LIGENTEC Low-Loss Silicon Nitride PIC Platform

LIGENTEC SA is a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) manufacturer based in Ecublens, Switzerland, spun off from EPFL's Kippenberg lab, with an R&D centre in the Paris region of France. It provides low-loss silicon nitride (SiN) photonics so that companies can build compact optical chips for communication, sensing and computing without running their own fab.

The platform covers SiN waveguides with heterogeneous integration of thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) modulators and III-V devices, produced on 200 mm CMOS lines in Europe with X-FAB as foundry partner. Customers access it through multi-project wafer runs, dedicated runs or custom developments, supported by process design kits, feasibility studies, design support and testing. Users include developers of datacom and telecom transceivers, lidar, biosensors, AR optics and quantum computers.

• SiN core platform: low-loss silicon nitride waveguides from visible to infrared applications.
• Heterogeneous integration: TFLN modulators and III-V photodetectors on SiN.
• Access models: multi-project wafer runs, dedicated runs and custom developments.
• Design kits: PDKs, including a statistical PDK and DRC deck for the AN800 process with Luceda.
• Engineering services: feasibility studies, design and layout support and high-throughput testing.
• Foundry partnership: 200 mm production with X-FAB, including SOI options.

Vietnamese universities and chip design companies can prototype photonic chips through LIGENTEC MPW runs. Sensor startups can build SiN-based biosensors or fibre-sensing interrogators. Telecom equipment developers can evaluate TFLN-on-SiN modulators for next-generation transceivers.

Low-loss SiN waveguides suit high-power lasers, frequency combs and sensitive sensors where silicon is limited. The new active-passive platform cites more than 100 GHz modulation bandwidth, under 2 V drive voltage and under 1 dB/m propagation loss. MPW runs lower the cost of prototyping, and a 200 mm CMOS flow offers a path to volume production in Europe.

Data centre optics, quantum technologies, lidar and biosensing are all moving towards integrated photonics. Thin-film lithium niobate on silicon nitride is gaining attention for faster, lower-power modulators. Asian chip design and research groups, including in Vietnam, are starting photonics programmes and need accessible prototyping platforms.

Headquartered in Ecublens, Switzerland; spin-off from EPFL co-founded by Michael Geiselmann, Michalis Zervas and Tobias Kippenberg. R&D centre in the Paris region opened in April 2022. Marked 10 years of SiN PIC activity in 2026. Received the Scale-Up Vaud label in 2025 and 2026; partner in the EU PhotonHub PHACTORY and photonixFAB initiatives.