EU project announces Europe’s first commercial supplier of LNOI wafers
The ELENA consortium says the new foundry based in Switzerland will have the capacity to deliver millions of TFLN chips annually, supporting Europe’s technological sovereignty
A recently concluded 42-month EU project, ELENA, has announced the development of the first European-made lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) substrates for PICs. The consortium describes this as a breakthrough that establishes a fully European supply chain for thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) technology.
TFLN is a breakthrough material platform enabling high-performance PICs through its thin-film structure, offering unique electro-optic, nonlinear optical, and acousto-optic properties. The advent of LNOI wafers allows micromachining of LN with high precision, integrating multiple optical functions within a footprint smaller than a fingertip. These attributes make LNOI particularly attractive for high-speed, low-power optical communications and quantum systems.
According to the ELENA consortium, the LNOI ecosystem has until now been constrained by a limited supply chain reliant on a single commercial supplier outside the EU, as well as the absence of a commercial foundry capable of producing TFLN photonic chips at scale. The ELENA project aimed to directly address these critical gaps by establishing Europe’s first commercial LNOI wafer supply and laying the groundwork for a TFLN photonic chip foundry.
The €5 million initiative brought together 10 partners across the PIC value chain, from substrate innovation and photonic design to manufacturing, testing, and packaging. Reported outcomes include the first process design kit (PDK) for the LNOI platform and advances in foundry-compatible processes to transition TFLN technology from research to commercial production. The consortium says this effort significantly enhances European sovereignty in a strategically vital segment of the semiconductor supply chain.
According to ELENA coordinators, a cornerstone of the project is the creation of Europe’s first open-access LNOI photonic chip foundry at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology’s (CSEM) certified cleanroom facility in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. As a result, CSEM has launched the spinout company CCRAFT, which is dedicated to scaling up production and will focus on producing TFLN photonic chips on 150 mm optical-grade LNOI wafers at industrial scale.
“The spinout foundry is uniquely positioned at the core of the TFLN value chain, because it delivers production-grade service, a rare block in the supply chain,” said Hamed Sattari, ELENA’s project manager and CEO of CCRAFT. “CCRAFT’s roadmap includes expanding capacity to deliver millions of TFLN chips annually, firmly positioning Europe as a global leader in photonic-chip manufacturing.”
Involving research institutes, large industrial companies, and SMEs, the consortium’s partners include: CSEM, CEA-Leti, SOITEC, VPIphotonics, ETH Zurich, Vanguard Automation, Thales SA, III-V Lab, Rosenberger Hochfrequenztechnik, and L-up SAS.
The availability of a production-grade photonic chip foundry, combined with project members CEA-Leti and SOITEC’s plans to commercialise LNOI wafers, also aims to support Europe’s ability to manufacture the next generation of photonic chips across a broad range of markets and industries.
To validate the platform, ELENA has produced demonstrator PICs targeting four sectors: quantum, telecom, space communications, and LiDAR/sensing. As demand surges for faster, energy-efficient electro-optic chips across AI, datacentres, and telecommunications, the ELENA consortium says the project’s achievement firmly positions the EU at the forefront of global photonics innovation.
