Giovanni Beninca de Farias’ experience as a participant in the JePPIX PIC Design Course
Every year in late October/early November, our two-week Deep Dive PIC Design Course takes place on the campus of Eindhoven University of Technology. The participants, engineers and scientists with a background in photonics, learn how to get the best out of the PIC technology and circuit design using the powerful JePPIX building blocks. In this testimonial series, previous participants tell us about their experience.
Giovanni Beninca de Farias is currently Head of the PIC Design department at VLC Photonics. He oversees the development of new products and technologies based on Photonic Integrated Circuits. Located in Spain, VLC Photonics is a fabless and independent design house and a valuable partner of JePPIX.
Read more about VLC here.
“I joined VLC in February 2020 and I was eager to learn more about the JePPIX ecosystem. I have a strong background in Silicon Photonics, so the Indium Phosphide technology was relatively new to me. The PIC Design Course was a good starting point as it covered many fundamental aspects. We reviewed the basic concept of the optics, building blocks and layout of PIC’s. Moreover, the practical classes allowed us to try different software for PIC simulation and see which one is the most suitable, depending on the application. For me personally, the introduction to the foundries was incredibly valuable. As a PIC designer, our goal is to drive the PIC development to the most suitable platform, according to the application. As VLC outsources the fabrication of the PIC’s, it was great to get an impression of the different foundries’ processes, building blocks and offers.
I would definitely recommend the PIC Design Course, not only to people starting a PhD, but also to engineers with a more industrial background, like me. As I was relatively new to the community, the PIC Design Course was a great way to meet other partners and community members. Even though the 2020 edition took place online due to the pandemic, it was still a good opportunity to network and find out about all the opportunities the ecosystem offers. Now that the course can take place on-site again, future participants get a unique opportunity to visit the famous NanoLab that they should not pass up!”
Eager to participate in this year’s JePPIX PIC Design Course? Click here to sign up!