Smart Photonics and TU Eindhoven enter strategic arrangement

25 Jul 2022

Partners hail “long-term” plan to enhance development of indium phosphide photonic integration for new technologies.

Smart Photonics, an independent pure-play foundry producing high-end photonic integrated circuits (PICs), and Eindhoven University of Technology (“TU/e”), a leading Dutch university in science and technology, today signed a long-term strategic partnership agreement.

This strategic partnership is aimed at further strengthening the development of indium phosphide photonic integration technology and providing a smooth path of new technologies to end customers. Both Smart Photonics and TU/e share the ambition to further develop the photonics ecosystem, saying they will “put Europe at the heart of this rapidly growing industry.”

They state, “next generation PIC chips will drive change across many applications and emerging technologies. Integrated photonics is expected to play an essential role in addressing key societal challenges and advancing technological solutions to the next level.”

TU/e was one of the founding partners of Smart Photonics, ten years ago. The company has developed rapidly since. Last year it featured in Europe’s top-50 of most promising scale-ups.

Sustainable PIC production

The cooperation will involve activities such as developing new building blocks for Smart Photonics’ Process Design Kit, developing future, more sustainable PIC production processes, and other next-generation technologies such as hybrid integration of different photonic and electronic platforms. In addition, Smart Photonics will support TU/e in activities aimed at educating engineers for the benefit of the entire PhotonDelta ecosystem.

Rector Frank Baaijens of TU/e commented, “Eindhoven University of Technology is world leading in photonics research and technology, and co-founder of the Photon Delta ecosystem.

“We are committed to further solidify the strong position of The Netherlands and its photonics ecosystem, in which Smart Photonics, as an independent pure play foundry, plays a system critical function. The objective is to enhance the position of Europe as powerhouse in integrated photonics,” he added.

Luc Augustin, CTO of Smart Photonics, said, “This agreement strengthens our collaboration with TU/e, one of the most powerful technology hubs in the world. It gives us access to new research, ideas and inventions that we will be able to offer to our customers as part of our strong technology offering.

“At the same time, it offers TU/e the ability to perform their research on the basis of the latest industrially robust and stable processes. I am convinced that our combined efforts will strongly contribute to the further industrialisation of PIC technology and our technology leadership, benefiting the full photonic ecosystem.”