Press Release Project GALACTICO will push silicon photonics for ...

Press Release
Project GALACTICO will push silicon
photonics for Tbit ethernet
European Commission acknowledges successful start of
the project
Frankfurt (Oder), January 2011: The project "GALACTICO: blendinG diverse
photonics And eLectronics on silicon for integrAted and fully funCTIonal
COherent Tb Ethernet" funded under the The Seventh Framework Programme
(2007-2013), Objective ICT-2009.3.7: Photonics has started recently. This EUR 4
million project is being carried out by a consortium, led by IHP – Innovations for
High Performance Microelectronics/Leibniz-Institut für innovative Mikroelektronik
Frankfurt (Oder) Germany. EUR 2.9 million is funded by the European
Commission. The project consortium forms a sound base for the realization of the
project’s ambitious objectives. Further members of the consortium are
Technische Universität Berlin (Germany), Universidad Politecnica de Valencia
(Spain), Institute of Communication and Computer Systems - ICCS Athens
(Greece), u2t Photonics AG (Germany), u2T Photonics UK Ltd (United Kingdom),
Constelex Technology Enablers. (Greece), Telecom Italia (Italy), and Nokia
Siemens Networks Portugal SA (Portugal).
Currently system vendors request a photonic integration technology to deliver
practical and cost-effective 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE) systems. GALACTICO
is a project that aims to provide this technology and disrupt the transition from
10/40Gb/s to 100GbE core networks. To achieve this goal, GALACTICO aims to
squeeze current bulk and costly 100GbE interfaces into silicon-based PICs
(Photonic Integrated Circuits) and provide integrated coherent transmitters and
receivers that deliver a massive amount of aggregate bandwidth. To address
cost, performance and volume, GALACTICO aims to provide the right mix of the
three most established integration materials, i.e. InP (Indium Phosphide), GaAs
(Gallium Arsenide), Si (Silicon) and combine their strenghts on a common silicon
platform.
The GALACTICO platform will offer cost-effectiveness and reliability due to the
use of silicon material as well as the capability for dense integration of high
performance compact passive components. GALACTICO aims to propose and
develop a technology platform for the cost-effective synthesis of complex, fully
integrated and fully functional multi-GbE coherent transmitters and receivers with
direct applicability to emerging 100GbE high-capacity and spectrally efficient
long-haul networks, as well as future-proof scalability towards 1Tb/s. In addition
to scaling on-chip bandwidth by integrating parallel 100 Gb/s DWDM (Dense
Wavelength Division Multiplexing) channels, GALACTICO will increase spectral
efficiency by generating higher-order modulation formats.
"GALACTICO has all the credentials to reinforce the competitiveness of
European industry. It is now the right timing for Europe to seize this opportunity
and take up the leading position in the emerging 100GbE and future 1TbE
market.", explains project coordinator Lars Zimmermann from IHP.
IHP GmbH • Im Technologiepark 25 • 15236 Frankfurt (Oder) • Germany

More information on this project is available at: www.ict-galactico.eu
Contact:
Dr. Lars Zimmermann
IHP - Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics/Leibniz-Institut für
innovative Mikroelektronik
Im Technologiepark 25
15236 Frankfurt (Oder)
Tel: +49 335 5625 407
Email: lzimmermann@ihp-microelectronics.com
www.ihp-microelectronics.com
IHP GmbH • Im Technologiepark 25 • 15236 Frankfurt (Oder) • Germany