Presentation abstract:

As optical interconnects scale toward higher bandwidth, channel density and integration, thermal management increasingly affects laser efficiency, wavelength stability, reliability and system-level energy consumption. Most cooling solutions address heat after it has already travelled through the original semiconductor substrate and package. CoolSem is developing WaLTIS, a wafer-level thermal integration technology designed to improve heat extraction much closer to the active device layer. The approach removes or replaces the original substrate and introduces a thin, engineered thermal stack combining high thermal conductivity with thermo-mechanical compatibility. This presentation will introduce CoolSem’s “cool at the core” concept and discuss where wafer-level thermal engineering may create value in active photonic devices and future optical engines. It will also cover the company’s development roadmap, its current focus on identifying suitable first test vehicles, and the importance of collaboration across device, design, manufacturing and system partners. The objective is not to present a finished product for every photonics architecture, but to invite technical dialogue around the applications in which reduced junction temperature and improved thermal stability can deliver the greatest measurable benefit. The talk will conclude with possible collaboration models for linking thermal-aware design, wafer processing and application validation within the emerging silicon-photonics ecosystem.