TSMC Partnerships Target Integrated Photonics Capabilities

Taiwan Semiconductor Company (TSMC) has detailed three partnerships — one each with Ansys, Synopsys, and Cadence — to further develop its silicon photonics integration system capabilities. The collaborations serve to integrate various software platforms and capabilities into TSMC's platform.

TSMC’s COUPE offers a standardized method for connecting electronic and photonic circuits to optical fibers that meets the needs of a broad range of data communication applications. The COUPE information flow and thermal behavior can be simulated with a set of Ansys multiphysics products. Courtesy of Ansys.

Ansys is collaborating with TSMC on multiphysics software for TSMC’s Compact Universal Photonic Engines (COUPE). The COUPE silicon photonics integration system and co-packaged optics platform aims to mitigate coupling loss while accelerating chip-to-chip and machine-to-machine communication.

TSMC COUPE, along with Ansys' multiphysics solutions integrated with Synopsys' 3DIC Compiler unified exploration-to-signoff platform, enables next-generation silicon photonics and co-packaged optics designs for applications in AI, datacenter, cloud, and high-performance computing communications. The work spans multiple areas, including fiber-to-chip coupling, integrated electronic-photonic chip design, power integrity verification, high-frequency electromagnetic analysis, and critical thermal management.

TSMC COUPE integrates multiple electrical integrated circuits with PIC and fiber optic connections into a single package.

Synopsys and TSMC have established a broad collaboration on electronic design automation and intellectual property for advanced node designs related to artificial intelligence, high performance computing, and mobile designs. Among the newest solution area, Synopsys said, is a co-optimized PIC flow that addresses silicon photonics technology for increased power, performance, and transistor density.

In extending a longstanding collaboration, TSMC and Cadence will continue to accelerate design, including developments in 3D integrated chip and advanced process nodes to design intellectual property and photonics. The ongoing collaboration, Cadence said, advances system and semiconductor design for AI, automotive, aerospace, hyperscale, and mobile applications.