In partnership with the SiEPIC Program and our professors from UBC, Laval, Toronto, McGill and Queen’s Universities, along with FABrIC — a project funded by the Government of Canada and managed by CMC Microsystems, CMC is offering this legendary Silicon photonics workshop again at Queen’s University, Kingston.
This in-person workshop will teach participants how to design, simulate, fabricate, and test photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The participants’ designs will be fabricated using AMF Si Photonics technology, available through CMC Microsystems.
Siemens, Lumerical (now part of the ANSYS family), and Luceda support this course by providing access arrangements to their tools and services for participants (more information below).
A collocated NUCLEUS symposium — Bridging Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing with Photonics, will be held June 6, 2025.
Important Notes:
- You will be required to complete two export control questionnaires for chip fabrication. Contact Sarah Neville (Neville@cmc.ca) to get a copy of the questionnaires.
- To obtain access to confidential technology information provided during the course, your organization is required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with CMC Microsystems. Please contact Jennifer Draper (Jennifer.Draper@cmc.ca) to facilitate the NDA execution process prior to May 15, 2025.
- Workshop participants will have access to other proprietary and confidential information during the course, each participant is required to sign an Access to Intellectual Property & Non-Disclosure Agreement. Participants should submit a signed agreement to Sarah Neville (Neville@cmc.ca) prior to May 31, 2025.
Pre-Requisites
Completion of the Workshop: Passive Silicon Photonics Fabrication 2024, experience with PIC design, or permission from the instructors.
Schedule
| Date | Time | Location |
| June 5 to 11, 2025 (Break on Sunday June 8) | 9:00 am to 6:00 pm ET | Queen’s University, Kingston Classroom TBD |
| June 6, 2025: Symposium | 9:00 am to 6:00 pm ET | Queen’s University, Kingston Venue TBD |
Registration Options
Workshop and AMF Fabrication
The registration fee includes:
- Year-long training in active silicon photonics device and circuit design, fabrication, and testing,
- Five-day in-person workshop,
- Three-month license to CAD/simulation tools[1],
- Chip fabrication areas[2] on the AMF fabrication run aggregated by CMC
- Year-long access to the SiEPIC learning repository
- CMC engineering support until the tape-out.
- The collocated NUCLEUS symposium – Bridging Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing with Photonics, June 6, 2025.
Students from Canadian Universities can earn credits[3] by registering and completing the graduate courses offered by:
Notes:
- Siemens license imposes access restrictions on non-academic participants. Lumerical license may impose access restrictions on non-Canadian participants. Contact Jessica Zhang for updates and details.
- The registration fee covers a 3-square-millimeter design area. Participants can increase design space, subject to its availability, by paying to fab at the list price. Contact Jessica Zhang for details.
- Students from the universities in Quebec and Ontario can be credited by applying for the graduate exchange program at Laval University (contact professor Shi at wei.shi@gel.ulaval.ca) and Queen’s University (contact professor Shastri at shastri@queensu.ca), respectively. Students from universities in BC and Alberta can be credited by the Western Deans Agreement.
Workshop Only
The registration fee includes:
- Five-day in-person workshop,
- Three-month license to CAD/simulation tools, and
- The collocated NUCLEUS symposium – Bridging Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing with Photonics, June 6, 2025.
Chip fabrication is not included.
Training Schedule
- Online pre-recorded video lectures, modules, tutorials, and activities (passives, introduction to actives). The material will be available throughout the year. The link to the material will be provided after the registration is confirmed.
- In-person workshop and symposium: June 5 to 11, 2025
- Design, simulation, and mask layout: June to October 2025
- Access to software tools, tutorials, and online discussion forums
- Design feedback from CMC and instructors
- AMF design proposal deadline: October 6, 2025
- AMF design submission (layout deadline): October 20, 2025
- AMF chip shipment date: May 2026
- Chip testing and model validation: May and July 2026
- Final report: July 2026
Technology Description
AMF Technology
- Silicon-on-insulator, 220-nm top Si film, 3000-nm buried oxide (BOX)
- 193-nm DUV lithography, enabling features down to 120 nm
- Supports design and fabrication of a range of components and systems consisting of:
- modulators
- detectors
- waveguides (strip or ridge)
- gratings for fibre coupling
- deep trench and nano-tapers for edge coupling
- multiplexers (diffraction or arrayed waveguide) and filters (resonators, Bragg gratings)
- ring and disk resonators
- Fabrication is carried out at AMF in Singapore.
Course Details
Instruction Syllabus Summary
- Fabrication processes and design kits
- Device modelling (detectors, modulators, rings, MZI, PN & PIN junctions, thermal tuning, optical components, microwave design of electrodes)
- CAD tools: Lumerical MODE Solutions, FDTD Solutions, INTERCONNECT and DEVICE
- Layout & verification
- CAD tools: K-layout, Siemens Tanner and Calibre, Luceda
- Design for test, design for packaging and design for fabrication
Access to Tools
- From Siemens:
- Siemens offers workshop attendees from academic institutions free access to Tanner and Calibre during the workshop and following the workshop, for the purpose of completing their workshop designs.
- From Ansys Lumerical:
- Lumerical offers workshop attendees inside of Canada free access to Lumerical workshop license during the workshop and following the workshop for the purpose of completing their designs.
- Participants who are located outside of Canada may require own license to the Ansys Luermical tools.
- From Luceda photonics:
- Luceda offers workshop attendees free access to Luceda IPKISS license during the workshop.
Travel and Accommodations
- Participants make their arrangements for travel and accommodation. A limited number of 2-bedroom units on campus have been blocked for the workshop. Reserve the units before May 4, 2025:
Queen’s University Residences – 2025 SiEPIC-NUCLEUS-CMC - Additional information for guests can be found at
https://www.queensu.ca/eventservices/accommodations/summer - Kingston is conveniently located for travellers from Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. Fly into Toronto Pearson International Airport. Transfer to Kingston by either VIA train or bus (Flixbus and MagaBus).
