Photonic integrated circuit is the enabling technology to address next generation compact, low power and high-performance optical devices. Very low propagation loss, high power handling, wide transparency window up to visible spectrum and CMOS-compatibility make silicon nitride the ideal integrated platform for certain applications such as lidar, chemical sensing, bio-spectroscopy, communication (Satellite, Lifi, 5G) and of course quantum domains. There are different flavours of SiN technology such as LPCVD and PECVD with distinct features and capabilities. State of the art researches are taking place globally where imec 200 mm commercial platform brings value to novel and highly strategic domains from nonlinear photonic for special laser integration (e.g. dual comb, mode locked lasers) to extremely low loss waveguide for scalable quantum chip, high power handling Free Space communication and optical beam forming for 5G and lidar applications.
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