Presentations at PIC International 2025 are grouped into 4 key themes which collectively provide complete coverage of the compound semiconductor industry.
If you are interested in speaking at PIC International 2025, please contact info@picinternational.net or call +44 (0)24 7671 8970.
Enabling the era of AI and machine learning is contingent on our ability to process an astronomical amount of data using technology that is fast and sustainable. Optical interconnects packaged within the same 3DIC stack as the computational core holds the key to achieving this. The next generation of system engineers require tools that provide multiphysics solutions for evaluating the optical coupling as well as the signal, power, and structural integrity of these densely packaged, multi-die, electro-optical systems to ensure high-bandwidth, low power, and low latency. In this talk, we will show how recent developments at Ansys are enabling the design and optimization of co-packaged optics, programmable PICs for AI, and photonic circuits for quantum computing. We will demonstrate how GPU-accelerated FDTD simulations are unlocking new scales for photonic device design in advanced technologies, highlighting innovations that are crucial for meeting the demands of modern AI and future computing technologies.
As demand for AI, cloud computing, and data-intensive applications are increasing exponentially, the demand for faster, more efficient data optical interconnects skyrockets. Traditional silicon or III-V semiconductor-based transceivers are hitting an upper physical limit, creating critical bottlenecks in telecom and datacom infrastructure. Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have emerged as a new platform to offer a breakthrough—combining ultra-high performance such as 400G/lane with lower power consumption. However, scaling the manufacturing of this game-changing technology for high-volume production hasn’t happened yet. In this talk, Lightium's CEO, Dr. Amir Ghadimi, will explore the challenges and opportunities of the TFLN platform, from material processing to CMOS-compatible fabrication and Lightium's journey to set up a production-grade foundry for the TFLN platform in a 200mm commercial silicon line. Learn how cutting-edge advancements in production are paving the way for the next generation of high-speed, energy-efficient optical networks.
As AI and optical computing can drive the mass production of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for datacom, strict performance requirements are pushing yields to their limits. Achieving high-volume production with acceptable yields requires a clear understanding of chip failures, strong yield control, and ongoing process improvements. Close collaboration among designers, EDA vendors, and foundries is essential to set shared goals, define specifications, and establish standards. This teamwork will fully unlock the potential of PIC-based solutions and ensure they can scale for the next generation of applications.
In this talk, we present how integrating foundry-specific photonic Process Design Kits (PDKs) with advanced simulation modules empowers the design of complex Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). Our focus is on showcasing how a custom PDK framework can be utilized to generate foundry-specific building blocks, enabling users to design application-specific PICs, such as high-speed modulators, widely tunable lasers, IQ modulators, frequency shifters, and sensors. Additionally, we'll explore powerful visualization methods helping to control the simulation and visualization of the results.
Silicon photonic advances have been critical to delivery of the 800Gb/s and 1.6Tb/s modules driving todays AI infrastructure, traditional datacenter, and coherent transport. As processes mature, expectations grow driving increased complexity and new levels of functional integration. Test philosophies will need to adapt. Bringing functional test closer to the chip is one potential outcome with test systems aligning to the specific requirements of the design. The session will review the impacts on both wafer and packaging test and review the potential benefits such as the reduction in test cases, and the identification of issues earlier in the transformation process. Easily adjustable and rapidly adaptable modular test platforms will become much more critical.
Recent explosive growth in AI brought a resurgence of interest in application-specific computing hardware. Given the significant energy and resource demands of modern AI datacenters, research into emerging computing substrates and approaches has gained significant traction over the recent years. Among those, photonics (and integrated photonics in particular) stands as a promising technology not only for communications, but also for high throughput, physics-based computation. In this talk, I will provide an overview of our recent research work on photonics-enabled AI accelerators and neuromorphic systems from the architecture and system level.
As data center transceivers, LIDAR, quantum systems and biosensors are commencing to scale up, several challenges are emerging now in their design and testing. Building reliable component models on top of mature foundry processes is key, and that requires for extensive functional characterization and process validation, both at wafer and die level. Another key aspect when moving forward in the product development phases is the need for reliability testing, which is proving to be more difficult in PICs than in discrete optical components.
