The photonixFAB consortium was officially launched at X-FAB France in May 2023.
Project management has been structured around monthly progress reviews and biannual face-to-face plenary meetings, ensuring alignment across partners, clarification of technical aspects, and proactive risk management.
In March 2024, the photonixFAB Customer Engagement Portal (www.photonixfab.eu) was released, offering access to available technologies for R&D prototyping, low-volume production, and the future high-volume industrial pilot line under development.
A licensing agreement between IMEC and X-FAB was finalized, enabling the installation of IMEC’s SOI technology within the X-FAB France facility.
A newly developed Design Toolkit was made available to support early applications and demonstrators from consortium partners. Initial industrial demonstrator designs and tape-outs were completed during the first reporting period. Fabrication continued into the second period, with testing and validation planned by the end of 2025. A second round of demonstrators is scheduled for the final phase of the project to incorporate learnings, design and process improvements across the photonics value chain.
Initial capital investments were launched to support new technology features. Notably:
• A SiN LPCVD furnace for LIGENTEC’s ultra-low-loss SiN technology was commissioned for R&D use at X-FAB France in March 2024.
• Installation of a 193nm wavelength lithography tool, essential for both SiN and SOI technologies was completed and released for process development phase in early 2025.
By the end of Period 2 (August 2025), the main process setup phase was completed at X-FAB, Ligentec, and Smart, with final adjustments and validations still underway:
• SiN Technology: Ligentec, X-FAB and other consortium members are refining final process steps to optimize the ultra-low-loss SiN PIC platform, with demonstrators underway in collaboration with Aryballe, Photonfirst and Thales.
• SOI Technology: IMEC, Smart Photonics and PHIX completed a first design check through “Demonstrator Run 1,” using IMEC’s flow to produce PICs and apply micro-transfer printing of active components. This run explores multiple design approaches to finalize concepts for Run 2, which will integrate Smart Photonics’s newly developed MTP coupon-ready InP process. In parallel, X-FAB France and XMF are preparing the industrial flow for the final demonstration runs. During early 2025, SOI technology setup at X-FAB progressed as planned, with initial optical results from passive waveguides showing promising performance (October 2025).
• Active Chiplets : Smart Photonics has developed 5 different MTP ready coupons to support the photonixFAB program with SOAs, photodiodes and modulator. First samples have been delivered and further optimization of the flow is underway.
On the packaging side, an initial Assembly Design Kit was deployed by Luceda and PHIX, and the first packaging demonstrators are in final development.
MPW (Multi-Project Wafer) activities with external consortium partners commenced in September 2025.
Design activities for Demonstrator Run 2 will begin in November 2025, using updated PDKs developed by Luceda and PIC fabrication of this final design is expected to start in early 2026.
