Accelerated simulation of photonic components

Photonic components Ansys, TSMC, and Microsoft multiply simulation by tenfold

2024-10-04 From Hendrik Härter | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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The combination of simulation software, GPUs, and a cloud environment accelerates the simulation of photonic components tenfold. Rapid simulations are essential for the development of photonic and electronic circuits.

Ansys, along with TSMC and Microsoft, has increased the simulation of photonic components by a factor of ten. This is essential for the development of photonic and electronic circuits.(Image: freely licensed / Pixabay) — Ansys, along with TSMC and Microsoft, has increased the simulation of photonic components by a factor of ten. This is essential for the development of photonic and electronic circuits.
(Image: freely licensed / Pixabay)

Ansys, TSMC, and Microsoft have collectively achieved a tenfold improvement in the simulations of photonic components. The software used, Ansys Lumerical FDTD, was run on Nvidia graphics processors (GPUs) in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. This collaboration provides a scalable, high-performance platform that is specifically optimized for the development of the next generation of photonic integrated circuits (PICs). This enhancement significantly accelerates the process of simulation, essential for testing and refining photonic components, thereby speeding up the development cycle and potentially reducing the time to market for new photonic technologies.

Accelerated simulations are a crucial step for the development of photonic and electronic circuits used in key applications such as optical data communication, biomedical devices, automotive Lidar systems, and artificial intelligence (AI). Developers will be able to identify optimal designs more quickly and accurately, thereby significantly enhancing the efficiency of chip development. This rapid identification not only reduces development costs but also allows for faster innovation cycles, helping technologies reach the market quicker and more reliably. This improvement is vital for staying competitive in industries where technological advancement is rapid.

Electronic-photonic integrated circuits

The combination of photonic and electronic circuits (Silicon PICs) on a single chip offers advantages in optical communication. These include high speed, low losses, and the ability to transmit large amounts of data over long distances. Thus, Silicon PICs are suitable for hyperscale data centers and the Internet of Things.

The electronic-photonic integrated circuits combine the advantages of electronics and photonics on a single chip. Photonic components, which use light for signal processing, are combined with electronic components.

By using powerful Azure NC A100v4 Virtual Machines, which are based on Nvidia-accelerated data processing, the platform offers seamless cloud integration with high scalability. This allows users to benefit from a continuous digital engineering experience without having to forego their familiar desktop environment.

"The enormous size and complexity of our multiphysics silicon solutions pose a significant challenge in simulating all possible parameter combinations," said Stefan Rusu, Head of Silicon Photonics System Design at TSMC. "This latest collaboration once again demonstrates how effectively Ansys utilizes the newest cloud infrastructures and technologies to deliver powerful solutions with high predictive accuracy in a fraction of the time normally required." (heh)

This article was first published on our sister brand www.ELEKTRONIKPRAXIS.de (German language)

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