Tower Semiconductor and Coherent Demonstrate 400Gbps/lane Data Transmission with a Silicon Modulator in a Production-Ready Sipho Process

 The demonstration uses a silicon MZM without use of exotic materials targeting next-generation 3.2T optical transceivers

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ/TASE: TSEM), the leading foundry for high-value analog semiconductor solutions and Coherent Corp. (NYSE: COHR), a global leader in photonics, today announced a breakthrough demonstration of 400 Gbps/lane data transmission using a silicon modulator built in a production-ready silicon photonics (SiPho) process. This achievement targets next-generation 3.2T optical transceivers and extends the capabilities of silicon for pluggable transceivers and Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) in datacenter connections.

Details of the modulator were presented last week at OFC. The demonstration showed a clear open eye at 420 Gb/s PAM4, and utilized Coherent’s InP CW high power laser. The performance milestone was enabled by the strong collaboration between Coherent’s advanced design expertise and Tower Semiconductor’s industry-leading SiPho platform.

The Optical transceiver market continues to outpace prior projections and next-generation bandwidth is required to continue the exponential growth in AI infrastructure.

“We strongly value the partnership with Coherent and are very excited about this breakthrough,” said Russell Ellwanger, CEO of Tower Semiconductor. “The result can extend the use of silicon for another generation of transceivers, re-utilizing the large multi-fab capacity investments we continue to make while we proceed with our work on more advanced material systems for next-generations”.

“We are pleased to partner with Tower Semiconductor on Silicon Photonics Platforms,” said Jim Anderson, CEO of Coherent. “Together with Tower Semiconductor, we are advancing high-performance optical interconnects for AI-driven data centers.”

For additional information about Tower Semiconductor’s SiPho technology platform, visit here.