OPTRO 2005

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OPTRO 2005
European Network of Excellence on Photonic
Integrated Components and Circuits
Roel BaetsGhent University - IMEC
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Outline

• ePIXnet fact sheet
• Trends in Photonics
• Rationale and Objectives of ePIXnet
• History, Structure and Partners
• Activities of ePIXnet
• An example
• Dynamic evolution

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Outline

• ePIXnet fact sheet

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European Network of Excellence on Photonic
Integrated Components and Circuits
Integration of research on
Figures

• Technologies for photonic VLSI
• Photonic Signal Processing
• Integrated Light Sources
• Advanced Materials
• Nanophotonics

• 2004-2008
• 32 partners
• 13 affiliate partners
• 300 researchers
• budget 6 M

Through

• Joint Research Activities
• Joint Education Programs
• Exchange of Researchers
• Dissemination of Knowledge

www.epixnet.org
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Outline

• ePIXnet fact sheet
• Trends in Photonics

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Trends in photonics

• Conventional photonics discrete components
• Microphotonics make use of chips made by
  wafer-scale technologies withintegration of
  multiple functionalities
• Nanophotonics exploit new physics associated
  with sub-micron structures

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Microphotonics

• Integration allows to
• Exploit the economics of wafer scale integration
• Implement complex functions (systems-on-a-chip)
  in a compact and cost-effective way
• Higher performance
• Align photonic components automatically by
  lithography !!!
• MORE INTEGRATION
• LESS PACKAGING

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Nanophotonics

• Better performance and new functionalities
  through
• Photonics crystals
• Quantum dots
• High index contrast nanostructures
• Metamaterials

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Outline

• ePIXnet fact sheet
• Trends in Photonics
• Rationale and Objectives of ePIXnet

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Why a network of excellence?

• Photonic integration depends on technologies with
  high investment and exploitation costs.
• An integrated research model will therefore
  become the only viable model.

Cleanroom 10M
20 research groups400M 20M/year
Equipment 10M
Partial collaboration can easily decrease the
expenses with 50
Exploitation 1M/year
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Why a network of excellence?

• Strengthening of key facilities for joint usage
• Integrate Research
• Establish durable cooperation between research
  actors (universities, institutes, industry)
• so as to make effective use of combination of
  competences
• and allow research groups to focus on their
  core competences
• Integrate Education Programs
• Establish integration of educational programs
• Build a pool of know-how, infrastructure and
  training capacity

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Objectives
Integration of Facilities
Industrial facilities
Integrated facilities
performance, complexity
Individual research labs
time
Products
Proof or principle
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Themes

• Integration of Research on
• Technologies for Photonic Integration
• Photonic Signal Processing
• Integrated Light Sources
• Advanced Materials
• Nanophotonics
• For application in
• Telecommunication and data communication
• IT peripherals
• Sensors
• Life sciences

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Durable Integration

• Durable integration structural interdependency
• Research groups like to be independent
• The cost structure of technological research in
  micro- and nanophotonics will make cooperation
  mandatory
• People will accept durable integration if they
  see more pros than cons
• Recognition of competence
• Ability to do challenging research
• Respect for intellectual property
• More secure durable funding
• Overall long term goal stronger scientific and
  economic position of Europe

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Outline

• ePIXnet fact sheet
• Trends in Photonics
• Rationale and Objectives of ePIXnet
• History, Structure and Partners

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History

• More than one year of proposal preparation
• Internal call among 50 partners for activity
  proposals
• 30 proposals submitted, 14 selected (by steering
  committee)
• Partners involved in the selected activities
  became partners of the network

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Partners
32 Partners ( 43 Research Groups)
5 Industrial Partners
17 Academic
8 Research Institutes
13 Affiliate Partners
7 Academic
6 Industrial
300 people directly involved
190 Researchers
110 Doctoral students
Most of Europes excellence in this field is on
board
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Structure of ePIXnet
Decisions Steering Committee General Assembly
( all partners)
New Members States Panel
Contractual Integration Board
Management Network Coordinators (Roel Baets
Meint Smit) Network Office (Lieven Van Holme)
Gender Panel
Education and Training Board
Industrial Affiliation Board
Research Integration Board
Activities Facility Access
Activities Joint Research
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Outline

• ePIXnet fact sheet
• Trends in Photonics
• Rationale and Objectives of ePIXnet
• History, Structure and Partners
• Activities of ePIXnet

