In 2018, AIM Photonics launched a capability the U.S. photonics industry had long been lacking: an open-access, 300 mm packaging and test site for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Known as TAP, AIM Photonics' test, assembly, and packaging facility in Rochester, NY fills a critical gap in America’s manufacturing infrastructure.
Photonic packaging is technically complex, capital-intensive, and essential for high-volume production. Before TAP, U.S. innovators had few secure, domestic options for scalable packaging, limiting national competitiveness and raising security concerns.
TAP changed that. With high-precision optical alignment and fiber attach, support for heterogeneous integration, and advanced back-end assembly and test infrastructure, AIM Photonics gives startups, researchers, and industry and government partners access to the tools and expertise needed to move from design concept to manufacturing-ready prototypes. TAP also complements AIM Photonics’ design enablement and MPW services, completing the nation’s first full-scale, end-to-end PIC manufacturing capability.