Every year in late October/early November, our two-week Deep Dive PIC Design Course takes place in Eindhoven. The participants, engineers and scientists with a background in photonics, learn how to get the best out of PIC technology and circuit design using the powerful JePPIX building blocks. In this testimonial series, previous participants tell us about their experience. This time it’s the experience of Shirley Prado de la Cruz, PhD Candidate in optoelectronics for telecommunications and previous research intern at Nokia Bell Labs.
“In order to obtain my master’s degree in Nanoscience at the University of Paris-Saclay, I did an internship with Nokia at III-V Lab in Palaiseau, France in 2020. In 2021, I joined the laboratory, for a second time, to pursue a PhD on optoelectronics for telecommunications. More precisely, I work on the development of transmitters based on Photonic Integrated Circuits on InP for the next generations of optical access networks at 100Gbauds. My research follows the development strategy deployed by JePPIX based on generic integration, so I follow the work done by JePPIX very closely. When I heard about the JePPIX Design Course and read through the program, I was very enthusiastic to attend because it covered all the topics required for my research.
The course was complete, covering theoretical topics, practical sessions and social events. The theoretical courses were well organized and based on one hour sessions with 15min pause between two sessions. I really appreciated this format because it allowed us to either ask further questions about the course to the speaker or have a cup of coffee and discuss with the other participants. The course began with the basis of photonics with topics such as 2D confinement and propagation or the physics and work principles of photonic components, which helped a lot to refresh my memory. Then, it was followed by courses focusing more on design and fabrication, such as simulation methods, fabrication, packaging, standardization and characterization.
In the afternoons, I had the opportunity to attend hands-on sessions about several types of software and visit the measurement lab and the cleanroom. I spend a lot of time on cleanroom and characterization room for my PhD. Consequently, it was very interesting to see how TU/e organizes this subject as well as the methods they use. Moreover, the hands-on sessions were very practical. It is a good way to have an introduction to the software and their capabilities
In general, the course was a good opportunity to learn everything about PIC technology and circuit design as well as to meet interesting people working in this field.”
Eager to participate in the upcoming edition of the JePPIX PIC Design Course? Click here for more information and to sign up!