Chips JU 2024 IA STARLight
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Ericsson AB |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 3 145 422 |
| Project duration | June 2025 - June 2028 |
| Status | Ongoing |
| Venture | Chips JU |
Purpose and goal
The main objective of STARLight is to secure European leadership in Silicon Photonics and other needed Optical Module Compounds (e.g., electrical ICs and lasers). This includes the full value chain from 300 mm Silicon Photonics production capability to state-of-the art IP design and integration. The project will demonstrate benefits of Silicon Photonics in a broad set of applications in terms of both performance and cost.
Expected effects and result
STARLight is expected to expand the European photonics platform in the following areas: - Availability by building manufacturing capacity in Europe - Scaling and improved yield by enabling 300mm silicon-based photonics according to STMicroelectronics´ roadmap to reach 100Gbaud/lane (PAM4) - Packaging and assembly of optical modules - Modeling tools to establish a de facto simulation workflow
Planned approach and implementation
Ericsson AB will not directly be part of the development of the silicon photonics technology but focus on how the technology may enable new deployment architectures with significant gains. The aimpoint is a Radio over Fiber (RoF) demonstrator targeting massive MIMO antenna systems that show separate processing flows for thousands of radiating elements, thus requiring a considerable upscaling of digital and analog processing capabilities.