Laying the Foundation for UAE’s Advanced Communications Infrastructure

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

As a compliment to advanced transceiver technologies, silicon photonics supports the transfer of massive amounts of data with high energy-efficiency at a low cost across multiple distances. In photonics, data is transferred between and within devices by optical rays through optical fibers and waveguides instead of by copper wires, which enables more data to travel at much faster speeds and at significantly lower power consumption.

As the world becomes increasingly digitized, data centers – which house large clusters of data servers that store, process and disseminate data to computers and connected devices – must be equipped to store and transmit significantly more data without consuming an excessive amount of energy. In response to this need, MI’s Center of Excellence on Integrated Photonics was established to develop next-generation photonic technologies that will help keep the power consumption of data centers as low as possible while ensuring that data transmission is fast enough to support growing bandwidth demand of more than 40% per year.

“We are working to develop optical components that will enable a larger bandwidth in data centers, while consuming extremely low power,” explained Dr. Rasras.

Dr. Rasras’ team currently faces two challenges. One is increasing the amount of data that a single optical fiber can transmit from the current 100 gigabits per second to 400 gigabits per second to support data centers increased bandwidth demands. The second challenge is the problem of integrating photonic components together with electronic components, including silicon-based transistors, on a single integrated circuit.

Dr. Rasras believes the solution to these problems could lie in silicon photonics.

“In silicon photonic chips, optical components and silicon technology are combined on the same chip, allowing fast transfer and incredible bandwidth,” he explained. “Using silicon for the photonics elements allows them to be integrated with existing electronics, while also being more affordable.”

The associate professor also aims to increase bandwidth of silicon photonics by either bundling up to eight channels onto a single fiber, which will enable the required 400 gigabits of data to be transferred per second – a four-fold increase in bandwidth over current data rates – or by enabling few wavelengths to carry multiple channels.

Ultimately, the MI Center of Excellence on Integrated Photonics will work to improve the energy efficiency and speed of data transmission within data centers by advancing photonics-integrated electronic systems so that the people, cars, devices, and cities that rely on that data will be able to access it instantly.

Masdar Institute’s Experience

Masdar Institute is particularly well-suited to lead R&D for the advancement of RF transceivers and integrated photonic components in the UAE. Both of its centers of excellence build upon previous research conducted by Dr. Sanduleanu, Dr. Rasras and others through the Institute’s Center for Microsystems (iMicro).

For example, the ATIC-SRC Center of Excellence for Energy Efficient Electronic Systems (ACE4S), which was established at MI through a partnership between the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and Khalifa University has spearheaded important research in the area of sensors. Research conducted through that center included wireless communication, on-chip communication, low-power energy harvesting and sensing for medical applications.

Another center at Masdar Institute that helped support its most recent semiconductor research activities was the Mubadala-funded TwinLab Research Center for 3D Stacked Chips in collaboration with the Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden). In this center, researchers studied solutions to advance the energy-efficiency and performance of 3D integrated chips, through which important research findings were discovered that will be useful in the newly established Centers of Excellence. Earlier this year, a book on research conducted through the Center for 3D Stacked Chips, titled “3D Stacked Chips: From Emerging Processes to Heterogeneous Systems”, was published by Springer.

By leveraging its robust experience and expertise with microsystems research, and partnering with the region’s leading industry experts in the field, Masdar Institute is set to develop the innovative semiconductor technologies needed to achieve the UAE’s innovation goals.

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