Collaboration enables design flow for electronic/photonic ICs

To improve productivity, designers can capture the optical circuit in Virtuoso Schematic Editor and then use the Virtuoso Analog Design Environment to simulate the design with Lumerical’s INTERCONNECT, a time- and frequency-domain mixed-signal photonic circuit simulation engine similar to SPICE that is designed to account for multi-mode, multi-channel circuits prevalent in integrated photonics. The close integration with the Virtuoso Analog Design Environment can offer interactive analysis, easy design and parameterisation for fast PIC exploration, including yield analysis.

PIC mask layout designs present unique challenges as photonic components and circuits are very sensitive to geometry and require all angle design capabilities. PhoeniX Software’s OptoDesigner photonic chip design suite is available within the Virtuoso environment, giving designers access to all OptoDesigner parameterised primitives and photonic building blocks that enable interactive or scripted waveguide and component creation.

Finally, to populate the photonic PDK compact model library or to create a simulation model for a custom device, the integration can also support model parameter extraction of passive and active components from the Virtuoso physical layout using these Lumerical component-level solvers: FDTD Solutions, MODE Solutions and DEVICE.

Bill De Vries, Director of Product Marketing, Lumerical, commented: “Integrated photonics will only reach its potential if designers can confidently and reliably design, model and optimise their systems using the familiar workflows of analogue and mixed-signal IC design tools. Lumerical’s integration with the Virtuoso environment creates a PDK-driven design flow where circuit designers can use integrated photonics technology alongside electronics to address complex applications without first having to design and optimise fundamental active and passive elements.”

“By integrating PhoeniX Software’s OptoDesigner with the Cadence Virtuoso environment, we can offer designers a complete and integrated design flow, supporting highly efficient design of PICs within the industry standard for IC custom layout. This collaboration can support the transition of R&D projects into manufacturing and bring the semiconductor industry into the era of the photon,” added Niek Nijenhuis, Director of Sales and Marketing, PhoeniX Software.

“Our goal is to improve the productivity and streamline the flows by bringing the necessary design and simulation capabilities for PICs into the Virtuoso environment," said Wilbur Luo, Senior Group Director, Product Management, Custom IC and PCB Group, Cadence. “By collaborating with Lumerical and PhoeniX Software, we are jointly delivering an integrated platform that can drive the widespread deployment of cost-effective, high-performance optical links in data centres and wide area optical networks to meet the increasing traffic demands from mobility, video, data and cloud services.”