Online Courses
Photonic Integrated Circuits Course
Our flagship 8-week online edX course focuses on the fabless design of silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). Students work with industry-leading Electronic Photonic Design Automation (EPDA) software through a step-by-step design sequence culminating in tape-out of electro-optically active PIC chip.
Integrated Photonics Course Series
Fundamentals of Integrated Photonics
Silicon-based integrated photonics is a modern engineering technology that caps thirty-plus years of research and development, into hybridizing the information-relay capacity of optical fiber telecommunications, with the processing infrastructure of microelectronics. While the early days of silicon photonics presumed this synergy to enable ever-higher computational performance for microprocessors, the last two decades have begun to open up transformative new opportunities for it in cloud computing datacom, microwave and millimeter-through terahertz wireless, chemical and biological sensing, augmented imaging, and quantum computing area applications—in addition to next-generation telecom.Â
Introduction to Semiconductor Resource Efficiency
This 6-week course offers an introduction to resource efficiency in the context of semiconductor manufacturing, exploring the urgency of resource efficiency management across resource-constraint regulatory, workforce, and marketplace drivers. In the context of resource efficiency fundamentals, students will learn the basic lifecycle of an electronic product and understand how to appreciate tradeoffs in resource efficiency outcomes within this cycle. The course introduces 3 sets of resource efficiency assessment tools and covers key concepts such as Scope 1-3 emissions, carbon footprint, and life cycle intelligence (LCI). By introducing resource efficiency tools and case studies, participants will gain a foundational understanding of how to think about economic, social, and resource-constraint impacts from semiconductor lifecycles. Designed for all students, new hires, and instructors, this course may also serve as a primer for integrating resource efficiency concepts into existing curricula.
Nonreciprocal Integrated Photonic Devices
Discover how nonreciprocal devices such as optical isolators and circulators serve a key performance function in photonic integrated circuits, preventing cross-talk and feedback. Learn about their design, test characterization and PIC process integration. Nonreciprocal devices such as optical isolators and circulators prevent undesired cross-talk and feedback between different parts of a photonic circuit and are therefore essential components of photonic integrated circuits (PICs). This online course from the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering will take you through a deep dive into nonreciprocal photonics, covering materials, design, fabrication, characterization as well as process integration of these devices.
In this course, you will learn how these optical devices work, how they’re made and tested, what magnetic materials are used in them, and why those materials matter within modern data communications, quantum computing, imaging, and other applications.
Platform
Available through www.manufacturingworkforce.org in partnership with the Department of Defense
Tools & Software
Industry-leading Electronic Photonic Design Automation (EPDA) software from major vendors