Within the photonics industry there is currently a big movement of defining standards for PIC layouts, connections, gold boxes and assembly procedures to streamline the evaluation and mass production of modules. A quite untouched area is the standardisation of photonics packaging and testing equipment which plays a crucial role within the value chain of the industry. This talk will highlight some of the industries standardisation activities, provide an insight about our machine standardisation efforts at ficonTEC and explain an application example of a machine which is used for fiber and free space optical coupling with minor adjustments.
Data Center providers are facing new challenges related to the needs of AI applications that are constantly increasing their demand for computational power and their requirements for low latency and low power consumption networks. In this context, Electronic Packet Switches (EPSs) present limitations in terms of bandwidth scalability, flexibility and cost. In this talk, we will present the potential of optical switching, in particular the one based on silicon photonic software-defined solutions, to complement or even replace EPSs in AI clusters and their possible applications in scale-up and scale-out locations.
Efforts are ongoing to achieve monolithic integration of various III-V epitaxial structures on a heterogeneous integrated silicon photonic platform for foundry manufacturing and its advanced packaging technology. However, high-speed electro-optic design characterization of photonic integrated circuits poses several unique challenges in measurement uncertainty, test time, and data processing, especially with today’s consideration of the shift from development to production. This talk will discuss Keysight's reliable and robust test and measurement solutions that address seamless workflow of IC design to validation collaborated with industry partners.
This presentation will discuss the evolving role of optics in AI Clusters, covering both connectivity and switching. It will feature data for the sales of optical transceivers, AOCs and DACs for compute nodes and AI Clusters in Cloud datacenters for 2021-2024 with a forecast for 2025-2029. The forecast will include projections for linear drive pluggable (LPO/LRO) and co-packaged optics (CPO).
A key technical challenge for photonic integration and packaging of hybrid multi-chip modules is to realize low-loss, reproducible, and reliable optical connections with fast production cycles. Addressing these integration and packaging challenges is crucial for industrial mass production of hybrid multi-chip modules. Vanguard Automation’s additive 3D nano-printing solution utilizes a unique IP portfolio of photonic wire bonds and facet-attached micro-lenses for optical connectivity. The technique relies on highly precise direct-write 3D laser lithography to print freeform optics between optical modules, realizing fully automated mass production without the need for active alignment. Vanguard Automation’s 3D printed freeform structures have shown high reliability and yield for photonic packaging and integration. They are proven to pass strict industry reliability testing and have demonstrated reproducible low-loss coupling while accommodating up to 30µm of alignment offsets.
Photonic-based devices are advancing rapidly for quantum technologies like computers, information processors, communication devices, and sensors. This talk highlights Thin Film Lithium Niobate on Insulator (TFLN) as an ideal material system for these applications. We’ll present our progress in fabricating and characterizing TFLN devices and discuss the development of a foundry for processing transition metal ferroelectric materials like TFLN. These materials show great promise in photonic telecommunications and quantum computing, and we’ll review our work toward establishing a commercial foundry for their production.
For many years PICs have been designed following strict design rules imposed by foundries (PDKs), but adoption of PIC technologies outside of data communications has been slowed dramatically by the complexity and high-cost associated with packaging processes. Current photonic packaging solutions are often bespoke, and to reduce costs tooling and processes need to be standardized as they are in the electronics industry. With the recent 400million euro announcement of PIXEurope – a consortium to lead the European Pilot Line on Advanced PICs – from the European Commission and Chips JU, we move towards open-access standardization of the complete ecosystem, including design, chip fabrication and hybrid integration, packaging, and test and reliability technologies. In this panel session, we’ll discuss how the packaging and test design rules will be developed alongside established foundry PDKs to converge onto a photonic-electronic integrated system ready for volume manufacturing.
The growing market of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) poses new challenges for testing and characterization of ever more complex circuits both in the context of R&D and volume production. APEX Technologies addresses those challenges with high performance optical instruments based on interferometry technology and now integrating a new-gen proprietary tunable laser. We will present how its best-in class High Resolution Optical Spectrum Analyzer with component analysis and polarimeter capabilities, but most importantly its latest Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometer with the highest dynamic-range in the market, along with its large-span mode-hop-free tunable laser sources, are used in real-world applications. Tomy Marest is the author of this paper, though won't be attending. For any questions post-presentation, please contact Tomy direct: tomy.marest@apex-t.com
Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) is emerging as a key platform for next-generation PICs. Achieving high-volume production, however, demands reliable, standardized foundry services and accessible manufacturing models. This presentation will highlight our latest TFLN technology advancements and introduce CCRAFT’s strategic roadmap for scaling production. We will outline our vision of establishing TFLN as the foundation for next-generation PIC platforms, addressing the growing needs of data telecom, AI, quantum computing, and beyond.
