Packaging of silicon photonic devices

The demand for photonic systems based on Silicon CMOS technology is driven by its ability to satisfy demands in large markets, particularly for telecoms, datacoms and sensing applications. Device fabrication based on CMOS wafer-scale processes can meet this demand. However, photonic packaging can be a deviceby-device process which is difficult to scale to high volumes. Packaging challenges remain in areas such as fiber-array coupling, laser source and electronic integration, and efficient thermal management. This chapter reviews these challenges and solutions that address them. It also reviews efforts to develop common photonic packaging design rules, which if implemented at the device layout stage, can greatly simplify the overall manufacturing process and help reduce production costs.