The Netherlands will have a European pilot plant for photonic chips. Those future generation chips process information with light instead of electrons. A total of 380 million euros in public investment has been made available for this project by Europe and 11 participating countries, which are participating in the Chips Joint Undertaking for this project. Twente will get a significant share, a mega boost for chip technology in Twente.
-
-
-
-
Delen
Of the 380 million, €133 million is expected to be invested in the Netherlands. Eindhoven and Enschede are the intended locations for setting up this pilot plant. Knowledge institutes TNO, TU Eindhoven and the University of Twente are closely involved in the developments. Enschede will focus on silicon nitride-based chips and Eindhoven on indium phosphide-based photonic chips.
Prof Guus Rijnders: ‘Huge milestone’
Prof Guus Rijnders, professor at UT research institute MESA+ and the captain of science for the Dutch top sector high-tech systems and materials, is closely involved in the investments. He speaks of a huge milestone. ‘At the University of Twente, together with our spin-off companies, we have been putting a lot of energy into photonics since the 1990s. That this recognition and investment is now coming is great. This development fits into the new role of universities within ecosystems. By that I mean enabling scientists to innovate more quickly and turning excellent research into a marketable product more quickly. A mission that is also outlined in the European Chips Act.’
20% market share in semiconductor industry
That Chips Act talks about a set of measures and investments that contribute to strategic autonomy and economic earning power in Europe. The pilot plant (‘pilot lines’) is part of that. One of the objectives is to ‘capture’ 20% market share in the semiconductor industry and build first-of-kind facilities. It is also investing in setting up a Design Platform and a cluster of European Chip Competence Centres to facilitate access to the pilot lines and the design platform. More info here.
Numerous innovations thanks to photonics
Photonic chips will make it possible in the future to build cheaper, faster and energy-efficient devices for specific purposes. These will enable, for example, earlier diagnosis of diseases, safe self-driving vehicles and more efficient food production. Photonic chip development is still at a relatively early stage, but is most likely to play a key role in high-tech sectors where speed and energy efficiency are key. Investment in photonic production facilities encourages building future new markets in Europe.
Pilot plant: extremely low volumes
Guus Rijnders outlines the significance for the University of Twente and for the ChipTech Twente cluster. ‘We already have a rich history in specialised spin-off companies in chip technology, such as LioniX International and Quix Quantum. They have been able to innovate thanks to existing infrastructure in the MESA+ NanoLab, but for photonics not all the infrastructure is there yet. The pilot plant allows the companies and scientists to take a crucial step towards a production environment. The pilot plant involves extremely low volumes, where we accurately map processes and can scale them up later.’
New Origin
According to Rijnders, the pilot plant is an important intermediate step towards New Origin. This newly to be realised production facility for photonic chips, created from MESA+ at the University of Twente, has now been promised more than 20 million euros in support from PhotonDelta. That is a national ecosystem of photonic chip technology organisations. New Origin will be the first independent photonic chip manufacturing facility to produce silicon nitride chips. Rijnders: ‘Within New Origin, investments are being made in production equipment for mid- and higher volumes, in which case you are talking about 25,000 silicon wafers of 200 millimetres. That’s quite a bit larger than the pilot plant.’
Twan Korthorst, CEO of New Origin, also speaks of groundbreaking news. ‘Investments from Europe in research and this new pilot line for photonic chips are important for New Origin. These investments ultimately contribute to more activity after the pilot phase and lead to volume production of photonic chips. New Origin is working closely with parties within the Netherlands and Europe to enable a smooth transition from research, to development and ultimately production.’
Minister Beljaarts: ‘Photonics strategic technology’
Minister Dirk Beljaarts (Economic Affairs): ‘This is good news. For the Dutch innovation climate as a whole and for the SMEs involved who are working hard on this. Photonics is not for nothing one of the technologies designated as strategic by the cabinet. Our goal is to gain a strong European competitive position in it. From knowledge, innovation, supply to final production. That is necessary for the Dutch jobs and income of the future, solving societal challenges and our national security.’
How to proceed?
Dutch public funding is going to be further elaborated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the coming period. If negotiations, contracts and funding are finalised, the project is expected to be able to start in mid-2025. Rijnders expects the first equipment to be delivered in 2026.
