# Application Example: Modeling Thermal Crosstalk in Silicon Photonics

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Model and measure thermal cross-talk effect in an optical 4x4 router using DEVICE: Heat and INTERCONNECT.

As photonic integrated circuit designs become increasing complex, thermal confinement is a factor that limits the number of elements that can be placed on a single chip. This is especially true for silicon photonics since silicon has very low thermal impedance, and components and circuits must be designed to minimize thermal crosstalk. Numerical simulations are useful for characterizing the effect of thermal cross talk in photonic integrated circuits. Capturing these effects accurately requires 3D heat transport simulations, which can be challenging for complex circuits involving a large number of components. In this example, we propose a methodology for simulating thermal crosstalk that combines component-level and circuit-level simulations. We will demonstrate this methodology through an optical 4x4 router with thermo-optically tuned microring resonators.