News: Suppliers
14 March 2022
France funding Riber’s 300mm pilot line for silicon photonics sector
As part of the call for projects ‘Industry Stimulus Plan - Strategic Sectors’ launched by the France’s Ministry of Industry, Riber S.A. of Bezons, France – which designs and makes molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems and evaporators – has been awarded public funding to finance its 300mm pilot line.
ROSIE is a unique platform that enables epitaxy for perovskite materials and specifically BTO/STO (barium titanium oxide/ strontium titanium oxide) on silicon. This configuration makes it possible to address the core component of several emerging applications, including electro-optic modulators, electric vehicles (EV), ‘beyond CMOS’ and quantum computing.
Riber says that the French State’s €1.1m subsidy has further strengthened its dedicated resources for implementing the ROSIE pilot line, which aims to provide the material and human resources needed for industry stakeholders to carry out small series, demonstrators and proofs of concept.
Based on the ultra-vacuum deposition technique and compatible with semiconductor industry standards (300mm), ROSIE will be focused on depositing very thin films of materials by epitaxy on silicon and will offer monoatomic precision capabilities in terms of control on a 300mm wafer.
ROSIE represents a total industrial investment of €3m over three years. Driving the development of silicon photonics, it should help to meet the current challenges concerning the integration and convergence of semiconductor sectors (silicon, III-V) to design new microprocessors that go beyond the current technological limitations and offer extremely high-performance switching speed properties with virtually zero optical losses. Scheduled to be operational by the end of 2023, the ROSIE pilot line has already received several expressions of interest from clients in Europe and the USA.
“Thanks to the French State’s support, Riber is setting out its position as a vital industrial partner to further strengthen the semiconductor industry’s competitiveness in Europe,” says Philippe Ley, chairman of Riber’s executive board. “This public support will help optimize and secure the industrial development of our highly strategic ROSIE pilot line,” he adds. “Riber is moving forward with its ambition to work on innovative and disruptive technologies supporting the silicon industry.”
