ePIXnet and the Industry

1
ePIXnet and the Industry

• Mike Wale
• Chairman of the Industrial Board and Adviser to
  the ePIXnet SC
• mike.wale_at_bookham.com

2
Industrial Participants in ePIXnet

• Strong industrial presence
• 26 industrial participants
• Industrial participation has increased
  significantly at the beginning there were 7
  partners and 5 affiliates
• New industrial partners/affiliates associated
  with platforms
• By engaging a wide industrial base, ePIXnet is
  providing a framework not only for the
  development of the research community but also
  for European industry, by stimulating plans for
  future European foundry networks

3
What kind of companies are involved?

• All aspects of photonic integration are covered
• Device manufacturers
• System manufacturers incorporating PICs in their
  products
• Manufacturers of semiconductor manufacturing
  equipment
• Software companies supporting photonic IC design,
  modelling and simulation
• System users
• Industrial partners are playing a key role in the
  development of the integration platforms

4
Industrial participants in ePIXnet

• Full partners
• Alcatel Thales III-V Lab
• AMO
• Bookham
• CIP
• CoreOptics
• Raith
• Vistec (formerly Leica)

• Affiliates
• VanderHoek CSEM - CSEM- CH
• Intense Photonics
• Teem Photonics S.A
• ASML
• 3S Photonics
• CEDOVA
• Filtronic
• LioniX
• OptiSense
• Ericsson
• u2t
• Photon Design
• Nokia Siemens Networks
• Phoenix BV
• AIXTRON AG
• SVEDICE AB
• Photonix Ltd

• Welcome to all industrial participants at this
  meeting!

5
An invitation to industry

• ePIXnet welcomes the widest possible
  participation of industrial companies with
  interests in photonic integration

• Affiliate membership offers an informal route to
  participation in the Network and engagement with
  Network partners
• Affiliate companies are invited to send a
  delegate to the annual Meeting and contribute to
  all activities
• Affililates do not receive funding, but nor is
  there any fee
• Affiliates may participate in joint research and
  platform activities under NDA

6
Industry Board

• Membership includes all industrial partners and
  affiliates
• Advise the Steering Committee and Research
  Integration Board on industrial relevance of the
  Network activities and on aspects that are
  particularly important for industry (e.g.
  business aspects, intellectual property)
• Chairman of Industry Board attends all SC
  meetings
• Stimulate innovation within the Network, both
  technically and organizationally
• Set up an effective interaction with as many
  industrial actors as possible who are relevant to
  the aims of ePIXnet
• Promote the ePIXnet message in appropriate
  industrial contexts and forums
• Strong relationship with European Photonics
  Industry Consortium (EPIC)

7
ePIXnet policy from 2006

• Group joint research around
• 3 Integration Technology Platforms (ITP)
• InP-based photonic integration
• Silicon photonics (CMOS-compatible)
• Nanostructuring technologies for photonic
  integration
• and 3 supporting platforms
• High speed characterisation platform
• Modelling platform
• Packaging platform
• The platforms support a wide range of joint
  research actitivies (JRAs) within ePIXnet
• They represent true structural change and will
  survive ePIXnet

8
Advantages to industry

• Convergence of technology eases implementation
  and exploitation at all stages from prototyping
  to high volume
• Facilitates exploitation of university research,
  shorter time to market
• Makes InP PIC technology available to smaller
  companies
• Stimulates circuit level innovation
• Important step to PICs becoming similar to ICs
• Allows emphasis on application and circuit level
  aspects
• Provides proving ground for advanced equipment,
  technology and software
• Opportunity to establish standards for all
  aspects of technology, equipment and design tools

9
Challenges for Industry

• Developing the technology pipeline from
  university through prototyping to high volume
  manufacture
• Funding
• Infrastructure
• Platforms of choice for European PIC projects
  (national, EC or commercial)
• Discussions with funding agencies underway, FP7
  proposals in preparation
• Legal and IP considerations
• Complex but not insuperable
• ePIXnet CA being developed for wider
  participation
• Establishing a new model for InP circuit RD
• Develop platforms beyond ePIXnet and become a key
  European facility for the next decade and beyond
• Changing the paradigm for photonic circuit RD!

