NSF Org:	TI Translational Impacts
Recipient:	PHOTONECT INTERCONNECT SOLUTIONS INC
Initial Amendment Date:	June 1, 2023
Latest Amendment Date:	June 1, 2023
Award Number:	2304400
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Samir M. Iqbal smiqbal@nsf.gov  (703)292-7529 TI  Translational Impacts TIP  Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships
Start Date:	June 15, 2023
End Date:	November 30, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$274,996.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$274,996.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2023 = $274,996.00
History of Investigator:	Juniyali Nauriyal (Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	PHOTONECT INTERCONNECT SOLUTIONS INC 280 RHINECLIFF DR ROCHESTER NY  US  14618-1622 (585)629-3439
Sponsor Congressional District:	25
Primary Place of Performance:	PHOTONECT INTERCONNECT SOLUTIONS INC 280 RHINECLIFF DR ROCHESTER NY  US  14618-1622
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	25
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	HJ5BVBLSAKM8
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	SBIR Phase I
Primary Program Source:	01AB2324DB R&RA DRSA DEFC AAB
Program Reference Code(s):	8990
Program Element Code(s):	537100
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.084

ABSTRACT

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the advancement of manufacturing technologies for industries such as telecommunications, data communications, sensors. and defense. Most of the internet relies on data centers to process data, and this processing is accomplished via a device called an optical transceiver. These transceivers house an optical fiber, which is as thin as a single strand of human hair, attached to a chip device to transfer information to/from the data centers. The optical fiber is so small that it is very difficult to precisely connect the fiber to the chip, often resulting in performance losses. With >100,000 transceivers per data center and >2,700 data centers in the United States, it is important to have good fiber connection for reduced power consumption and increased performance. Technology companies are also looking for chips with multiple fibers, making the need for better fiber placement even greater. In this project, the company focuses a new technology that makes fiber placement on a chip faster, more accurate, and cheaper. This new technology uses a special component that enables fiber placement with precision while improving the device performance 4 times.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses major pain points for optical transceiver companies: cost and time to package an optical fiber to a silicon photonic chip. The proposed product consists of a fusion splicing machine and a novel silicon dioxide mode converter. The mode converter localizes heat from the laser, enabling fusion while simultaneously decreasing the loss level. This technology packages silicon photonic devices without compromising performance. It significantly improves packaging speed from 10 minutes to 2 minutes, increases power efficiency by 4X, and provides a 50% savings. The company has demonstrated coupling losses lower than the industry standard of 3 dB on specialty chips. The research objectives involve improving coupling losses to around 1 dB, demonstrating splicing with foundry chips, and improving the strength of the fusion splice for improved reliability. The completion of these objectives will result in extremely low loss photonic packaging applicable for use with foundry chips, increasing the commercialization potential of the technology. This technology will enable customers to package single or multi-fiber devices with high efficiency, low cost, and at high volumes, ultimately increasing production capacity across many industries.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

In Phase I, Photonect developed, optimized, and demonstrated its approach for optimizing the coupling interface between a Foundry specification chip and a single mode fiber. This was done by optimizing both an edge coupling element on the chips themselves (“mode converters”) as well as the attach method (using a CO₂ laser for fusion).Over the course of the proposal, losses were simulated across different designs of the mode converter, with the best achieving a simulated range of 1.0 - 1.2 dB loss per facet, which is incredibly lower than the 6 dB industry standard. Photonect then used a laser to successfully fuse fibers to chips. Some fibers were fused without the mode converter, whereas others did include this element so that Photonect could demonstrate the technical improvement that the mode converter offers. When mode converter chips were packaged with the laser fusion splicing, some devices experienced <2 dB of loss across the telecommunications wavelengths. Results also demonstrated high viability and reliability of the process, with only a variation of +/-0.4 dB in measured loss across the fused chips. Further, fused devices demonstrated robustness, as defined by places forces on the devices that did not cause the laser fusion bond to break.

During the project, Photonect also gained significant customer traction, having performed demonstrations for a number of telecommunications companies and foundries, as well as securing orders for the laser fusion splicing service from industrial labs and other researchers. 

 

Last Modified: 02/24/2025
Modified by: Juniyali Nauriyal

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