GXC achieves record-breaking Si ₃N ₄ waveguide performance of 0.4 dB/m.
Austin, TX (November 2nd, 2021– GXC has reached a new milestone in their innovative ultra-low-loss waveguides, producing photonic chips with optical propagation losses of 0.4 dB/m. The result gives GXC’s waveguides a propagation loss more than two orders of magnitude below that of traditional Si waveguides (~200 dB/m) and an order of magnitude below most other Si3N4 waveguides (3-10 dB/m). The result places GXC’s photonic platform on the bleeding edge of what has been demonstrated in academia or industry for waveguides of this size. GXC has already demonstrated wafer-to-wafer repeatability at this performance, and continues to qualify this process for their main product lines.
“Through continued refinement of our 90nm Si3N4 waveguide fabrication processes and design, we’re seeing significant propagation loss improvements on our SiNXC1TM photonic platform. We’re excited about the significant advantages this brings to our analog filter photonic IC, as we continue to push the envelope of what is possible.” – Brian Mattis | Sr. Director of Process Engineering
In the last year alone, the photonics team has reduced propagation losses from 3 dB/m to below 0.5 dB/m, enabling the phonic IC to provide more on-chip delay to support high-performance analog filters.
“We’re thrilled not just about the result, but also our ability to consistently deliver high performance waveguides,” said Taran Huffman, Senior Photonics Engineer at GXC. “We’re able to take this advancement and apply it to multiple photonic platforms and applications including true time delays and high-Q resonators.”
About GXC
GXC was founded in 2016 to commercialize years of research and development at the University of Texas at Austin around dynamic filtering and Radio Frequency (RF)-photonics systems. The company’s mission is to deliver limitless computing power, fast connectivity, and on-demand intelligence to every location on Earth. Its technologies strive to break through the limits of conventional microelectronics and signal processing technologies using micro photonics – delivering faster, smaller, lower powered intelligent devices connected by high-speed networks available everywhere.
