The opening of a new research and development centre is always to be welcomed.
The recently launched LIGENTEC France SAS, part of Swiss silicon nitride photonic integrated circuits (PICs) company LIGENTEC SA, opened one this year in Corbeil-Essonnes, south of Paris, France, and LIGENTEC’s co-founder Michalis Zervas was announced in April as the young division’s President. The centre’s PIC development focus extends from design and wafer processing to characterisation.
Heading a company we have still got eyes on, Michael’s strong academic background has always been matched by a smart business sense – he launched LIGENTEC in 2016 – and who can forget the launch of its proprietary silicon nitride process, able to achieve ultra-low propagation losses?
As he explained: “Our process is able to deposit thick film silicon nitride, from 100 nm to 2500 nm, overcoming the challenge of crack formation due to stress in the material.” The process was able to scale up to production volumes using 8” wafers and stepper lithography.
Organisation: Ligentec SA
Role: Managing Director
Based in: Corbeil-Essonnes, France
Education: PhD, Nanotechnology, EPFL
“With his ground-taking development in low-loss photonic integrated circuits (PICs), he laid the foundation for LIGENTEC. He further brought the low TRL fabrication process to a mature and scalable PIC platform that is now running in a 200mm automotive-qualified CMOS line with a fully deployed Process Design Kit (PDK). Low-loss silicon nitride PICs permit existing products in telecom/datacom to benefit from reduced on-chip losses and act as an enabler for new applications areas such as quantum. We are honoured to work with Michael, being a highly innovative person in combination with an industry-focus mindset”
Thomas Hessler, CEO, Ligentec
