Exploitable results
The MONA project contributes directly to the development of synergies between photonics/nanophotonics and nanomaterials/nanotechnologies. The challenge of mastering nano-electronics and nano-photonics science and technologies at an industrial scale (i.e. aiming at low cost mass production capability) is of utmost strategic importance for the competitiveness of the European industry in a global context. Through the cooperative work between equipment manufacturers, nanotechnologies and photonics experts, MONA will help to identify and address the most critical manufacturing issues. This will ensure the building of a strategic comprehensive approach for the key technologies in order to profit from this highly important area for the European Union.
The MONA project has highlighted the major challenges in nanophotonics for Europe. For each of the key devices, actions would need to be taken to:
- Improve the European Industrial position by supporting the technological transfer from labs to industry (entrepreneurs and start-up support, venture capital facilitation, funding of device development projects with R&D labs, SME, large companies
.).
- Answer to nanomaterial challenges: fundamental research, production scaling, toxicity, foundry access, industry standard.
- Support the key related equipment.
One of the nanophotonics challenges would be to mutualise the efforts in order to create synergies between different applications. This could be done by doing common work for nanophotonic devices which are similar for different final application fields. We have identified potential synergies resulting from commonalities between devices.
- For display and lighting applications, the objective is to generate and distribute light with a high brightness and efficiency. In both fields, there is an increasing requirement to reduce power consumption and meet Kyoto protocol goals. The main devices under development which will be impacted by nanophotonics are LEDs, CNT Field emission displays and OLEDs.
- The second identified synergy is for optical interconnect and data telecom. Nanophotonics to allow improvement of data telecom devices to reach data rates higher than 40 Gb/s, whereas it will be the ''must have'' in the optical interconnect small dimension world. However, in the latter case, a very harsh competition with copper electrical links exists and low cost, high volume fabrication processes (e.g. CMOS compatible process) are mandatory in order that photonic devices should supersede electrical counterparts.
- There are also synergies between organic solar cells and OLEDs as challenges related to encapsulation and lifetime are similar. As for displays, these two applications fields are facing similar manufacturing challenges related to the fabrication and positioning of nanostructures on very large area substrates. The situation is thus different from nanoelectronics where the wafer and the device size is kept about one order of magnitude smaller (e.g. cm2 range for device, dm2 for the wafer).
Although the position of Europe for nanophotonic devices manufacturing is not so strong (except for LEDs with Philips and Osram) and the majority of the manufacturing of semiconductor or photonic devices is done outside Europe, there is a strong equipment industry in Europe. This is the case for MBE, MOCVD, lithography, ALD, etching, OVPD, CNT CVD equipment, but also for equipment that is required for more exotic processes.
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