How much effort is required?

Since this is a design-based course, students in previous courses have put in between 3-25 hours/week, depending on their background, interest, and the level of complexity of their chosen project. There are also many optional modules in the course, completing all the optional modules increases the time required.

What are the prerequisites for taking this course?

Phot1x is targeted at an audience with a wide range of backgrounds who are committed to learning the material and completing the course design project. The prerequisites are introductory physics, and optics, for example an undergraduate optics or electromagnetics course. Background in microwave/RF would be an asset. No background with integrated optics is assumed. The course uses various computer software, hence a background in basic computer programming is beneficial (e.g., MATLAB, Python).

Do I need to buy a textbook?

Purchasing the textbook is optional. Included in the course are several key chapters from the book "Silicon Photonics Design", by Lukas Chrostoski and Michael Hochberg, published by Cambridge University Press. The full version (ebook or hardcopy) is available for purchase. Furthermore, the notes, videos and exercises are all sufficient to complete this course.

What are the fabrication details?

Your devices will be fabricated on a Silicon on insulator (SOI) wafer with 220 nm silicon thickness, with a minimum isolated feature size of 60 nm. Each participant is allocated 410 µm x 605 µm of space, enough for >10 devices each (more available on request). One chip is being manufactured and measured for this course, and the measurement data will be provided to the course participants.

Who will be doing the fabrication and measurements?

The fabrication will be performed by the University of Washington Nanofabrication Facility and Applied Nanotools Inc. Measurements will be performed at The University of British Columbia.

Will I be getting a physical chip in the mail?

No. Only one chip is being manufactured for this course, measurements will be performed at UBC; measurement data will be provided to course participants. Participants can separately purchase their own chip either during or after the course.