Skip to main content
European Commission logo
Enterprise Europe Network

French SME is looking for collaborative projects for micro-assembly in photonics

Summary

Profile Type
  • Technology offer
POD Reference
TOFR20240102008
Term of Validity
3 January 2024 - 2 January 2025
Company's Country
  • France
Type of partnership
  • Research and development cooperation agreement
  • Commercial agreement with technical assistance
Targeted Countries
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • United Kingdom
  • Switzerland
  • Germany
  • Norway
  • Hungary
  • Latvia
  • Croatia
  • Finland
  • Romania
  • Italy
  • Czechia
  • Spain
  • Liechtenstein
  • Luxembourg
  • Ireland
  • Slovenia
  • Malta
  • Poland
  • Slovakia
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Cyprus
  • Lithuania
  • Netherlands
  • Estonia
  • Sweden
  • Portugal
  • Bulgaria
  • Greece
Contact the EEN partner nearest to you for more information.
Find my local partner

General information

Short Summary
A French SME specialised in robotics for the manipulation and assembly of miniaturised components has been working and developing knowledge in the field of semiconductors and micro-electronics since 2011. The photonics market has been facing major challenges in recent years, partly in the search for micro-assembly solutions to improve repeatability, quality and production speed. The company began the transition from its technologies to photonic applications and seeks new partners.
Full Description
The French company has identified several technologies for alignment (Active/Passive), coupling (Edge, Grating, Evanescent) and integration (Hybrid/Heterogenous) on which it can draw on its know-how in gripping, integration of robotic elements and software management.
In photonics, its technologies can find real interesting applications where to respond in the best possible way, with efficiency and relevance. That's why the company decided to invest this field with feasiblity studies or development of modular machines in micro-assemblies. The French company provides support and shares its 13-year-old expertise with customers, involving them in each step of the project and letting them the control on their processes. Customers can fully understand how the machine works. This provides flexibility and adaptability to the production's size and range.
The company is now looking for partners in the photonics market who want to get involved in the development of their production and retain control of the process that they spent years developing. The French company will be putting all its expertise and know-how in micro-assembly robotic solutions to give the tools customers need, taking into account the way they want them and how they will evolve over time.

Many different services can be offered :
- doing some feasibility studies of micro-manipulation and micro-assembly,
- providing modular and flexible cobotic platforms or fully customised automatic devices, for micro-manipulation and micro-assembly,
- providing training equipment,
- sharing knowledge in micro-robotics, -handling and -assemblies,
- collaborating together on the process and finding breakthrough solutions to customers' needs,

Examples of possible cases that can be addressed :
- Bare fiber manipulation,
- Alignment (Active/Passive),
- Vision processes,
- Hybrid Integration,
- Heterogenous Integration with MTP.

Expertise covers :
- manipulation of components up to 5 µm of overall size, thanks to different grippers (fully customisable). Some bare fibers (until 7µm) could already be grasped and fiber alignment performed,
- accuracy of assembly up to +/- 1 µm in standard (passive), submicrometric accuracy available with specific designs,
- development of platforms or machines adapted to the size of the production planned, easily upgradable thanks to the modularity of the machines and the flexibility offered by the software.

Technical cooperation is sought with partners in the photonics industry with similar cases, willing to design innovative miniaturised products or to automate manually complex processes.
Advantages and Innovations
Flexibility, modularity, robustness, high accuracy in miniaturised products manufacturing, Industry 4.0 reliability
Stage of Development
  • Already on the market
Sustainable Development Goals
  • Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Partner Sought

Expected Role of a Partner
Industrial contacts working in photonics with interest in the following technologies or needs :
- bare fiber manipulation,
- alignment (Active/Passive)
- vision processes
- hybrid integration,
- heterogenous integration with MTP.

Companies working in photonics or designing innovative miniaturised products, and/or developing manually complex processes for miniaturised products.

Cobotic stations can be developed to relieve operators of repetitive tasks requiring high-precision (e.g. active alignment, polishing,...). The operator remains the decision maker in the process, increasing the quality of assemblies while improving production quality.
The developped tools remain above all flexible, which means that a modular tool can manage several different productions on a single cobotic station. It's a real added-value, when we know that a change of production size or range can be complicated and time-consuming.

The components to be manipulated should be between 5 µm and several millimeters. If less than 5 µm, the French company is open to study and try together.
Type and Size of Partner
  • SME 50 - 249
  • SME 11-49
  • University
  • SME <=10
  • R&D Institution
  • Big company
Type of partnership
  • Research and development cooperation agreement
  • Commercial agreement with technical assistance

Dissemination

Technology keywords
  • 01002001 - Micro and Nanotechnology related to Electronics and Microelectronics
  • 01001001 - Automation, Robotics Control Systems
  • 05003002 - Optics
  • 005006003 - Laser Technology
Market keywords
  • 08002004 - Robotics
Sector Groups Involved
  • Electronics
Targeted countries
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • United Kingdom
  • Switzerland
  • Germany
  • Norway
  • Hungary
  • Latvia
  • Croatia
  • Finland
  • Romania
  • Italy
  • Czechia
  • Spain
  • Liechtenstein
  • Luxembourg
  • Ireland
  • Slovenia
  • Malta
  • Poland
  • Slovakia
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Cyprus
  • Lithuania
  • Netherlands
  • Estonia
  • Sweden
  • Portugal
  • Bulgaria
  • Greece