How the Right System Can Future-Proof Your PIC Manufacturing Workflow

At this year’s SPIE Photonics West, our Director of Product Development, Justin Frick, spoke with Photonics Online to highlight key considerations for selecting a polishing system in the evolving world of photonic manufacturing. As integrated photonic devices continue to grow in complexity, the polishing process must be as precise and adaptable as the components themselves.

Component Loading & Surface Integrity
For photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and waveguides, maintaining a defect-free surface is critical. Systems must offer secure, damage-free loading — especially when handling sensitive substrates. Clamping mechanisms and materials must be carefully selected to avoid micro-defects that can compromise performance.

Alignment, Calibration & Flexibility
Accurate fixture alignment is essential. Even minor misalignments in polishing orientation can result in poor surface quality or dimensional errors. KrellTech’s NOVA™ platform offers alignment tools and workholder adaptability, ensuring high accuracy across varied applications.

Programmable Polishing Control
Parameters like platen speed, pressure, and cycle time must be finely tuned. NOVA’s microfeed functionality allows for micron-level descension to the polishing surface, maintaining contact and pressure consistency as material is removed. This minimizes process variability and supports high-yield output.

From R&D to Production Scaling
Whether you're developing a new prototype or scaling to full production, your polishing solution should accommodate both. With interchangeable workholders, NOVA can polish multiple components simultaneously and adapt to changing throughput needs.

Polishing Interconnect Devices
Modern photonic systems require a range of interconnects — from bare fibers and connector termini to fiber arrays. The ability to polish all of these on a single platform streamlines operations and protects your equipment investment.

Learn more at www.krelltech.com

Transcript: 

0:00
So when considering a processing machine, it's important to consider a few main points.

0:04
The 1st is going to be reputable and safe component loading.

0:06
PICs and waveguides tend to have sensitive surfaces that need to remain scratch and defect free.

0:13
So not only does the clamping need to be secure, but material selection needs to be considered.

0:19
After that, your fixture alignment and calibration is also going to be very important.

0:24
Flexibility in the work holder to adapt for any changes, any misalignments in polishing orientation is going to give you a much higher accuracy in polishing for the more the polishing machine itself is going to have to have some particular polishing parameters.

0:42
That's going to include your pressure control, your platen speeds, as well as your cycle times.

0:48
The NOVA here features a 5 micron resolution as well as what we call a micro feed routine.

0:54
This is a programmable feature that will lower your polishing chip to the polishing surface at a very slow rate over a certain amount of time.

1:02
This helps you maintain constant pressure with the polishing surface and then also so you don't lose any contact as material is removed.

1:14
Finally, the system must provide some sort of pathway to go from an R&D level low volume process development to a full scale production scale.

1:25
So for instance upgrading work holders going from polishing 1 to 4 simultaneously.

1:32
PICs and waveguides also tend to need interconnect devices.

1:35
This is going to include bare fibers, fiber arrays as well as connector termini.

1:42
So being able to polish all of those interconnect devices by easily swapping exchanging work holders on the same platform of your PIC processing platform is going to future proof your system and protect your investment.

1:57
So I hope that helps.

1:58
Thank you for your time.

1:59
For more information, you can find us online at www.krelltech.com.

2:03
Thank you.