TNO: securing sustainability in the MEKOPP project
As an independent knowledge institute TNO provides a broad set of optics, opto-mechatronics and nano-instrumentation expertise and many years of experience in the research and development of high-tech semiconductor equipment and space instruments. In the emerging field of photonic integrated chips (PICs), TNO has carried out several activities. On the topics of high-end optics modelling and experimental evaluations related to PIC equipment development – as in the MEKOPP project – TNO is thus a logical project partner to connect the right level of optics expertise to systems engineering, thereby supporting the collective MEKOPP goal of developing prototypes for industrial PIC inspection applications.
Such PIC technology is relatively new and applications are emerging fast. TNO expects that the demand for volume production will soon take off, which makes the availability of industrial mass production equipment an urgent point of attention. Simply put, MEKOPP is expected to bring PIC technology out of the lab and into the fab. The role of TNO in the project has therefore been focused on the coupling of light into PICs to enable inspections of their functionality. This requires deep knowledge of optics but also systems engineering in order to cast optical coupling devices into prototype PIC inspection equipment platforms.
The MEKOPP project is funded by:
