The agentic platform for
Designing photonic chips
for production

PhotonForge integrates with foundry PDKs to speed up the design,
simulation, and verification cycle for photonic integrated circuits.

Support foundry PDKs

AIM Photonics LIGENTEC Fraunhofer imec GlobalFoundries Tower Semiconductor LXT
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Trusted by more than 250 companies & academic institutions

OSRAMAyar LabsBifrostCatapultCelestial AICoherentDRS TechnologiesFonexiPronicsKyoceraLeidosLumotiveLuxtelligencenLIGHTPixel PhotonicsQSamsung DisplayTDKTeradyneXanaduCaltechU of ChicagoUC BerkeleyHarvardMITPrincetonStanfordYale
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From foundry PDK to
verified and manufacturable chip

PhotonForge is the complete platform for photonic integrated circuit design: schematic capture, layout, multi-physics + circuit simulation, inverse design, verification, and yield analysis, all in one place. Work from the GUI, from Python, or hand the whole loop to an AI agent.

Start Designing Free Follow the Quick Start

01 · The toolbox

Everything You Need, from Idea to Tape-Out

A block-diagram circuit captured as a PhotonForge schematic 01Schematic-Driven Circuit SimulationCapture your circuit as a schematic and simulate it directly, no layout required to start. Foundry partner logos: AIM Photonics, Ligentec, Fraunhofer, SiEPIC, Luxtelligence, imec, Tower Semiconductor 02Foundry PDK SupportDesign against real foundry layer stacks, ports, and process rules from day one. Wafer-scale layout with a zoom into a single interferometer cell 03Powerful Layout ToolsParametric components and hierarchical layout, from a single cell to a full wafer. 3D render of a modulator with electrodes, vias, and doped waveguide 04Multi-Physics Component SimulationOptical, electrical, and RF physics resolved on the same 3D component model. Device optimization cycle: transmission climbing from initial to optimized design 05Inverse Design OptimizationGradient-based optimizers reshape a device until it hits your performance target. Design-rule check turning violations into a clean, passing layout 06Full-Chip VerificationCatch design-rule violations before the foundry does, through integrations with industry-standard DRC/LVS tools. Wafer-scale thickness and linewidth variation maps used for yield prediction 07Yield AnalysisPredict how fabrication variations across wafers and lots affect your circuit. Eye diagram from a time-domain modulator simulation 08Time-Domain SimulationDrive modulators with real signals and inspect eye diagrams and transients.
and you do not even have to drive it yourself…

02 · The AI co-designer

Agentic Photonic Design

PhotonForge was built so humans and AI co-design chips end to end. Describe what you need in plain language and FlexAgent runs the same layout, simulation, and verification tools an engineer uses: it builds components, runs the physics, inspects the results, and iterates until your target is met.

Read the Blog
An AI agent inspecting a WDM transmitter chip: chat on the left, layout and 3D views on the right
whoever does the work, nothing gets lost…

03 · One source of truth

Traceable and Collaborative by Default

Whether you drive the tools or the agent does, every component, schematic, layout, and simulation result lands in one shared, version-controlled project. Changes are tracked, results stay traceable to the exact design that produced them, and your whole team works from the same source of truth.

Read the PDA Guide
A design team collaborating around one shared PhotonForge project, backed by HPC, FDTD, charge, heat, layout, PDK, RF, and circuit engines
right down to the details…

04 · The fine print

And the Details Are Covered, too

Automatic RoutingWaveguide and electrical routes generated around obstacles, port to port. Layout vs. SchematicConfirm the physical layout matches the intended circuit netlist. GDSII / OASIS SupportImport and export industry-standard layout files for any EDA flow. Monte Carlo AnalysisSample process corners statistically to bound real-world performance. Nonlinear SimulationCapture self-pulsing, saturation, and other nonlinear circuit dynamics.

