Kotura establishes fabless semiconductor model and strengthens key component supply chain

USA:  Kotura, Inc. announced an agreement with a large semiconductor foundry as well as relationships with strategic partners: semiconductor solutions provider Mindspeed Technologies Inc. and laser supplier BinOptics Corp.

These partnerships will provide Kotura with an effective supply chain to commercialize Kotura's 100G Optical Engine -- a key component in the just-announced industry-first 100 gigabits per second (Gb/s) 4x25 WDM, QSFP+ module.

The addition of a large Japanese foundry is an ideal complement to Kotura's existing in-house fab. Kotura will leverage the capabilities of the outside foundry partner for high-volume production of its Optical Engine -- a low-power, integrated, 100 Gb/s chip solution that supports the interconnect fabric for next generation data centers and high performance computing.

Kotura is the only silicon photonics provider to offer both Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) and a parallel version of its Optical Engine in a 3.5 watts QSFP package.

"Our silicon photonics solutions resolve price, performance and reliability issues not currently being addressed by existing approaches," said Jean-Louis Malinge, Kotura president and CEO. "In a world full of applications with pressing bandwidth and performance needs, there is tremendous opportunity for silicon photonics to heed the call, starting with the data center market as our primary target. This foundry partnership offers Kotura the fastest and most reliable path to mass production and the ability to scale to meet this demand."

The partnership with Mindspeed enables Kotura to meet the low-power requirements of the QSFP package. "The market wants a QSFP package because of the small footprint," said Marek Tlalka, director product marketing at Mindspeed. "Integrating 25G quad drivers and TIAs can be quite a challenge. By combining our high-speed, low-power electronics and Kotura's silicon photonics Optical Engine, we can meet the stringent power consumption constraints of a 100 Gb/s WDM QSFP module."

Kotura partnered with BinOptics to develop laser arrays, which can be passively flip-chip bonded onto Kotura's Optical Engine, producing a high-volume, low-cost, electronics-style assembly.

"BinOptics' Etched Facet Technology allows III-V photonic device facets to be formed with lithographic precision, enabling low-cost passive alignment with silicon photonics," said Dr. Alex Behfar, CEO and co-founder, BinOptics. "Eliminating active alignment is one of the key ingredients for economical, large-scale rollout of silicon photonics based 100 Gb/s solutions."