Self-Repairing Photonic Integrated Circuit with Tunable Auxiliary Lasers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have low manufacturing yield and reliability due to the failure of individual channels or lasers, which renders the entire device useless, and port switching to replace defective channels is resource-intensive and adds traffic, impacting performance.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a self-repair component with spare lasers, including fixed-wavelength lasers, tunable-wavelength auxiliary lasers, photonic detectors, and tuners, that can detect and replace defective lasers, ensuring continuous operation by adjusting the output wavelength of auxiliary lasers to match the defective ones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional PICs are used without self-repair components, then the device structure is simple, but the manufacturing yield and reliability are low because individual laser failures render the entire device useless
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates spare lasers and self-repair components into the PIC device during manufacturing, before field deployment. These components are pre-positioned to automatically detect and replace failed lasers, thereby improving manufacturing yield and reliability without requiring complex external repair systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The PIC device is equipped with self-repair capabilities that enable it to automatically detect failed lasers and replace them using integrated spare lasers. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for manual intervention or external repair equipment, thereby improving reliability while maintaining relatively simple device structure.
2Reliability
If port switching is used to replace defective channels, then device replacement is avoided, but resources are negatively impacted and additional traffic is added to working ports
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the repair function from the network operations and isolates it into dedicated self-repair components within the PIC device. These components specifically target and replace only the failed laser channels, leaving working channels undisturbed and avoiding the need to switch or redirect traffic from healthy ports.
Solution Approach 2:
The self-repair mechanism applies local repair actions only to the specific failed channel rather than affecting the entire device or other working channels. Each PIC device has spare lasers configured to replace specific failed lasers, ensuring that repair operations are localized and do not impact overall network performance or resource allocation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances the reliability and manufacturing yield of PICs by allowing for in-field repair of defective lasers, reducing the need for complete device replacement and minimizing resource usage, thereby maintaining network performance and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a tunable-wavelength auxiliary laser (TWAL) configured to generate an optical signal with a spectrum of wavelengths
Data Source
AI summary
An optical device having a self-repair component capable of curing a defective component(s) is disclosed. To improve reliability as well as manufacturing yield, a photonic integrated circuit (“PIC”) for as a multi-channel optical line terminal (“OLT”) contains spare lasers or standby lasers configured to replace a failed laser(s). In one aspect, PIC includes a set of fixed-wavelength lasers (“FWLs”), a tunable-wavelength auxiliary laser (“TWAL”), a photonic detector, and a tuner. FWLs, for example, generate optical wavelengths representing optical signals. TWAL generates an optical signal with a spectrum of wavelengths based on a setting generated by the tuner. The photonic detector detects a defective wavelength. The tuner adjusts output wavelength of TWAL in response to the defective wavelength. Alternatively, PIC includes a working laser array, standby laser array, and spare laser array capable of providing two-layer laser defective protections.