Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TUPHO (Tuning of PHOtonic resonators)
Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2025-05-31
Nanoscale manufacturing, particularly of integrated photonics, has faced significant challenges in the resolution and error of cleanroom devices. Although the dimensional errors have been reduced to between 1 and 10 nanometres, manufacturing technology is pressed to keep up with the need for more and more components in increasingly compact spaces, both to limit losses and to enhance applicability. The ERC-funded TUPHO project aims to address this problem with its patented technique to resolve errors permanently at the end of the manufacturing process, enabling the tuning of photonic resonators with unprecedented accuracy. The project will enable the scientists to transpose the technique onto select silicon devices for easy use by manufacturers.
A tuning technique for photonic devices, which had been established by the partner in III_V semiconductor devices a few years back, has been transposed to silicon during the project. This tuning technique now enables correcting fabrication errors typically found at the output of clean-room fabrication processes. On top of this technical achievement, a business analysis was carried and a project of start-up incorporation could be established on solid grounds. The project will be pursued by a transitioning phase towards concrete use-cases and a scale-up of the technology.
The project demonstrated a technique to tune silicon-based photonic resonator with a dimension precision at the picometer-level, 4 orders of magnitude more precise that the current state-of-the-art in clean-room fabrication processes. The technique was patented towards the project's end, and is now being tested in selected use-cases.