Summary
- Profile Type
- Research & Development Request
- POD Reference
- RDRDE20250514007
- Term of Validity
- 27 May 2025 - 27 May 2026
- Company's Country
- Germany
- Type of partnership
- Research and development cooperation agreement
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
- A German SME leads an R&D project to advance ultrafast 2 µm laser bonding of Si, sapphire, and Ge for high-precision, defect-free joining. The goal is to overcome thermal damage and low reliability of traditional methods via tailored beam shaping and nonlinear effects. Two other partners contribute expertise in bonding processes and sapphire optics. The consortia seeks an established partner in PIC integration or advanced packaging for validation and use-case input for a German national call.
- Full Description
-
This collaborative project advances bonding and welding technologies for silicon-to-silicon, silicon-to-sapphire, and silicon-to-germanium interfaces using high-power ultrafast lasers at 2 µm (short-wave infrared, SWIR). Traditional methods often face challenges such as thermal damage, low precision, and poor reliability, particularly with materials like sapphire and germanium. By developing laser-based processes, the project aims to enable high-precision, defect-free, and efficient bonding at the micrometer scale.
Ultrafast 2 µm lasers are well-suited to processing semiconductors, especially narrow bandgap materials like germanium and wide bandgap materials like sapphire, through multiphoton absorption. These nonlinear effects allow localized modification with minimal thermal impact, which is essential for precision bonding.
A primary research goal is to define optimal laser parameters—pulse duration, energy, focus geometry, and repetition rate—and benchmark them against conventional techniques. Bond quality and interface properties will be assessed through SEM, TEM, and cross-sectional polishing. The goal is to bond dissimilar materials with minimal deformation and high reliability—key for photonic integrated circuits (PICs), heterogeneous integration, and advanced packaging. Meeting these technical challenges will address immediate industrial needs and open new markets in chip integration and optoelectronics.
The funding program is the German National funding scheme KMU Innovativ, specifically KMU-innovativ: Photonik und Quantentechnologien. The call deadline is October 15th, therefore the EOI deadline is August 31, 2025. International partners do not receive financial funding but benefit from the results and exploitation opportunities.
A central element of this project's success lies in the engagement of a strong industrial partner with recognized expertise in semiconductor bonding and packaging technologies. The project is actively seeking the involvement of a well-established company operating at the forefront of bonding equipment or advanced packaging solutions for the semiconductor industry. This partner will play a critical role not only in validating the developed technologies but also in shaping the industrial applicability and future exploitation of the results. The partner's operational experience and market insight will guide the team in defining critical success factors and identifying challenges early in the development cycle, particularly concerning bonding quality, deformation control, and production yield. Moreover, the industrial partner will be offered early access to the demonstrator system, providing them with the opportunity to evaluate the performance of ultrafast 2 µm laser bonding directly on their relevant material stacks and substrate combinations. - Stage of Development
- Concept stage
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
-
Strategic Collaboration for Demonstrator Validation and Market Integration
The partner's role is envisioned as threefold: (1) providing application-driven requirements and technical feedback throughout the development process, (2) participating in the final phase of the project to test and evaluate a demonstrator system incorporating the 2 µm laser bonding platform, and (3) contributing to the commercial assessment of the technology's potential integration into existing or next-generation semiconductor packaging lines.
This collaboration will ensure that the developed bonding techniques are aligned with real-world manufacturing standards and performance metrics, such as throughput, reliability, scalability, and compatibility with existing infrastructure. The partner's operational experience and market insight will guide the team in defining critical success factors and identifying challenges early in the development cycle, particularly concerning bonding quality, deformation control, and production yield.
While there is no immediate financial funding, the industrial partner will be offered early access to the demonstrator system, providing them with the opportunity to evaluate the performance of ultrafast 2 µm laser bonding directly on their relevant material stacks and substrate combinations. This access is vital to ensuring the transferability of lab-scale results to industrial settings. The demonstrator will incorporate the German companys proprietary 2 µm ultrafast laser source, advanced beam shaping modules, and process control systems, tailored for micrometer-scale precision and minimal thermal loading—key requirements in today's chip packaging and heterogeneous integration processes.
The expected impact of this role is substantial: by actively involving a known industry leader, the project not only raises the credibility and relevance of its outcomes but also enhances the potential for rapid adoption and upscaling. The partner's endorsement will serve as a powerful validation of the technology, supporting its dissemination across the semiconductor value chain and facilitating discussions with additional stakeholders, including OEMs, equipment integrators, and end-users.
To reinforce this collaboration, a Letter of Intent (LoI) from the industrial partner expressing their interest in the technology and willingness to test the demonstrator would be highly welcomed. Such a letter would signal the market's anticipation of the solution and demonstrate concrete exploitation potential beyond the project's duration.
The selection criteria for the industrial partner include:
- Demonstrated expertise in wafer-level bonding, die-to-die bonding, or advanced packaging;
- Interest in new bonding technologies that address current limitations in material combinations and thermal budgets;
- Infrastructure and capabilities to host and test a pre-commercial demonstrator;
- Engagement in exploring the integration of laser-based bonding into commercial processes. - Type and Size of Partner
- Big company
- Type of partnership
- Research and development cooperation agreement
Call details
- Framework program
- International cooperation
- Call title and identifier
-
KMU-innovativ: Photonik und Quantentechnologien
- Submission and evaluation scheme
-
Single stage submission on the 15th of October 2025
- Anticipated project budget
-
Not yet defined
- Coordinator required
-
Yes
- Deadline for EoI
- Deadline of the call
- Project duration in weeks
-
156
- Web link to the call
- https://www.bmbf.de/DE/Forschung/Gesellschaft/ZukunftDerArbeit/KmuInnovativ/kmu…
- Project title and acronym
-
Exploring SWIR Lasers for Silicon and Sapphire Bonding
- International cooperation
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 02002017 - Micromachining, nanomachining
- 05003002 - Optics
- 02002018 - Microassembly, nanoassembly
- 02007022 - Conductive materials
- Market keywords
- 03005 - Laser Related
- 03001001 - Semiconductors
- 03001002 - Customised semiconductors
- 03001004 - Other semiconductors
- Sector Groups Involved
- Energy-Intensive Industries - Materials
- Targeted countries
- All countries