The New York State Photonics Board of Officers met recently to discuss the state’s continued commitment to AIM Photonics’ Test, Assembly, and Packaging (TAP) facility in Rochester, NY. As a result, the board approved a proposal for $27.5 million in previously committed New York State funding to invest $23 million in new equipment and tool upgrades to further enhance the TAP facility’s R&D capabilities and $4.5 million in operational support to amplify the consortium’s collaboration with regional universities. The specific recommendations are part of the state’s original $250 million commitment to AIM Photonics.
“Integrated photonics technologies offer the promise of smaller, better, faster, lighter devices that will significantly improve people’s lives and help ensure our country’s defense readiness,” said Wade Cook, AIM Photonics Executive Director. “We appreciate the investment that New York State has made in this critical technology and are excited to continue to expand the capabilities of our TAP facility in Rochester.”
Furthermore, Cook added that this funding will help support AIM Photonics’ education and workforce development (EWD) effort to create more educational opportunities for interns, postdocs, and graduate and undergraduate students in the region, in turn helping to train the highly skilled manufacturing workforce needed to support the photonics industry.
The development of advanced packaging technologies is an important part of AIM Photonics’ mission to grow the integrated photonics ecosystem in the U.S. Currently, more than 190 organizations are engaged with AIM, including consortium members, multi-project wafer (MPW) and advanced packaging customers, research collaborators, and photonic integrated circuit (PIC) designers that use the process design kits (PDK) developed by AIM to enable the manufacture of prototype chips at the Albany Nanotech Complex.