The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, has sanctioned ₹99.94 crore (~$10.325 million USD) for Phase II of the Centre for Programmable Photonic Integrated Circuits and Systems (CPPICS) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras). Titled SPECTRA (Silicon Photonics Enabled Cutting-edge Technology Research and Applications), the five-year initiative is executed in partnership with semiconductor packaging firm izmo Microsystems Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of izmo Limited. MeitY contributes ₹97.54 crore ($10.077 million USD) of the total outlay, with izmo Microsystems providing ₹2.40 crore ($248K USD) in co-funding to transition photonic integrated circuit (PIC) prototypes toward volume manufacturing.
Phase II targets the development of a silicon photonics Process Design Kit (PDK) incorporating over 100 IP blocks for 200 mm wafer platforms. While the program addresses high-bandwidth data center interconnects (1.6 Tbps transceivers operating at 1550 nm) and co-packaged optics (CPO) for AI compute clusters, it establishes a dedicated workstream for quantum communications. Technical objectives include chip-scale Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNG) and integrated Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) photonic circuits.
To address commercial deployment challenges in silicon photonics, izmo Microsystems will lead precision assembly, fiber alignment and attachment, electronic-photonic IC (PIC-EIC) co-integration, and thermal packaging. The collaboration aims to build a certified co-packaged optics design rule and packaging service capability, establishing an end-to-end pathway from foundry chip fabrication to qualified system integration across data center, telecommunications, defense, and quantum technology sectors.
Review the full press release on PR Newswire here.
In GQI Portal
The players behind the news
The team that writes QCR tracks every company, deal and technology in the GQI Factory, GQI's verified database of the quantum industry. Next up: every story linked to its players, coming to QCR's paid plans.
- Players Companies and institutions across the quantum industry, by segment.
- Scorecards How the players compare on hardware, software, funding and more.
Newsletter
QCR Alerts in your inbox
The latest reporting and analysis from Quantum Computing Report. Free, unsubscribe any time.