Meity Secretary Launches Silicon Photonics Research Centre

Silicon Photonics Research Centre aims to become self-sufficient and promote product commercialisation through start-ups within next five years. Silicon Photonics Technology is essential for many other cutting-edge technology applications, including quantum computation, quantum key distribution, neural networks, artificial intelligence, 5G/6G and high-speed transceiver for data centres.   

Silicon Photonics Research Centre COE-CPPICS is officially opened and is poised to play a significant role in bridging the nation's gaps and achieving the India Semiconductor Mission of the Indian Government. 

With funding from MeitY, the centre was created to support the development of India's Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) manufacturing ecosystem. The CPPICS is actively creating native PIC design guidelines and hardware infrastructure. 

S Krishnan also released a commemorative souvenir to mark the momentous occasion and provided his best wishes for the Centre in taking the technology to its full commercialisation. 

“The MeiTY and Government of India are launching a new initiative at IIT Madras, aiming to surpass the success of their previous efforts. The Centre of Excellence complements many initiatives of MeitY. This partnership will significantly contribute to capacity development and overall benefit, highlighting the larger benefits that can be achieved when working together.”, S Krishnan, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, said.  

“The government encourages students to be bolder and courageous in taking on challenges, as society and economic changes have made it easier for them to make bold choices and engage in entrepreneurial activities. The government aims to create centres that promote entrepreneurship, research and technology transfer to the industry. The immediate focus of this CoE is to provide better solutions for microwave and quantum photonics applications, such as advanced photonic processors for high-performance RF transceivers, scalable linear optical quantum computing processors for qubit computation, and chip-level quantum key generation and distribution circuits”, S Krishnan, added.  

“The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Madras) has established a Centre of Excellence in Silicon Photonics (CPPICS) after two decades of extensive research and development. Seed funding from MeitY has consolidated indigenously-developed technology, with the Centre expected to significantly impact the domestic and global silicon photonics R&D market”, V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said. 

“The Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS is forming strategic partnerships, including a strong collaboration with M/s Si2 Microsystems to deliver advanced silicon photonic processor core solutions for various sectors. The team is also collaborating with Silterra Silicon Photonics Foundry in Malaysia for wafer-scale yield testing and has signed a MoU with Keysight USA”, Bijoy Krishna Das, Chief Investigator, Silicon Photonics CoE-CPPICS, IIT Madras, said. 

“Intel's CEO, Patrick P Gelsinger, plans to establish a Centre of Excellence in Silicon Photonics at IIT Madras to lead in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The taskforce focuses on enabling high-density data management in AI applications, moving from copper to optics”, Dr Kishore Kamath, IIT Madras Alumnus, Vice President (R&D), Intel Silicon Photonics Product Division, said.