With close to 360 participants, some 20 supporting organizations, and a range of key speakers, the PIC Workshop that we recently organized at OFC on 14 Mar 2018 gives clear indication that there is strong interest in Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). After the breakthrough of PICs in applications such as 100G and beyond for long-haul telecom as well as for short-reach datacom, PICs are now proving attractive for other applications as well, such as optical switching in the datacenter, interrogators in fiber-sensing, and key components in next-gen FTTH. PICs are gaining momentum rapidly and a growing number of people are interested in learning how they can benefit from PICs as evidenced by the large turn out at the OFC PIC Workshop.

However, the question how to get started in PICs is not necessarily trivial. Starting your own in-house effort including a waferfab plus packaging is unaffordable for most of the players. And even if you want to leverage the growing ecosystem of providers in software, foundries, and packaging, then the question is still which parts to do yourself, which parts to outsource and how to find the best tools and familiarize yourself with them.

The purpose of this week-long in-depth training is to get you quickly up the learning curve by introducing you to all of the aspects that are critical for producing integrated optical components. The training covers system level essentials, a detailed tutorial on integrated optic components, in-depth simulations as well as mask layout, available foundry services for all material systems, packaging services, test & measurement and relevant business fundamentals such as building a business case or scaling to production.

The PIC training provides the ideal orientation for managers or engineers in companies that want to start in photonic integration or who feel that PICs are becoming increasingly important. The training is also very useful for any new employees or graduate students who are active in photonic integration and who need a better understanding of PIC technology, tools, as well as the full value chain. And the PIC training is valuable for anyone who needs to make a decision about which design software to acquire or which material system or foundry to use.

Space is limited so there is a maximum to the number of trainees that can be accepted. Advance registration is required and there is a registration fee. The fee covers the week long training, copies of training materials, lunches and other in class refreshments, and installation of software as well as licenses required for that week. Trainees are responsible for booking hotel accommodation and for bringing in their laptops which can then be used for the PIC design and layout. In case of interest, laptops can be made available for on-site rental. Software licenses that cover a longer time for trial and evaluation can be made available on request as well.

For any questions about the training or logistics, please contact Erik Pennings at erik@7pennies.com or (848) 228-0807.

Testimonials

Please see below for a number of reactions from the previous training events that were held at Columbia University and in Silicon Valley:

“Overall, it was a great selection of speakers. I appreciate the comprehensive topic coverage.”

“Organization of event was excellent liked distribution of all contact info and multiple updates up to the start of the training.”

“I really appreciated this training. All was perfect; content, organization, supports…”

“Thanks a lot! … and thanks again for the PIC training – it was very helpful to me.”

“This was done well. Better then most workshops I have attended…”

“Excellent location, venue, catering etc.!”

“I liked the software tutorials and the talks about the current state of the art and future trends of PIC’s.”

“Networking very good. I talked to a lot of experts in the field.”

“All excellent speakers, all of them knew their content well, and were very approachable…” “Excellent organization… I can’t think of anything that could be improved…”

“Excellent networking, excellent people, excellent chances to network during the breaks. A lot of thanks … for organizing all the dinners in the evening – which allowed more deeper networking opportunities.”

“I liked the program very much. Covered all the essential steps in a PIC packaging cycle…”

The week-long program is such that it provides a quick but in-depth training on everything that you need for producing photonic integrated circuits. The program covers system aspects, a component tutorial, simulations and chip layout, foundry services for all material systems, packaging, test & measurement, and business/marketing essentials.

The schematic below shows the preliminary training program for the week. Please click on the schedule for a magnified version. The schedule below will be updated as soon as additional detail becomes available.

Please click on the days below to get a detailed description of the program for that day.

For any questions about the training or logistics, please contact Erik Pennings at erik@7pennies.com or (848) 228-0807.

The training will be supported by a wide group of service providers to the PIC industry. It includes foundries for pretty much all the relevant material systems, providers of simulation and layout software, packaging houses, as well as providers of turn-key PIC design solutions. Please see below the list of supporting companies.

JePPIX is a broker that helps organizations around the globe to get access to advanced fabrication processes for Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). JePPIX aims at low-cost development of application specific PICs using a generic foundry model and rapid prototyping via industrial Multi-Project Wafer runs. The generic approach allows a variety of PICs to be realized using the same standardized processes. JePPIX closely collaborates with Europe’s key players in the field of photonic integration, including manufacturing and packaging partners, photonic CAD software partners, R&D labs and photonic IC design houses. With JePPIX you can get access to the Indium Phosphide (InP)-based monolithic integration platforms of Oclaro, Fraunhofer HHI and SMART Photonics and the low-loss dielectric TriPleX waveguide technology of LioniX. JePPIX is hosted by the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. For more information visit our website: (www.jeppix.eu).

