PLAT4M

Silicon is now a mature integration platform that has brought CMOS microelectronics to mass-market application. The PLAT4M vision is that silicon photonics will lead to a similar revolution in the photonics sector.

Over the past years silicon photonics has seen a tremendous increase in research output with commercial exploitation potential. Most of this research so far has been focused on elementary building blocks. However, for reaching out to larger markets it will be necessary to master the cost effective development and fabrication of complete Photonic Integrated Circuits. Existing silicon photonics platforms will need to be upgraded accordingly. In particular, the design and process flows will have to be streamlined and consolidated in view of industrial requirements concerning design robustness, process variability and integration constraints.

The European silicon photonics community has already demonstrated a worldwide leadership in scientific discoveries and excellent CMOS photonics R&D facilities. On this basis, the PLAT4M project has gathered leading European R&D institutes and CMOS companies, key industrial and research players in design and packaging as well as end-users from different application fields. The project undertakes to establish a European supply chain for silicon photonics involving different application fields, and to enable the set-up of industrial integration platforms for different levels of volume manufacturing.