News: Optoelectronics
3 October 2022
Spain launches its first commercial III-Vs foundry, targeting integrated photonics
The city of Vigo in Spain is to be the location of a new foundry for III-V semiconductor-based photonics. SPARC (the III-V Semiconductor Foundry and Advanced Photonics Research Center) will consist of a 1600m2 cleanroom for wafer production, and a research center that will assist customers in bringing fully certified integrated photonic products to market.
SPARC says that it aims to capitalize on the potential of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) etc to accommodate the increasing number of markets and applications that rely heavily on photonics and high-speed electronics.
Specifically, it targets having the capability and capacity to address a large customer base across a wide range of markets including optical communications, displays, lighting, aerospace, automotive, biomedical, sensing, and quantum technologies, as well as high-speed and/or high-power electronic applications.
SPARC should be operational in about late 2023.
