• Active or completed projects: 10
• Estimated ATP funding: $ 41.1 M
• Industry cost-share funding: $ 44.1 M

Potential for U.S. Economic Benefit. Photonics, also called optoelectronics, encompasses a family of technologies that generate, modulate, guide, amplify, or detect light. These are "enabling" technologies that fuel advances in diverse fields, ranging from telecommunications to medical imaging to transportation. For example, fiber-optic cables provide much higher bandwidth, or capacity, than do copper telephone wires or other transmission technologies and, therefore, support a richer and more sophisticated selection of information, including real-time multimedia applications.

Photonics is a growth industry, with revenues derived from photonics components doubling every four years. Currently, almost 75 percent of these components are made in Japan. The United States maintains a strong research base in photonics and produces high-performance components and equipment in low volumes, primarily for military applications such as displays. The technology exists for commercial applications, but U.S. photonics manufacturing costs must be reduced substantially to produce marketable products. A key barrier to the provision of fiber-optic links to homes and offices, for example, is the high cost of the units that connect a customer’s electronic equipment to the optical network.

To reduce product costs and compete internationally in the commercial photonics arena, U.S. manufacturers must acquire the capability to develop photonics components and equipment quickly and manufacture them efficiently in large volumes. Capital costs for fabrication lines need to be reduced by an estimated 75 percent and module testing times by 90 percent, and product yields need to be increased. New manufacturing technologies are essential, especially packaging and assembly technologies, simulation and modeling tools, and processing equipment and materials.

Packaging, which includes methods for aligning optical elements and integrating photonics and electronics components, currently accounts for 60 to 80 percent of manufacturing expenses. These costs could be reduced through the development of automated alignment techniques, modified component designs, or other innovations. Simulation and modeling tools would simplify and enhance the thoroughness of product and process design testing prior to manufacturing, thus reducing production costs. Costs would be reduced further by the development of reliable, precise processing methods and pure, non-toxic source materials for making the compound semiconductor materials (e.g., gallium arsenide) used in photonics components.

The development of efficient, high-volume photonics manufacturing processes would stimulate many sectors of the U.S. economy. The commercial use of these processes would increase significantly the value of information technology products and services, which already have a global economic impact estimated at $1.5 trillion. If U.S. companies gained even a modest 1 percent increase in market share, the nation’s economy would reap significant benefits. The new technologies also could be used to enhance the performance and reduce the costs of sensors for "smart" cars and highways, laser surgery equipment, and digital cameras, among other applications.

The United States currently controls only 9 percent of the $16 billion photonics component manufacturing market but consumes approximately 40 percent of the products. Restoration of a balance between U.S. production and consumption would create many high-paying American jobs.

Technology Challenge and Industry Commitment. The U.S. photonics industry has reached a consensus that its international competitiveness is limited by the absence of a manufacturing infrastructure. More than a dozen members of the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) have indicated an interest in the ATP program. Several million dollars in matching funds have been identified for potential projects. Other companies and groups not affiliated with OIDA also have expressed interest. Respondents range from global, vertically integrated companies to small firms targeting niche markets. Literally hundreds of U.S. companies are involved in various aspects of the photonics community.

Numerous technical challenges need to be addressed. In the packaging area, new concepts for reducing optical-element alignment tolerances, currently in the submicrometer range, have been explored in the laboratory but have yet to be transformed into practical manufacturing processes. The interconnection of components using waveguide technology, which is analogous to electrical interconnection, will require new approaches to alignment, materials design, and assembly. To meet environmental requirements, encapsulating devices and special coatings are needed to replace costly and often impractical hermetic sealing.

Advances in manufacturing equipment also are essential. Improved computer-aided design tools will enable sophisticated modeling of the performance of photonics devices over a temperature range or the growth of compound semiconductor materials. The handling of photonics technologies could be automated through the use of robotics, now common in other industries, but new standards and equipment are likely to be needed for automated manufacturing of fiber-containing modules.

Research also is needed to reduce the toxicity of the materials used in the fabrication of compound semiconductors (e.g., the poison arsenic is a component of gallium arsenide). The development of non-toxic source materials, such as solids instead of gases, or improved processes for the growth of these compounds would reduce capital costs and increase safety.

Significance of ATP Funds. The development of new manufacturing technology is expensive and inherently risky. Generally no single company is willing to shoulder all the development costs for a project that may not be commercially successful. The lack of funding is extreme in the photonics industry, in which most automated-equipment manufacturers are small to medium-sized companies that cannot afford to perform much research of any kind. Research collaborations are unlikely because large photonics companies are reluctant to make investments that might benefit their competitors.

The ATP program will stimulate the formation of consortia among photonics manufacturers, suppliers, universities, and government laboratories to address high-risk projects that will produce broad benefits for the U.S. photonics industry. The investment will complement long-standing federal investments in photonics for military applications, which have produced excellent technical capabilities but left many unmet needs in manufacturing capabilities.

History shows that relatively small investments in manufacturing infrastructure can enable the development of a range of products. In this program, the leveraging effect will be enhanced by the unusually high degree to which photonics technologies enable the development of other products in many sectors.

Additional Information. For information about eligibility, how to apply, and cost-sharing requirements, contact the Advanced Technology Program:

(800) ATP-FUND (800-287-3863)
http://www.atp.nist.gov
email: atp@nist.gov
fax: 301-926-9524
100 Bureau Drive, MS 4720
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4720

For technical information, contact:
Thomas Lettieri, Program Manager, ITEO
(301) 975-3496
email: thomas.lettieri@nist.gov
fax: (301) 926-9524

January 1999
Last Update: February 26, 2007