See what's new for version 2020.09:
What's New in Photonic Solutions
Announcing OptoCompiler: Industry-First Unified Electronic and Photonic Design Platform
We are pleased to announce the Synopsys OptoCompiler™ solution for photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, layout implementation, and verification. OptoCompiler is the industry’s first unified electronic and photonic design platform, combining mature and dedicated photonic technology with Synopsys’ industry-proven electronic design tools and methods to enable engineers to produce and verify complex PIC designs quickly and accurately. By providing schematic-driven layout and advanced photonic layout synthesis in a single platform, OptoCompiler bridges the gap between photonic experts and IC designers to make photonic design accessible, fast, and flexible.
RSoft Photonic Device Tools
The RSoft Photonic Device Tools comprise the industry's widest portfolio of simulators for passive and active devices in optical communications and optoelectronics. New features in version 2020.09 include:
- Custom PDK Utility for OptoCompiler
In addition to generating Custom PDK components for the PIC Design Suite, the Custom PDK Utility can now generate PDK components for the new OptoCompiler platform. From a single source definition, the utility: performs simulations using any of the wide range of Synopsys photonic device tools to generate compact model data; generates interface elements for schematic capture and circuit simulation in OptoCompiler via the OptSim Circuit engine; generates interface elements for layout in OptoCompiler utilizing the OptoDesigner layout engine. The Custom PDK Utility for OptoCompiler creates all the necessary files in a single folder, which can be directly dropped into an OptoCompiler PDK library and is immediately available for use in this powerful new photonic design flow.
- Improvements to RSoft CAD
Enabled material-based color coding. To view a complex structure easily and clearly, components can be sorted and displayed in different colors based on their material composition. Predefined library materials come with a default colors that can be customized by changing their RGB values.
- Component filtering capability
Components can now be filtered and grouped based on their materials, structure type, merge priority, color, etc. This feature allows you to select and edit wanted components more easily, especially for a structure with a large number of components.
- Overlaid mesh over index profile
This option provides a clear view on how computation grids are distributed and aligned with the structure. You can adjust the mesh settings to meet your requirements. In addition, the index viewer allows you to zoom in and out by pointing, clicking, and dragging the mouse.
- Cross-platform optimization of diffractive grating through parametric BSDF
Through the User-Defined Optical Property (UDOP) interface, design parameters in RSoft CAD can be optimized in LightTools against a target function using the pre-calculated parametric BSDF. For instance, LightTools can optimize diffractive gratings designed in the RSoft Photonic Device Tools to achieve uniform display in AR/VR applications.
- Improvements to FullWAVE
- Material-based absorption monitors. Absorption monitors can now be tagged to calculate absorption in a specific material or a group of materials. The absorption by different materials comingled with each other can now be calculated in a single simulation.
- Efficient multi-dimensional domain cut for clustered FullWAVE. With a large number of cluster nodes, the multi-dimensional cut ensures a minimum cutting area, reduces the amount of transferred data, and maximizes computational efficiency. The initial test on a 72-nodes computer shows the speed increase is significant and the increase will be more for larger problems with more cluster nodes.
- New 3D index viewer. The new 3D index viewer allows you to dynamically view the index for any cut direction and cut position without having to regenerate the index profile. In addition, you can overlay the mesh with the structure as well as zoom into relevant sections.
- Material-based absorption monitors. Absorption monitors can now be tagged to calculate absorption in a specific material or a group of materials. The absorption by different materials comingled with each other can now be calculated in a single simulation.
For more information, please see the release notes on the Customer Support Portal.
Photonic System Tools
OptSim and ModeSYS
In today’s ever-shrinking product development cycles, rapid technological advances often pose a challenge to the need for shorter times-to-market. To help strike a balance between technology learning curves and rapid prototyping, the following new application notes are available in version 2020.09. The application notes enhance productivity with complete design files and documentation that serve as excellent starting points to manufacturable solutions.
- New application note: Polarization-Switched QPSK (PS-QPSK): Implementing a PS-QPSK (HEXA) Transmitter
Increasing traffic demands have pushed boundaries of spectral efficiency by way of moving from binary intensity modulation to multi-symbol phase modulation and using both polarization of the light source. As a result, various ways of encoding information in four-dimensional (4D) constellation have emerged. PS-QPSK is one of them. PS-QPSK was thought of as a fallback option for a PM-QPSK system where in case of any fault or degradation in PM-QPSK, the system can operate as PS-QPSK at 25% less capacity
Market: Long-haul fiber-optic telecom systems
- New application note: Time-of-Flight (ToF) Resolution and Measurement from Received RF Spectra in Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Applications
Swept frequency light source based time-of-flight (ToF) principles are used in LiDAR applications in automotive cruise control (ACC) and automotive collision avoidance systems (ACAS) as well as in swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT). The application note focuses on considerations for resolution sensitivity and measurement of time of flight from the detected radio-frequency (RF) spectral tones.
Markets: Sensors, Automotive
- New application note: 25GBASE-SR: Migration Path for 100m MMF Data Links from 10G/40G to 25G/100G over NRZ
25GBASE-SR is an IEEE Ethernet standard that provides an upgrade path from 10G/40G to 25G/100G migration in response to rapidly increasing bandwidth demand while still using cost-effective multimode fiber-based, NRZ transmission. The core idea is to use a single-lane with 25G NRZ direct modulation over OM-3 and OM-4 multimode fibers that can be scaled up with number of lanes when needed. The bandwidth-distance product can be further improved by use of Reed-Solomon Forward-Error Correction (RS FEC) coding technique.
Markets: Enterprise Data Centers and Cloud Environments
For more information, please see the release notes on the Customer Support Portal.
PIC Design Suite
OptSim Circuit
- Linear Time Invariant (LTI) solution for photonic circuits
The majority of elements in high-density photonic integrated circuits are linear, time-invariant passive components that can be completely described by their transfer matrix. Solving each of those models in time-domain can lead to time-consuming circuit simulation. The LTI circuit solution is a faster way of solving circuits with LTI components to obtain time-domain output.
- Enhancement to bidirectional multiport model
One of the most common uses of this model is to characterize a passive photonic device in terms of its S-Matrix. The model has been enhanced to accept a transfer matrix data file with advanced options such as choice of interpolation, phase wrapping, and wavelength grouping. The new format is called TranferMatrix5. The model maintains backward compatibility with previous transfer matrix data file formats.
- New application note: TW-MZM Active Photonic Isolator
Optical isolators help block unwanted optical signals and prevent undesired effects on photonic circuits. It is a challenge to design an isolator integrates easily with silicon and provides good isolation. Implementations using nonlinear optical elements come with undesired, power-related side effects, while some active isolator implementations haven’t successfully achieved higher degrees of isolation. In this application note, we demonstrate a design of an active isolator that uses traditional TW-MZM.
Market: Photonic Integrated Circuits
For more information, please see the release notes on the Customer Support Portal.