PIC Manufacturing

As a fabless PIC Design & Test House, we have a large experience working independently with pure-play foundries through strategic partnerships. Through close collaboration with various foundries, VLC Photonics ensures the delivery of optimal solutions in terms of cost, timing, performance, reliability, and yield.

Key Highlights:

Extensive foundries network: VLC Photonics has successfully performed tape-outs with over 20 different photonic foundries globally, showcasing its diverse manufacturing capabilities.

Our focus is the manufacturing of photonic circuit designs across major material platforms such as Silicon photonics (SOI, SiN, SiO2/PLC), III-V materials (InP, GaAs, etc.), and cutting edge platforms like Thin film Lithium Niobate(TFLN), BTO, polymers or Graphene.

PIC manufacturing suport services:
- Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) Runs: Cost-efficient manufacturing is provided through MPW runs, where fabrication area and costs are shared among multiple users. This way, VLC Photonics foundry partners can offer the flexibility for proof-of-concept demonstrators with 1-100 dies.
- Dedicated Runs: For larger scale production, dedicated runs enable the scaling of PICs to several tens or hundreds of dies from a batch of 1-20 wafers. This offers flexibility in chip sizes, fabrication timing, and custom fab processing.
- Pilot production: VLC Photonics guides clients through the transition to volume production, assisting with larger wafer quantities (+20/100/1000) to meet varying market demands. Expertise is provided for re-designs, ramp- up and transfer to larger foundries, and production logistics.

Our PIC manufacturing support services include:

R&D and prototype runs usually range from a single PIC to a few tens. Risk and cycle time are greatly minimized through our years-long experience with all foundry partners. Additionally, cost can be significantly reduced through Multi-Project Wafer runs (also known as shuttle runs), where fabrication area and cost are shared among several users. Dedicated runs can scale the number of PICs to several tens or hundreds of dies from a batch of 1-20 wafers, allowing for more flexibility in chip sizes, fabrication timing, or custom fab processing. VLC Photonics can also provide these, including complete mask layout and process definitions and modifications if required for pilot production. Finally, VLC Photonics can support you when moving to volume production, where larger amounts of wafers (+20/100/1000) are manufactured. Depending on the end market, this can mean from thousands to millions of PICs, and we have the expertise to guide you through the hurdles of re-designs, transfer to larger foundries and production logistics.

PIC Development

PIC Development

Consultancy

Design

Manufacturing

Wafer and Chip

Assembly

Packaging