As access networks evolve, operators require flexible and cost-effective solutions to support NGPON2 and 50G PON technologies. PICadvanced is pioneering photonic integration across multiple technologies (InP, SiPh, LiNbO₃), enabling hybrid packaging that will minimize the cost per technology while maximizing global performance. Our approach will provide operators with greater choice, ensuring scalable and efficient deployment of next-gen PONs.
Photonic integrated circuits have applications from the data center to spaceflight. Given the diverse range of capabilities of these technologies, it’s no surprise that a wide range of manufacturing platforms have arisen, ranging from relatively established silicon-on-insulator to more emerging materials like thin-film lithium niobate. In this presentation, technology market research specialists IDTechEx will outline insights from its research on PIC materials platforms, providing insight into its forecasts for the next decade and suggesting platform-application fits for a wide range of PIC production processes.
Co-packaged optics (CPO) require low-loss and reliable fiber connections to the optical engines (or PICs) as well as increasingly dense configurations given the need for more bandwidth and interconnections. Achieving one or more terabits per second per millimeter at the PIC edge is one example of a density metric that is being pursued, which would be particularly challenging when DR or parallel optics are used with standard fibers since there are four times more signal fibers density than with FR or multi-wavelength optics. This presentation will describe fiber-to-PIC densities needed for different CPO implementations and provide insights on optical connection mechanisms.
In this talk, the issue of the emerging modulator bandwidth bottleneck in silicon photonics is outlined. Germanium electro-absorption modulators are presented as promising solutions to overcome this bottleneck. We explore recent advancements and demonstrate state-of-the-art Ge electro-absorption modulators with 3-dB bandwidths of ≥100 GHz, showcasing their potential to significantly enhance the performance of silicon photonic transmitters.
This presentation will focus on imec’s photonics technologies and roadmaps for applications such as short reach optical interconnects, sensing and quantum computing.
Higher capacity and power efficiency are key drivers for development of optical connectivity solutions. We will present on the development of InP PIC Platforms for inter and intra datacenter applications.
Photonic wire bonds and facet-attached micro-lenses are 3D freeform structures that enable high design flexibility while maintaining low loss, reproducibility, high reliability and packaging compatibility. These attributes are crucial for high-volume production of compact optical integration platforms in advanced photonics packaging. Here we will address the critical aspects of progressing photonic integration of PICs to scalable, high-volume production: broad compatibility with various material platforms, reproducibility, long-term reliability in Telcordia testing and seamless integration with existing packaging technologies.
The good news is that new applications of photonics are sprouting like desert flowers after a rain. Whether the challenge is to accommodate new applications for billions of ever-higher-quality cameras, or to package and deploy next-generation AI chips with photonic connections to high bandwidth RAM, or to simply keep up with humanity’s insatiable appetite for connectivity, the trends are turning relentlessly vertical. The challenge is that the numbers add up to a thousand-fold step-function in industry productivity. And yield and losses must be addressed, painfully costly processes must be attacked, and that three-order-of-magnitude increase in productivity must be scaled, all at the same time. What new approaches, tools and technologies have emerged to enable the necessary pace? In this talk we identify some commonality among the challenges presented by the diverse applications and technologies the photonics world is pursuing. It turns out there are not just processes, tools and substrates to borrow from semiconductor manufacturing, but lessons as well. When dovetailed with novel technologies that address stubborn pain-points common to the manufacturing and testing of photonic devices of all sorts, the insights are truly enabling for an industry that finds itself on the launching pad without a flight plan. We close with some success stories from the emerging ecosystem and a look at the hopeful future we can now anticipate.
Alter Technology UK, a European OSAT (Out-sourced assembly and test) for photonic and microelectronic devices presents the development work on a standard PIC packaging platform designed to reduce barriers to innovation, enabling the cost-effective PIC packaging from dedicated and MPW (Multi-project wafer) runs. We present the capability and rationale behind our platform, highlight the workflow which includes an assembly design kit, and discuss common errors that lead to spiraling packaging costs.
Thin-film aluminum nitride (AlN) on insulator is an emerging material for integrated photonics, offering a wide bandgap with extensive transparency from the UV to mid-infrared spectrum. Its non-centrosymmetric crystal structure enables optical nonlinearities, Pockels electro-optic effects, and piezoelectricity, supporting advanced functional integration such as frequency comb generation, fast modulation, and MEMS acousto-optics for low-power, high-speed solutions. Despite its CMOS compatibility and strong potential in telecommunications, sensing, and quantum technologies, challenges remain in minimizing optical losses and optimizing fabrication processes. This talk will highlight recent advances in AlN-based integrated photonics and introduce a scalable sputtering deposition technique to enhance integration and broaden application potential.
Demand for PICs is growing rapidly in telecommunications and data centers due to their wide bandwidth, low transmission loss, and numerous other advantages over traditional electronic integrated circuits. Thin film waveguides, widely acclaimed for their electro-optic and piezoelectric properties, demand precise fabrication techniques to ensure consistent device performance. Integrating new materials, material stacks, and designs is pivotal in advancing photonics and optoelectronics, but it requires new etching solutions. scia Systems’ advanced ion beam etching and trimming processes enable the manufacturing of three-dimensional optoelectronic microstructures for PICs.
The rapid advancement of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and co-packaged optics (CPO) is revolutionizing data transmission and optical communication. This presentation delves into the role of cutting-edge wafer bonding technologies in these domains. It highlights how low-temperature and oxide-free bonding facilitate the seamless integration of III-V materials with mature silicon technology, ensuring high-quality optical interfaces for transceivers and optical engines. Additionally, it explores the challenges and future directions of wafer bonding in enhancing the performance, efficiency, and scalability of optical interconnects in CPO, aiming for high-bandwidth, low latency communication links.
We showcase two-photon grayscale lithography (2GL) with in-situ alignment as the next step towards scalable fabrication of micro-optics. While the laser-based direct write technology is known to create true 3D structures with sub-micron resolution, the use of Grayscale Lithography (2GL®) enables high-speed of the fabrication with surface roughness below 5nm and shape accuracy down to below 200nm. We demonstrate user friendly 3D detection algorithms in our nanoPrintX software for automatic alignment towards a variety of topographies and material platforms with very high accuracy better than 100 nm. The versatility of our approach is shown via micro-optical elements aligned to fiber tips, photonic edge couplers, and photonic grating couplers for improved coupling losses and beam quality. We demonstrate the automatic fabrication of 480 on-chip optical coupling elements on a photonic integrated circuit with excellent optical surface qualities and highly reproducible placement accuracy.
This talk will highlight the recent work on the reactively sputtered passive and active aluminium oxide waveguide platform. Al2O3 waveguides demonstrate low losses in the UV and telecommunication wavelengths, and including various rare earth elements during sputtering allows for the monolithic integration of doped waveguides with active capability enabling devices such as amplifiers and lasers. The fabrication, recent highlights, and current work will be discussed, with focus on low-loss UV development and erbium doped amplifiers for operation at 1550 nm.
This presentation will sketch the PIC manufacturing landscape, discussing the importance of pre-competitive research, low volume experimenting and innovating new materials, and scalability to volume manufacturing for a broad product mix.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) exploits the principles of quantum mechanics and information theory to exchange symmetric encryption keys. In this physical alternative to our conventional computational cryptographic schemes, remote parties communicate information encoded onto the quantum states of single photons, which enables information leakage to be precisely quantified and ensures maximal levels of confidentiality of the channel used for key exchange. While this technology has matured from theoretical concepts to field trials and commercial products in recent years, the required optical hardware is currently expensive and bulky, and offers limited scalability. Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) promise a route to scalability and industrialisation that will allow QKD to become a pervasive technology within society. In recent years, Toshiba actively contributed to establish PICs as a viable technology for QKD. Through a series of key results obtained at the Cambridge Research Lab, we will review how monolithic integration, hybrid integration and advanced laser technology can be used efficiently to engineer state-of-the-art QKD systems able to address complex deployment challenges in all segments of our optical communication networks.
