LIGENTEC marks 10‑year milestone with a new active‑passive photonic platform.

Technologies and Products

Photonics Manufacturer LIGENTEC has launched a new type of chip that combines two advanced technologies to accelerate AI interconnects, quantum computing, and high-speed optical communications.

The platform integrates Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) and III-V Photodetectors (PD) into its low-loss Silicon Nitride (SiN) platform.

The announcement marks the company’s 10 years of Silicon Nitride (SiN) photonic integrated circuit leadership.

“Photonics is becoming critical infrastructure – for AI, for quantum and for sensing systems that operate at the edge of what is physically possible,” said Thomas Hessler, CEO, LIGENTEC. “The teams building those systems need to know where their components come from, and that the supply chain will hold. LIGENTEC was built in Europe, for a global market, with reliability and excellence from day one.”

As next-generation, hyper-scale data centres push data rates toward 1.6T and beyond, conventional silicon photonics face bandwidth and integration bottlenecks. To meet these demands, LIGENTEC is unveiling its advanced multi-material integration platform at ECOC 2026.

By heterogeneous integration of high-speed Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) modulators and high responsivity III-V photodetectors with ultra-low loss waveguides and ultra-low loss edge coupling, LIGENTEC creates a fully integrated, high-performance active-passive photonic platform.

“Ten years ago, our goal was clear: turn the extraordinary research of low-loss Silicon Nitride into a reliable, industrial-grade product offering,” said Michael Geiselmann, CCO and co-founder of LIGENTEC. “Celebrating our 10th anniversary at ECOC in Malaga while maturing TFLN and integrated III-V photodetectors is a testament to our continuous pursuit of innovation. This hybrid platform combines ultra-low loss routing with ultra-fast modulation and detection, giving our customers the ultimate toolset for next-generation photonic engines.”

The new product creates an ideal platform for coherent communication, OCS, optical computing, and advanced Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems. LIGENTEC’s seamless PDK, design and layout support allows chip designers to simulate, layout, and fabricate complex active-passive circuits with fast turn-around times.