Harnessing the power of silicon photonics for sustainable next-generation computing
The Leeds Nanotechnology Cleanroom team supported Optalysys with the development of an innovative photonic silicon chip as a faster and greener high-performance alternative to conventional electronic computing technologies.
The challenge
The digital world is changing, with the rapid advancement of technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) transforming life as we know it. These innovations rely on fast and effective computing and are pushing conventional electronic computer chip hardware solutions to their physical limits.
Computer chips are the fundamental basis of modern electronics. Fabricated from semiconductor materials, typically silicon, these chips house billions of nanoscale switches, or transistors, that direct and amplify electrical currents as a means of processing and transmitting data.
The performance of computer chips is typically enhanced by reducing the size and increasing the number of transistors within an integrated electronic circuit. Although this approach has effectively supported digital developments for decades, given the extensive requirements of modern technologies, it is no longer possible to increase the capacity of conventional electronic chips in this way. Electronic chips also produce substantial heat during the high-level processing required by modern computing, with an associated detrimental environmental impact.
The UK government is committed to addressing these challenges through the advancement of semiconductor technologies and computer chip design.
The solution
Photonic, or optical, technologies address the limitations of electronic methods. Photonics uses light (photons) instead of electricity (electrons) to transmit and process data. As light travels faster than electricity, it benefits from increased efficiency. Photons have a larger bandwidth than electrons, allowing more information to be carried at once, while using less energy and producing less heat than electronic alternatives.
Leeds-based photonics computing company Optalysys is leading pioneering work in this area by developing advanced hardware that integrates photonics onto semiconductor silicon chips. The chips are specifically designed to support high-intensity computing, such as GenAI, forming a foundation for next-generation technology infrastructure.
The Leeds Nanotechnology Cleanroom has supported Optalysys with this work for a number of years. Our team of experimental specialists consulted on novel interposer designs (the materials used to interconnect components within circuits) and provided access to end‑of‑line packaging and bonding capability, chemical cleaning processes and optical metrology, a light-based measurement technique.
Working with experts from the University of Leeds Terahertz Laboratory, our team supported high‑frequency and high-bandwidth radio frequency (RF) characterisation of Optalysys devices using state‑of‑the‑art instrumentation, including vector network analysers, wide-bandwidth real-time oscilloscopes and arbitrary waveform generators.
Our collaboration is further strengthened by several of our cleanroom‑trained alumni who now work within Optalysys, applying the skills and expertise developed at Leeds to help drive the company’s ongoing technological innovation.
Looking to the future, our partnership is set to deepen further as Optalysys is a named industry partner in our forthcoming CDT in UK Semiconductor Industry Future Skills, recently announced within the government’s 2025 Modern Industrial Strategy, ensuring continued joint impact for years to come.
The impact
Silicon photonic chips bring various benefits. Their energy-efficiency mitigates the environmental impact of conventional electronic solutions. On a larger scale, photonics technologies mean data centres would use less power, with reduced cooling requirements.
As well as offering the computational performance required by AI and other digital advancements, photonic silicon chips have the potential to enhance data security. Optalysys’ innovative hardware is designed to support fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), a cryptographic technique that ensures data is encrypted through every stage of its processing. This is especially important for the defence, finance and healthcare sectors, where data privacy is critical.
Optalysys has raised £23m in a Series A extension round led by Northern Gritstone, with participation from imec.xpand, Lingotto Horizon and the UK government’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund. The investment will be used to accelerate the commercialisation of Optalysys’ photonic chips and support its expansion into the United States.
Dr Chris Wood, Associate Professor and Manager of the Leeds Nanotechnology Cleanroom said:
“The Leeds Nanotechnology Cleanroom takes pride in supporting spin-out companies and SMEs by providing access to preproduction fabrication development, supported by our highly trained staff, in one of the country’s newest and largest academic semiconductor cleanrooms.“We have worked with Optalysys since 2019 and are thrilled to be part of their continued and growing success story.”
Imon Kundu, Head of Photonics at Optalysys, Bragg Centre member, and former University of Leeds PhD student and postdoctoral researcher said:
“The University of Leeds’ expertise and facilities have enabled us to move faster. By using the Leeds Nanotechnology Cleanroom to package multiple generations of our photonic integrated circuits and leveraging the advanced instrumentation in the Leeds Terahertz Laboratory, we’ve been able to rapidly iterate and accelerate development of our core technologies.”
Read more about Optalysys’ pioneering work on the company’s website.
Find out more about the UK’s commitment to semiconductor advancements in the National Semiconductor Strategy, the Modern Industrial Strategy and the National Materials Innovation Strategy.
