CORNERSTONE Community Repository

Welcome to CORNERSTONE Community repository!

Aim & Vision

Create an environment where community members can:

• Contribute to a public library of components for the benefit of other users
• Hold discussions over improvements on the designs, or alternative methodologies
• Form a library of elements that have accessible metadata for easy integration into custom codes.

To start contributing, fork the repository (see the guidance on forks & pull requests through an exemplary submission here). This will give you access to all of the Community PDK folders. You can populate your repository without submitting a pull request. Instructions below are suitable for submission to a single platform. For multi-platform submissions, cycle through the instructions for each platform.

We aim to incorporate the Community repository into the Wavephotonics (WP) PDK Portal. WP has provided guidelines and tests for validation of the components and supporting metafiles. It is expected from the Community Members to adhere to the WP metafile format, which are outlined in the formatting guidelines. Please also see Examples for commentary on the WP YAML fields.

Overview of the repository structure

• SiN_300nm/, Si_220nm_active/, &c: Folders for platforms that CORNERSTONE offers.
• <PlatformFolder>/components/: Contains components for the said platform.
• <PlatformFolder>/materials/: Contains refractive index information regarding the materials involved in the said platform.
• <PlatformFolder>/drc_rules.lydrc: DRC script for the said platform
• LICENSE.txt: License information
• README.md: This document
• docs/: For generation of the documentation in ReadTheDocs: cornerstone-community in ReadTheDocs
• pyproject.toml: Dependency list for installation using uv pip install .[docs, validator]

Usage - access

The primary contents of this repository are the GDS files within the respective platform folders (e.g. SiN_300nm). The GDS files can be found within the components folder within each platform directory, alongside *.yaml files that contain information on port arrangement of the components. The port files are primarily for use during exports, the components GDS files can be accessed without interacting with the *.yaml files.

In the near future, we will populate the platform folders with experimental and simulation data for supplementary use of the repository users.

Usage - contribution

Submission format

Basic

1. Place the new GDS files for your components, with naming convention <Platform>_<Wavelength>_<ComponentName>.gds into components folder of the platform folder.
2. Submit a pull request using the Basic pull request template.

Advanced

1. Place the new GDS files for your components, with naming convention <Platform>_<Wavelength>_<ComponentName>.gds into components folder of the platform folder.
2. Create a YAML file for each component. You can base the component YAML on the existing YAMLs of similar components (see examples) . If a new port cross-section is needed in the YAML, put a placeholder for the new port for now.
3. Create the GDS file for the new cross section in cross-sections folder. The GDS file will contain a structure 50um long in x-axis, and has the linear cross section along y-axis. The name of the GDS file will be the name of the cross-section.
4. Append the new cross-section metadata into the cross_sections.yaml file within cross-sections folder.
5. Within the Component YAMLs, you may specify your name/alias and email as an author - otherwise we can also assign design credits to your GitHub username. A component or a file can have more than one author.
6. Include the ancestry of the component in the Component YAML file. The ancestry should include the prior component(s) that the new component is based on. One level of ancestry is sufficient.
7. Submit a pull request using the Advanced pull request template.

Documentation

1. Following the new entries/modifications, submit a pull request using Documentation pull request template.
2. Provide a list of documentation updates and related information.

Submission acceptance stages

The initial version is comprised of components that have been previously fabricated and characterised. We aim to make the characterisation results public as soon as possible.

We expect the new component submissions to follow a verification flow:

1. Community member submits a new design file, either an original file made publicly available by the user, or a modification to an already-existing component within the Community repository.
2. The submission will be reviewed by the CORNERSTONE team for compliancy with the licensing and export policies. If the submission is rejected, a detailed feedback will be provided to the contributor.
3. If the designs are accepted, they will be will be made available in the repository for the use of the Community as an alpha version, without experimental verification.
4. A test batch will be fabricated alongside confirmed components for characterisation of the new submission.
5. Provided the functionality of the components is confirmed, it will be incorporated into the stable version of the Community.
6. Components whose functionalities couldn't be verified will be sent back to the contributor alongside experimental data and feedback.

License

The CORNERSTONE Community repository is licensed with TAPR Open Hardware License

Contact

Contact us for questions related to the your Community submissions, Community repository contents - or any other issues related to the Community repository.