Grant: Idea to Innovation

With the advent of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, silicon photonics (""SiP"": light-based systems fabricated on a silicon chip) is opening the way in the microelectronics industry to the fabrication of reliable, compact and low-cost photonics devices for the telecom industry. A wide range of functions can be implemented on SOI with very high levels of performance. However, adoption of an efficient yet low-cost technology for coupling input/output light carried by optical fibres to/from photonics chips remains one of the biggest obstacles to large-scale market adoption of SiP products. The present project aims to address this need by completing the development of a cost-effective and efficient technology for coupling light between optical fibres and SiP chips. This technology has been developed at the Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS) and protected by a PCT patent application. First-generation devices exhibit very promising results. This I2I proposal aims to complete the development by optimizing the microfabrication process using industry-compatible methods and demonstrating how the technology meets or surpasses the requirements set by the telecommunications industry for mass-production and market acceptance.Our work has already attracted the interest of a Quebec-based company, the outcome of this project thus has strong potential benefits for Canada.