#United States #Boston #Silicon Photonics #Flexcompute #GlobalFoundries

Flexcompute and GlobalFoundries Collaboration

In a significant move for the silicon photonics industry, Flexcompute, a physics-focused technology company, has announced a partnership with GlobalFoundries (GF) to integrate GF's silicon photonics technology stack into its innovative platform, PhotonForge. This collaboration seeks to streamline the process of design and simulation, essential for developing cutting-edge photonic devices.

Simplifying the Design Process

The integration allows designers direct access to GlobalFoundries' process stack within PhotonForge, significantly easing the traditionally complex task of aligning simulation workflows with manufacturing parameters. Often, designers face the tedious task of manually reconstructing silicon photonics layer definitions—this can introduce errors and discrepancies between simulated devices and their physical counterparts. The new collaboration intends to eliminate such inefficiencies and provide a seamless experience for engineers.

According to Vera Yang, President and Co-Founder of Flexcompute, “Foundry-aligned design infrastructure is critical to the future of silicon photonics. By embedding the verified technology stack of a leading foundry like GlobalFoundries directly into our platform, we are strengthening the connection between simulation and manufacturing and laying the groundwork for scalable, production-ready photonic innovation.”

Transforming Design Feasibility

With this new integration, designers utilizing PhotonForge can create and simulate devices utilizing process-aligned layers and material parameters directly. This advancement not only streamlines iteration cycles but also boosts confidence in the results, thereby minimizing the overhead traditionally associated with preparing simulation models for silicon photonics development on GlobalFoundries' platform.

Prashanta Kharel, Technology Strategist at Flexcompute, emphasized the time savings, stating, “Designers working on GF's silicon photonics process can now go from technology definition to simulation results in minutes. By integrating the verified stack directly into PhotonForge, we remove a key friction point in silicon photonics workflows and allow engineers to focus on building better devices.”

Strengthening the Photonics Ecosystem

GlobalFoundries' involvement in this initiative was also highlighted by Vikas Gupta, a Fellow of the Silicon Photonics Business at GlobalFoundries. He mentioned, “We are pleased to collaborate with Flexcompute to bring accurate simulation capabilities to our silicon photonics customers. Providing designers with tools that leverage our verified technology stack helps strengthen the ecosystem supporting advanced photonic innovation on our platform.”

This partnership signifies Flexcompute's broader approach toward integrating manufacturing processes directly into its photonic design infrastructure. By linking process definitions and high-accuracy three-dimensional electromagnetic simulation within a unified environment, Flexcompute aims to enhance the reliability and scalability of silicon photonics development for future applications.

Availability and Future Prospects

As of now, PhotonForge's Process Development Kit (PDK) support for the GlobalFoundries silicon photonics technology stack is accessible to qualified customers. Interested parties can reach out to Flexcompute for access and further information. This noteworthy collaboration positions both Flexcompute and GlobalFoundries at the forefront of the silicon photonics landscape, setting the stage for substantial advancements in technology.

In conclusion, this union not only promises heightened efficiency in the design processes but also aims to drive ground-breaking innovation in the silicon photonics sector, fostering an ecosystem that supports continuous growth and development towards next-generation photonic solutions.