SMART Photonics, located in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is a Pure Play Foundry offering III-V production services for both discrete- as well as integrated- Indium Phosphide based photonic components. We use our knowledge, experience and the dedicated equipment to create and produce the photonic designs of our customers. We offer the complete production process from Epitaxial growth, processing, re-growth and polishing of wafers up to dicing and coating of the sides of the chips. Next to the production support, in either the proof of concept (POC) phase or the full production phase, we also offer single- or combined- process steps to complete, or back-up, the production processes of our customers. (www.smartphotonics.nl)

Fraunhofer HHI for the digital society of the future are the focus of research and development work at the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI. In this area, Fraunhofer HHI is a world leader in the development of mobile and optical communication networks and systems, fiber optical sensor systems as well as the processing and coding of video signals. Together with international partners from research and industry, Fraunhofer HHI works in the whole spectrum of digital infrastructure – from fundamental research to the development of prototypes and solutions. The institute develops standards for information and communication technologies and creates new applications as an industry partner. (www.hhi.fraunhofer.de)

ePIXfab is a European alliance of organizations that promotes silicon photonics science, technology, and application through a fabless model for the development of silicon photonic circuits based on existing photonics and CMOS infrastructure. (http://epixfab.eu)

LioniX International B.V. is a leading global provider of customized microsystem solutions, in particular integrated photonics-based, in scalable production volumes. We provide customized solutions for OEM’s and System Integrators, from design to device, by vertical integration in scalable production volumes and maintaining technology leadership secured by strong IP position. As LioniX International we focus on Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) enabled modules based on our proprietary waveguide technology (TriPleX™), in addition to our other core competences micro-fluidics, opto-fluidics and MEMS. As vertically integrated company  we deliver a complete solution to our OEM customers: from initial design through volume manufacturing of products. (www.lionix-int.com)

LIGENTEC is offering wafer scale fabrication of silicon nitride photonic integrated circuits (PIC) for applications in telecom/datacom, quantum optics, optical (bio-)sensing. The propriatory low loss waveguide technology together with the low bending losses that thick film nitride enables paves the way to new integrated applications. Thick silicon nitride chips can thus scale down to four times in cost compared to thin film silicon nitride. The combination of cost scaling and low loss is resulting in more cost-effective solutions. (https://www.ligentec.com)

We are GLOBALFOUNDRIES, a leading full-service semiconductor design, development, fabrication and innovation company with locations across the globe.We partner with some of the world’s most inspired companies to develop and produce the semiconductors that are changing the way people live today and defining what’s possible for tomorrow. While execution excellence remains our first priority, we are more than a manufacturer. We are the catalyst for growth in the industries we serve. With one of the largest populations of leading-edge scientists and technologists in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, we make possible the technologies and systems that transform industries. And we are dedicated to being the best possible partner for our customers, delivering the expertise and insights to help position them as the leaders in their markets. We develop the products and technologies that are moving the world forward, making lives easier and creating new ways to meet the challenges of tomorrow. (https://www.globalfoundries.com)

IBM Assembly and Test is a world leader in semiconductor packaging technology and services based in North America. We offer 45 years of advanced packaging, assembly and test experience, a system level mindset and skilled engineers who understand requirements from development to volume manufacturing. Originally an IDM we now offer full OEM services to our customers. In the recent years we have developped and offered next generation photonic solutions and heterogeneous integration, Our work in areas such as silicon photonics is unrivaled for high volume manufacturing applications but we also offer build to print solutions. IBM will help you deliver differentiated solutions while providing personalized, expert support to meet even the toughest application goals. (www.ibm.com)

Lumerical – Since its inception in 2003, Lumerical has pioneered breakthrough simulation technologies that help bring new product concepts to life. Lumerical’s software tools support a broad range of photonic and electromagnetic design and analysis applications. From component level analysis using optical and electrical solvers to photonic integrated circuit and system design and simulation, Lumerical’s products are capable of addressing the most challenging design problems. Lumerical’s photonic design tools are licensed in nearly 50 countries, by more than 800 of the world’s most innovative organizations including 7 of the top 10 companies in the S&P 1200 Global IT Index and 44 of the top 50 research universities according to the Times Higher Education rankings. (www.lumerical.com)

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd engages in applied technology research, transforming its research results into practical solutions. VTT Ltd uses its research and knowledge to provide expert services for its domestic and international customers and partners in both the private and public sector. VTT Ltd is Finland’s biggest applied research organisation and the Nordic countries’ leading research and technology company. As one of the first pioneers in the field, VTT has developed it’s silicon photonics technology since 1997. Its micron-scale SOI technology has been offered through MPW runs (ePIXfab) since 2014. Now the 3 µm SOI platform is expanding from passive and thermo-optic circuits to high-speed active components in close collaboration with industrial customers and partners. 
(www.vtt.fi/siliconphotonics)

CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives) is a French Governmental Research Organization (15,000 employees). Within the “CEA-TECH” branch devoted to industrial Research & Development, CEA-LETI is one of the major European research centers in applied electronics, optics and sensing. It is located in Grenoble-France where it operates 11,000 m²-State-of-the-Art CMOS clean rooms (200 and 300 mm wafer size), and a MEMS microsystems platform (200 mm wafer size). Nearly 1,600 men and women are serving innovation and the transfer of technology in key domains. Besides, CEA-LETI has sparked the creation of thirty high-technology start-ups, including Soitec, world leader in the development/ production of Silicon on insulator wafers.

