Improvements in the silicon photonics design flow: Collaboration and standardization

The key to creating and verifying innovative products for any technology requires the need for a set of pre-characterized building blocks (BBs), which a designer can use to create a complex device. For electronic design and manufacture, mature EDA - Electronics Design Automation - oriented flows require foundries to offer a set of building blocks (BBs), with corresponding verification rules, which a designer can integrate to create complex Analog / CMOS based electronic integrated circuits to meet a desired need. This concept also applies to today´s newer PDA - Photonics Design Automation - oriented flows, however, the PDA oriented flow allows for a greater emphasis on novel implementations and analysis of the photonic building blocks (BBs) to develop new and innovative silicon photonics products. In addition to examining closely both the PDA and EDA oriented flows for silicon photonics design and how they fit different design styles, organizations and objectives, this submission describes our activities in collaboration and standardization to improve both the PDA oriented and EDA oriented flow. This includes lowering access barriers to the technology by providing qualified Process Design Kits (PDKs) and improved integration of photonic integrated circuit simulations, physical simulations, mask layout, verification and Design Rule Checking (DRC).