References

PIXAPP

PIXAPP

Photonic Integrated Circuits Assembly and Packaging Pilot Line

Project ID: 731954
Start date: 1. 1. 2017
End date: 30. 9. 2021
EU cordis link: CORDIS
Website: pixapp.eu

Argotech’s role

  • PIC to Fiber Array coupling by both Edge and Grating coupling method
  • Hybrid integration – CMOS flip chip
  • Packaging supporting processes WB, DB
  • Hermetic sealing
  • Reliability testing

Project description

PIXAPP will establish the world’s first open access Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) assembly & packaging Pilot Line. It combines a highly-interdisciplinary team of Europe’s leading industrial & research organisations. 

PIXAPP provides Europe’s SMEs with a unique one-stop-shop, enabling them to exploit the breakthrough advantages of PIC technologies. 

Objective

PIXAPP bridges the ‘valley of death’, providing SMEs with an easy access route to take R&D results from lab to market, giving them a competitive advantage over global competition. Target markets include communications, healthcare & security, which are of great socio-economic importance to Europe.

PIXAPP’s manufacturing capabilities can support over 120 users per year, across all stages of manufacturing, from prototyping to medium scale manufacture. PIXAPP bridges missing gaps in the value chain, from assembly & packaging, through to equipment optimisation, test and application demonstration. To achieve these ambitious objectives, 

PIXAPP will:

  1. Combine a group of Europe’s leading industrial & research organisations in an advanced PIC assembly & packaging Pilot Line facility.
  2. Develop an innovative Pilot Line operational model that coordinates activities between consortium partners & supports easy user access through a single entry point.
  3. Establish packaging standards that provide cost-efficient assembly & packaging solutions, enabling transfer to full-scale industrial manufacture.
  4. Create the highly-skilled workforce required to manage & operate these industrial manufacturing facilities.
  5. Develop a business plan to ensure Pilot Line sustainability & a route to industrial manufacturing.

PIXAPP will deliver significant impacts to a wide stakeholder group, highlighting how industrial & research sectors can collaborate to address emerging socio-economic challenges.

Coordinator:

Tyndall, National Universtity of Ireland, Cork, Ireland

Partners:

CEA LETI – Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, France
Cordon Electronics Italia Srl, Italy
Eblana Photonics Limited, Ireland
EPIC, European Photonics Industry Consortium, France
Ficontec Service GmbH, Germany
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung EV, Germany
III-V Lab, France
IMEC – Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum, Belgium
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Germany
Linkra S.r.l., Italy
Lionix International BV, Netherlands
Microfluidic Chipshop GmbH, Germany
Optoscribe Limited, United Kingdom
PHIX BV, Netherlands
Randox Laboratories Ltd., United Kingdom
Süss Microoptics SA, Switzerland
Synopsys Software Netherlands BV, Netherlands
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Netherlands
Technobis IPPS BV, Netherlands
Tyndall National Institut, University College Cork, Ireland
Vanguard Automation GmbH, Germany
VTT – Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus VTT OY, Finland

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
Grant agreement no. 731954.