Veeco and imec develop 300mm BTO integration on silicon photonics

Applications and Research

Semiconductor equipment manufacturer Veeco and research hub imec have figured out a way to integrate barium titanate (BaTiO₃ or BTO) onto standard silicon chips used for photonics, using the same large‑scale, 300mm manufacturing processes used in modern chip factories.

BTO’s unique electro‑optical properties make it ideal for high‑speed, low‑power light modulation in emerging applications such as optical transceivers, quantum computing, LiDAR and AR/VR.

Crucially, the ability to integrate barium titanate directly onto 300mm silicon photonics chips enables faster, more efficient optical components for data centres, sensors and advanced communications.

Approaches to integrate BTO have historically struggled to meet the desired cost targets to make it viable for high-volume manufacturing, according to the partnership.

The new 300mm platform is designed for the epitaxy of BaTiO₃ single crystalline thin films on silicon, available with both solid and hybrid Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) solutions. With the integration of these alternative growth techniques, the system will be capable of BTO-on-Si deposition with improved repeatability and at a lower cost than classical MBE methods.

The optical transceiver market for datacom is expected to grow to $13.1 billion in 2030, up from $2.9 billion in 2024. However, to alleviate the trade-offs of current silicon modulator technologies, including high power consumption, performance (speed, drive voltage), and area, the introduction of novel electro-optic materials, like BTO, into silicon photonics will be crucial.

At present, there is no commercially available production-compatible solution for manufacturing these materials, said the partnership.

“Over the past 4 years, imec and Veeco have collaborated on developing alternative techniques for BaTiO₃-on-Si and benchmarking both material and electro-optic properties towards defining a strategy for advancing large-scale manufacturing solutions,” says Clement Merckling, Scientific Director at imec. “With the introduction of Veeco’s first-of-its-kind MBE solution, we are expanding our capabilities for heterogeneous integration of beyond-Si electrooptic materials, strengthening our R&D offering for current and new partners with an interest in exploring and prototyping next-generation silicon photonics technology.” added Joris Van Campenhout, imec Fellow and Optical I/O Program Director.

“This partnership with imec is a monumental step forward for the MBE industry, datacom and quantum computing production,” commented Matthew Marek, Senior Director of Marketing for Veeco’s MBE Product Line. “The historic view of MBE processing has been that it is slow and expensive; however, new hardware developments that our team validated in partnership with imec bring MBE into a cost-effective domain that is suitable for semiconductor fabs. We are excited about the work underway between our two organizations to demonstrate a repeatable, high-volume BTO production process. We anticipate this effort will help us achieve our shared goal to unlock BTO photonic modulator breakthroughs for a better and greener future.”