SC454 - Hands on: Silicon Photonics Design - Circuits
16 Mar 2026
08:30 - 12:30
Short Course Level
Advanced Beginner
Short Course Description
In this course, we start with circuit design in silicon photonics. As fabrication technology is steadily improving, it becomes possible to implement more complex functionality as a circuit. Circuits are an abstraction where the function is defined as a connected network of functional components, with signals travelling between them. In this course, we learn how to compose hierarchical circuits from libraries of basic building blocks, use parametric circuit models and simulation in both frequency domain and time domain, and eventually generate a circuit layout. We look into the effects of variability and imperfections on circuit performance using Monte-Carlo simulations, and learn how to design wavelength filter circuits based on Mach-Zehnder interferometers and arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG). During the four hours of the course, we recap some basic concepts of silicon photonics and learn about the fundamentals of circuit design approaches. You will also get familiar with the hands-on on-line learning environment based on Jupyter Python notebooks powered by Luceda Photonics’s IPKISS design tools. With these tools you can design and simulate different photonic circuits as if you would plan to fabricate them. You can use this environment during the course session and continue to use it freely for a few months after the conference. Through this course, the participants will become familiar with the overall design flow, and acquire an awareness of important do’s and don’t’s in photonic circuit design, especially in a high-contrast system such as silicon photonics. They will become familiar with circuit layout and simulation (time domain and wavelength domain) and the basics of integrated optical filter design. The course participants will also be able to access remotely a programmable photonic processor to implement wavelength filter designs experimentally. The emphasis of this course is on circuit design. Electromagnetic simulations (e.g. FDTD) will not be covered. Some basic background of how photonic chip building blocks work (waveguides, directional couplers, modulators, …) is useful, as we will use these components in our designs.
Short Course Benefits
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- Get a ‘big picture overview’ of Silicon Photonics
- Understand the difference between component design and circuit design
- Understand the typical photonic circuit design flow, from schematic capture to design rule
- checking
- Get hands-on experience designing and simulating small circuits
- Explore photonic filter circuits such as Mach-Zehnder interferometers, ring resonators and
- arrayed waveguide gratings.
- Model how fabrication variation can adversely affect the behavior of a circuit (and learn
- some tricks to compensate)
- Program basic passive photonic functionality in a programmable photonic processor.
Short Course Audience
The course is aimed at researchers and engineers who are starting in integrated photonics, or want to scale up from component design to a more circuit-like methodologies. Familiarity with basic concepts of photonic integrated circuits (waveguides, directional couplers, …) is definitely required. Also, as the hands-on design environment makes use of Python, a basic knowledge of Python scripting is desirable.