Photonic chip critique: heterogeneous coupling remains the bottleneck — one chip per 4-inch wafer
jwt0625 · x · 2026-10-19
Commenting on UCSB's photonic integrated light engine for cold-atom (MOT) generation and delivery, the author argues that heterogeneous integration and efficient on/off-chip coupling remain the bottleneck of photonic systems. He calls weakly etched large-area gratings on Si/SiN PICs pointless, and notes the yield problem: only one such chip comes out of a 4-inch wafer.
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