{"id":1313,"date":"2021-09-24T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fibermall.com\/blog\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2023-02-10T08:40:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T08:40:15","slug":"silicon-photonics-siph-optical-transceiver-q-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fibermall.com\/blog\/silicon-photonics-optical-transceiver.htm","title":{"rendered":"Silicon Photonics (SiPh) optical transceiver: Q&A"},"content":{"rendered":"

The optical module is an important part of the optical communication network. It is an active optical device with a laser as the carrier and optical fiber as the transmission medium. Its core function is to realize photoelectric conversion. At present, traditional optical modules are mainly packaged by III-V semiconductor chips, high-speed circuit silicon chips, optical components, and other devices, which essentially belong to “electrical interconnection”. With the gradual reduction of transistor processing size, electrical interconnection will gradually face the transmission bottleneck, so silicon photonics technology came into being.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/b>1. What is the <\/b><\/strong>s<\/b><\/strong>ilicon <\/b><\/strong>p<\/b><\/strong>hotonics optical transceiver?<\/b><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Simply put, the silicon photonics transceiver is to integrate photoelectric conversion and transmission on a silicon chip by using silicon photonics technology. The core idea of silicon optical technology is “replacing electricity with light”, that is, using laser beam instead of an electronic signal to transmit data, and integrating optical devices and electronic components into an independent microchip.<\/span><\/p>\n

Silicon photonics has the characteristics of low power consumption, high integration, and high rate, which is the key optical communication technology in the post-Moore era. According to Intel’s Silicon Photonics Industry Development Plan, the silicon optical module industry has entered a period of rapid development. In 2022, silicon photonics technology will comprehensively surpass traditional optical modules in terms of peak speed per second, energy consumption, and cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the data of LightCounting, a market research company, the turning point for silicon photonics\u00a0technology to change the optical device industry has come. In 2025, the market scale of silicon photonics optical modules will be close to $6 billion, and the share will increase from 14% in 2018-2019 to 45% in 2025. In the next four years, the market will achieve double-digit growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/b>2. What are the <\/b><\/strong>pros and cons <\/b><\/strong>of the <\/b><\/strong>s<\/b><\/strong>ilicon <\/b><\/strong>p<\/b><\/strong>hotonics optical transceiver?<\/b><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Advantages of silicon photonics transceiver:<\/b><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In general, silicon photonics technology has three advantages: low power consumption, high integration, and high transmission bandwidth.<\/span><\/p>\n