Tower Semiconductor and Anello Photonics Announce Strategic Partnership for a New Silicon Optical Waveguide Process Technology

By Tiera Oliver

Assistant Managing Editor

Embedded Computing Design

November 15, 2021

News

Tower Semiconductor and Anello Photonics Announce Strategic Partnership for a New Silicon Optical Waveguide Process Technology

Tower Semiconductor, the foundry of analog semiconductor solutions, and Anello Photonics, the developer of the Silicon Photonic Optical Gyroscope (SiPhOG), announced a strategic partnership for a new low-loss Silicon Optical Waveguide technology and manufacturing process.

The foundry version of the process is designed to enable adoption in a range of markets such as automotive LiDAR, bio-sensing, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, microwave photonics, and optical communications requiring complex integration of high-performance optical devices.

The new low-loss Silicon Nitride waveguide process approaches 0.005dB/cm propagation loss at 1550nm wavelengths with less than 1mm bend radius. Per the companies, this process delivers one to two orders of magnitude lower loss than other commercial foundry processes at a compact bend radius for both 1550nm and 1310nm wavelengths. The combination of low loss along with small bend radius enables fabrication of a new class of high performing devices, including long (>10m) delays lines and tiny on-chip resonators with high quality factors (high-Q) surpassing 100 million.

Anello Photonics and Tower Semiconductor have developed this process over the last eighteen months, and Anello's SiPhOG gyroscope utilizes the process to directly replace the optical fiber found in a traditional Fiber Optic Gyroscope. A foundry version of this process is being offered by Tower to its customers beginning in Q1 2022.

For more information, visit:  www.towersemi.com or www.anellophotonics.com

Tiera Oliver is the assistant managing editor at Embedded Computing Design. She is responsible for web content editing, product news, and story development. She also manages, edits, and develops content for ECD podcasts, including Embedded Insiders.

She utilizes her expertise in journalism and content management to oversee editorial content, coordinate with editors, and ensure high-quality output across web, print, and multimedia platforms. She manages diverse projects, assists in the production of digital magazines, and hosts company podcasts by conducting in-depth interviews with industry leaders to deliver engaging and insightful discussions.

Tiera attended Northern Arizona University, where she received her bachelor's in journalism and political science. She was also a news reporter for the student-led newspaper, The Lumberjack. 

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