PIXEurope Pilot Line

Project Information

PIXEurope is a European Pilot Line advancing next-generation Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) technologies through an open access ecosystem that connects design, fabrication, integration, packaging and testing. Bringing together leading research and technology organisations across Europe, PIXEurope will accelerate the development and industrialisation of photonic technologies for applications including communications, AI, sensing, healthcare and advanced semiconductor systems.

Partners 

The PIXEurope Consortium brings together an outstanding group of partners : CEA-Leti, coordinator of the pilot line (France), ICFO, coordinator of the pilot line (Spain), Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), IMB‑CNM CSIC (Spain), IMDEA (Spain), Universidade de Vigo (Spain), Eindhoven University of Technology – TU/e (Netherlands), TNO (Netherlands), University of Twente (Netherlands), imec (Belgium), Ghent University (Belgium), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), University of Southampton (United Kingdom), Instituto de Telecomunicações (Portugal), Silicon Austria Labs (Austria), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italy), Tyndall National Institute (Ireland), and VTT Technical Research Centre (Finland). 

Responding to Sustainability Challenges

PIXEurope supports Europe’s transition towards more energy-efficient and sustainable digital infrastructure through the development of advanced Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) technologies. Photonics can enable faster data transmission with lower power consumption across applications such as data centres, communications, AI infrastructure and environmental sensing, helping address the growing energy demands of global digitalisation.

The pilot line will support the development of next-generation PIC-enabled technologies while also strengthening resilient European supply chains and promoting more sustainable manufacturing approaches across the photonics ecosystem. PIXEurope also recognises the environmental challenges associated with semiconductor manufacturing and will engage with emerging sustainable manufacturing initiatives and best practices to support more resource-aware technology development.

PIXEurope Technologies

PIXEurope will provide advanced technologies and open access services spanning the complete Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) ecosystem, from chip design and fabrication through to hybrid integration, packaging, testing and reliability. The pilot line will support multiple photonic material platforms and interoperable design environments to help accelerate the development and industrialisation of next-generation photonic systems across communications, AI, sensing, healthcare and semiconductor applications.

A major focus of PIXEurope is the development of scalable photonics packaging and system integration technologies. This includes wafer-level packaging, chiplet integration, co-packaged photonics and electronics, fibre attach, electro-optical interposers and automated assembly and test approaches. These capabilities will support the transition from prototype PIC devices to reliable, manufacturable and industrial-scale photonic systems in Europe.