MIT demonstrates wafer-scale flexible transparent photonic chips

MIT researchers and engineers at NY Creates developed a fabrication process for flexible, transparent silicon-photonics chips on 300-millimeter wafers. The process uses standard semiconductor manufacturing methods, removes the original silicon substrate and leaves ultrathin optical layers on transparent polyester film. In tests, a chip was bent thousands of times around cylinders as narrow as a small screw without a performance drop, and transparency testing found minimal haze or image distortion. The work, published in Optica, advances a platform beyond earlier few-device demonstrations.