Joint European Platform for InP-based Photonic Integrated Components and Circuits

What is JePPIX?

JePPIX is the Joint European Platform for Photonic Integration of InP-based Components and Circuits. The JePPIX platform is a collaboration of Europe’s key players in the field of:

InP-based chip manufacturing

Photonic integration R&D

Photonic IC design and design software

Cleanroom equipment

Together they provide SMEs and larger companies with low-cost access to design and fabrication of Application Specific Photonic ICs (ASPICs).

A fast tunable laser for OCT fabricated in JePPIX technology.

JePPIX roadmap 2012

ASPICs

ASPICs are the photonic equivalent of micro-electronic ASICs.

They integrate a number of photonic components on a single chip:
- Lasers
- Optical amplifiers
- Modulators
- Switches
- Detectors
The numbers of components may vary from less than 10 up to more than 100.
Integration of circuits and subsystems on a single chip offers a number of advantages:
- Small form factor
- Lower fabrication and packaging costs
- Lower power consumption and increased functionality

ASPICs offer eminent opportunities for developing novel products or improving exisiting ones.

Reduction of cost

A reduction of R&D cost is achieved by:

Designing chips in highly standardized photonic integration processes, in which a wide range of functionalities for different applications can be synthesized from a small set of basic building blocks.
Using dedicated design software and component libraries with accurate descriptions of the basic building blocks and a number of advanced components and subcircuits.
Combining different designs in a single Multi-Project-Wafer (MPW) process run. In this way the costs of such a run can be shared by a number of designs.

Costs for ASPIC development will be reduced by more than a factor of ten, as compared to today’s R&D methods. Also the time-to-market is reduced because the ASPICs are developed in a process that also supports fabrication of large volumes.