NAsPIII/V GmbH: Silicon photonics – revolutionary opto-electronic components

According to “Moore’s Law”, the density of the transistors on a chip doubles every two years. However, the production of continually smaller semi-conductor parts has its physical limits. NAsPIII/V GmbH, a spin-off from the Institute of Materials Science at the Philipps University in Marburg, has developed a unique III/V semi­conductor material system (GaNAsP) which solves this challenge, making possible transmission speeds of up to the terabyte range.

To date, more than 18 million euros have been spent on research, financed in par­­ticular by programmes administered by the German Federal Ministry of Edu­ca­tion and Research and by venture capital from Hessen’s state government. After a seven-year development period, negotiations are currently under way with international partners in industry on technology trans­­fer from the development stage to the mass production stage.

The benefits of the opto-electronic com­­ponents developed by NAsPIII/V GmbH compared to today’s data transmission solutions are obvious. Mobile telephones, PCs, industrial process controls or auto­­mobiles are only a few of the areas in which this technology can be used. If these new components become accepted, future product sales based on NAsP tech­­nology may be worth billions of euros.