Case Study: Huawei Technologies achieves 23× reduction in power consumption for thermo‑optic silicon photonic switches with COMSOL Multiphysics

Designing Energy-Efficient Photonic Switches to Support Growing Network Traffic

Huawei Technologies is developing thermo‑optic silicon photonic Mach‑Zehnder switches to meet growing network and high‑performance computing demands, with the key challenge of minimizing power consumption while maximizing switching speed and meeting manufacturing constraints. To accelerate design optimization and reduce costly prototyping, Huawei Technologies added Comsol’s COMSOL Multiphysics software to its silicon photonics design flow for detailed thermal and transient analysis.

Using Comsol, Huawei simulated switch geometries with and without a thermal undercut and optimized heater/waveguide layouts; the models showed the thermal undercut delivers about a 23× reduction in power required for a π phase shift (roughly 96% lower power), with a heater‑to‑waveguide temperature difference of 0.2 K versus 13 K without undercut, while also revealing the trade‑off of slower tuning/switching speeds. Comsol’s simulations informed device sizing, passivation and substrate choices, supported fabrication of a 32×32 (448‑cell) prototype, and are guiding plans for larger 128×128 arrays within a 50 W power target.

Huawei Technologies

Dominic Goodwill

Huawei Technologies