November 27 2025 -- Wave Photonics, in collaboration with Cardiff University, announced a major initiative to establish a pilot manufacturing line for Gallium Nitride (GaN) Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). This project is supported by the Innovate UK competition for Developing Semiconductor Hardware for Critical Technologies. The project aims to expand the UK’s capability in compound semiconductor photonics and accelerate the deployment of GaN technologies in quantum, space, high-radiation, and advanced sensing applications.

Wave Photonics, with its proprietary automated design software capable of generating PDKs for any target wavelengths and material platforms, will provide the design automation and PDK generation capabilities needed to enable rapid, fabrication-tolerant GaN PIC development. Cardiff University, with its expertise in GaN manufacturing, will prototype a GaN PIC platform and fabricate full wafers within the Institute for Compound Semiconductors cleanroom.

GaN offers a wide transparency window (visible to telecom wavelengths), strong nonlinear properties and radiation hardness, making it a promising platform for advanced PICs and the monolithic integration of lasers, detectors, and modulators. Many quantum, space, and sensing applications require these capabilities and cannot be met with silicon or silicon nitride alone. By combining Cardiff’s compound semiconductor expertise with Wave Photonics’ automated design and PDK generation platform, this pilot line creates a pathway for accessible, scalable GaN PIC development.

Professor Anthony Bennett, leader of the Cardiff’s Quantum Lab said “This is a very exciting project to take forward photonic integrated circuits in Gallium Nitride. By working with the Institute for Compound Semiconductors cleanroom, we will have access to tools to manufacture large area semiconductor wafers, opening a route to commercial adoption.”

James Lee, Wave Photonics CEO, said, “Developing a new integrated photonics process in the space of 6 months is clearly a very ambitious goal and will be a great test of the platform PDK development and management that we have been building. Combining Wave’s design and high-throughput characterisation expertise with the processing knowledge and facilities of the Institute of Compound Semiconductors will allow us to develop a unique process and PDK. The project enables the wider photonics industry to benefit from the existing ICS infrastructure and the new capabilities offered by a GaN PIC platform.”