Integrated Optical Devices May 2018 Integrated Optical Devices 2017 a good year for Silicon Photonics, a fantastic year for integrated InP and GaAs optics Source: Luxtera with text added by LightCounting Credit. Copyright 2018 Lightcounting www.lightcounting.com
Table of Contents List of Figures... 4 Abstract:... 7 Executive Summary... 8 Defining integration... 8 Market size for discrete and integrated optical transceivers... 9 Market segmentation by technology... 11 Chapter 1: Setting the right expectations, tracking progress and charting the future of integrated optical devices.... 14 Optical Processors... 14 Optical switches... 16 Optical transceivers... 17 Optical Cables and Interconnects... 19 Monolithic integration of optics with electronics... 22 Hybrid integration and co-packaging... 24 The long term promise of silicon photonics... 29 Chapter 2: Indium Phosphide-based Products and Technologies... 32 Main applications and market segments... 32 Technology and Manufacturing... 34 Integrated DWDM products... 37 Integrated Ethernet Products... 42 Integrated FTTx products... 43 Market Forecast for discrete and integrated InP products... 45 Chapter 3: Gallium Arsenide... 50 Main applications and market segments... 50 Technology and Manufacturing... 52 2
Integrated VCSEL products... 53 Market Forecast for discrete and integrated GaAs products... 55 Chapter 4: SiP technology, products and markets... 60 SiP technology... 61 SiP products for Ethernet and AOC/EOM applications... 64 SiP-based DWDM products... 66 The bottom line... 70 Chapter 5: Is Silicon Photonics a disruptive technology?... 72 Counterbalancing of the marketing machine... 73 Disrupting design and manufacturing practices.... 74 Does a technology need to be disruptive in order to be successful commercially?... 75 Continuing investment in SiP and other integration technologies.... 76 Appendix A: Profiles of selected vendors.... 79 Ayar Labs... 79 ColorChip (http://color-chip.com)... 80 Dust Photonics... 81 Effect Photonics... 82 Kaiam (http://www.kaiam.com)... 82 Luxtera (http://www.luxtera.com)... 83 Ranovus (http://ranovus.com)... 83 Roshmere, Inc.... 84 Rockley Photonics (http://rockleyphotonics.com)... 86 Sicoya (http://sicoya.com )... 86 Skorpios (http://www.skorpiosinc.com)... 87 3
List of Figures Figure E-1: Shipments and Sales of optical transceivers based on discrete and integrated optical components... 7 Figure E-2: Sales of integrated products sorted by scale or complexity of integration.... 8 Figure E-3: Shipments and Sales of optical transceivers segmented by technology... 9 Figure 1-1: Artistic illustration of an all-optical processor... 13 Figure 1-2: Optical logic element in the Ising machine chip... 13 Figure 1-3: Switching ASIC combined with 2D VCSEL and detector arrays.... 15 Figure 1-4: Shipments of Optical Transceivers by Market Segment... 17 Figure 1-6: AOCs vs. DACs in Infiniband, Ethernet and Consumer applications.... 19 Figure 1-7: Annual shipments of Active Optical Cables (AOCs) and Embedded Optical Modules (EOMs).... 20 Figure 1-8: Blade from Oracle Infiniband switch, showing EOMs around switch ASIC... 21 Figure 1-9: 40 Gbps optical transceiver on a single CMOS chip... 22 Figure 1-10: 100G PSM4 CMOS wafer bonded transceiver chip... 23 Figure 1-11: 100G PSM4 transceiver integrated on a single BiCMOS chip.... 23 Figure 1-12: The electro-optic system on a chip.... 25 Figure 2-1: Optical transceiver market by technology... 26 Figure 2-2: Shipments and Sales of InP-based optical transceivers (discrete and integrated combined) by market segment... 27 Figure 2-3: Design of a Directly Modulated Laser (DML) chip... 28 Figure 2-4: Design of an Electro-absorption Modulated Laser (EML) chip... 29 Figure 2-5: Illustration of InP laser manufacturing process... 30 Figure 2-6: Illustration of the eye-diagram test performed by an engineer... 31 Figure 2-7: Schematic and photo of an integrated 500G PM-DQPSK transmitter chip... 32 Figure 2-8: Infinite Capacity Engine by Infinera... 33 4
Figure 2-9: Size and cost reduction of 10G DWDM transceivers... 34 Figure 2-10: InP Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulator co-packages with a tunable laser. Close-up image of MZ modulator chip.... 35 Figure 2-11: EA and MZ modulators integrated with tunable lasers... 35 Figure 2-12: Designs of 4x25G laser optical sub-assembly (OSA) for 100GbE transceiver... 37 Figure 2-13: Schematic of bidirectional optical sub-assembly (BOSA).... 37 Figure 2-14: FTTx products developed by Xponent.... 38 Figure 2-15: Photo and functional diagram of an InP chips developed by OneChip.... 39 Figure 2-16: Shipments and Sales of InP-based discrete and integrated optical transceivers... 40 40 Figure 2-17: Shipments and Sales of InP-based discrete products by market segment... 41 Figure 2-18: Shipments and Sales of In-P integrated products by market segment... 42 Figure 3-1: Sales of GaAs, InP and Silicon Photonics based transceivers... 43 Figure 3-2: Shipments and Sales of GaAs products (discrete and integrated combined) by market segments... 44 Figure 3-3: Design of a VCSEL chip... 45 Figure 3-4: Photo of a 4x25G VCSEL array chip (0.4x1mm in size)... 46 Figure 3-5: Examples of 12X25G VCSEL array products. TE Connectivity Coolbit Optical Engine and Finisar 25G BOA (board-mounted optical assembly)... 47 Figure 3-6: Compass EOS Optically-Enabled ASIC (schematic and photo)... 48 Figure 3-7: Shipments and Sales of GaAs-based discrete and integrated optical transceivers... 49 Figure 3-8: Shipments and Sales of GaAs-based discrete products by market segment... 50 Figure 3-9: Shipments and Sales of GaAs-based integrated products by market segment... 51 Figure 4-1: Sales of optical transceivers based on SiP technology.... 54 Figure 4-2: SiP-based optical elements: couplers, detectors, waveguides and modulators... 54 Figure 4-3: SiP optical engine based on a grating coupler... 55 Figure 4-4: Basic design of a SiP modulator... 56 5