As a pioneer in Research & Development in Silicon Photonics (since 2002), CEA-LETI has developed strong expertise and know how in the design, fabrication and test of integrated devices (including Ge-on-Silicon photodetectors and hybrid III/V-on-Silicon lasers) and circuits for telecom and datacom applications. ST microelectronics is one of its main industrial partner in the field. (http://www.cea.fr/english/Pages/cea/the-cea-a-key-player-in-technological-research.aspx)

The American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics), is an industry driven public-private partnership that focuses the nation’s premiere capabilities and expertise to capture critical global manufacturing leadership in a technology that is both essential to National security and positioned to provide a compelling return-on-investment to the U.S. economy. The Institute’s goal is to emulate the dramatic successes experienced by the electronics industry over the past 40 years and transition key lessons, processes, and approaches to the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) industry. AIM Photonics supports Small and Medium Enterprises, providing practical access and technology on-ramps for U.S. industry, government, and academic communities. We are creating a National PIC manufacturing infrastructure, widely accessible and inherently flexible to meet the challenges of the marketplace with practical, innovative solutions. (www.aimphotonics.com)

VPIphotonics sets the industry standard for end-to-end photonic design automation comprising design, analysis and optimization of components, systems and networks. We provide professional simulation software supporting requirements of integrated photonics, optoelectronics and fiber optics applications, optical transmission system and network applications, as well as cost-optimized equipment configuration. Our team of experts delivers professional consulting services addressing customer-specific modeling and design requirements. VPIphotonics’ award-winning off-the-shelf and customized solutions are used extensively at hundreds of corporations worldwide; over 160 academic institutions joined our University Program. For further information, please visit us at www.VPIphotonics.com.

Synopsys is driving the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) revolution with design automation solutions for a wide range of application requirements, from data communications to sensors and biomedical devices. Synopsys’ PIC Design Suite – including the RSoft™ OptSim™ Circuit and PhoeniX OptoDesigner tools – offers a seamless PIC design flow from concept to manufacturable design, as well as access to a single, world-class support channel. The PIC Design Suite’s design, simulation, and mask layout implementation capabilities for PICs provide a modular and synergistic integration towards first-time-right fabrication. RSoft OptSim Circuit supports the design and optimization of PIC functionality. PhoeniX OptoDesigner has photonic-aware physical layout capabilities to synthesize PIC layouts for fabrication. The PIC Design Suite enables both PDK-driven and custom design, and supports the widest portfolio of foundries offering MPW access. The PIC Design Suite integrates with the RSoft Photonic Component Design Suite, Synopsys HSPICE®, and Sentaurus™ TCAD tools for cohesive, precise simulations of photonic and optoelectronic components and provides cosimulation of electronic and photonic circuits. Learn more at www.synopsys.com/optical-solutions.html.

Mentor Graphics – Building an EDA Environment for Silicon Photonics: Silicon photonics has a huge potential for signal processing applications ranging from communications to biosensors and opto-MEMS devices. However, the expansion of available photonic components is currently limited by the large amount of engineering effort required to accurately design known reliable components in a system. Mentor Graphics, a leading supplier in the Electronics Design Automation industry, is working to extend the tools and best practices that have enabled the rapid design of high-volume CMOS application-specific integrated circuits to the silicon photonics design community. 
(www.mentor.com)

Luceda Photonics wants photonic IC engineers to enjoy the same first-time-right design experience as electronic IC designers. Luceda Photonics’ tools and services are rooted in over 50 years of experience in photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design. Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) designers need full control of their design framework to make sure that what they fabricate matches exactly how they designed it. In addition they need to be able to re-use and distribute their design work in a hierarchical framework that saves time and improves reliability. IPKISS.flow is a scripting environment that covers the complete photonic IC design flow up to measurement feedback for true component validation. What you layout is what you calculate. IPKISS.eda inside L-Edit combines these stringent photonic design demands with the ease of use of a professional yet easy to use EDA environment. (http://www.lucedaphotonics.com/en)

Dassault Systemes SIMULIA develops and markets high performance 3D simulation software for electromagnetic, photonic, and multi-physics applications. The success of Dassault Systemes SIMULIA’s main tool, CST STUDIO SUITE, is based on the implementation of leading edge technology in a user-friendly interface. Dassault Systemes SIMULIA’s customers are market leaders in industries as diverse as Telecommunications, Defense, Automotive, Electronics, and Medical Equipment. Dassault Systemes SIMULIA is part of Dassault Systemes, a global leader in the simulation software market and the maker of SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, and Abaqus. (https://www.cst.com)

Photon Design was started in 1992 in Oxford UK to provide professional quality software to the photonics industry. Since that time it has introduced many innovations to photonics modelling, and now provides World-leading tools for the modelling of active and passive photonics components and circuits. Photon Design products are now in use in 30+ countries, 100s of research labs and contributed to 1000s of leading research publications, helping to develop the next generation of datacom components and innovations in micro and nano-optics. We are also able to provide custom solutions based on our standard products and our experts with decades of simulation experience are available for consulting. (https://www.photond.com)

