineers develop their own CMOS application specific ICs (ASICs). This would eventually the be the fuel that fed the semiconductor engine to reach over $335 billion in 2015. At that time, I was a young guy and I had a rascally … Read More


Mind The Gap – Boarding the Silicon Photonics Packaging Train

Mind The Gap – Boarding the Silicon Photonics Packaging Train
by Mitch Heins on 05-01-2016 at 8:00 pm


I’ve been doing a lot of reading on silicon photonics lately and I’ve come to realize that while there is much written on the development of individual silicon photonic components and devices (modulators, photo detectors, optical amplifiers and such) that much of the cost and therefore chances of economic success… Read More


Would Sauron have made the One Ring if he had known about Plasmonics?

Would Sauron have made the One Ring if he had known about Plasmonics?
by Mitch Heins on 04-25-2016 at 7:00 am

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel ‘Lord of the Rings’, the Dark Lord Sauron created the “One Ring” as the ultimate weapon to conquer all of Middle-earth. So too it seems that in the world of integrated silicon photonics, the “ring” has become somewhat ubiquitous and powerful. Resonance … Read More


Dr. Evil and On-Chip "LASERS" for Silicon Photonics

Dr. Evil and On-Chip "LASERS" for Silicon Photonics
by Mitch Heins on 04-17-2016 at 12:00 pm

In the 1999 comedy, The Spy Who Shagged Me, Dr. Evil laments about why he can’t have sharks with “laser beams” attached to their heads. I get the feeling that silicon photonic designers sometimes feel the same way about why they don’t yet have integrated on-chip laser light sources. While off-chip light… Read More


Silicon Photonics – Back to the Future – Part Deux?

Silicon Photonics – Back to the Future – Part Deux?
by Mitch Heins on 04-10-2016 at 8:00 pm

I cut my teeth in silicon IC design at Texas Instruments during the early 1980’s working on what would eventually become the ASIC and Fabless IC industries that enabled the explosive growth of the electronics industry over the last three decades. Of late I’ve become involved in the silicon photonics space and I am getting an incredible… Read More


Fabless vs IDM for Data Centers: Silicon Photonics as a Disruptive Force?

Fabless vs IDM for Data Centers: Silicon Photonics as a Disruptive Force?
by Mitch Heins on 04-07-2016 at 7:00 am

I recently received a copy of a book entitled Silicon Photonics III (Amazon) and while perusing the book I was captured by the first chapter entitled ‘Silicon Optical Interposers for High-Density Optical Interconnects’. The chapter covered the work of a team in Japan on an idea they termed “on-chip servers” and “on-board data … Read More


How my 17 year old daughter will drive Silicon Photonics into the Mainstream

How my 17 year old daughter will drive Silicon Photonics into the Mainstream
by Mitch Heins on 04-03-2016 at 7:00 am

I read with interest a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News (Live Video) about how the availability of better quality cameras on smartphones and the growing appetite for on-demand content on social media now have Facebook and Twitter competing head to head to encourage more people to stream raw footage. Pre-recorded videos… Read More