PixCan

The project aims to develop a new type of testing platform for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that are used in data centers. These circuits, which are used to exchange data between server racks in data centers, are currently based on technology with high power consumption and large size. The goal of the project is to create a wafer scale testing platform for PICs that uses Resonant Scattering Spectroscopy (RSS) and has low maintenance and consumable costs, with the aim of testing hundreds of thousands of silicon optical components per month. The project will create a new start-up company to provide innovative RSS Q-test systems services to the growing global market for silicon photonics, and will also work with Irish-based users of silicon photonics to provide them with a disruptive technology that will give them a competitive advantage in their sector. The market for PIC testing is worth $1.2 billion by 2024.