Smart systems technologies are evolving towards ever increasing functionality and miniaturisation through the heterogeneous integration of separate components. The ideal integration requires precision placement of multiple types of devices on a substrate to allow their inter-connection. We propose to solve this integration challenge through an exciting new technique called micro-Transfer-Printing (TP) where the essential materials or devices, with thicknesses of a few microns, are separated from their native substrates and are transferred in parallel to the new platform according to the desired positioning while achieving micron-scale placement accuracy. Sequential application of the process enables different components of different functionality to be manipulated in a highly flexible and programmable way making best use of the materials. The TOP HIT project will aggressively develop and validate the TP technology by integrating electronics and photonics components for the magnetic and communication industries. These serve as examples for the broad capability of the technology which is compatible with low-cost manufacturing. We will develop ‘On Head Microelectronics’ for data storage smart systems through the embedded integration of custom electronic circuits directly into the magnetic read-head. We will demonstrate TP as a scalable method for the integration of compound semiconductor based elements (lasers, detectors) with silicon photonics platforms demonstrating both a compact receiver circuit and a transceiver. The partners in the TOP HIT consortium include international companies with extensive manufacturing capabilities, an SME, and two research institutes. The output of this project will help establish TP as a mainstream technology for heterogeneous integration, enabling manufacturing to be carried out in Europe through sales of equipment and through foundry services. New more efficient smart products will emerge from the research carried out here.

The BAMBAM project aims at reintegrating the display manufacturing industry in Europe while enabling the era of the low energy µLED for this application. Microprinting of electrical and optical structures and active LEDs pixels (µLED on CMOS) are the solutions implemented in BAMBAM to get rid of the Thin Film Transistor (TFT) arrays controlling LCD and OLED displays; all of them being manufactured in Asia in dedicated expensive, enormous and energy-intensive plants. The new BAMBAM technology relies on the unique active µLEDs on silicon by ALEDIA, where each µLED has its own CMOS driver that can be connected to a low cost substrate by printing of micron scale bussing on any substrate. Following micro-printing by University of Stuttgart of the XTPL's ink, containing Qustom dots color conversion components, on the µLED of Aledia, and their transfer on a low cost substrates by XDC and Xceleprint, the contact ink is micro-printed to connect the active pixel elements to the substrates. The 2 types of display demonstrators, manufactured with this technology, are then adjusted and operated by Barco to achieve the best picture quality at the low energy consumption of the µLED for TV and video walls. The solution is compatible with a high pixel count and low pixel size on flexible substrates. Manufacturing displays in Europe, with a low energy consumption along the life cycle of the product, on low end flexible substrates and low cost, is being prepared by Aledia in its new european manufacturing-line, which is under construction with the help of partners from all over Europe.

Data centers which underpin the Cloud are under pressure. As the capacity of data center servers is growing, so must the capacity of the links between those servers. Industry foresees a need for high volumes of 800Gb/s and 1.6Tb/s transceivers by 2025. Today, despite the use of complex Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), manufacturing an optical transceiver still requires a large number of sequential steps. This is because lasers and electronic chips need to be assembled on a piece-by-piece basis onto the PIC. The resulting optical engine then needs to be coupled to a fiber array and packaged. These steps are done sequentially, creating a bottleneck in the manufacturing line which makes it hard to scale up production and reduce cost. CALADAN will demonstrate how integration of lasers and electronics onto a PIC can be done fully at the wafer-level using the established micro transfer printing technique, thus eliminating this bottleneck. GaAs quantum dot lasers and 130nm SiGe BiCMOS 56Gbaud capable driver and receiver electronics will be transfer printed onto Silicon Photonic 300mm wafers. Starting from proven concepts in PIXAPP, a novel fast fiber attachment process will be demonstrated that reduces the time required for fiber attachment by an order of magnitude. Using these techniques, transceiver cost will be 0.1Euro/Gb/s for volumes of at least 1,000,000 units. The consortium, which consists of three SMEs (X-Celeprint, Innolume and ficonTEC), an LE (EVGroup), three research institutes (IMEC, Tyndall and IHP), a transceiver manufacturer (Mellanox) and a multinational (Xilinx) encompasses all the partners to start production of the targeted optical transceivers after the end of the project. Exploitation of the technology will be supported by an end-user (British Telecom), a semiconductor foundry setting up a micro transfer printing Pilot Line (MICROPRINCE, X-FAB), an optical equipment manufacturer (ADVA) and the European Photonic Industry Consortium (EPIC).

The “Pilot Line for Micro-Transfer-Printing of Functional Components on Wafer Level” project (MICROPRINCE) is focused on creation of a pilot line for heterogeneous integration of smart systems by micro-transfer-printing (µTP) in a semiconductor foundry manufacturing environment. Functional components like processed III/V devices, optical filters, and special sensors will be transfer printed to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology and pilot line. Based on several EU and national research activities demonstrating successfully the feasibility of µTP technology in a scientific and laboratory environment, the MICROPRINCE consortium has the goal to setup the first worldwide open access foundry pilot line for heterogeneous integration by µTP and to demonstrate its capability on five defined target application scenarios. For this purpose, the consortium consisting of 13 partners from four different countries combine their expertise along the value chain from materials and equipment, technology and semiconductor processing, integrated circuit and system design, test and application. The partners are industrial companies incl. SME’s, accompanied by leading research institutes with a clear focus on production and application in Europe. The working principle of the micro-transfer-printing technology is to use a micro-structured elastomer stamp to transfer microscale functional components from their native substrates onto non-native substrates. The lateral dimensions of the functional components can range from a few microns to a few hundreds of microns with thicknesses of only a few microns. The native substrate contains the functional components to be printed and is flexible in size and material. The MICROPRINCE pilot line is acting as a regional and nationwide competence cluster for a novel technology with European dimensions for heterogeneous system integration and supports the ECS industry to reach leadership in key applications.

The HIPERION consortium has been assembled to answer the call LC-SC3-RES-15-2019: Increase the competitiveness of the EU PV manufacturing industry. The goal of the project is to bring to fruition at the industrial scale a validated high efficiency module-level innovation, based on a disruptive planar optical micro-tracking technology, which concentrates sunlight on multijunction solar cells, mounted on top of a conventional silicon backplate. The resulting high efficiency solar modules (>30% STC under direct sunlight) with a standard flat panel form factor can be mounted on any standard racks or rooftops. The technology has been extensively demonstrated with outdoor tests and pilot installations. It must be now industrialized for mass production, to enable its integration by manufacturers in their existing production lines. The project will demonstrate at pilot-line level the assembly of these high efficiency modules, while several commercial pilot sites across Europe and qualification tests will further validate the performance and reliability. To achieve successfully this 48-month, 13 M€ valued action, a consortium of 16 members representing 9 European countries has been gathered. It includes several industrial players with the key expertise to develop the assembly processes, and some of the most renown European PV centers with strong know-how on design and qualification. A solar manufacturer will do a detailed economical evaluation on the integration of the technology in the production line, while several solar installers will represent both the rooftop and utility end markets. With its novel module architecture and innovative manufacturing processes, HIPERION has the potential to drastically reduce solar electricity costs by significantly boosting the efficiency. It could allow EU PV manufacturers to gain a clear competitive advantage against mainstream solar modules and to regain market shares on the growing PV market.