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ANALYSIS PHOTONIC INTEGRATION


fabrication process for indium-phosphide optical circuits to deliver a range of building blocks, including active elements like lasers and amplifiers; passive elements like waveguides; and deeply-etched, broadband mirrors that can be placed anywhere in the circuit. Effect Photonics has hired more people with


photonic design and fabrication skills from TU/e, and set up a second facility in Torbay in the UK – home of the former Nortel Optical Components business and Bookham Technologies – where it can access optical packaging and commercial experience. Regan’s background was with Nortel for more than a decade, then Agility Communications and JDSU. Robert Hughes, Effect’s vice president of sales and marketing, is also ex-Nortel. Effect Photonics won’t make its own optical


chips; not needing to build its own fabrication facility is an important part of the business model. Instead, it will design chips from standard, high-yield building blocks that are available at its partner optical foundries. Te start-up didn’t want to reveal its foundry


partners, but it’s worth noting that TU/e hosts the Joint European Platform for indium-phosphide- based Photonic Integrated Components (JePPIX),


JePPIX is also a hub for European research,


being partner in no fewer than five projects funded under the 7th


Framework Programme of


Photonic integration promises to deliver high volumes at low cost, but the low cost part of the equation has proved to be a challenge


a body with a mission to improve access to advanced fabrication services for photonic integration. JePPIX coordinates multi-project wafer runs – allowing companies to share wafers and costs when prototyping their optical chips – as well as access to design tools and packaging technologies. One of the optical foundries coordinated by


JePPIX is located in Eindhoven – Smart Photonics is another spin-out from TU/e, making optical chips based on the generic integration platform developed there. JePPIX also provides access to optical foundry services to Oclaro in the UK and HHI in Germany.


the European Commission to lower barriers to photonic integration. ‘A great deal of European money has gone into this vision,’ Regan noted. ‘We’re running off the back of that new business model to create a new industry – [enabling photonics] to follow the same model as the CMOS industry.’ Effect Photonics says has been working quietly


over the last few years, getting its technology to the appropriate level of maturity and working with customers to define what they need. Now that the funding is in place – both the series A investment and other types of finance – the company intends to push through product development and into production. Dr Christian Reitberger, joining the board on


behalf of investor b-to-v Partners, said: ‘We are excited to work with the Effect Photonics team to deliver on the vision of highly cost effective photonic integration, combining the intellectual capital of Eindhoven and the South West UK know-how clusters. Te photonic manufacturing ecosystem has finally evolved to make capital- light photonic hardware companies a reality.’l


Effect Photonics


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