VLC Photonics aims to be a complete but flexible partner in photonic integration, thanks to its deep expertise in the whole integration process, from the preliminary feasibility studies, to fabrication platform selection, optical chip design, foundry and packager brokerage, and chip characterization and test. VLC Photonics has been working for more than 14 years in the field, with experience in all major international fabs (+15) in all main material substrates (silicon photonics, InP, GaAs, PLC, SiN, TriPleX, etc.). Our know-how includes multiple passive and active components like AWGs, MMIs, Echelle gratings, modulators, lasers, switches, filters, etc. Our field of expertise is mostly in optical telecommunications, datacom and optical interconnects, microwave photonics, quantum optics, and sensing systems like fiber sensor interrogators or biophotonics lab-on-a-chip. (http://vlcphotonics.com)

Chiral Photonics (CPI), a New Jersey, US based company founded in 1999, specializes in optoelectronic packaging of integrated photonics.  CPI offers its pitch reducing optical fiber arrays, PROFAs, which enable the highest density optical I/Os for both edge and face coupling to photonic ICs. Currently, up to 61 I/O channels can be coupled in a single port.  Other services range from single-die optical coupling or optoelectronic package development, including test services, to volume optoelectronic production packaging.Please contact us to obtain our free coupling and packaging design guidelines: designguide@chiralphotonics.com.

PIXAPP is the world’s first open-access Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) Assembly and Packaging Pilot line, and helps users exploit the breakthrough advantages of PIC technologies. PIXAPP consists of a highly-interdisciplinary team of Europe’s leading industrial & research organisations, and provides users with single-point access to PIC assembly and packaging. The Pilot Line Gateway Office is PIXAPP’s the easy-access interface for external users, and is located at the Tyndall National Institute, in Ireland. The Gateway is managed by an experienced team, including technical experts to review incoming user requests, and project managers to organise the PIXAPP supply chain. PIXAPP bridges the ‘valley of death’ often associated with moving from prototyping to low-volume fabrication, by giving companies an easy-access route to transferring R&D results to the market. (www.pixapp.eu)

ficonTEC is an innovative high-tech company that has rapidly established itself in a highly-specialized market. With continued growth and innovative development since 2001, we are the recognized market leader when it comes to automated assembly and testing of micro-optics and opto-electronics components. The core team at ficonTEC consists primarily of development engineers from the specialist fields of optics and photonics, from electrical, mechanical and mechatronic engineering, as well as from software development. These developers are supported by experienced technicians possessing a wide variety of skills. Our technical competence, worldwide contacts and – importantly – the will to understand our customer’s needs and to find individual and optimum solutions, together make us a competent business and development partner. 
(www.ficontec.com/)

EXFO is a manufacturer of laboratory type fiber optic test instrumentation, not limited to, but primarily used in telecom type applications. Applications range from PIC design, research and development to manufacturing and production. EXFO’s product portfolio consists of high dynamic range tunable laser sources, automated wavelength dependent passive optical component testers, optical spectrum analyzers, tunable filters, and multipurpose modular test platform OSICS with modules ranging from tunable laser sources to switches, attenuators, DFB sources and more. 
(https://www.exfo.com)

As electronics become smaller and more capable, they become more complex. Necessary innovation must be met with ever-advancing technical capability. Tektronix designs and manufactures the test, measurement and monitoring solutions that break through the walls of complexity, to accelerate global innovation. Tektronix solutions have supported many of humankind’s greatest advances of the past 65 years. Health. Communication. Mobility. Space. We are committed to the scientists, engineers and technicians around the world who will define the future, and rely on us to embrace the technological challenge, as partners in their innovation (www.tek.com).

Keysight Technologies Inc. is the world’s leading electronic measurement company, transforming today’s measurement experience through innovations in wireless, modular, and software solutions. With its HP and Agilent legacy, Keysight delivers solutions in wireless communications, aerospace and defense and semiconductor markets with world-class platforms, software and consistent measurement science. The company’s nearly 10,500 employees serve customers in more than 100 countries. (Keysight Technologies)

Michael Lebby (www.linkedin.com/in/lebby) is CEO and Board Director of Lightwave Logic Inc., (LWLG:OTCQB).  Michael has been involved in photonics all his career, and has focused on photonic integration since his PhD and research work at RSRE Malvern (UK) and AT&T Bell Labs in the 1980s. During the 1990s, Michael led photonics at Motorola’s Corporate Labs where he founded and drove VCSEL based technology from research through to manufacturing.  Michael continued this role at AMP/TE Connectivity and helped initiate Intel’s silicon photonics work in 1999. Michael then led OIDA (Optoelectronics Industry Development Association) in Washington DC to campaign on behalf of the photonics industry and worked hard to help establish a national photonic foundries program.  Since 2010, Michael has been focusing on bringing PIC based technologies to market in various roles, and now is pursuing polymer based integrated photonics at Lightwave Logic Inc. Michael is also advising the European Commission on their integrated photonics pilot lines initiatives. With over 450 issued international patents (derived from over 200 issued USPTO patents) in the photonics field over the past 30years, Michael has dedicated his career to moving photonics into mainstream opportunities.

