X-Celeprint, Ligentec and X-FAB team up on heterogeneous integration
The three companies aim to create a fully integrated supply chain for hybrid PICs by combining X-Celeprint’s micro transfer printing technology with Ligentec’s silicon nitride platform and X-FAB’s specialty foundry
X-Celeprint, Ligentec, and X-FAB have announced that they are aligning their efforts to simplify and enhance heterogeneous integration through micro transfer printing (MTP), with the goal of revolutionising PICs. The companies say their collaboration is set to close existing gaps in the value chain and offer a seamless journey from R&D to mass production.
In response to the global need for reducing power consumption, emissions, and material waste, advanced photonic integration and packaging technologies offer a route towards a greener future while delivering scalable, high-performance solutions for the industry. PICs are at the forefront of technological innovation, poised to enable breakthrough applications and overcome current technological barriers.
The future of PICs is moving towards chiplets, where the best materials and components are combined to create hybrid solutions. Today, achieving these hybrid chiplets is a complex and cumbersome process for customers, as no integrated supply chain exists to streamline the path from development to production.
To address this challenge, the partnership between X-Celeprint, Ligentec, and X-FAB is aimed at creating a fully integrated supply chain that simplifies the development and industrialisation of hybrid PICs.
According to the companies, the collaboration combines Ligentec’s low-loss silicon nitride PICs, X-Celeprint’s MTP technology, bringing the capability to integrate diverse active materials on PIC platforms, and X-FAB’s specialty foundry for feature-rich analogue mixed-signal ASICs, MEMS, microsystems and photonics, providing scaling-up and volume production capabilities.
Together, the companies will be working towards offering customers a complete, seamless solution, covering all stages from early technology assessment and R&D, through design support, prototyping, and piloting, to full-scale production.
As the first step in this partnership, Ligentec plans to integrate photodetectors onto their low-loss silicon nitride platform using MTP technology. This will be offered as an additional module to their regular multi-project wafer runs, intending to provide an easy, low-barrier entry point for customers. X-Celeprint plans to contribute its expertise in process development, with X-FAB seeking to ensure a smooth scale-up from prototyping to volume production.
“After years of intensive R&D, we are seeing significant uptake and interest in MTP,” said Kyle Benkendorfer, CEO of X-Celeprint. “The technology readiness level in photonics integration has reached the stage to bring it to the market, offering customers a powerful solution to overcome the challenges of hybrid PICs.”
Thomas Hessler, CEO of LIGENTEC, said: “No single material system can meet the diverse requirements of photonics. Heterogeneous integration is essential, and with MTP, we have the ideal technology to combine the best active materials with our high-performance silicon nitride platform. This not only enhances functionality but also opens the door to new applications and innovations.”
Volker Herbig, VP BU Microsystems of X-FAB, added: “We see MTP as a very promising technology with tremendous future potential. X-FAB is committed to supporting this collaboration, ensuring a smooth and efficient transition from prototyping to high-volume production.”
The companies say their combined offering covers the entire customer journey, providing clear and accessible pathways from R&D to high-volume production. They also plan to integrate more functionalities, such as light generation and modulation, in the next stages, further expanding the potential of this technology.
