About Featured Expert: Lightmatter

Lightmatter are global industry experts in photonic interconnects, co-packaged optics, silicon photonics and advanced optical packaging for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing systems. The company develops photonic technologies for moving data among processors, memory and switching devices within increasingly large AI computing platforms. Its current work is centered on the interconnect itself, including the optical engines, light sources, fiber attachment and packaging architectures required to bring greater bandwidth into and across advanced semiconductor packages.

Lightmatter’s Passage platform supports several approaches to optical integration. The L-series is designed for near-package, on-board and co-packaged optical configurations, while the M-series incorporates photonics within a larger three-dimensional interposer architecture. This allows optical I/O to be positioned according to the requirements of the package, switch or accelerator design rather than tied to one fixed implementation.

Lightmatter - Featured Expert Logo - Photonics Industry MonthlyPassage L20 is a bidirectional optical engine developed by the company for near-package and on-board applications. It provides 6.4 Tbps in each direction, or 12.8 Tbps of aggregate bidirectional bandwidth, while using a single fiber for transmission and reception. The architecture supports greater optical density while retaining established electrical interfaces within the host system. At the larger package level, the Lightmatter Passage M1000 reference platform integrates photonic connectivity across a 4,000-square-millimeter interposer. Designed for large die complexes containing processors, memory and other chiplets, the platform supports up to 114 Tbps of total optical bandwidth. Optical I/O can therefore be distributed across the interposer area rather than remaining limited to the outer edge of the package.

Lightmatter also develops Guide light engines to provide the laser source for these optical systems. Guide uses the company’s Very Large Scale Photonics architecture to integrate multiple laser channels within a common light-source platform. Guide DR extends that work into a liquid-cooled laser network-interface-card format designed for dense rack installations and high-bandwidth optical interconnects. The company’s vClick Optics technology addresses fiber attachment through detachable fiber-array units for three-dimensional co-packaged optical assemblies. This allows optical engines to be verified earlier in the packaging process and provides a detachable, field-serviceable connection between the photonic device and the fiber infrastructure.

These capabilities are being developed in collaboration with foundries, ASIC designers, packaging companies, connector specialists and system manufacturers. Lightmatter also participates in industry work involving co-packaged optics, chiplet interfaces and open reference architectures for AI infrastructure. Its current commercial emphasis is on Passage and Guide for scale-up and scale-out systems, where optical bandwidth, package integration, fiber attachment and manufacturability must be addressed together.

Typical applications for Lightmatter technologies include AI accelerators, high-performance computing, data-center switches, co-packaged optics, near-package optics, optical scale-up fabrics, chiplet connectivity and large processor and memory assemblies.

Founded in 2017 by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lightmatter is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with additional operations in Boston and Toronto. To learn more about Lightmatter and its photonic interconnect technologies, please click here.

(Editor’s Note: All trademarks mentioned in this article, including company names, product names, and logos, are the property of their respective owners. Use of these trademarks is for informational purposes only and does not imply any endorsement.)
Molly Bakewell Chamberlin
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