Robert Blum is Director of Strategic Marketing and Business Development for Intel’s Silicon Photonics Product Division. Prior to joining Intel, Robert was Director of Strategic Marketing at Oclaro Inc., and held various Director of Product Management and Marketing roles for Oclaro’s telecommunications products and consumer laser portfolio. Before joining Oclaro, Robert was Product Line Manager for optical transmission components at JDS Uniphase Corporation and held various engineering and marketing management roles at Gemfire Corporation, all in California. Robert worked at Deutsche Telekom’s research labs in Darmstadt, Germany, while completing his master’s thesis and holds a doctorate degree in Physics from the University of Technology in Hamburg. He has also studied and done research at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland, and at Stanford University, California.

Dr. Mashanovitch is the Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Photonics, a photonics company based in Santa Barbara, California. Dr. Mashanovitch co-founded Freedom Photonics in 2005, and has served as Director of Business Development from 2005-2010, General Manager from 2010-2016, and as CEO since 2016. In these different roles, he has helped grow the company to become a leader in innovative photonic components, with ~40 employees, and ~10 products, manufactured in Santa Barbara. Dr. Mashanovitch has 20 years of experience working in the field of photonics, spanning over design, fabrication, testing and packaging of photonic integrated circuits, combined with 10 years of management and business development experience. Prior to Freedom Photonics, Dr. Mashanovitch has worked at the University of California Santa Barbara as a Scientist, on photonic integrated circuits in Indium Phosphide, as well as an Adjunct Professor teaching graduate level classes on semiconductor lasers and photonic ICs.Dr. Mashanovitch has co-authored ~ 150 papers, many invited, on photonic integrated circuits and various photonic devices. He holds 9 patents, and has co-authored the second edition of the “Diode Lasers and Photonic Integrated Circuits” textbook. He is very active in the photonics technical community, participating on technical committees of many conferences. He is a Senior Member of IEEE. Dr. Mashanovitch holds a dipl. ing. Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade in Serbia, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Peter De Dobbelaere received the Ph.D. degree in integrated optics from the University of Gent, Belgium in 1995. From 1991 to 1995 he was employed by IMEC, Belgium working on various projects including short reach optical interconnect, diffractive structures, heterogeneous integration of III-V with Si and polymer waveguides. From 1995 to 1999, he was with Akzo-Nobel N.V., The Netherlands and U.S., where he was engaged in product development and reliability of polymer-based thermo-optic waveguide switch devices. In 1999, he joined OMM Inc., San Diego, CA, where he was responsible for product and technology development of MEMS-based optical switches. In 2004, he joined Luxtera, Inc., Carlsbad, CA, where he is currently responsible for engineering and technology development for silicon photonics based products.

Colin McDonough is an integration engineer in the Derivatives Engineering Technology Development team at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, NY. Colin focuses on the integration of silicon photonics and interposer technologies, developing low-loss waveguides, and supporting the AIM Photonics MPWs programs. His role with AIM Photonics includes creating and maintaining design guides, design rule checks (DRC), and interposer PDK integration elements, as well as assisting or advising on design tape-outs and hardware integration. Colin earned his B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2005 (Lafayette College, Easton, PA) and Ph.D. in Nanoscale Science & Engineering in 2011 (University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY).

Dominic Gallagher was born in Swansea, UK in 1962. He received a BA and PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1984 and 1987 respectively, and afterwards as a Research Fellow studying optical logic elements in laser diode-based devices. Afterwards he spent two years at the Fraunhofer IAF in Germany, working on high speed laser diodes and grating devices. In 1992 he returned to the UK to found Photon Design. He is currently CEO of Photon Design – a company developing photonicssoftware which is used in over 30 countries around the World. He has published 30+ journal articles and authored chapters in several photonics books.

Ana González R&D Manager at EPIC (European Photonics Industry Consortium). Her expertise relies on the development of systems based on integrated photonic circuits, packaging and assembly, and the investigation of applications such as chemical/biological sensing and Datacom. In addition, she has been involved in technology transfer and business development processes. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University Autonomous of Barcelona (UAB) and her PhD degree from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2). (www.epic-assoc.com)

Jim Farina has a 40-year history of work in optics in a variety of areas. He began his career working in quantum optics researching topics such as optical bistability, 2-photon amplification and partially coherent optical sources. Upon joining the United Technologies Research Center, he was engaged in developing ultra-Long wavelength lasers, GaAlAs devices and eventually LiNbO3 modulator development. He was cofounder of two successful startups in the 1990’s involving the manufacture of LiNbO3 modulators and their application. Since 2004, he has been involved with VPIphotonics in the system and device modeling areas. Jim graduated with a BSEE degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Physics from Drexel University. Currently, he is the Managing Director of VPIphotonics’ North American operations. Jim can be contacted via email at jim.farina@vpiphoptonics.com.

