Page 56 - EE Times Europe November 2021 final

56 EE|Times EUROPE

Silicon Photonics Sticks Its Head Above the Parapet

projected US$478 million share of a total silicon
photonic die market valued at US$1.1 billion. By
2035, the silicon photonics market could grow
further, bolstered by a large contribution from
consumer health care. 1
On the more distant horizon, the use of
integrated photonics in computing could
pave the way for the realization of an optical
quantum computer. For example, American
company PsiQuantum recently announced
that it would introduce a quantum computer
based on integrated optics technology before
2030. The computing performance could accel-
erate drug development, optimize research
in solid-state batteries, and yield lighter and
stronger materials for airplanes, for example.
It took almost 20 years (Luxtera was
founded in 2001) for silicon photonics to
evolve from a technology reserved for niche
markets, such as high-performance comput-
ing or military applications, to an accessible
technology for higher-volume markets,
Rockley today is well-positioned to pursue business combination with SC Health. including consumer. ■
health and wellness solutions for the next Biosensing applications in smartwatches
generation of consumer wearables and today fuel the silicon photonics market. The REFERENCE
medical devices. The company completed a smartwatch market is in the 100-million– 1 Yole Développement, “Silicon Photonics 2021”
merger with SC Health on Aug. 11, 2021, and unit range today. Yole forecasts that silicon report. Retrieved from bit.ly/3AXcoqd.
commenced trading on the NYSE (under the photonics devices for biosensing applications
ticker symbol RKLY). Rockley has increased its in smartwatches could amount to 20+ million Eric Mounier is director of market research
cash position to US$145.5 million, which will units per year by 2026. and Alexis Debray is senior analyst of
fund the continued development of integrated By 2026, almost half of the silicon photonic emerging technologies, both at Yole
photonics solutions following the company’s die market could be for consumer health, with a Développement (Yole).

PHOTONICS
Semiconductor Lasers: Innovations,

Applications, and Directions

By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio

ince their invention in the 1960s, lasers have found application in vir-
tually every sector, including industrial, scientific, consumer, medical,
and defense. Laser technologies have proliferated along with the tradi-
Stional and emerging applications that have adopted them. A sampling
of the available technologies includes diode, fiber, diode-pumped solid-state,
CO , and excimer lasers, and laser applications include material processing,
2
optical communications, automobile front illumination, medical surgery, and Martin Vallo Pierrick Boulay
3D sensing, to name a few.
Semiconductor lasers are quantum gen- EE Times Europe reached out to analysts technology and market analyst, Solid-State
erators based on an active gain medium of at Yole Développement for insight into the Lighting, and Pierrick Boulay, senior
single-crystal semiconductor material. Opti- main semiconductor laser technologies being technology and market analyst, Solid-State
cal amplification is created via stimulated deployed for 3D sensing: edge- Lighting, follow.
emission at the transition between quantum emitting lasers (EELs) and vertical-cavity The EEL is a well-established technology
energy levels at a high concentration of free surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). Highlights that has been in use for decades. Light is
charge carriers in the conduction gap. of our exchanges with Yole’s Martin Vallo, emitted at the semiconductor chip’s edges,

NOVEMBER 2021 | www.eetimes.eu