Ultra-fast Graphene Photodetectors

Goal of the ULTRAPHO FTI project is to change the market for photonic communication devices by bringing a groundbreaking technology to the market. The final goal is to establish a novel world leading enterprise in the semiconductor industry in the EU.

Supported by major players like Nokia, Sony, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES, the consortium members will become worldwide leaders in the emerging field of photonic technologies and devices.The fundamentally new high-speed photonic devices use graphene to increase data transmission capacity of optical fibers.

Together with novel fabrication and characterization tools and technology developed and marketed by the consortium the whole value chain from fabrication to the final product is covered.

The consortium markets an ultrafast and broadband graphene photodetector which is of increasing importance for datacenters or 5G infrastructure.

Moreover, the fabrication technology and tools for automated assembly and characterization will also be commercialized by the consortium.

The ULTRAPHO objectives are:•To create a novel ultrafast photodetector that increases the data transmission capacity of optical fibers and validate it for industrial acceptance•Market a mass production process for graphene-on-wafer fabrication•Increase yield of the fabrication process and optimize quality control •Market tools for automated assembly and characterization on wafer level of high-speed photonic devices•Scale the production capacity to 10,000 wafers per yearConsortium members patented world-leading technology and with the help of the ULTRAPHO project get the final boost to bring the novel technology to a market worth 41 B€ in 2022 (CAGR 37%).