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Activities of ePIXnet (1)

• Facility Access
• Several research groups use a unique facility of
  very high cost/complexity
• Leading to better usage of facility and cost
  sharing
• 5 concrete activities
• Joint Research
• Distributed set of facilities and know-how,
  which, together, provide a unique platform for
  joint research
• Leading to advanced research based on the
  complementary core skills of several groups
• 9 concrete activities

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Network Activities
Facility Access Activity

• FAA1  COBRA Access to monolithic integration
  of InP-active and passive devices
• FAA2  CNRS-ECLFrom 2 to 2.5 Dimensional
  Microphotonics based on Heterogeneous Integration
  Technology and 2 Dimensional Photonic Crystal
  membranes
• FAA3  IMECNanophotonic circuits in SOI based
  on CMOS-compatible process technology
• FAA4  EPFLSingle-Photon emitters
  characterisation facility
• FAA5  RWTH-AachenAccess to characterisation
  facilities for ultrafast photonic switches

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Network Activities
Joint Research Activities

• JRA1 STAndrewsLithography limits for
  Nanophotonic devices
• JRA2 EPFL-IPEQPhotonic crystals Loss
  Analysis, Tuning and Technology
• JRA3 COBRAQuantum dot arrays with engineered
  linear and nonlinear optical properties
• JRA4 INSA-RennesHigh speed transmission based
  on chirpless quantum dot laser Source
• JRA5 ETHZ-ULPMulti-GHz semiconductor light
  sources
• JRA6 ETHZ-ULPPicosecond pulse sources for
  ultra-high bit-rate communication
• JRA7 TUBExternal Cavity Lasers Built by
  Hybrid Integration in MicroMachined Packages
• JRA8 COMExploration of device concepts for
  all-optical switching at high speeds
• JRA9 FVB-PDIPhotonic Switches and Modulators
  based on Surface Acoustic Waves

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Activities of ePIXnet (2)

• Exchange of Researchers Staff
• Researchers get the opportunity to visit other
  groups and work in other labs
• Share experts for courses guiding PhD students
• Dissemination of knowledge
• Tutorial lectures at conferences and schools
• Towards a Joint Study Program In the field of
  photonics.

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Outline

• ePIXnet fact sheet
• Trends in Photonics
• Rationale and Objectives of ePIXnet
• History, Structure and Partners
• Activities of ePIXnet
• An example

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Facility Access Activity 3Nanophotonic circuits
in SOI based on CMOS-compatible process
technology

• Wim Bogaerts

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Nanophotonic waveguides

• Photonic Crystal waveguides
• in-plane high contrastphotonic crystal defect
• out-of-plane TIR

• Photonic Wires
• in-plane high contrast TIR
• out-of-plane TIR(either low or high contrast)

• Both cases
• feature size a few 100 nm
• required accuracy of features lt10 nm
• NANOPHOTONIC waveguides

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Fabrication in Silicon-on-Insulator

• Facilities of IMEC (Leuven)
• Research Center for Microelectronics
• Research on advanced technologies for the
  fabrication of CMOS chips Deep-UV lithography
  at 248nm and 193nm
• Use these technologies to fabricate nanophotonic
  circuits in SOI

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Partners

• IMEC Ghent University (Belgium)
• U. Twente - MESA (The Netherlands)
• U. St. Andrews (UK)
• KTH (Sweden)
• COM DTU (Denmark)
• U.P.Valencia (Spain)
• RWTH Aachen (Germany)
• CNRS-IOTA (France)
• Glasgow University (UK)

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Mask design collaboration

• How?
• Designs from several partners combined on one
  mask
• Group designs according to optimal process
  parameters
• Each partner gets (half) wafer

Layout 2
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Outline

• ePIXnet fact sheet
• Trends in Photonics
• Rationale and Objectives of ePIXnet
• History, Structure and Partners
• Activities of ePIXnet
• An example
• Dynamic evolution

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Dynamic evolution of the NoE

• New partners and affiliate partners can be added
  to existing activities during the first two years
• In month 18 a call for new activities for Year 3
  and 4 will be launched which may include new
  partners
• Objective make sure that ePIXnet is
  representative for the European research
  community in photonic integrated components

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To sum up

• ePIXnet is a major inititiave for European
  research in photonic integration technology
• The budget is modest but the impact can be large
• The research community will learn to recognize
  the merits of interdependence
• After 4 years the network should survive in a
  durable way

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www.epixnet.org