Through this collaboration, the Cadence photonics solution, an integrated electronic/photonic design automation environment (EPDA), has been optimised for the new GF Fotonix platform, GF’s next-generation, monolithic platform that is said to be the first in the industry to combine its differentiated 300mm photonics and RF-CMOS features on a silicon wafer, delivering best-in-class performance at scale.
The Cadence photonics solution, which supports the GF Fotonix platform, consists of the Cadence Virtuoso IC Design Platform, the Virtuoso Photonics Platform, the Spectre Simulation Platform and the Voltus-Fi Custom Power Integrity Solution, which have been integrated with other Cadence products and solutions.
The solution offers customers a production-proven design platform for electronic/photonic design, simulation and analysis, and includes a set of features and APIs for generating and editing complex curvilinear shapes, waveguides and other photonics components.
The GF Fotonix platform consolidates complex processes that were previously distributed across multiple chips onto a single chip by combining a photonic system, radio frequency (RF) components and high-performance complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic in a single silicon chip.
“Through our collaboration with Cadence, we’re enabling customers to create photonics designs faster while improving power and performance and reducing system costs,” said Mike Cadigan, senior vice president for Customer Design Enablement, GF. “By combining the Cadence photonics solution with our GF Fotonix platform, customers can meet design requirements for the most urgent, complex and difficult challenges in areas such as optical networking, super and quantum computing, fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), 5G networks, aeronautics and defence.”
“In recent years, we’ve seen photonics technology move into mainstream electronic designs,” said Tom Beckley, senior vice president and general manager, Custom IC & PCB Group at Cadence. “The comprehensive Cadence photonics solution incorporates all of the key features in a single design platform, creating efficiencies and reducing user errors. By collaborating with GF to drive adoption of our photonics solution and the GF Fotonix platform, we’re enabling mutual customers to innovate, design and deliver photonics products faster.”
