Project

The main objective of COMPAS is to develop a compact, inexpensive, and ultrasensitive PIC sensing platform (PSP) for air and water monitoring, relying on the co-integration of light source, detectors, and electronic IC for on-chip signal processing. To make photonic sensors as ubiquitous as electronic sensors, several constraints on size, cost and weight must be overcome. In this context, wafer-level silicon photonics is disruptive in offering photonics in a miniature package and at low cost, of which Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) is emerging as a particularly promising and versatile platform for light manipulation. Guiding light through waveguide structures on a chip with micron and nanometre features, PIC has the potential to offer new photonic-enabled sensing functions rivalling the performance of larger, heavier, and more expensive photonic systems. In addition to the general importance of sensors towards the twin green and digital transition, intensified efforts specifically directed towards chip-based technologies such as PIC are of significantly importance towards European Technological Sovereignty in relation to the ambitions of the European Chips-Act Initiative. In response to the recent supply-shocks in semiconductor components caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU commission set the ambitious target of doubling the EU market share in the rapidly growing semiconductor sector, aiming for 20% by 2030. This ambition includes research into and upscaling of silicon photonics and has only grown in importance with the new geopolitical situation following the war in Ukraine and tensions between the West and China. COMPAS seeks to take a significant step towards full co-integration of photonics and microelectronics by demonstrating a first-of-a-kind, wafer-level-integrated multi-analyte PIC sensor platform (PSP) utilizing a chiplet approach.