India Opens New Silicon Photonics Research Center

Photonics & Imaging Technology INSIDER

India's new Center for Programmable Photonics Integrated Circuits and Systems (CPPICS) opened with an inaugural ceremony hosted by the nation's secretary of electronics and information technology last week.

CPPICS has been established by a joint sponsorship between MeitY, the government of India and Si2 Microsystems — according to its website — with the goal of developing a domestic manufacturing supply chain and ecosystem for integrated photonic circuits.

"The Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS is forging critical partnerships including a strong collaboration with M/s Si2 Microsystems in Bangalore, to deliver state-of-the-art System-in-Package solutions for silicon photonic processor cores," Professor Bijoy Krishna Das, Chief Investigator, Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS, IIT Madras said during the ceremony. "This transformative technology is primed to cater to a wide array of sectors, including quantum computing, quantum communication, 5G/6G communications, IoT, radar, avionics, and more. The nation is looking forward to witnessing the success of CPPICS as it takes this technology to full commercialization and spearheads PIC manufacturing in India.”

The center has already started down its path toward establishing domestic development of integrated photonic circuits, including a demonstration of in-house technology for wafer scale yield testing of some novel silicon photonic devices in collaboration with Malaysia-based SilTerra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. Silicon Photonics Foundry. Leadership from the new facility has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Keysight Technologies USA for joint silicon photonics research and development activities.

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