Quantum technologies hold strategic importance, with quantum computing offering potential in numerous applications, such as finance and healthcare, though its commercial viability remains uncertain for long-term fault-tolerant quantum computers. Moreover, quantum cryptography is increasingly strategic and could impact sovereignty, while quantum sensing enables ultra-high-sensitivity applications. Challenges like qubit noise, error correction, and scalability persist, while R&D focuses on qubits (e.g., trapped ions, cold atoms, superconductors, photons) and systems like NISQ and FTQC. The market is expected to grow, with quantum computing—especially quantum-as-a-service—leading post-2030. In this landscape, photonics is, and will continue to be, key to this progress. Indeed, photonics is critical for quantum technologies, providing lasers, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), and other devices essential for trapped ions, neutral atoms, and photonic qubits. Precise, reliable laser systems support qubit control, while PICs-based approaches enhance efficiency and scalability. Photonics addresses size, weight, power, and cost challenges, enabling the development of practical quantum computers. This presentation will share our latest forecast for the quantum market and highlight the increasing role of photonics.
Integrated photonics is essential for scaling future quantum systems, particularly photonic quantum computers, from tens to hundreds of thousands of channels. Quantum photonic circuits require a range of specialized functionalities—single-photon sources, ultra-low-loss waveguides, high-efficiency detectors, and quantum memories—none of which can be fully achieved with a single integrated photonics platform. ORCA Computing is advancing a modular approach by heterogeneously integrating materials for photon generation, detection, and switching onto an ultra-low-loss silicon nitride (SiN) platform. Networked with optical fiber, these individually optimized, hot-swappable modules enhance scalability, repairability, and yield, paving the way for practical and scalable quantum solutions.
Enhancing current methods for shaping ultraviolet light beams will ignite new applications in healthcare and quantum information. We will delve into recent advancements in UV light control with CMOS photonic chips, fabricated through atomic layer deposition of alumina on thermal oxide wafers. Additionally, we will discuss the key advantages of UV photonic integrated circuits for implementing structured illumination microscopy and quantitative phase imaging.
Waveguide-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (WERS) is a promising method for detecting chemical and biological compounds with high sensitivity and selectivity on a chip-scale platform. To advance this technology to industrial applications, several challenges must be overcome. These include optimizing waveguide design for improved light confinement, developing robust optical and mechanical packaging for industrial environment, and enhancing data processing techniques for accurate signal interpretation. This talk will present the latest advancements in On-chip Raman sensor development, focusing on their application in industrial bioprocess monitoring, showcasing their potential to revolutionize on-site, real-time chemical analysis.
LiDARs are essential 3D vision optical sensors for many applications, including the safe navigation of autonomous robots or advanced driver assistance systems. While China is propelling the automotive LiDAR market, largely based on direct-ToF and mechanical spinning architectures, significant challenges remain for its widespread adoption. Leveraging silicon photonics technology for LiDARs holds significant potential to integrate advanced capabilities, such as Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) detection, which provides real-time velocity measurements in addition to distance. Moreover, on-chip LiDAR integration can pave the way to miniaturization and cost reduction through volume production and be a game changer for autonomous mobility and beyond. In my talk, I will present how silicon photonics will scale up LiDAR sensors.
In this presentation, we report our advancements in silicon nitride PICs for the implementation of compact spectral-domain (SD) and swept-source (SS) optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems in ophthalmology, targeting the 850 nm and 1060 nm wavelength regions. Key developments include a fully integrated optoelectronic spectrometer for SD-OCT utilising a 512-channel arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) with monolithically co-integrated photodiodes, a low-loss coupling waveguide-to-photodiode coupling structure on a CMOS-compatible platform, and broadband photonic building blocks for a parallelised SS-OCT scheme featuring power-efficient polarisation rotation-based path routing. These silicon nitride PICs demonstrate strong potential for the realization of high-performance, portable, and cost-effective OCT devices, which could facilitate decentralized retinal diagnostics.
Interest in LiDAR technology has significantly grown over the last years, with a strong demand from the automotive industry. Emerging LiDAR systems are moving away from mechanical scanning parts by using optical phased arrays (OPAs) and/or focal plane arrays (FPAs) for beamsteering. Furthermore, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) enable dense integration of most of the required photonic building blocks on a single Si/SiN chip using CMOS-compatible foundry processes. In this talk, we summarize our recent work in PIC-based components for solid-state FMCW LiDARs, including full system demonstrators.
Deep tech developments like PICs are by definition a key-enabling building block in systems suitable for many different applications. The current boom in PIC technology and infrastructure investments are led by the expansion of datacenters and the adoption of AI. In this presentation an overview of market trends for PICs beyond datacom, and their drivers will be given. A focus will be on the core infrastructure and technology needs to enable the PIC revolution in these application areas.
