News: Optoelectronics
9 December 2020
JePPIX opens up Pilot Line services for InP PIC production
The JePPIX (Joint European Platform for Photonic Integration of Components and Circuits) Pilot Line has launched its design and manufacturing services for indium phosphide (InP) photonic integrated circuit (PIC) production, offering commercial InP PIC production based on mature process design kits (PDKs) that are embedded in industry-standard design environments.
Open now for companies that need to prepare for commercial production, the JePPIX Pilot Line provides a single point of contact for all the services needed for InP PIC product qualification, including:
- functional PIC modelling with manufacturing tolerances;
- design for test (DFT);
- design for manufacturing; and
- automated die testing with customizable scripting and test services.
JePPIX brings together the European photonic integrated circuit supply chain as a coherent force to advance and promote PIC technology. It promotes and facilitates an open-access, horizontal and generic foundry model that aims to keep pace with the market, bringing in new users, enabling specialization, and facilitating the supply chain agility required for new sectors. To accelerate the use of InP PICs, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program has supported the pilot line through the InPulse project, funded under grant agreement no. 871345.
Value of indium phosphide PICs
JePPIX says that InP PICs offer benefits as they are small in size, low weight and have a very low power consumption. Moreover, the possibility to integrate lasers, detectors, interferometers, photodetectors, modulators, filters, waveguides and other (electro-)optical technologies all on a single chip has a huge impact on the material resources that are needed, circuit-level reproducibility and the overall cost of the system.
Applications areas
According to JePPIX, photonic integrated circuits offer advantages over traditional approaches for implementing optical functionalities in a wide array of application domains, providing the engines for high-performance metrology, quantum technology, microwave signal processing and light detection & ranging (LiDAR). This offers huge potential for markets such as optical communication, automotive, life sciences, agriculture & food, environmental monitoring, defence and security, it adds.
JePPIX's 2015 roadmap forecasts a €1bn integrated photonics market in 2020
