PRESS RELEASE

13 March 2018

VPIphotonics and CST partner for design automation of integrated photonic circuits

San Diego, CA, US, March 13, 2018 – VPIphotonics and Computer  Simulation  Technology  GmbH  (CST),  part  of the SIMULIA Brand of Dassault Systèmes, announce their partnership to seamlessly couple full-wave photonic device simulation and overall circuit simulation and analysis of integrated photonic components and subsystems within a single framework at OFC 2018, booths 4513 and 6117.

Highly-integrated photonic circuits are on the rise, and this trend is expected to accelerate in the future. The design of complex circuits involves multiple steps, including analysis of the overall circuit simulation and performance, which requires  accurate  models  and  realistic  characteristics for each embedded element. These circuit elements are typically based on information from Photonics Design Kits (PDKs) provided by foundries. Often, full-wave photonic simulation is needed to extract accurate characteristics driving the more abstract element models on circuit-level or to study the temperature dependence of individual components being embedded in the integrated photonic circuit.

VPIphotonics Design Suite (VPI-DS)  delivers  advanced simulation of the photonic circuits including purely passive, active, or even hybrid subsystems and systems. CST STUDIO SUITE® performs highly accurate  full-wave  3D  photonic and multiphysics simulation. Linking both tools together enable engineers to combine these simulation capabilities within one single framework.
 
If a scattering matrix does not exist for a particular element configuration, for instance, VPI-DS will automatically create ready-to-run projects that can be simulated using CST® advanced solver technology, with methods including FIT/ FDTD, FEM, amongst others. Results from CST STUDIO SUITE are automatically communicated back to the waiting circuit  simulation  running  in  VPI-DS.  VPI-DS  ensures that  unnecessary  full-wave  recalculations  are  avoided by checking whether the characteristics of the particular element have already been calculated.
 
Alternative case studies and various design optimizations can be efficiently executed using the VPI-DS built-in parameter sweeps and optimizations as well as a sophisticated Python-based scripting environment.
 
“I am excited to see this link become available to our customers,” said Dr. Frank Scharf, Principal Applications Engineer at CST. “VPIphotonics Design Suite is  an  extremely powerful and versatile tool. The automated access to rigorous 3D simulation from within its leading circuit design environment allows the engineer to verify the compact model behavior for critical components, or to determine component behavior past the limits of existing compact models.”

“VPIphotonics is proud to integrate its best-in-class photonic circuit  simulation solutions with  CST  Studio  Suite,” said Dr. André Richter, General Manager of VPIphotonics. “This collaboration continues our strategy to provide practical and cost effective design methodologies that meet the needs of our joint customers and the photonics community as a whole.”

VPIphotonics and CST will be presenting the link between VPIphotonics Design Suite and CST STUDIO SUITE® at OFC at their booths #4513 and #6117.

ABOUT VPIphotonics
VPIphotonics™ sets the industry standard for end-to-end photonic design automation comprising design, analysis and optimization of components, systems and networks. We provide professional simulation software supporting requirements of optoelectronics, integrated photonics and fiber optics applications, optical transmission system and network applications, as well as cost-optimized equipment configuration. Our team of experts provides professional consulting services addressing customer-specific design, analysis and optimization requirements, and delivers training courses on adequate modeling techniques and advanced software capabilities.

VPIphotonics’ award-winning off-the-shelf and customized solutions are used extensively in research and development, and by product design and marketing teams at hundreds of corporations worldwide for 20+ years. Over 160 academic institutions joined our University Program enabling students, educators and researchers an easy access to VPIphotonics’ latest modeling and design innovations. www.vpiphotonics.com.

About CST- Computer Simulation Technology