US DoD launches competition for Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute
The US Department of Defense is launching a competition to award more than $100 million in federal investment matched by $100 million or more in private investment to the winning consortia to build a new Institute for Manufacturing Innovation (IMI) focused on Integrated Photonics, President Obama announced today.
This Institute will focus on developing an end-to-end photonics "˜ecosystem' in the US, including domestic foundry access, integrated design tools, automated packaging, assembly and test, and workforce development.
Photonics, the use of light for applications as diverse as lasers and telecommunications, powers the Internet as we know it today. Integrated photonics manufacturing, the next generation of this of technology, involves integrating electronic and photonics technologies into single systems rather than the assortments of discrete units that exist now. Realising these opportunities requires development of high-volume mass-manufacturing, assembly, and packaging technologies and processes that are reliable and cost-effective.
Compound III-V semiconductors such as GaA, InP, and InGaAs are considered key technologies within photonics. They are used for making light emitting structures including solid state lasers and LEDs and components such as optical amplifiers
Beyond the Internet and telecommunications, integrated photonics is expected to be important in medicine "“ from the development of 'needleless' technologies for monitoring diabetics' blood sugar levels to tiny cameras smaller than pills that can travel within arteries. It is also hoped that integrated photonic technology will make human genomes sequencing cheaper bringing it well below $1,000 as compared to $5,000 today. In defence applications potential uses of integrated photonics range from improving battlefield imaging to advances in radar.
The Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute - with over $200 million in public and private resources - is expected to comprise the largest Federal investment to date, reflecting the complexity of this technology, its importance to national security, and its revolutionary potential.
