Hydrodynamic characterisation of micro-gaps and microchannels for the thermal control of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs)

摘要

The Thermally Integrated Smart Photonics System project (TIPS) is a European-funded collaboration with an overall objective to develop and demonstrate a scalable, thermally enabled 3D integrated optoelectronic platform that can meet the predicted future explosion in communications data traffic. Global mobile data traffic grew by 74% during 2015 [1], and the current network infrastructure is struggling to sustain traffic increases. With millions of new devices connecting to the network yearly, and high definition video streaming services continuing to dominate internet traffic, contemporary Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) have reached a thermal limit, which is impeding large-scale silicon-based system-on-a-chip-integration [2]. Within the overall scope of this project, micro-thermoelectric coolers (μTECs) and micro-fluidics (μFluidics) will be integrated with optoelectronic devices (such as lasers), in order to control device operating temperatures and wavelengths [2]. The aim of such a system is to enable large-scale deployment of highly functional PICs with greater component densities that are cost effective, for communication platforms involving high-bandwidths. The significant outcome of this research will be the realisation of a demonstrator to achieve thermal control of a representative photonic device.