Design, Develop, Manufacture & Scale with Photonics Foundry
Photonics Foundry is a new start-up in the rapidly growing area of photonic device and MEMS contract manufacturing.
We can help you design and assemble prototypes, refine the assembly and packaging processes required for your manufacturing, and provide you with in-house contract manufacturing and support for all stages of production ramp-up, including technology transfer.
Manufacturing with Photonics Foundry
Photonics Foundry has been founded to provide photonic device manufacturers with a holistic approach for small to medium volume contract manufacturing, including full upfront design and sourcing support.
Based in Bremen, Germany, Photonics Foundry is your first stop for manufacturing innovation, advanced automation and out of the box thinking.
Why Photonics Foundry?
Our offering includes extensive innovation expertise, design & prototyping, class-leading process capability, and includes utilization of modern adaptable manufacturing systems.
We incorporate ‘design for X’ (DfX – assembly, testing, manufacturing) from the offset, provide reliability of service at initialization of manufacturing, and include full consideration of eventual technology transfer of manufacturing to the customer.
Prototyping & Process Development
As founders of Photonics Foundry we have together over 50 years of experience in crafting cutting-edge solutions for photonic and MEMS device manufacturing. This includes innovation for align-&-attach processes, designing and optimizing opto-electronic packaging, and strategies for semi and fully automated manufacturing. Take our word for it – we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly
Innovation, Feasibility & Collaboration
To complement practical development, we also offer a range of viability services, including feasibility studies, DfX options to maximize throughput and OEE figures with modern manufacturing systems. We also offer digital and real twins of your systems for a continuous improvement chain, we ensure steep ramp-up and even train your staff within our bring-in services. Training on the job can even keep a level of productivity to not lose your valuable market shares.
By taking advantage of combined customer and intrinsic expertise to fully utilize our machine park assets, Photonics Foundry is the ideal collaborative development partner for your unique optical device. We provide qualified workarounds to time-consuming technology appraisals and your shortcut to effective manufacturing for first sample and prototype builds.
Small Volume & Batch Manufacturing
Opting for contract-based manufacturing for photonic and backend packaged silicon and MEMS devices enables access to many strategic advantages for a young organization attempting to enter a limited manufacturing phase after initial development.
We’ve got your bases covered
A fabless company strategy, temporarily limited resources, machine CapEX considerations as well as system ROI and utilization can all present significant hurdles along the route to device manufacture.
Photonics Foundry covers these bases for you by hosting our own class-leading, highly automated, multi-purpose and multi-capability photonic device assembly systems. And by understanding the ideal usage options for these systems in real-world production scenarios, Photonics foundry is able to offer cost-effective, reliable and just-in-time contract manufacturing for small and medium-volume runs.
Technology Development & Transfer
Following a successful product launch, the next major task is often scaling to meet demand. Questions arise such as how to achieve the required throughput, what are the pathways to successful continued growth, and at which point does the organization need to take the manufacturing on-board?
Options for ramp-up
Photonics foundry will have already covered some of the building blocks for moving forward with ‘design-for-automation’ considerations during prototyping and in having optimized manufacturing for available resources and the intended (short or long-term) horizon.
In cases where plans are laid for the longer term – and following any necessary product and process optimization post-launch – customers can implement our Technology Transfer option. This includes machine vendor selection and project management during buy-off, machine bring-in service, documentation, maintenance and operator training, all with the goal of ensuring a smooth transition into full-scale in-house productivity for the customer.
As a representative of our customers, we bring in our knowledge of the developed individual alignment routines and process flows into project meetings with individual machine builders.
We are present through all project phases and act as a bridge between the machine builder and our customers.
At the same time, our own manufacturing services can maintain an intermediate product production running, bridging the dreaded time-to-market gap.
What is meant by ‘Servicing Photonics Manufacturing’?
Photonic devices harness light as a tool or solution for many important societal applications. Manufacturing demand for photonic devices is set to boom in the near future. Whereas the last century might be considered the boom phase for micro-electronics, this is the century for photonics.
Our contribution to meeting manufacturing demand
Critically, device manufacturing will need to scale up, and young innovative organizations will need access to manufacturing capacity. However, where photonics has until recently enjoyed barrier-free access to supply chains and manufacturing capacity, recent geo-political issues, climate change considerations and market forces are resulting in a degree of ‘de-globalization’. The result is an increasingly regulated supply chain access and a need to employ services closer to ‘home’. The US-Chip act, the European chip act and Chinese ban of materials indeed affect photonic industries directly.
Photonics Foundry aims to provide a workaround to potential supply chain and available manufacturing capacity issues by building on the foundations of the high-tech, semiconductor and MEMS fields and in particular on the photonics development and manufacturing expertise already established within Europe. Europe’s diverse photonics skills and capabilities are second-to-none and both have enjoyed long-term recognition and support from the EU.
With substantial funding available and established integrated photonic device communities across Europe, this is an ideal environment to nurture not only photonics device development, but also scaling its production in Europe with potential rising demand.
Breaking News and Exciting Events Ahead!
Photonics Foundry news and collaborations, and where to find us at events around the globe