Arne Leinse Ph.D (Chief Commercial Officer) is active in integrated optics for more than 15 years. He received a PhD degree from the University of Twente in the integrated Optical Microsystems group in 2005. Hereafter he joined LioniX BV where he was involved in the invention and development of the TriPleX™ platform from the beginning. He has been involved from the original concept until the exploitation and (co)authored over 100 articles in the last years. He has been active as Vice-President of LioniX BV in the last years and since the establishment of LioniX-international in 2016 active in the role of Chief Commercial Officer. (lionix-international.com)

Hansjoerg Haisch is program manager for Network & Data Center Solutions within the Internet Infrastructure segment of Keysight Technologies’ Communications Solutions Group. Prior to his current postion, Hansjoerg was responsible for the definition and development of test & measurement products, solutions for photonic component and transmission test as well as digital coherent transmission. He joined Agilent Technologies in 2001 as an R&D project manager.

In 1990, Hansjoerg started his career as an R&D engineer for opto-electronic components in the Alcatel Research Center in Germany, where he was responsible for the design and characterization of opto-electronic components. Later, he managed projects for high speed transmission, CaTV and fixed wireless networks in Alcatel research and product divisions. Hansjoerg holds a Ph.D. form Stuttgart University and a Master of Science from Oregon State University both in Electrical Engineering. (www.keysight.com)

Eugene Sokolov is a senior application engineer at VPIphotonics. He has over 8 years experience in the development of market leading PDA products and particularly in the modeling of the modern and next generation photonic integrated circuits (PICs), photonic and optoelectronic devices. Eugene joined VPIphotonics in 2010 and he currently works in VPIphotonics Inc., which is located in Norwood, Massachusetts, United States. Starting from the 2014 Eugene takes part in the development of the standardized Process Design Kits (PDKs) and interoperability between circuit-level simulators and mask layout/electronic design automation (EDA) tools. Eugene received his MSc. Degree in Physics (Laser Physics) from the Belarusian State University and he is doing his PhD in modeling polarization effects in VCSELs.You can reach him at eugene.sokolov@vpiphotonics.com.

Michael Geiselmann studied physics and engineering at University Stuttgart and Ecole Centrale Paris. After his PhD at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona in 2014 he joined the laboratory of photonics and quantum measurements at EPFL. In 2016, he co-founded LIGENTEC. At LIGENTEC he is advancing the technology development of silicon nitride based integrated circuits and is looking for new business opportunities. He is responsible for technical sales and brought LIGENTEC to several European and transatlantic projects and customers.

Pierre Wahl co-founded Luceda Photonics in 2014 where he is in charge of sales, support and training operations. At Luceda he trains and supports R&D teams of major corporations, research institutes, foundries and universities world-wide. He completed a PhD in opto-electronics at the Free University of Brussels and Stanford University on ultra-low energy optical interconnects in 2014 and obtained a master degree in photonics from the University of Gent and the Free University of Brussels in 2010. He has co-authored multiple journal publications and delivered various talks around specialized design, simulation and optimization techniques used in integrated photonics.

Erik den Haan received his MSc. Degree in Electrical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology. He is test and measurement engineer at SMART Photonics. In this position he is responsible for building and maintaining measurement setups for our photonic integrated circuits, and the characterization of photonic components manufactured in the foundry. His expertise is in the design and characterization of active and passive photonic components and the optimization of our PDK with the data thereof.

Pablo Mena is an R&D Engineer at Synopsys, Inc., and a principal developer on OptSim, OptSim Circuit, and ModeSYS. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Mena’s primary research interest has been the system- and circuit-level modeling of photonic devices, and he has co-authored over 30 journal and conference publications.

Remco Stoffer received his MSc degree in Applied Physics and PhD degree from the University of Twente, The Netherlands, in 1997 and 2001, respectively. He previously worked in the companies Kymata Netherlands, Alcatel Optronics Netherlands, and PhoeniX Software, and as a postdoc at the University of Twente. He is currently employed by Synopsys in the Netherlands, formerly as numerical engineer and currently as product owner of the OptoDesigner product suite. He has contributed as a developer to the OptoDesigner, FieldDesigner, FlowDesigner, and MaskEngineer software packages. Furthermore, he has contributed as work package leader or senior researcher to more than ten European or Dutch research projects, and has 20 journal papers and more than 30 conference contributions to his name.

Alexander Janta-Polczynski has a B.Eng. degree in Engineering Physics from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal where he received a mention of excellence. In his degree he specialized in numerical simulations for solid state physics and laser matter interactions. Optics has been a central field of work for Alexander from his first internships in the dot com era to designing AWG for DWDM. In his master’s degree in computer simulation and imaging, he created a real-time STM image predictor to understand the complex convolution of electronic states in tunneling current measurements. He then worked in speech recognition with the Hidden Markov Model and Neural Networks algorithms. He joined IBM in 2007 and is presently a Professional Engineer for IBM Bromont (Quebec, Canada) at the C2MI research center. His work focusses on advanced semiconductor packaging and manufacturing. He joined the IBM Silicon Nanophotonics Team in 2012 to help with the optical characterization and packaging challenges. Alexander is co-author on several papers and inventor on 8 patents.

