The city of Vigo in Spain will be the location of a new state-of-the-art foundry for III-V-semiconductor-based photonics, called Sparc (III-V Semiconductor Foundry and Advanced Photonics Research Center).
The new foundry will consist of a 1,600m2 cleanroom for wafer production, and a research centre that will assist customers in bringing fully-certified photonic products to the market. The foundry will be operational around late 2023.
Sparc aims to capitalise on the potential of III-V semiconductors (GaAs, InP, GaN and so on) to accommodate the increasing number of markets and applications that rely heavily on photonics and high-speed electronics.
III-V Semiconductors are the only class of materials that can be used to realise very-compact- and efficient light sources and detectors across a very wavelength range from the ultraviolet up to the mid-infrared.
Consequently, Sparc will have the capability and capacity to address a large customer base across a wide range of different markets, including optical communications, displays, lighting, aerospace, automotive, biomedical, sensing, and quantum technologies, as well as high-speed- and/or high-power electronic applications for which the III-V Semiconductor technology is equally well suited for.
