Optica Corporate Member Profile: LIGENTEC
Samantha Hornback, Research & Program Development Coordinator, Optica
LIGENTEC is a leader in the manufacture of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) in Europe. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the company serves a wide range of applications, from communications to quantum and augmented reality. Optica sat down with the company’s co-founder Michael Geiselmann to learn more.
What’s the value proposition for LIGENTEC? What markets does the company serve?
LIGENTEC makes photonic integrated circuits (PICs) built on silicon nitride—a photonics-friendly material that’s also a natural fit for the semiconductor industry’s CMOS infrastructure. We are unique in providing a very low-propagation-loss PIC platform in combination with a very compact chip size. This is enabled by high mode confinement in the waveguide. We offer open-access manufacturing of PICs with short delivery times, which allows fast prototype cycles and a clear path to volumes.
Silicon nitride has a large transparency window from visible up to 4 µm, making it a good waveguide material for many applications. Applications range from sensing (including bio- or fiber-sensing and lidar) to quantum applications (quantum computing, quantum key distribution and quantum random-number generator). Additional fields are miniaturization of optical systems in the domain of telecom and datacom, compact narrow-linewidth lasers, 5G, 6G, etc.
Where do you expect LIGENTEC to be in 10 years?
We are working toward becoming the leading PIC provider in Europe. We have scaled up our fabrication process to a commercial CMOS line, which has enabled us to ramp up our volumes while ensuring control over our processes. We are also integrating new, active materials that enable a wide range of applications.
Can you talk a bit about how your company was founded and how it has developed over the years?
The company was spun off in 2016 from the lab of Tobias Kippenberg at the Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. The lab was known for its ability to fabricate high-Q ring resonators for frequency-comb generation. However, it’s very different to fabricate one high-Q resonator for a research paper from the capacity to fabricate in high volume with a good yield and reproducibility. That was the first challenge of Michalis Zervas, one of the co-founders.
With time, more process modules were offered, and a process-design kit was established and integrated in software providers. From a niche application of high-Q resonators, we moved into new markets that needed low propagation losses and the volume scaling potential. Apart from the Lausanne office that is growing, we recently opened an additional R&D center in France.
What, in your view, is the best decision that LIGENTEC has made to date?
We decided to partner with X-FAB Silicon Foundries, a German semiconductor producer that is capable of producing automotive-qualified 200-mm wafers, to scale the process to high volume markets out of a European foundry. While the need for high quantities of PICs in photonics is not at the same level as in electronics, it is vital to show that the potential to produce these high quantities is there. The customer wants to see that the potential is there. We’ve done that and are very proud to have taken this step.
How about the riskiest decision?
We have distributed teams in several countries, which is a great opportunity but also a challenge. It was not the worst decision and probably not the riskiest, but it is a different working style to have some team members working remotely and spread apart geographically. This came about at the start of the COVID pandemic, and since then, we have learned a lot about our company’s culture. Now, people are eager to return to the office, and finding a balance will continue to be a focus.
Tell me a bit about your career path. How did you get to this point?
After a double degree in physics and engineering, I did my Ph.D. in quantum and nano-optics at ICFO in Spain, and joined EPFL in Switzerland as a Marie-Curie fellow. I really wanted to see the use of the technology that did go beyond the lab. My future goal was not to publish papers. In industry, you get to see someone using your technology in the real world, and I find that very rewarding. I wanted to be out there, talking to customers and making relationships growing the company and customer base for low-loss PICs.
My technical background is critical to understanding the customer needs and seeing market trends to define the right strategy. The business part I learned running the company and exchanging with other peers and networks. Switzerland has a strong ecosystem supporting businesses as they grow, and I was lucky to participate in that.
LIGENTEC is an Optica Corporate member. What do you see as the value of that membership?
Definitely the networking events and marketing reports! I was happy to attend the Optica event at Laser World of Photonics at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. I believe there were almost 200 executives there having a drink and dinner, hosted by Optica’s new Chief Technology Officer, Jose Pozo. We were all able to make new business contacts as colleagues, customers and suppliers.
This is important to build on our supply chain and to exchange ideas on where the market is going, what customers need and what other market areas we could reach. All of that you get at an event, as opposed to a Zoom meeting or a market report. The technical exchange is happening through Optica webinars, which we also benefit from.
