This article demonstrates a use case for the Photonic integrated circuit design workflow with OptoCompiler and INTERCONNECT, using a PAM4 transceiver design test bench. In this workflow, OptoCompiler acts as a complete design ecosystem cockpit for photonic IC by integrating schematic design, simulation, and layout, and INTERCONNECT serves as a background engine for photonic circuit simulation.
For further information on this workflow, such as descriptions for settings in OptoCompiler for INTERCONNECT, see the Photonic integrated circuit design section of the Lumerical-OptoCompiler integration Knowledge Base article.
Setup and package contents
Once OptoCompiler and INTERCONNECT are installed, the environment necessary for this workflow is automatically set up. This example uses Lumerical products 2026 R1 release, and Synopsys 2026.03 release.
A test package is to this article, which contains necessary files. Download and extract this package prior to starting the example. Ensure that the full path to this package does not contain any white spaces.
The extracted package contains two folders, /CML/ and INTC_OC_example, and a lib.defs file. Do not modify the relative structure of the folder.
Example summary
This workflow is completely driven from the OptoCompiler interface. INTERCONNECT only runs in the background as an engine.
In-depth steps
Step 1 – Load PDKs in INTERCONNECT and open OptoCompiler
Prior to running the OptoCompiler example for this workflow, first open INTERCONNECT and install the custom compact model library, myPDK, from the /CML/interconenct folder in the extracted package. You can find instructions on how to install custom PDKs from this Knowledge Base article.
After installing the PDK, run OptoCompiler using optocompiler & from the extracted folder with the lib.defs file. After which, open the Library Manager, and confirm that the the INT_OC_example library is in the libraries tab, with a cell named PAM4_testbench.
Step 2 – Configure and Launch INTERCONNECT simulation
Follow these steps to confirm the configuration for the INTERCONNECT simulation.
- Double click on the schematic view in the PAM4_testBench cell, the following schematic opens.
- The MZM element in this schematic is a hierarchical design, and you can view the child components by right-clicking it and pressing Descend Edit or Descend Read. Components within the MZM hierarchical design is then visible in a new tab.
- Double-click on the INTERCONNECT_default view in the PAM4_testBench cell. The following options are shown.
- In this tab, click Setup->Simulator, and verify that the Simulator option is INTERCONNECT, and that the results directory is set to your preference.
- Click on Setup->Environment Options and verify that the Switch View List and Stop View List are configured shown below.
- Click on Setup->Analyses and configure the transient analysis as follows, ensure that Enable is checked. This page configures INTERCONNECT simulation parameters and uses the same variables as those in the INTERCONNECT ROOT element.
- Set up the output using the Outputs table near the bottom of the window. For this example, three signals are already set up. For further information on setting the output, see the Knowledge Base article Using INTERCONNECT as an engine in OptoCompiler.
Simulation setup is now complete, and you can proceed on running the simulation.
Step 3 & 4 – Run simulation and view results
To run the simulation and view results, follow these steps.
- In the INTERCONNECT_default view of the PAM4_testBench cell, click on Simulation->Netlist->Create to first create the netlist.
- Click on Simulation->Run to run the simulation. A new window will show up indicating that the simulation is running. After the simulation completes, the Job Monitor tab will show that the simulation is in the FINISHED state, and results will automatically show up in WaveView.
- To view the eye diagram, use the optical_signal output, and set the Eye Width to 8e-10 and Eye Shift to 1e-10. For further information on the Eye-Diagram Settings window, see the WaveView User Guide.
- The eye diagram result is seen below.
Running the simulation and visualizing results is now complete.
See Also
Lumerical-OptoCompiler integration, Using INTERCONNECT as an engine in OptoCompiler