Expected Outcomes
The proposed pilot line shall be established with all the necessary equipment, facilities, and needs to target the following main objectives:
- Develop and enhance PIC technologies by extending the operational wavelengths into the visible and mid-infrared spectrum, crucial for applications such as lidar and advanced sensing.
- Develop scalable and cost-effective manufacturing processes for PICs, ensuring compatibility with current industrial standards and promoting widespread adoption.
- Foster the integration of PICs with electronic integrated circuits, enhancing the functionality and efficiency of combined systems for applications in computing, telecommunications, and beyond.
- Innovate in the fields of photonic testing and packaging to improve reliability, scalability, and performance of PICs.
- Enable rapid prototyping through Multi-Project Wafer runs, allowing for timely validation and iteration of PIC design.
- Develop demonstrators to validate the achievement of the advanced PICs technology and to quantify its performance.
Expected Results of the Pilot Line:
The expected results for this pilot line should therefore comprise:
- A sustainable pilot line open to all European stakeholders, especially focusing on enabling SMEs and start-ups to leverage advanced PIC technologies.
- Process Design Kits and Assembly Design its, crucial for the design and development of next-generation PICs.
- Extended capabilities of current PIC technologies to larger wafer sizes and integrate built-in self-test methodologies, enhancing the performance and integration of PIC modules.
- Creation of intellectual property, boosting European production capacities in PIC technologies.
- Fostered collaborative development through synergies with other Chips JU pilot lines, enhancing the overall innovation capacity and technological leadership of Europe in semiconductor echnologies, ensuring complementarity especially with the pilot lines dedicated to quantum technologies, heterogeneous integration, and wide bandgap materials.
- Comprehensive training programs and skill development initiatives to ensure that European technologists and engineers are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to excel in the field of photonic integration.
