EVG advances CPO manufacturing
EV Group is applying wafer bonding, nanoimprint lithography and thin-wafer processing technologies to the manufacturing challenges of next-generation co-packaged optics for AI and high-performance computing.
EV Group (EVG) is expanding its support for co-packaged optics (CPO), targeting the manufacturing and heterogeneous integration challenges associated with bringing photonic and electronic components together at higher densities.
The company says its portfolio of wafer bonding, nanoimprint lithography and thin-wafer processing technologies can support CPO development from process optimisation through to high-volume manufacturing.
EVG is using its NILPhotonics Competence Center and Heterogeneous Integration Competence Center to allow customers and partners to develop and validate processes in production-relevant environments before transferring them to manufacturing.
CPO combines photonic integrated circuits (PICs), lasers and electronic components within increasingly dense packages. The use of different materials and device structures creates challenges around bonding, optical coupling, thermal management and wafer processing.
EVG's portfolio includes hybrid bonding for integration of photonic integrated circuits with electronic integrated circuits, as well as fusion bonding for heterogeneous integration of III-V materials used in laser fabrication. The company is also targeting emerging photonic materials including thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) and barium titanate (BTO).
For thermal management, EVG is developing oxide-free, room-temperature bonding processes designed to create low-loss interfaces while supporting the integration of heat-spreading materials such as diamond and silicon carbide (SiC).
The company is also applying nanoimprint lithography to the fabrication of grating couplers, vertical optical coupling structures and beam-shaping elements. These structures are intended to support wafer-level optical coupling for chip-to-chip and chip-to-fibre interconnects.
Additional temporary bonding and debonding capabilities support wafer thinning for applications including laser diodes and advanced packaging.
“Co-packaged optics represents a major technology transition for AI hardware, but it also introduces significant integration challenges,” said Dr Bernd Dielacher, director of business development at EVG. He said the company's approach combines process expertise with its competence centres to support development through to high-volume manufacturing.
EVG will present its CPO manufacturing work at the Heterogeneous Integration Global Summit, held alongside SEMICON Taiwan 2026, and will demonstrate its technologies at the event exhibition.
The company is also looking beyond current CPO architectures towards optical I/O chiplets and tighter three-dimensional photonic-electronic integration, where silicon photonics, CMOS electronics and laser sources could be integrated within more highly scaled optical interconnect platforms.
