- DustPhotonics has a silicon photonics modulator capable of 200 gigabits per lane
- The start-up also has developed a precision laser-attach scheme
DustPhotonics’s office view
Ronnen Lovinger waves as he approaches the local train station. DustPhotonics’ CEO is taking me to the company’s offices on the outskirts of Modi’in, halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The site has a striking view of a landscape also halfway between Israel’s flat coastal plain and the steep hills of Jerusalem.
Lovinger has been CEO of DustPhotonics since 2021. Before that, he was chief operating officer (COO) at Innoviz Technologies, joining the lidar firm after 18 years at Mellanox, now part of Nvidia.
Strategic pivot
DustPhotonics was founded in 2017 and has a staff of 46, 30 being R&D engineers.
The company began by developing multi-mode short-reach, up to 100m, optical transceivers and cables, first at 100 gigabits and then at 400 gigabits.
The start-up also made a single-mode transceiver using discrete components. The company planned to develop an integrated version using silicon photonics, a programme it started in 2018.
DustPhotonics gained a significant design win for its multi-mode transceiver with a customer who was to also act as its channel to market. DustPhotonics then spent two years investing in a high-volume production line in Thailand.
But the anticipated high-volume orders failed to materialise. “After those two years, we shipped 1,000s, not 100,000s of units,” says Lovinger. “It wasn’t the customer’s fault; the market where we had differentiation changed.”
Ronnen Lovinger (L) and Yoel Chetrit.
DustPhotonics was forced to change tack. Instead of making modules, it decided to use its silicon photonics expertise to make optical engines.
“Silicon photonics is a very flexible platform, and you can integrate different technologies as well,” says Yoel Chetrit, CTO and vice president of R&D at DustPhotonics. “This gives us a roadmap that is not limited by the standard bandwidth restriction.”
Now the start-up has a 400-gigabit DR4 optical engine, dubbed Carmel, whose qualification is expected to be completed this month. Two DR4 engines enable an 800-gigabit DR8 that fits in an OSFP module.
Lovinger says that at the upcoming OFC show, to be held in March, the company will provide details to customers about the Carmel 8, a single-chip optical engine for 800G DR8 that is small enough to fit within a QSFP-DD module.
DustPhotonics also offers design services. The company it chooses only those projects that promise new markets and customers.
DustPhotonics’s chairman is Avigdor Willenz, a noted Israeli entrepreneur who founded Galileo Technology, was acquired by Marvell, and was chairman of such firms as Annapurna Labs, bought by Amazon, and AI chip company, Habana Labs, bought by Intel.
“He has been in the networking industry for over 30 years,” says Lovinger. “He knows how the architecture of the data centre looks now and how it will be in the future.”
Willenz also has contacts at key large companies and the hyperscalers. “He gets DustPhotonics a foot in the door,” says Lovinger.
1.6 terabit direct-detect modules
DustPhotonics is competing with much larger photonics players that have silicon photonics and indium-phosphide and can make their lasers. These players also sell optical transceivers.
Lovinger stresses that DustPhotonics has its strengths.
“Silicon photonics is a very difficult technology; the bar is very high in the expertise you need,” he says. “Many [firms] are trying, but it is difficult to get there.”
The company has developed a precision laser-attach scheme to the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that has a sub-micron accuracy. The scheme results in the efficient coupling of light to the PIC. The company uses standard off-the-shelf continuous-wave lasers operating at 1310nm.
The efficiency of the laser attach scheme means two lasers can power an eight-channel design, reducing cost and overall power consumption, says Chetrit.
The company also has a highly stable silicon-photonics modulator that does not need to be temperature controlled and will operate at 200 gigabits per lane.
There is an ongoing industry debate as to whether direct-detect designs can meet all the reaches - 500m, 2km, and 10km - for next-generation 1.6-terabit (8x200Gbps) optical modules. If not, coherent optics will be needed.
“[Achieving] The 2km reach is really a challenge of power and the quality of the modulation,” says Chetrit. DustPhotonics says its direct-detect optical engines will support 1.6-terabit optical modules with a 2km reach.
At last year’s OFC (2022), hyperscalers wondered whether a ‘coherent-light’ design would be needed, says Lovinger: “But things have changed this year; 200 gigabit-per-lane direct detect will happen.”
Two hyperscalers have told DustPhotonics that if it can do this, it will be a game-changer.
“We looked at direct detect versus coherent, and there is no question, going to coherent is just too expensive and too power-hungry,” says Lovinger, adding that using coherent would double costs.
Status
DustPhotonics’ optical engines will be targeted at two markets. One is for pluggable module makers; the other is to supply physical layer (PHY) chip companies that also want optical engines to expand their product portfolio offerings.
The company also offers design capabilities, from photonic elements to complete products. “We don’t call ourselves an [optical] ASIC company, but it may be a similar model,” says Lovinger.
The meeting ends with a quick tour of DustPhotonics’ labs. It is here that R&D takes place, and the lab can sample build up to 1,000 optical engine products a month.
DustPhotonics recently chose Fabrinet as the outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) company. It will do the wafer dicing, burn-in, testing and packaging which will allow for production volumes much higher than in the DustPhotonics lab.
DustPhotonics’ labs
Tower Semiconductor is the silicon photonics foundry DustPhotonics is using.
“When we selected them, Tower had a mature PDK (process design kit), a very flexible process we can work with,” says Chetrit.
The industrial park where DustPhotonics is located is relatively quiet while down the road there is a much busier one. But DustPhotonics chose this one, says Lovinger, and the staff like it here. This is understandable, seeing the views from the elevated office terrace.
Lovinger then drives me to the station in time for my train to Tel Aviv and beyond.