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LioniX International is a vertically integrated supplier of custom photonic integrated circuit (PIC) solutions. We are an integrated photonics foundry, photonic chips design house, packaging provider, and IP developer, all rolled into one. Our proprietary technology is TriPleX^® silicon nitride.

Photonic Integrated Circuits Solutions

a photonic integrated circuit development produced at LioniX

Photonic IC Development

We bring our vertically integrated capability to ensure your custom photonic integrated circuit development integrates perfectly and delivers real value in your system.

Silicon nitride waveguides - triplex - used in applications requiring wide transparency ranges

TriPleX® Silicon Nitride Waveguides

Our Photonic Integrated Circuits are based on our proprietary TriPleX® silicon nitride waveguides, with ultra-low losses, wide transparency, and excellent coupling.

Multi Project Wafer (MPW) Services

Our Multi Project Wafer services (MPW) for silicon nitride PICs gives you access to the benefits of ultra low-loss TriPleX® waveguide technology in an easy, affordable way.

Photonic Chips Custom Design & Packaging

Photonic integrated circuit design

We supply comprehensive expertise and facilities for the design of photonic integrated circuits as well as simulation, production, testing and characterization.

a hybrid tunable laser at 850nm in a butterfly package

Photonic packaging and assembly

Make use of our in-house expertise in PIC packaging and assembly to develop an optimized, custom-made module that seemlessy integrates with your system.

MEMS with photonics

LioniX International is a leading and independent supplier of customized MEMS solutions. Our expertise is product manufacturing from prototype to production volumes.

Integrated Photonics Modules & Systems

Applications

LioniX has deep expertise in serving communications, aerospace, defense, life science, metrology, quantum, and many other PIC application areas.

a photonic integrated circuit module produced througha vertically integrated approach

Photonic integrated circuit modules

We combine cutting-edge technology, manufacturing know-how, hollistic device design, intellectual property protection, and assured reliability.

Wafer-with-optical-beamer-network-devices

Markets

We have over 20 years of experience serving clients across different integrated photonics and MEMS market sectors.

Latest

Fabrication and Assembly of an AR/VR Light-Engine Prototype in Project MatEl

31 July 2025

LioniX TriPleX silicon nitride external cavity laser

New Photonic Integrated Tuneable EC Laser with PZT Actuators

22 January 2025

LioniX International

Reconfigurable (DE)MUX Filter for Flexible Frequency Allocation

4 November 2024

Quantum scientists give Triplex® a HUG to entangle single photons

1 May 2024

LioniX dual hybrid InP/Si3N4 laser assembly

Want lower RF drift? Double down on laser PICs!

22 April 2024

A picture of a custom packaging for a specific opto-fluidic solution for cell flow, illumination, and detection.

Optofluidic Cytometer in a TriPleX Silicon Nitride Photonic Chip

29 January 2024

Photo of the repeater module with the package open.

On Chip Photonic Repeater for High Throughput Satellites

18 January 2024

Waveguide Technology Innovations: The Story of the Invention (And Reinvention) of TriPleX®

13 December 2023

A picture of the hybrid assembly and the PCB around it.

Integrated Photonics Modules for Better Synthetic Aperture Radars

16 November 2023

Minimizing coupling losses with silicon nitride waveguide tapers

Minimizing coupling losses: a multi-dimensional approach with silicon nitride waveguide tapers

19 October 2023

EU Invests €15M to Help Companies Supercharge Their Products with Light

16 April 2025

The image shows a render of LioniX new facility.

LioniX International is moving to a new purpose-built facility in Enschede, The Netherlands

9 December 2024

Photonic integrated circuit and the module based on silicon nitride.

Cutting-edge photonics for future proof microwave communication

14 November 2024

LioniX International

LioniX International secures approval to enter into bridge financing to ensure its continuity

17 July 2024

Close-up of our tunable laser in a 14-pin butterfly package.

LioniX 1310 nm laser at OFC 2024!

21 March 2024

Picture of Ronald Dekker, CTO of LioniX International

LioniX International appoints Ronald Dekker as new CTO

16 January 2024

A photo of the fully assembled and wire-bonded laser module in a 14-pin butterfly package.

