CE-ECOM-6001 - Photonic Integrated Circuits 2: Sensor Design and Fabrication within the AIM Photonics Foundry

Course Description

This course will introduce you to the fabless design of silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) specific to photonic sensing applications. You’ll cover the design of various sensor devices and sensing modes, including micro-ring resonator and interferometer sensors for biological sensing via refractive index shift as well as waveguide spectroscopic sensors with integrated spectrometers for chemical detection through absorption spectroscopy.

Each module of this course begins with an introduction to the design principles and modeling protocols for each type of sensor. After this introduction, you’ll be walked through the process of designing the sensor chip using EPDA software from K-Layout and Lumerical. For each type of sensor covered in this course, you’ll discuss designing for performance, device modeling, mask layout based on PDK, and design for test and packaging.

Learner Outcomes

In this course, you’ll build a foundational understanding of silicon PICs. Before taking this course, we recommend that you:

Have a background and pre-existing knowledge of silicon photonics.
Complete Fabless Design of Photonic Integrated Circuits within the AIM Photonics Foundry.

Professional Objectives

Design Sensor Devices and Sensing Modes
Design micro-ring resonators, MZI sensors, and interferometer sensors for biological sensing via refractive index shift.
Understand Waveguide Spectroscopic Sensors
Learn about waveguide spectroscopic sensors with integrated spectrometers for chemical detection through absorption and Raman spectroscopy.
Optimize FDTD Simulations
Learn more about FDTD simulation optimization of the devices and S-matrix modeling of sensor PICs.