Additional comments:
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Ten considerations related to Nubis Communications’ recent demonstration (please see: https://lnkd.in/e6r3KJeU) are as follows:
1) the form factor comes across as inelegant in contrast to edge coupled devices and how they fit into transceivers;
2) the positive take is that the photonic integrated circuit’s cost size is a very significant feature, and so launching off the surface results in the PIC being smaller than EC;
3) there is always the danger of the Bell Labs experience of top-level execs at Nubis reverting to the pursuit of technological genius overriding the importance of human reluctance to change (please see: https://lnkd.in/e8bFiXC2) – such as perhaps inadequate attention to the expectation of the optics becoming truly hot in the demo;
4) in connecting points two and three, the ultimate success of novel packaging solutions will be dependent on the adoption by a large customer, resulting in the merchant vendors constructing their manufacturing equipment to make a cost-effective offering – and so, inventive technology takes a backseat to the supply chain process;
5) a critical element overlooked by startups/silicon photonics proponents (please see: https://lnkd.in/e4GkDHGF) is that the realization of a high-volume solution depends on spreading out substantial amounts of margin across the link;
6) not everybody in the marketplace is convinced that there is a sufficiently large demand for PCIe-6 optics, in that copper wires perform satisfactorily in most situations;
7) Nubis taped out both ring-resonator modulators and silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators, employing Imec;
8) Lumentum provided the external laser source for the demo;
9) Alphawave Semi’s participation here may have broader implications for itself in China; and
10) Tektronix’s involvement is about strengthening its position in the optics space.
