Installation


To use the samples from Luceda Academy, you first need an IPKISS installation and license. If you don’t have IPKISS yet, contact us at info@lucedaphotonics.com so we can get you started with an evaluation.

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Obtain a valid installation of IPKISS and the associated license. Install IPKISS and the license by following these instructions.

  2. Obtain a valid installer of PyCharm 2017.3 or higher and install: install PyCharm.

  3. Download the Luceda Academy samples:

    1. Go to the Luceda customer portal and sign in.
    2. On your personal page, click on the download link to obtain the latest Luceda Academy samples.
    3. The default download location is C:\luceda, but you can choose a different folder if you wish, as long as it has write access.

  4. Open the training in PyCharm and configure the correct IPKISS Python interpreter:

    1. Open PyCharm.
    2. Click on File -> Open and select the Luceda Academy folder (the default location is C:\luceda).
    ../_images/pycharm-01.png
    1. Set up the correct IPKISS Python interpreter:
      • Go to File -> Settings…
      • In the “Project” section, select “Project Interpreter” and a new window will pop up.
      • Click on the gear symbol on the top right of the window and select “Add…”. A new window will pop up.
      • Tick “Existing environment”, then click on the three dots on the right side.
      • Select the IPKISS Python interpreter: C:\luceda\ipkiss_360\python\envs\ipkiss3\python.exe
    ../_images/pycharm-02.png

  5. Test that everything runs correctly:

    1. In the Luceda Academy project in PyCharm, open training\getting_started\component_mmi\mmi_layout.py
    2. Right click on the file or on the code editor window and select “Run mmi_layout”.
    ../_images/pycharm-04.png

    If it runs correctly, you should be good to go!

  6. Extra IPKISS Modules, such as the IPKISS AWG Designer, or IPKISS Links, such as the IPKISS Link for Ansys Lumerical or IPKISS Link for Siemens EDA, are required to run some content in this training material. If needed, please obtain a valid license and installer from Luceda Photonics (sales@lucedaphotonics.com).

Project dependencies and PYTHONPATH

The Luceda Academy training material is built on:

  • SiFab, a demo PDK for a Silicon Photonics fab
  • Some additional utilities that are used often but that are not yet in the product. The API of the utils might change when added to the product.

In addition, some Luceda Academy tutorials also depend on:

  • Foundry PDKs: IPKISS PDK for SiEPIC
  • Additional libraries built on top of PDKs: pteam_library_si_fab and pteam_library_siepic

To be able to use this training material, these folders have to be added to the PYTHONPATH (What is the PYTHONPATH?). This is an environment variable which you can set to add additional directories where Python will look for modules and packages. You can set the PYTHONPATH to look for the PDKs and/or libraries that you want to use as source directories for your designs.

Normally, these folders are added automatically through a configuration file shipped with Luceda Academy (contained in the .idea folder). Should you start from your own project, add the following folders to your PYTHONPATH:

  1. ‘pdks/si_fab/ipkiss’
  2. ‘additional_utils’
  3. ‘pdks/siepic/ipkiss’
  4. ‘pdks/cornerstone_sin/ipkiss’
  5. ‘libraries/pteam_library_si_fab/ipkiss’
  6. ‘libraries/pteam_library_siepic/ipkiss’
  7. ‘libraries/pteam_library_cornerstone_sin/ipkiss’

To add a folder to your PYTHONPATH, right click on it and select on “Mark Directory as…” > “Sources Root”.

../_images/pycharm-03.png