The goal of the Silicon Photonics Centre of Excellence, Centre for Programmable Photonic Integrated Circuits and Systems (Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS) is to drive product commercialization through start-ups and achieve self-sufficiency within the next five years.
Silicon Photonics Technology is essential for many additional cutting-edge applications, including quantum computation, quantum key distribution, neural networks, artificial intelligence, 5G/6G, and future networks, in addition to high-speed transceivers for data centers.
Today, October 20, 2023, saw the opening of the Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS. It is expected to play a significant role in the years to come in closing the gaps in the nation and achieving the high goals of the Government of India’s India Semiconductor Mission.
Established with financing backing from MeitY, this center will offer critical training to help India’s growing Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) manufacturing industry. In order to facilitate precision packaging for system-level applications, the CPPICS is actively creating hardware infrastructure and domestic PIC design guidelines.
To celebrate the historic milestone, Shri S. Krishnan also unveiled a commemorative memento during the event. He also expressed his best wishes for the Center to successfully commercialize the technology and begin PIC manufacturing in India. Viewing it is possible at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QRwFwaLMhwW_i_iVj1_R4XyZHBuELZQX/view?usp=share_link.
In addition to other core faculty members, research scholars, and students, the CPPICS was officially opened by Smt. Sunita Verma, Group Coordinator (R&D), MeitY, Government of India; Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras; Prof. Bijoy Krishna Das, Chief Investigator, Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS, IIT Madras; Prof. Nagendra Krishnapura, Head, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras; and Dr. Kishore Kamath, Vice President (R&D), Intel Silicon Photonics Product Division, U.S.
“Today, we are inaugurating yet another of MeiTY and Government of India’s initiative in IIT Madras,” stated Shri S. Krishnan, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. MeitY has had great success with IIT Madras in the past, and I have no doubt that this will be another successful endeavor. Now that we’ve caught up to the rest of the world, we ought to surpass them all. MeitY’s efforts are complemented in numerous ways by this Center of Excellence.
“It is very significant that there is an insistence on industry participation and that there is rigor and discipline in doing so,” Shri S. Krishnan continued. I express my gratitude to the industry partners, Si2 Microsystems and Intel in particular. In terms of building capacity and ensuring that we all gain from it, this cooperation will take us very far. There are more advantages when we collaborate.
Shri S. Krishnan continued, “There are a lot of students here today. The government wants you to take on difficulties with greater daring and bravery than the preceding generation did. The nation has undergone social and economic transformation, empowering you, the students, to reject the safe route and instead pursue risks and entrepreneurial endeavors. It is possible to contribute to society by having an entirely entrepreneurial mindset. Please be aware that compared to a generation ago, many barriers have loosened and it is now simpler to change directions. All of you have my best wishes. These are facilities designed mainly to foster entrepreneurship and research, as well as to transfer technology to the business sector.
This CoE’s immediate goal is to improve microwave and quantum photonics applications. These applications include chip-level quantum key generation and distribution circuits, scalable linear optical quantum computing processors for the next generation of qubit computation, and advanced photonic processors for use in high-performance RF transceivers.
“As our country moves towards building our own capability in semiconductor electronics, it is very heartening to see our Institute establish a Center of Excellence in Silicon Photonics, which is the outcome of extensive R&D pursued over nearly two decades,” said Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, in reference to this center. IIT Madras’s locally produced silicon photonics technology has been consolidated thanks to MeitY’s significant seed financing for the creation of this cutting-edge CPPICS. In the next years, I have no doubt that the Center will have a big impact on the domestic and international silicon photonics research and development markets.
The long-term goal of the CPPICS, which is hosted by the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras, is to support research and development (R&D) in programmable photonic integrated circuits and systems employing silicon photonics technology that is compatible with CMOS technology in order to solve a range of complicated challenges.
Prof. Bijoy Krishna Das, Chief Investigator, Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS, IIT Madras, emphasized the significance of this center by saying, “To deliver state-of-the-art System-in-Package solutions for silicon photonic processor cores, the Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS is forging critical partnerships, including a strongest collaboration with M/s Si2 Microsystems in Bangalore.” A vast range of industries, including 5G/6G communications, IoT, radar and avionics, quantum computing, and quantum communication, are well-positioned to benefit from this game-changing technology. The country is eager to see CPPICS succeed as it advances PIC manufacture in India and brings this technology to the next level of commercialization. Prof. Das further said that Team CoE-CPPICS has partnered with Malaysia’s Silterra Silicon Photonics Foundry to evaluate the wafer scale yield of several innovative silicon photonic devices that have already been shown at IIT Madras utilizing in-house technology. An agreement was also inked by the group and Keysight USA for collaborative research and development in the field of silicon photonics technology.
It is wonderful to see a Center of Excellence on Silicon Photonics emerging at IIT Madras, remarked Dr. Kishore Kamath, Vice President (R&D), Intel Silicon Photonics Product Division, U.S., speaking at the event. Developing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into a leading business is a fundamental component of Mr. Patrick P. Gelsinger’s (CEO of Intel) goal for the company. Silicon Photonics was the focus of a taskforce he established to investigate potential areas for investment in these two industries. A high density of data management, transferring data from CPU to GPU to Memory, is required for all AI applications. Optics is the way of the future for all these interconnects, which are switching from copper. Because silicon photonics can facilitate interconnects, this is why it is interesting.
