SemiWiki.com - Video EP5: A Discussion of Photonic Design Challenges and Solutions with Keysight

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

In this episode of the Semiconductor Insiders video series,  Dan is joined by Muhammad Umar Khan, Product Manager for Photonics Design Automation Solutions at Keysight Technologies. Muhammad describes the primary design challenges of photonic design with Dan. These include accurate models and a uniform methodology… Read More

Hello, my name is Daniel Nennie, the founder of SemiWiki, the open forum for semiconductor professionals. Welcome to the Semiconductor Insiders video series, where we take 10 minutes to discuss leading edge semiconductor design challenges with industry experts. Welcome to today's episode. We're diving into the world of photonics with our guest, Muhammad Umar Khan, the product manager for Keysight Photonic Design Automation Solutions. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

So let's start with the basics. For those new to the space, what exactly are photonics and photonic integrated circuits and why is so much buzz around them today? Why is so much buzz around them today? Great question. So I'll start really basic. Photonics is the science of generating, controlling and using photons, which is light. So when we integrate optical components like laser modulators, waveguides and detectors

onto a chip in miniaturized form. These circuits are called photonic integrated circuits or PICs. It is very similar to how electronic integrated circuits integrate electronic components on a chip. Photonic integrated circuits are the backbone of next generation technologies, whether it is high speed communication, quantum computing, sensing, you name it. What makes them exciting is their potential to deliver faster, more energy efficient solutions

than traditional electronics, especially in today's data heavy domains. Now, designing these sounds interesting as light is being controlled on the face of a chip. You know, what are the biggest challenges photonic designers typically face? And how do these challenges compare to traditional electronic circuit design? One of the major challenges in photonic design is the lack of accurate models, limited standardization, and fragmented design flows. In contrast to electronics,

where decades of mature EDA tools have enabled reliable models,able IP blocks and hierarchical design, photonics still lacks that level of maturity. Designers often rely on separate tools for layout and simulation leading to disjointed workflows and difficulties in establishing a unified design and test ecosystem. Additionally, true co-design between photonics and electronics remains underdeveloped, making it harder to integrate both domains effectively. So is simulation alone enough to overcome these hurdles? Not really. Purely physics-based simulations can miss real-world fabrication effects. What designers need is a way to blend simulation with measurement, what we call hybrid twins, that helps validate and tune models to match fabricated behavior, which is critical to

achieving first-time right designs. Okay, this brings us to your product. What is Keysight Photonic Designer and how does it help address these challenges that we've just discussed? Keysight Photonic Designer is an electronic photonic design automation. In abbreviated form, we call it EPDA. It's a platform that covers the full ecosystem around photonic design, including test and characterization. It allows designers to cover every step from conceptualization to validation, including calibration of our high accuracy models using the real measurement data. This gives much higher confidence in design accuracy and manufacturability. Okay, that makes sense. And how does it fit into a typical photonic design workflow. It plugs in nicely. You can start with schematic or layout. You can simulate the

photonic circuit, analyze the simulation data, and signal integrity. You can run design rule check and even co-simulate with electronics. Plus, it supports standard PDKs and integrates with leading foundries. We also enable scripting and automation for custom workflows.

And the best thing is that everything is through a single platform, that is Advanced Design System, ADS. And you mentioned that designers must blend simulations with measurement to achieve first time right design. I'm really interested in this digital twin approach for photonics and I want to know a little bit more about it if you can. Sure.

Deep physics based models alone often fall short of the required accuracy due to process variations and fabrication related effects. That's why we offer an application node demonstrating how Keysight Photonic Designer leverages our digital twin approach to align these models with a specific founding process. It provides a step-by-step guide on how to incorporate measurement data to calibrate simulations and achieve the desired accuracy. Ah impressive. Last question, what's next? How do you see the field evolving and where does Photonic Designer fit in? We are seeing a move towards tighter integration. When I talk about integration, it is between photonics and electronics, co-packaged optics, AI enabled optimization,

the industry needs tools that are accurate, flexible and automation ready. And that's exactly where we are heading to as well. That's great. Thank you for the insightful conversation. Where can we learn more? You can visit our website where you will find the product documentation,

how-to videos, and application notes. And that's actually available product documentation, how-to videos, and application notes. And that's actually available in the technical support section of the product page. And if somebody has very specific questions or design challenges, I would love to hear from them directly and we can help them in that domain. That concludes our video. Thank you for watching and have a nice day.