Swiss PIC focuses on bringing photonic microchips developed across Switzerland to market maturity. By equipping them with electrical and fibre-optic connectors, the centre enables their integration into industrial products and helps companies commercialise innovations more quickly.
The newly opened manufacturing centre tackles one of the field’s biggest challenges: photonic integration, the precise assembly of optical and electronic components. Integration can account for up to 70 percent of production costs, especially for low-volume production. “Swiss PIC assembles photonic microchips for technology companies with industry-standard connectors, thus enabling rapid access to a much wider range of applications than would be possible with microchips lacking such connectors,” says Christoph Harder, CEO of Swiss PIC.
The facility provides high-precision equipment, specialised processes and expert support from concept to small-scale production. As part of the national AM-TTC network, Swiss PIC is backed by federal funding and partners including PSI, OST, Swissphotonics, Ligentec and Polariton Technologies.
Located next to the PICO cleanroom, the centre strengthens the emerging photonics cluster at Switzerland Innovation Park Innovaare. “The Swiss PIC manufacturing centre for photonic integration embodies exactly what Park Innovaare stands for: deep-tech research transformed into real industrial solutions,” says Robert Rudolph, CEO of Park Innovaare.