Ignazio Piacentini has a B.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering (Milan, Italy, 1975) and a M.Sc. degree in Digital Systems and Instrumentation (Polytechnic of Central London, UK, 1987). Before joining the machine vision industry in the early ‘90’s, he has spent many years working for the European Commission (Euratom) designing control and data acquisition systems for large-scale thermonuclear fusion experimental projects, including a long spell at the JET Joint Undertaking (Culham Labs, UK). Before relocating to Germany, he directed ImagingLab Srl, in Lodi, Italy, an engineering/consulting company specialized in machine vision and advanced robotics. He also held the position of Business Development Manager Europe for imaging and motion of National Instruments Austin, TX/USA from 1999 to 2003. During this time, he also served two 3-year mandates as a member of the Board of Directors of EMVA (European Machine Vision Association).

Pavel Zivny is a high speed serial data Domain Expert with the wide band oscilloscopes group of Tektronix. Pavel has a number of oscilloscope related patents, papers and articles, and represents Tektronix and T&M on industry panels and program committees, e.g. IEEE 802.3cd Ethernet. His current interests in the high speed serial data field include Equivalent Time Sampling and Real-Time oscilloscope measurements as well as signal generation with BERTs and Pattern Generators.

Moon-Hyeok Lee received his BSc at Inha University in 2014. In 2016 he graduated with MSc in Optics of grating couplers and quantum key distribution from Inha University. Since 2017, he is a PhD student and research associate both at Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute and Technical University Berlin supported by national funding of Germany Academic Exchange Service(DAAD). Currently, he is researching integration of widely tunable lasers on photonic integration platform.

Fabien Gays obtained his Masters degree from Grenoble Institute of Technology. He started working at the CEA Grenoble as a layout designer in the design division of LETI. He was in charge of the physical implementation for the heterogeneous micro and nano technology developed at LETI. He joined the Design Kit Team in 2011. He is in charge of the development and the diffusion of Photonic Design Kit.

Andre Myko obtained a degree from a higher engineering school specialized in electronics and telecommunications in 2012 from the university of Limoges (France). The same year, he joined the CEA Grenoble as a research engineer in the field of silicon photonics specializing in component characterization, component modeling and design Kit development. He is the author/co-author of around 25 scientific articles.

Inigo Artundo (CEO): Obtained the M.Sc. in Telecom Engineering at the Universidad Publica de Navarra (Pamplona, Spain) in 2005, and received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Photonics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels, Belgium) in 2009. He has been involved in several national and European research projects and networks of excellence focused on reconfigurable optical interconnects, the design, fabrication and characterization of micro-optic devices, and on flexible access and in-building fiber network architectures. He has worked as a reviewer for several scientific journals and national funding agencies. He holds specializations in Business Financing, Commercial Management and Research, and Strategic Marketing. He is a member of IEEE, SPIE and COIT. (www.vlcphotonics.com)

Dan Neugroschl received the M.S. degree in materials science from Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. He is currently the President of Chiral Photonics., Pine Brook, NJ, USA, which he cofounded in 1999.

Lawrence van der Vegt is a veteran in the world of fiber optic test & measurement with proven track record. He has had several key management and directional positions at companies like Ando Europe, Laser Precision, Rifocs and Apex Technologies. He ran Yenista Optics Inc. successfully from 2014 until the company was acquired by EXFO end of 2017. Lawrence has a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering and Digital Communications, and currently serves the roll of Subject Matter Expert at EXFO for the North American market.

Matteo Cherchi has 20 years of experience in integrated optics, both in industrial research and in academia. He received his MSc in physics from the University of Pavia (Italy) and in applied mathematics from the University of Cambridge (UK), and later his PhD in Electronic Engineering from the University of Palermo (Italy), after some years spent in basic research for industry (former Pirelli Labs – Optical Innovation). He has been postdoctoral research associate in the group of Prof. Michael R. Watts (RLE at MIT), then to join the silicon photonics group led by Dr Timo Aalto at VTT – Technical Research Centre of Finland, that has been developing silicon photonics since 1997, including also polymer integration, hybrid integration of III-V materials, and photonics packaging. He has published 19 journal papers and 44 conference papers, and he is co-inventor in more than 10 patents. He is reviewer for OSA and IEEE journals; in 2016 he received the OSA Outstanding Reviewer Recognition.

Dr Callum Littlejohns completed his PhD in the field of Silicon Photonics at the Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton in March 2015, having previously obtained a First Class Honours degree in Electronic Engineering at the University of Surrey. He has now begun his career as a Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, but remains part of the Silicon Photonics group as a visitor. He has a track record of excellence, having received multiple awards throughout his academic life, including the Information Overload category winner at the 2015 EPSRC ICT Pioneers Award and the runner-up prize in the Best Student Poster award at the 2014 Optoelectronics Research Centre Photonics Day. His work has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals including Scientific Reports, a Nature Publishing Group journal. His work was also selected as a prestigious post-deadline paper at the IEEE Group IV Photonics conference in Paris, 2014. The work completed during Callum’s PhD has been protected by two separate patents, both fully supported by the University of Southampton.

Frank Scharf obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany. During his graduate studies, he focused on modeling and simulating the plasma sheath in high intensity discharge lamps. Frank joined CST Germany in 2008 and transferred to CST of America in 2009. He currently works as Technical Sales Director for Dassault Systemes SIMULIA with focus on optical applications.