Figure 4-5: PAM4 MX modulator design and PAM4 eye diagram... 56 Figure 4-6: Germanium Franz-Keldysh modulator and Germanium detector... 57 Figure 4-7: Design of SiP-based PSM4 optical transceivers... 57 Figure 4-8: Design of SiP-based CWDM4 optical transceivers... 58 Figure 4-9: Sales of 40GbE, 100GbE, 200GbE and 400GbE optical transceivers by technology... 59 Figure 4-10: Design and performance of QAM-16 SiP modulator... 60 Figure 4-11: Design of 100G DWDM CFP transponder... 60 Figure 4-2: Design and Photo of Acacia s coherent PIC... 61 Figure 4-13: Sales of 100G/200G/400G DWDM transponders by technology... 61 Figure 4-14: Shipments and Sales of Silicon Photonics products by market segment... 62 Figure 5-1: Impact of disruptive technologies on product performance and markets... 63 Figure 5-2: Illustration of changes in profitability during product lifecycle.... 66 Figure 5-3: Infinera s product sales... 68 Table 5-1: Summary of start-up funding and acquisitions.... 68 Figure A-1: Illustration of SystemOnGlass technology used for CWDM4 transceivers... 70 Figure A-2: DWDM transmitter designed by Ranovus... 72 6
Abstract: The potential impact of photonic integration on the optical communications market has captivated the imagination of the industry for the last two decades. Recent successes by vendors in developing products using Silicon photonics (SiP) integration technology has led to several mergers and high-value acquisitions in 2012-2016. Sales of SiP-based products started to ramp 2014-2016 and reached close to $800 million in 2017 up by 22% from 2016. However, sales of optical transceivers based in integrated InP optics increased even faster (up 34%) in 2017, exceeding $2.7 billion. It is clear by now that optical integration technologies, including SiP, are having a very significant impact on the market. The question is whether SiP can replace more mature Indium Phosphide (InP) and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) technologies, which dominated the market over the last decade and already enable a variety of integrated products. Can SiP technology reduce manufacturing cost of optics or redefine business models of suppliers? Can it enable new functionality or reduce power consumption of optical connectivity by more than a factor of 10? These and many other questions are addressed in this study. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the impact made by integration on the market for optical transceivers and related components in 2010-2017. It also presents a forecast for shipments and sales of discrete and integrated products based on InP, GaAs and SiP technologies for 2018-2023. The forecast is segmented by main applications, including Ethernet, WDM, Active Optical Cables (AOCs) and Embedded Optical Modules (EOMs) and a few others. Products are sorted by data rate, reach, and form factor into more than 150 categories. 7
Executive Summary Many in the industry have predicted that Silicon Photonics (SiP) will enable inexpensive, massproduced optical connectivity, radically changing the optical components and modules industry. Our analysis suggests this will not happen in the next 3-5 years, but also concludes that SiP technology may prove to be disruptive in the next 10-20 years. Integration of SiP-based optical connectivity with electronic ASICs, optical switching and possibly new quantum computing devices could open a wide new frontier for innovation. Sales of SiP-based optical transceivers reached almost $800 million in 2017, a 22% increase from the previous year. The technology had its greatest success in 100GbE and 100/200G DWDM applications, as Acacia, Inphi, Intel and Luxtera continued to ramp production volumes. Huawei started manufacturing SiP DWDM optics and Cisco continues to sell SiP-based 100GbE CPAK modules. Progress made in SiP accelerated innovation in the more established InP and GaAs manufacturing platforms as well. Sales of integrated InP and GaAs products increased by 34% and 18%, reaching $2.74 billion and $566 million, respectively. Competition between these technologies will be fierce in the next 5 years. There is not a single SiP-based product that does not have an alternative made using InP and GaAs optics. Contrary to expectations for an abrupt market disruption, our analysis suggests that SiP technology will gradually gain market share and sales of these products will exceed $2.4 billion by 2023, accounting for 20% of the global optical transceiver market. SiP technology may help to reduce manufacturing cost and optimize business models, but other technologies can deliver similar improvements. A real disruption in the market can happen in