US invests $610 million to spur integrated photonics

The US government has set up its latest manufacturing initiative, the sixth of nine, to address photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The $610 million venture is a combination of public and private funding: $110 million from the Department of Defense, $250 million from the state of New York and the rest private contributions.

Prof. Duncan Moore

Dubbed the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics), the venture has attracted 124 partners includes 20 universities and over 50 companies.

The manufacturing innovation institute will be based in Rochester, New York, and will be led by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York. A key goal is that the manufacturing institute will continue after the initiative is completed in early 2021.  

We are at the point in photonics where we were in electronics when we still had transistors, resistors and capacitors. What we are trying to do now is the equivalent of the electronics IC 

While the focus is on photonic integrated circuits, the expectation is that the venture will end up being broader. “NASA, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense are all interested in using this as a vehicle for doing other work,” says Duncan Moore, professor of optics at the University of Rochester.  

The venture will address such issues as design, on-chip manufacturing, packaging and assembly of PICs. “We are at the point in photonics where we were in electronics when we still had transistors, resistors and capacitors,” says Moore. “What we are trying to do now is the equivalent of the electronics IC.”

"It is an amazing public-private consortium utilizing an unprecedented $610 million investment in photonics," says Richard Soref, a silicon photonics pioneer and a Group IV photonics researcher. "The large and powerful team of world-class investigators is likely to make research-and-development progress of great importance for the US and the world.”

Project plans

The first six months are being used to fill in project’s details. “There are overall budget numbers but individual projects are not well defined in the proposal,” says Moore, adding that many of the subfields - packaging, sensors and the like - will be defined and request-for-proposals issued. 

An executive committee will then determine which projects are funded and to what degree. Project durations will vary from one-offs to the full five years. 

The large and powerful team of world-class investigators is likely to make research-and-development progress of great importance for the US and the world

Companies backing the project include indium phosphide specialist Infinera as well as silicon photonics players Acacia Communications, Aurrion, and Intel. How the two technologies as well as Group IV photonics will be accommodated as part of the manufacturing base is still to be determined, says Prof. Moore. His expectation is that all will be investigated before a ‘shakeout’ will occur as the venture progresses. 

The focus will be on telecom wavelengths and the mid-wave 3 to 5 micron band. “There are a lot of applications in that [longer] wavelength band: remote sensing, environmental analysis, and for doing things on the battlefield,” says Moore.  

A public document will be issued around the year-end describing the project’s organisation. 

Further information:

The White House factsheet, click here

A Photonics video interview with the chairman of the institute, Professor Robert Clark, click here