Ellen Schelew is an Applications Engineer at Lumerical Inc. Her focus is on photonic integrated circuit ecosystem enablement. She works on developing EDA-style workflows for bringing PIC designs to production level and is also involved in generating compact model libraries calibrated to foundry processes. She holds a PhD in Physics from the University of British Columbia.

Karen Nummy received her B.Eng (1980) and M.Sc (1981) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is currently a Distinquished Member of Technical Staff at GLOBALFOUNDRIES in East Fishkill NY working on Silicon Photonics. Previous to this assignment, she has worked in CMOS process integration for GLOBALFOUNDRIES (2015-2018) and IBM Microelectronics since 1981.

DATE

The date for the PIC training is the week of Monday Jan 28 through Friday Feb 1 The program will start on Monday Jan 28 at 9am and will finish on Friday Feb 1 at 3pm so people can leave early and get a flight home on Friday evening.

VENUE

The training is held/hosted by Keysight Technologies in Santa Clara, CA, USA. Santa Clara is right in the center of Silicon Valley where many of the important high tech companies in the world are located. For example, Intel, Google, Infinera, Cadence, Cisco, Apple, eBay, Yahoo, and many others are all headquartered in Silicon Valley. In addition, Silicon Valley hosts many companies that are active in photonic integration. The venue address is:

• Hosted by Keysight Technologies
• Agilent Technologies Building
• 5301 Stevens Creek Blvd
• Santa Clara CA 95051
• Room: Aristotle

Santa Clara is well reachable by car via either San Jose, SJC (12min) or San Francisco, SFO (45 min) airports. For Google directions to Agilent Technologies please click on the map below.

For any questions about the training or logistics, please contact Erik Pennings at erik@7pennies.com or (848) 228-0807.

Silicon Valley attracts a lot of business travelers and for this reason offers a large amount of good hotel accommodations. Given that the training starts early on Monday, we recommend that you arrive on (or before) Sunday evening. And on Friday, the training ends at 3pm PDT so as to allow participants to travel back home on Friday evening.

For a good overview of pricing, ratings, and locations of hotels around Tektronix, please use this Expedia link or this Booking.com link.

For a short list of nearby hotels with reasonable prices (in the say $100 to $150 per night range), please check out the following:

• Best Western Inn Santa Clara  4341 El Camino, Santa Clara, CA 95051, USA (408) 244 3366. 4 minutes by car. www.bwsantaclara.com
• Quality Inn & Suites Silicon Valley 2930 El Camino Real, Santa Clara CA 95051, USA. (855) 239 9223. 9 minutes by car. www.choicehotels.com
• Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Santa Clara 2455 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050, USA. 9 minutes by car. www.ihg.com

Please see below here the list of material and presentations that were used for the PIC training:

• 7Pennies – PIC business case
• AIM Photonics – US Based Si Photonics MPW Service
• Chiral – PIC Probing & Packaging Fundamentals
• ePIXfab CS – Introduction to Silicon Photonics Foundries
• EXFO – Si PIC Wafer Level
• ficonTEC – Packaging Micro-assembly & Testing Automation for HVP
• GF – Scaling Si Photonics to High Volume Production
• HHI – Advanced Active PICs on InP
• IBM – Efficient Manufacturing for Photonics-Electronics Co-Packaging
• JePPIX InPulse – Introduction to InP Foundries
• Keysight – Methods for WL OE HF & Polarization Resolved Spectral Measurements.
• LETI – Thin (310 nm) SiP Platform
• LIGENTEC – Advantages of Going Thick in your PIC
• LightwaveLogic – PIC as an Enabling Platform
• LioniX – TriPleX PIC technology & MPW Services
• Luceda – Design automation From High Level Spec to Validated Building Block
• Lumerical – Circuit Level Sim and Back
• Lumerical Mentor – Interoperability Hands on
• PhotonD – Component Level Simulations A&P
• PhotonD – FIMMWAVE-HandsOn
• PhotonD – PICWave-HandsOn
• Physical Design and Optimization of PIC Components using CST STUDIO SUIT
• PIC component tutorial
• PIC component tutorial – Passives
• PIXAPP – Packaging PDK
• Smart – Discrete Photonic Components in a Pure-Play InP Foundry
• Synopsys – Compact Model and Layout Generation for PDK Dev.
• Synopsys – PIC Circuit Simulation and Mask Generation
• Synopsys – What Tools are Required for PIC Design
• Tektronix – SCLA PiC
• VLC – From System Specs to PIC Design
• VPI – System Modeling of Large-Scale PICs
• VPI – Systems Introduction. Key Metrics
• VTT – Introduction to (MPW) foundries
• VTT – Thick (3 Êm) SOI Photonic Platform

If you are interested in some of the presentations, please let us know by completing the section below and we can gladly help you. Please note, however, that the full package (all material) is only available for the partipants of the PIC training.

Please note that the above contact info will be used for making certain that we can indeed send you the requested information. In addition, we plan on using this in order to inform you about new events that we are organizing on photonic integration. For more info, on the 7 Pennies Privacy and Data Protection Policy, please click here.