10
Industry and the Silicon Platform

• The coordinators of the Silicon Platform have
  many contacts with the relevant industrial
  partners
• Good and advantageous collaboration with
  suppliers such as SOITEC (wafer supplier) and
  ASML (tool supplier).
• Talks with IHP (Germany) and preliminary contacts
  with European and Non-European players in the
  field of electronics, such as UMC and TSMC, with
  regard to foundry developments
• Currently two industrial partners make use of the
  platform's service Genalyte, Genexis
• The mission of both research institutes IMEC and
  CEA-Leti forces these two platform partners to
  have very strong ties with  the industry.
• IMEC's staff of more than 1500 people includes
  over 500 industrial residents
• CEA founded 97 new companies during the last 25
  years.

11
Industry in the JePPIX platform

• Amongst the organizations making up the JePPIX
  platform, industrial partners are in the majority
• Many European device companies are involved in
  planning the evolution of the platform (Bookham,
  Cedova, CIP, CST, 3-5 Lab, 3S Photonics, Svedice,
  ), as well as key software companies (Phoenix
  BV, Photon Design) and equipment manufacturers
  (ASML, Aixtron, Oxford Plasma Tech)
• Industrial partners are making major
  contributions to the vision of the foundry-based
  model of integrated photonics
• Partners fully engaged with the academic and
  research institute partners in inventing new
  commercial, legal, organizational and technical
  frameworks
• JePPIX will continue after ePIXnet
• Industry partners are taking significant steps
  towards an industrial-scale European foundry,
  operating generic processes with open design
  rules, to widen access to photonic integration
  for equipment manufacturers (SMEs as well as
  large companies), in addition to researchers

12
Industrial participation in the JePPIX symposium,
Eindhoven, November 2006

• Photonic CAD / Ir. Arjen Bakker (Phoenix,
  Enschede, NL)
• Foundry Service / Dr. John Reid (Cedova,
  Eindhoven, NL), Dr. Michael Robertson (Centre for
  Integrated Photonics (CIP), Ipswich, UK)
• Photonic Integrated Circuit Applications / Dr.
  Mike Wale (Bookham, Caswell, UK)
• PICs for Fibre-to-the-Home / Dr. Gerlas van den
  Hoven (Genexis, Eindhoven, NL)
• PICs for Sensor Readout / Ir. Mar van der Hoek
  (VanderHoekPhotonics, Vlaardingen, NL)
• PICs for high speed communications / Andreas
  Umbach, Dirk Trommer (u2t Photonics, Berlin, D)

13
Industry and policy

• The ePIXnet steering committee has developed a
  vision paper containing strong industrial input,
  entitled Towards a foundry model for micro- and
  nanophotonic ICs A vision for Europe.
• This document will provide an important input to
  the forthcoming Photonics21 workshop in October,
  with the aim of defining the updated Strategic
  Research Agenda for FP7.
• Industrial partners in ePIXnet are working
  closely with academic and research institute
  colleagues to make the vision described in this
  paper a reality.

14
Summary

• ePIXnet is seeking fundamental change in the way
  in which photonics RD is conducted, in order to
  ensure a leadership position for European
  industry
• Industrial participation is key to success
• Strong industrial partnership is in place and is
  driving a vision which extends beyond RD
• During the remaining year of the ePIXnet
  programme, this vision will be elaborated and set
  on the path to full realization
• Some significant challenges to be overcome but
  the prize is well worth the effort
• We aim to be inclusive we want to hear from all
  technology providers, manufacturers and users
• We welcome your inputs!

15
Europe Leader in Photonic Integration