Testimonials

Recommendations from our customers

"We believe that PhotonForge is the right approach to photonic circuit simulations. It allows us to accurately simulate components with the powerful Tidy3D engine and seamlessly integrate them into circuits and layout, using Python code or the GUI. [...] This opens up new options for our designs and also saves a lot of time. As a startup the credit system helps us not spending more than we need, and the support has been superb."

avatar
Miguel Carro Temboury
Senior Optical Design Engineer at Bifrost Communications

"With PhotonForge it's extremely simple to define the material stack of any integrated photonics technology, and validating the operation of photonic building blocks or whole circuits is a matter of a few lines of code. Similar to Tidy3D, the engineer's task is facilitated by top-notch documentation and examples, and by excellent customer support by the tool developers themselves."

avatar
Alberto Beccari
Head of Photonic Design at Luxtelligence

"PhotonForge provides us with intuitive integration to Tidy3D, easy scripting and 3D viewing of complex photonic circuits, in addition to robust automation features, such as automatic port detection based on path profiles and automated simulation boundary definitions. Combined with the extensive component library, the user-friendly GUI simplifies our design and debugging process, while also allowing us to leverage the FDTD performance offered by Tidy3D.”

avatar
Szilard Szoke
Staff Engineer, Photonic Design at Quintessent

STREAMLINE WITH
END-TO-END CAPABILITIES

Bring the best products to market faster with PhotonForge - empowering your team with design collaboration that fuels innovation.

Quick Start

PHOTONFORGE
FEATURES

PhotonForge provides a complete photonic design automation platform, combining layout generation, circuit simulation, and foundry PDK integration into a single system. The platform supports real-world photonic integrated circuits and prepares consistent, fabrication-ready designs across foundries and use cases, for both interactive design workflows and automated pipelines.

01

Foundry PDK Integration

Integrates directly with foundry process design kits, enabling designers to work within real fabrication constraints from the start. Technology definitions, layer mappings, and design rules are applied automatically, ensuring that layouts are fabrication-ready without manual checking.

Foundry PDK Integration
02

Hierarchical Component Design

Supports hierarchical design of photonic components, from individual waveguides and couplers to complex multi-level circuits. Components can be composed, parameterized, and reused across designs, enabling scalable photonic circuit architectures with consistent behavior and verified connectivity.

03

Circuit simulations in both frequency and time-domain

PhotonForge computes photonic components using Tidy3D's GPU-native multiphysics solvers, captures coupling, scattering, and mode behavior with high fidelity, and provides reliable performance data for circuit-level analysis and design optimization in both frequency and time domains.

04

Powerful GUI Interface: Photonic Canvas

Photonic Canvas, the intuitive GUI of PhotonForge, redefines the design experience by unifying the entire development cycle within a single, streamlined interface. Engineers can seamlessly transition from schematic-driven layouts to fabrication-ready GDS files while running high-performance simulations in real time.

Photonic Canvas GUI
05

Example Library & Reuse

Includes a growing library of pre-built photonic components, devices, and chip layouts, and enables teams to build custom component libraries with verified simulation models. Reusable components accelerate design cycles and ensure consistency across projects and team members.

WEBINAR
Listen, Learn, and Master
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PhotonForge Seminars
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PhotonForge Seminars

By Flexcompute
Fabrication-Aware PIC Design with PDK Support
Past

Fabrication-Aware PIC Design with PDK Support

By Flexcompute
Getting Started With PIC Design In PhotonForge: From Layout To Simulation
Past

Getting Started With PIC Design In PhotonForge: From Layout To Simulation

By Flexcompute
BLOG
The Stories of Simulation Technology
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CASE STUDY
Get Inspired to Design Your Own Devices
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VIDEO
In-Depth, Practical and Easily Understand
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Flexcompute PhotonForge: A Unified Photonic Design Automation Platform
PhotonForge

Flexcompute PhotonForge: A Unified Photonic Design Automation Platform

2:36 By Flexcompute
Foundry-Ready End-to-End Photonic Active Design with PhotonForge
PhotonForge

Foundry-Ready End-to-End Photonic Active Design with PhotonForge

59:35 By Flexcompute

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

PhotonForge Customer Technical Support

If you encounter any technical difficulties or have inquiries related to using PhotonForge, kindly submit a Customer Technical Support form below.

To ensure efficient assistance, please provide a thorough description of the issue or question, along with relevant screenshots or a link to a Loom Recording.

As a token of our appreciation, for well-documented and confirmed bug reports, we will reward you with up to 50 FlexCredits for verified bug reports.