the next 10-20 years, if SiP integration enables a drastic reduction in power consumption of systems combining high speed processors and switching ASICs with high bandwidth connectivity all based on CMOS technology. Mega datacenters are examples of such systems today, but there will be future systems which won t be even implemented, unless the industry finds a path to 100x improvements in power consumption. Defining integration The scale of optical integration varies from combining just two functions to much more complex photonic integrated circuits (PICs). For the purpose of this report, we use the broadest definition of integration, including hybrid and monolithic approaches. Any product which combines more than one key functional element, such as a laser, modulator or detector, on the same chip or Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC), is considered integrated. For simplicity, we do not consider lenses, filters, and isolators as key functional elements in this report. We sort the integrated products into three categories: 2x, 4x and Large Scale (LS) integration: 8
An electro-absorption modulated laser (EML) is an example of a 2x integrated product, as it combines two functions or elements (a laser and a modulator) on the same chip. A 100GbE (4x25G) QSFP28 optical transceiver, which typically includes four laser chips integrated with a PLC is a good example of 4x integrated product. In contrast, 100GbE (4x25) CFP modules, which are usually assembled of pre-packaged lasers and detectors, are not considered as integrated. Some manufacturers may use pre-packaged lasers to manufacture QSFP28 modules, but we have ignored these cases to simplify the analysis. A 100G DWDM CFP SiP-based transponder, combining many more than four functions on the same chip, is defined as a LS (for large scale ) integrated module. A 12x10G CXP transceiver or an AOC are other examples of LS integration. Discrete optics, by our definition, includes optical transceivers comprised of pre-packaged lasers and photodiodes. The majority of FTTx transceivers or BOSAs, and 100GbE CFP modules are examples of products defined as discrete in this report. In order to estimate the impact made by integration technologies in terms of product sales, we look at the market for optical transceivers, rather than laser chips, packaged transmitters or detectors. This allows us to use a consistent set of pricing data collected by LightCounting for the last 15 years. In some cases, this approach may overestimate the impact of integration on the market. For example, 100G DWDM transponders include a variety of other components in addition to integrated InP or SiP modulators, which account for a relatively small fraction of the total module cost. The market data does not account for InP integrated products made by Infinera, as these are not made as transponders, but it does include SiP-based CPAK modules made by Cisco. Despite these challenges, the presented approach offers a self-consistent analysis of the market for tracking advancements made by optical integration technologies. Market size for discrete and integrated optical transceivers LightCounting previously reported that most optical transceivers are still assembled from discrete optical components despite all the advances made in optical integration technologies. The top chart in Figure E-1 supports this statement by showing only a very modest contribution from integrated products to the total market in terms of unit shipments. The bottom chart in Figure E- 1 tells a very different story by comparing the contribution of discrete and integrated products in terms of revenue. The contrast between two charts in Figure E-1 is striking. Only 7% of optical transceivers shipped in 2017 used integrated optical devices. However, these products accounted for 66% of total sales or close to $4.1 billion. By 2023, the share of integrated products is projected to increase to 23% of unit shipments and 80% of sales. 9
Figure E-1: Shipments and Sales of optical transceivers based on discrete and integrated optical components Shipments (units) 200,000,000 150,000,000 100,000,000 50,000,000 Discrete Integrated total Sales ($ million) - $10,000 $8,000 $6,000 $4,000 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Discrete Integrated total $2,000 $- 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Source: LightCounting This rapid transition is directly related to increasing sales of 100 Gbps products, which rely heavily on integrated optical technologies. Whether it is a coherent DWDM module or a client-side 4x25G QSFP28 transceiver, integrated optics is a key technology enabling these products to meet price and performance requirements. The trend is clear: more complex, higher data rate products require more integration. Demand for higher density of optical ports, lower cost and power consumption elevates optical integration to a must-have technology. Data presented in Figure E-2 sorts sales of integrated product by scale and complexity of integration. It clearly shows that the share of Large Scale (LS) integrated products, combining more than four functions or elements, will increase sharply over the forecast period. This reflects an increasing demand for 100G-600G products in DWDM, Ethernet and AOC-EOM market segments. 10