A 3D-integrated BiCMOS-silicon photonics high-speed receiver realized using micro-transfer printing

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel 3D heterogeneously integrated optical receiver combining BiCMOS electronics and silicon photonics via micro-transfer printing, achieving high-speed data transmission with improved performance and scalability.

Contribution

It introduces the first direct integration of electronics and photonics using micro-transfer printing, enabling high-speed, energy-efficient optical receivers with a compact footprint.

Findings

Achieved 224 Gb/s PAM-4 operation.

Recorded -5.2 dBm OMA sensitivity at BER of 2.4 x 10^-4.

Demonstrated high-density, cost-effective integration for next-generation interconnects.

Abstract

Meeting the escalating demands of data transmission and computing, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), requires not only faster optical transceivers but also advanced integration technologies that can seamlessly combine photonic and electronic components. Traditional approaches struggle to overcome the parasitic limitations arising from fabricating those components using different processes. Here, we report a novel 3D heterogeneously integrated optical receiver based on micro-transfer printing ({\mu}TP), enabling the co-integration of a compact bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS) electronic chiplet (0.06 mm2) directly onto a silicon photonic integrated circuit (SiPIC). While previous {\mu}TP demonstrations have focused primarily on photonic integration, our work pioneers the direct integration of electronics and photonics, significantly enhancing performance and scalability. The resulting optical receiver achieves 224 Gb/s four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-4) operation, delivering -5.2 dBm optical modulation amplitude(OMA) sensitivity at a bit-error rate (BER) of 2.4 x 10-4, a record-small footprint, and an excellent power efficiency of 0.51 pJ/b. This demonstration not only showcases the potential of {\mu}TP for high-density, cost-efficient integration but also represents a critical step toward next-generation optical interconnects in the AI era.