NIST, AIM Photonics Partner on High-Frequency PICs

he National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has entered into a cooperative R&D agreement with AIM Photonics that will give chip developers a critical new tool for designing faster photonic integrated circuits (PICs). As part of the collaboration, NIST will design electrical “calibration structures” that can be used to measure and test the electronic performance of chips. This will result in improved designs and will accelerate the development of photonic chips faster than most current photonic chips, which typically operate at speeds up to 25 gigahertz (GHz). The calibration structures will be capable of measuring chips operating at speeds up to 110 GHz.