Scientists unlock major manufacturing challenges for next-generation optical chips

Researchers at Strathclyde University have developed new methods for assembling ultra-compact optical control devices, paving the way for scalable manufacturing of advanced optical systems used in quantum technology, communications and sensing.

Published in Nature Communications, this study centers on photo-ray crystalloids (PHCC), micron-scale structures that trap and manipulate light with extraordinary accuracy. These are essential components of high-performance technologies, ranging from quantum computing to photonic artificial intelligence.

Until now, the creation of large arrays of PHCC has been severely limited by small variations introduced during manufacturing. Even nanometer-scale defects can dramatically shift the optical properties of each device, making it impossible to construct an array of identical units directly on-chip.

The Strathclyde-led team designed a way that individual PHCCs could be physically removed from the original silicon wafer and placed on a new chip, measuring and sorting each one accurately in real time with optical properties.

Custom-made system

Using a bespoke semiconductor device integrated system designed and built with Strathclyde, researchers can operate and deploy microscopic photonic devices with unprecedented accuracy and throughput, marking key steps towards scalable manufacturing.

Dr. Sean Bommer of Strathclyde and the lead author of the paper stated:

“It felt like building a LEGO set using previous methods to assemble these devices, but if you didn’t know the color of a particular brick. Now that you can measure performance during assembly, it unlocks the possibility of creating more effective and complex designs.”

In one session, the team successfully transferred and ordered 119 PHCCs at resonance wavelengths (the specific wavelength of light that the material or object absorbs or transmits most strongly).

The integrated platform allows researchers to observe for the first time how devices respond dynamically to the printing process, revealing the mechanical effects of elasticity and plastic over timescales ranging from seconds to hours.

Professor Michael Strain of Fraunhofer & Raeng Chair at Chipscale Photonics said, “The ability to relocate these microscope devices once they are manufactured is a critical step to exploiting them as elements of large circuits.

“We are currently assembled a wide variety of semiconductor devices into a single chip to create complex, high-performance systems such as communications, quantum applications, and sensing.”