Veeco and imec Develop 300mm Compatible Process to Enable Integration of Barium Titanate on Silicon photonics
Shannon Davis
18 hours ago
Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO) and imec announced today that they have collaboratively developed a 300mm high volume manufacturing compatible process that enables the integration of barium titanate (BaTiO3 or BTO) on a silicon photonics platform. BTO is a promising material with unique electro-optical properties that can be used for high-speed and low-power light modulation in emerging applications such as high-speed optical transceivers, quantum computing, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and AR/VR applications. Historically, approaches to integrate BTO have struggled to meet the desired cost targets to make it viable for high-volume manufacturing. Veeco has now delivered its first Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) based cluster system, marking a significant milestone in Veeco’s and imec’s partnership and their dedication to enhance silicon photonics platform capabilities. The new 300mm platform is designed for the epitaxy of BaTiO3 single crystalline thin films on silicon, available with both solid and hybrid Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) solutions. With the integration of these alternative growth techniques, the system will be capable of BTO-on-Si deposition with improved repeatability and at a lower cost than classical MBE methods.
The optical transceiver market for datacom is expected to grow to $13.1 billion in 2030, up from $2.9 billion in 2024. However, to alleviate the trade-offs of current silicon modulator technologies, including high power consumption, performance (speed, drive voltage), and area, the introduction of novel electro-optic materials, like BTO, into silicon photonics will be crucial. At present, there is no commercially available production-compatible solution for manufacturing these materials. In partnership with Veeco, imec is now addressing this industry need to develop scaled solutions that allows the integration of materials such as BaTiO3 and SrTiO3 onto a 300mm silicon platform.
“Over the past 4 years, imec and Veeco have collaborated on developing alternative techniques for BaTiO3on-Si and benchmarking both material and electro-optic properties towards defining a strategy for advancing large-scale manufacturing solutions,” says Clement Merckling, Scientific Director at imec. “With the introduction of Veeco’s first-of-its-kind MBE solution, we are expanding our capabilities for heterogeneous integration of beyond-Si electrooptic materials, strengthening our R&D offering for current and new partners with an interest in exploring and prototyping next-generation silicon photonics technology,” added Joris Van Campenhout, imec Fellow and Optical I/O Program Director.
“This partnership with imec is a monumental step forward for the MBE* industry, datacom and quantum computing production,” commented Matthew Marek, Senior Director of Marketing for Veeco’s MBE Product Line. “The historic view of MBE processing has been that it is slow and expensive; however, new hardware developments that our team validated in partnership with imec bring MBE into a cost-effective domain that is suitable for semiconductor fabs. We are excited about the work underway between our two organizations to demonstrate a repeatable, high-volume BTO production process. We anticipate this effort will help us achieve our shared goal to unlock BTO photonic modulator breakthroughs for a better and greener future.”
Copilot:
*MBE = Molecular Beam Epitaxy, and yes — this is a big deal.
The Veeco–imec announcement is significant because it takes a historically slow, expensive, research-only deposition method and makes it viable for 300?mm high-volume semiconductor manufacturing, specifically for BTO (barium titanate) photonic modulators — a breakthrough long considered out of reach.
What MBE Is
Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) is a method for growing ultra-pure, single-crystal thin films in an ultra-high-vacuum environment. It works by directing beams of atoms or molecules onto a heated wafer, allowing layers to grow with atomic-level precision.
- Used historically for III-V semiconductors, lasers, quantum wells, and research devices.
- Known for extreme purity, precise control, and very slow deposition rates.
- Traditionally too slow and too expensive for mainstream semiconductor fabs.
Why the Veeco–imec Announcement Matters
This partnership claims to have solved the two historical blockers:
1. Cost & Throughput Improvements
Veeco and imec validated new hardware that makes MBE cost-effective and repeatable at 300?mm wafer scale — something the industry has never had before.
2. High-Volume BTO Integration
They demonstrated a path to high-volume manufacturing (HVM) of BaTiO3 (BTO) thin films on silicon photonics wafers.
- BTO has exceptional electro-optic properties.
- It enables fast, low-power optical modulators — critical for:
- AI datacenter optical interconnects
- Quantum computing
- LiDAR
- AR/VR
- Next-gen silicon photonics
3. No one else has a production-ready solution
Before this, there was no commercially available, production-compatible method for integrating BTO onto 300?mm silicon.
4. Direct impact on AI datacenter bottlenecks
The optical transceiver market is projected to grow from $2.9B (2024) ? $13.1B (2030), driven by AI scale-out. BTO modulators are a way to break the power-and-speed limits of today’s silicon photonics.
Why This Is a Big Deal (Operator’s View)
This is one of those “quiet but foundational” breakthroughs — the kind imec specializes in.
MBE ? HVM is like EUV ? HVM
Both were once considered too slow, too expensive, too exotic. Then engineering + ecosystem alignment changed everything.
BTO is a materials-level unlock
It solves the biggest pain point in silicon photonics:
- current modulators are too big
- too power-hungry
- too slow
- too voltage-hungry
BTO changes the physics.
Veeco becomes the ASML of exotic materials deposition
If this scales, Veeco becomes the gatekeeper for next-gen photonic I/O — the same way ASML became the gatekeeper for EUV.
Bottom Line
MBE = Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Yes — this is a big deal. It’s the first credible path to high-volume, low-cost BTO deposition on 300?mm wafers, enabling the next generation of AI optical interconnects and quantum photonics.
If you want, I can map where this sits in the broader Shrink-n-Stack ecosystem — because photonic I/O is the next bottleneck after HBM. |
