IEEE Photonics Society Boston Chapter

Mr. Dan Pulver MIT Lincoln Laboratory Dr. Dave Kharas MIT Lincoln LaboratoryMIT Lincoln Laboratory Microelectronics Laboratory: MIT Lincoln Laboratory operates the US Government’s most capable 200mm wafer fabrication prototyping facility, with unique capabilities to develop and deliver complex integrated circuits in a wide range of technologies including digital silicon with extreme environment variants, superconducting digital and quantum, integrated photonics across wavelengths from near UV to IR, image sensing in visible and near IR, and micromechanical systems. Our investment in process capabilities feature projection lithography platforms at 193nm, 248nm, and 365nm exposure wavelengths along with maskless laser and electron beam lithography systems. We mix and match lithography platforms on jobs to combine fine features along with thick films for design flexibility, and we can stitch our large projection fields within and across platforms to provide very large format devices. We detect and manage defects at the unit process levels and have patterned defect detection from high speed automated optical inspection. This allows us to yield complex integrated circuit prototypes for national security applications that no other US non-commercial facility can. Integrated Photonics Platforms for Classical and Quantum Applications: Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) are seeing widespread adoption in the datacom industry; these PICs leverage silicon (Si) waveguides operating at near-infrared wavelengths (1300-1600 nm) and at low optical powers where Si is transparent. However, for photonic applications outside of telecom, including microwave photonics, lidar - requiring higher optical power, and atomic quantum systems - where required wavelengths span near UV to IR, PICs based on silicon-nitride (SiN) or aluminum-oxide (Al203 ) waveguides are used. Additionally, the PIC functionality enabled by combining the best-of-breed active devices and materials (e.g., lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), lithium niobate modulators, photodetectors) typically fabricated in non-CMOS material systems, with our PIC is highly desired. In this talk we’ll present an overview of the various PIC platforms being fabricated at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, describing our available waveguide materials, photonic components, and our Photonic Multi-Chip-Module platform (P-MCMs) that enable both flip chip and surface film hybridization of active materials.Dan Pulver has wafer fabrication facility and operations management roles across academia, national laboratories, and low volume manufacturing for 4 decades. He has led facilities doing early stage research at RPI, prototyping at Draper Laboratory and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and managed production operations for telecom laser production and high power LEDs in Massachusetts. He is currently the group leader managing operations of our 200mm wafer fabrication facility within Lincoln Laboratory’s Advanced Technology Division. Dr. Dave Kharas is a member of the technical staff at MIT LL’s Integrated RF and Photonics Group. Dr. Kharas leads the Photonics Team’s device fabrication activities across a number of technology platforms including silicon and nitride PICs, hybrid integration of III-V components, MEMS, and Microfluidic devices. Prior to joining Lincoln Labs, Dr. Kharas led the AlInGaP Technology Group at Philips Lumileds, developing and transferring to production two generations of Vertical Thin Film AlInGaP red LEDs for automotive applications. His 25 years of industry experience encompasses microfabrication development in both compound and silicon based systems, including GaAs based HBTs and HEMTs at Anadigcs, CMOS and InP photonic integration at Sarnoff, and MEMS fabrication at Sarcon, Apogee, and Standard MEMS. Dr. Kharas holds Ph.D. and MS degrees in Materials Science from SUNY Stony Brook, and a BS in Applied Physics from UMASS Lowell.Register for this event.