Silicon photonics : From research to industrial reality

From the middle of 1980s Silicon Photonics research has been carried out, leading in 30 years to the demonstration of all the basic building block mandatory for demonstrating optical interconnects. In parallel, the growth of the internet communications made mandatory the use of optical interconnects for much shorter range as usual, pushing the industry to develop lower cost technologies. In this presentation we will discuss why Silicon Photonics technology is the most promising solution for data communication market, what are the process, device and industrial technical challenges and discuss an integration technology roadmap for future evolutions.