Silicon Photonics Circuit Design: Methods, Tools and Challenges

TLDR

Silicon photonics is rapidly maturing as a platform for large‑scale photonic circuits, prompting a shift from component‑oriented to circuit‑oriented design flows that abstract detailed geometry. This paper reviews the current state of emerging photonic circuit design flows and their synergies with electronic design automation. The authors outline a design flow spanning schematic capture, circuit simulation, layout, and verification, and discuss its similarities to electronic design along with challenges such as variability analysis, photonic‑electronic co‑simulation, and compact model definition.

Abstract

Abstract Silicon Photonics technology is rapidly maturing as a platform for larger‐scale photonic circuits. As a result, the associated design methodologies are also evolving from component‐oriented design to a more circuit‐oriented design flow, that makes abstraction from the very detailed geometry and enables design on a larger scale. In this paper, the state of this emerging photonic circuit design flow and its synergies with electronic design automation (EDA) are reviewed. The design flow from schematic capture, circuit simulation, layout and verification is covered. The similarities and the differences between photonic and electronic design, and the challenges and opportunities that present themselves in the new photonic design landscape, such as variability analysis, photonic‐electronic co‐simulation and compact model definition are discussed.