Ultra-Narrow Linewidth Integrated CW Tunable Laser at 1310 nm

28 November 2023

Attendants of the first in-person BIOMED02 meeting

BIOMED02 Heralds the Future of Diagnostics

3 November 2023

Tunable external cavity laser module for Kerr freqyency comb generation

Integrated tunable laser generates Kerr frequency comb for the first time

1 August 2023

Photo of a TriPleX MPW wafer before final dicing

TriPleX® MPW PDK Now on IPKISS

1 February 2023

Photonic Integrated Circuits at LioniX International

We fabricate silicon nitride photonic chips using our proprietary waveguide technology, TriPleX^®. We also design integrated photonics circuits, assemble them with optical and electronic components, package them, and provide companion electronics to control them. We carry out all of these services in-house, and can work with custom and standard formats.

Our production volume capacity is flexible to support you during the whole product development cycle. We can provide demonstrators, single-unit prototypes, photonic chip pilot runs, and small to medium volume production, all in-house. For higher volume manufacturing, we are well-connected in the integrated photonics ecosystem and have vetted expert suppliers to work with. For lower volume experiments where a full wafer is not needed, we have low cost multi-project wafer shuttle runs, with reliable building blocks and a full-option PDK.

Our silicon nitride technology, TriPleX^®, maintains ultra-low propagation and coupling losses. It is uniquely capable of integrating vertical and horizontal spot size converters (tapers). It allows for heat-based and stress-based modulation without any extra optical losses. It is transparent to wavelengths from 405 nm to 2350 nm, with a fully customizable layer stack.

Our integrated photonic chips and modules are used in a suite of high-tech applications in telecom and datacom, quantum, LiDAR, biosensors, AR and VR, and other markets. We are open to work with experts in any field: you know your market, and we know our photonics.

Get in contact with one of our photonic chips experts →

Learn more about integrated photonic chips

What are photonic integrated circuits?

Photonic integrated circuits (abbreviated to PIC or PICs) are semiconductor chips that work with light instead of electricity. They are the light-based counterpart to integrated circuits (ICs). Like ICs, PICs solve problems in innumerable fields, from computer processors to digital communication to precision sensing to automated device control to medical diagnostics.

PICs are sometimes called integrated photonics or integrated optics, which refers to the technical process by which optical systems are redesigned to fit into a chip. Optical systems rely on lenses, mirrors, and bulky electronic equipment to generate, manipulate, and detect light. These often involve optical benches, which are large, precisely manufactured tables where such optical components can be placed and moved around accurately.

Integrating such functions on chips on the scale of millimeters requires various cleanroom processing technologies, which are similar to the ones used in semiconductor manufacturing. Chemical vapor deposition, wet and dry etching, photolithography, sputtering, bonding, and many more are carried out in contaminant-free, sometimes human-free labs, to realize the devices.

How does a photonic integrated circuit work?

Photonic chips rely on total internal reflection to direct and manipulate light. Modern high speed internet uses optical fibers, which use the same physics principle. Optical fibers and photonic chips are both waveguides, because their function is to guide the direction of moving light. Light waveguides are made out of two layers, a core where the light travels freely, and a cladding which surrounds the core on all sides and reflects light. The core and the cladding work together to keep light moving only inside the waveguide.

The difference between the two technologies is that fiber optics use optical fibers as their waveguide, and integrated optics use silicon chips with waveguides built into them. Integrated waveguides are about a thousand times narrower than human hairs. Their reduced size makes integrated devices much smaller than fiber devices, and makes new designs and functions possible.

What problems do integrated photonics solve?

There are many applications where a photonic chip can outperform conventional electronic chips. Light can carry signals that are much more information-dense than electricity. Using photonic chips to process information is therefore faster and more energy efficient. For that reason, communication technologies were the first to commercialize the use of photonic integrated circuits. Light is also more sensitive to environmental changes, so photonic chips can be used as very sensitive sensors in biological applications and in quantum computing. Nothing travels faster than light, which means photonic chips can be used to make very fast distance measurements at very high accuracies. The range of applications in which photonic integrated circuits shine are only increasing more industries are exploring the possibilities of this technology.