Domestic first multi-material photonic chip production line that does not rely on extremely high-end photolithography machines is about to be completed

Photonic chips can be produced using my country's relatively mature raw materials and equipment, unlike electronic chips, which must use extremely high-end lithography machines such as EUV. "Kechuangban Daily" reported on October 18 that with the upgrade and iteration of chip technology, photonic chips are expected to become the underlying technical support for the new generation of information field.

According to a report by Beijing Daily today, China Science Xintong learned that China's first "multi-material, cross-size" photonic chip production line is already under preparation and is expected to be built in Beijing in 2023. It can meet the needs of communications, data centers, lidar, Demand in microwave photonics, medical testing and other fields is expected to fill the gap in my country's photonic chip wafer foundry field.

In addition, just a week ago (October 11), Shanghai issued the "Shanghai Action Plan to Create a Future Industrial Innovation Highland, Develop and Strengthen Future Industrial Clusters", which mentioned actively cultivating quantum technology industries around quantum computing, quantum communications, and quantum measurement. Among them, The technologies and devices involved include silicon photonics, optical communication devices, photonic chips, etc.

Photonic chips are the core components of optoelectronic devices and are different from integrated circuit chips in many ways. For example:

In terms of performance, photonic chips have a computing speed about 1,000 times faster than electronic chips and consume less power.

In terms of materials, second-generation compound semiconductors such as InP and GaAS are the more commonly used materials for photonic chips, while integrated circuits generally use silicon wafers.

In terms of preparation, the preparation process of photonic chips is similar to that of integrated circuit chips, but the focus is on epitaxial design and preparation rather than photolithography. Minsheng Securities pointed out that this also determines that in the photonic chip industry, the IDM model is the mainstream, which is different from integrated circuit chips with a high degree of standardization and clear industry division of labor.

It is worth mentioning that compared to electronic chips, photonic chips have lower structural requirements, generally at the hundred-nanometer level, thus reducing dependence on advanced processes. Sui Jun, President of Zhongke Xintong, also said that photonic chips can be produced using my country's relatively mature raw materials and equipment, unlike electronic chips, which must use extremely high-end lithography machines such as EUV.

According to Gartner, the global photonic chip market is expected to reach US$56.1 billion by 2025.

At present, in the global market, II-VI, Lumentum, etc. occupy a leading position, and local companies such as Changguang Huaxin and Yuanjie Technology have made progress in the fields of high-power laser chips and high-speed laser chips.

In addition, news came out in mid-September that TSMC has cooperated with Nvidia on a silicon photonics integration research and development project. The former will use COUPE silicon photonics chip heterogeneous integration technology on graphics hardware.

Huatai Securities pointed out that the growth path of my country's photonic chip manufacturers is expected to go through two stages in the future:

First, rely on its own technical strength in segmented fields to bind high-quality customers and promote the localization process;

Second, the horizontal expansion of product categories will open up the ceiling for long-term growth.

Since there are many subdivided categories in the photonic chip industry, in the short to medium term, analysts are optimistic that domestic manufacturers with deep technological accumulation in subdivided fields and high-quality customers are expected to occupy first-mover advantages; in the long term, analysts are optimistic about strong horizontal Optical chip company with expansion capabilities.

According to incomplete statistics from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, companies in the A-share market that have deployed the photonic chip industry chain include: