This open-access platform supports a unique combination of nanophotonics, photonic integration, lasers, amplifiers and the highest efficiency electro-optic processes. It allows for efficient generation, manipulation and capture of free-space optical beams or multiple modes in a single chip. The platform will be most relevant to researchers and innovators who require the combination of active devices and nanophotonic building blocks such as slot waveguides, photonic crystals, micro-rings and surface grating couplers.

IMOS open-access platform is available to academic and industry users and is supported by a fully operational process design kit. Production is on 3” silicon carrier wafers with a 3” indium phosphide membrane for all the photonic components. There are no optical components in the silicon, avoiding many of the interface challenging for hybrid technologies. The use of a silicon substrate provides a robust carrier for the circuit.

The current generation of IMOS supports surface coupled optical connectivity. End-fire coupling is not supported. As with other foundry technologies, the MPW designs are not evaluated by the fab. For prototyping, no guarantees are offered for the performance of the MPW designs. However foundry process control modules are included to ensure that the processing is within specification for wafer release. This will give high confidence on the building block performance levels which can be expected.

Designers can use a wide range of commercial software titles to simulate and optimise their circuits. Representative values for the process parameters and building block parameters are provided in the design manual.