Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits: Advancements and Challenges

A special issue of Chips (ISSN 2674-0729).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1958

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Interests: silicon photonics; semiconductor lasers; neuromorphic computing

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Guest Editor
Hewlett Packard Labs, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Milpitas, CA 95035, USA
Interests: silicon photonics; semiconductor lasers; hybrid photonic integration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue focused on the advancements and future challenges of silicon photonic integrated circuits. The field of silicon photonic integrated circuits has seen remarkable progress in recent decades, providing innovative solutions for high-bandwidth communication, quantum information processing, lab-on-a-chip, chip-scale LIDAR, and future optical accelerators, among many others. Key developments in CMOS integration, material improvements, and on-chip lasers have propelled the field forward. Meanwhile, significant challenges remain, including thermal management, scalability, power consumption, and cost. Addressing these issues is crucial for unlocking the full potential of silicon photonics. By identifying these challenges and obstacles, we hope to stimulate further research in these critical areas for next-generation silicon photonic ecosystems.

This Special Issue aims to compile contributions that highlight both the advancements and ongoing challenges in silicon photonics across various applications. We welcome both research and review articles.

Dr. Stanley Cheung
Dr. Yingtao Hu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • silicon photonics
  • photonic integrated circuits
  • optical interconnects
  • quantum computing
  • sensors
  • AI

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

29 pages, 10437 KiB  
Review
Neuromorphic Photonic On-Chip Computing
by Sujal Gupta and Jolly Xavier
Chips 2025, 4(3), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/chips4030034 - 7 Aug 2025
Viewed by 471
Abstract
Drawing inspiration from biological brains’ energy-efficient information-processing mechanisms, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have facilitated the development of ultrafast artificial neural networks. This in turn is envisaged to offer potential solutions to the growing demand for artificial intelligence employing machine learning in various domains, [...] Read more.
Drawing inspiration from biological brains’ energy-efficient information-processing mechanisms, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have facilitated the development of ultrafast artificial neural networks. This in turn is envisaged to offer potential solutions to the growing demand for artificial intelligence employing machine learning in various domains, from nonlinear optimization and telecommunication to medical diagnosis. In the meantime, silicon photonics has emerged as a mainstream technology for integrated chip-based applications. However, challenges still need to be addressed in scaling it further for broader applications due to the requirement of co-integration of electronic circuitry for control and calibration. Leveraging physics in algorithms and nanoscale materials holds promise for achieving low-power miniaturized chips capable of real-time inference and learning. Against this backdrop, we present the State of the Art in neuromorphic photonic computing, focusing primarily on architecture, weighting mechanisms, photonic neurons, and training, while giving an overall view of recent advancements, challenges, and prospects. We also emphasize and highlight the need for revolutionary hardware innovations to scale up neuromorphic systems while enhancing energy efficiency and performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits: Advancements and Challenges)
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26 pages, 21618 KiB  
Review
Highly Versatile Photonic Integration Platform on an Indium Phosphide Membrane
by Sander Reniers, Yi Wang, Salim Abdi, Jasper de Graaf, Aleksandr Zozulia, Kevin Williams and Yuqing Jiao
Chips 2025, 4(3), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/chips4030032 - 31 Jul 2025
Viewed by 306
Abstract
The fast-maturing photonic integration technology is calling for a versatile platform that supports both active and passive functions as well as high scalability through component miniaturization. Indium phosphide (InP) has long been recognized for its ability to deliver a comprehensive suite of photonic [...] Read more.
The fast-maturing photonic integration technology is calling for a versatile platform that supports both active and passive functions as well as high scalability through component miniaturization. Indium phosphide (InP) has long been recognized for its ability to deliver a comprehensive suite of photonic components. InP membrane technology has emerged as a next-generation solution that could unite the functional completeness with high scalability. This paper describes recent advancements in the InP-membrane-on-Si (IMOS) platform, which supports high-performance passives, polarization and mode handling, native light sources, amplifiers, modulators and detectors, and novel material integration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits: Advancements and Challenges)
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