The EU project PHABULOuS (Pilot-line providing highly advanced & robust manufacturing technology for optical free-form μ-structures) is being launched on January 15 and 16, 2020, at CSEM in Switzerland.

There is an urgent need to provide miniaturized optical components due to the exponential growth of the micro-optics market over the last decade. This is in tandem with an increasing need for free-form micro-optics that can address the challenges set by the photonics market over the next five to ten years. Industrial demand for free-form micro-optics is a current market reality, however, the high access barriers to pre-commercial production capabilities in Europe prevent companies, especially SMEs, from commercially exploiting this technology.

Among the objectives of the project, are:

• the general increase of the current technology and manufacturing readiness levels of free-form micro-optics
• the implementation of 6 industrial user cases demonstrating pilot manufacturing in operational environments for applications spanning from augmented reality, to professional, automotive, and transportation lighting to luxury
• the establishment of an open-access, sustainable, distributed pilot-line infrastructure with a single entry point
• the validation of the pilot-line services through the implementation of 20 industrial pilot cases in different fields, such as solid-state & day-lighting, photovoltaics, displays & imagers, consumer electronics & wearables, anti-counterfeiting & branding. 

Dr. Rolando Ferrini, the project’s coordinator from CSEM, is extremely satisfied by the whole project concept: “PHABULOuS will open a new era for free-form micro-optics enabling the industrial manufacturing of innovative micro-optical components for a wealth of different photonics applications, thus becoming the unique entry point in Europe for SMEs and LMEs aiming to pilot and produce devices integrating free-form micro-structures.”

Dr. Reinhard Voelkel, CEO of SUSS MicroOptics and a partner of the consortium also stated that: “We are very honored to participate in the Free-Form Photonics EU-Pilot Line Project PHABULOuS and to accommodate the Wafer-Level Optics (WLO) part in our new cleanroom wafer factory in Neuchatel, Switzerland. He notes that: “PHABULOuS is a strong consortium and we are very confident that the new Pilot Lines will enforce the competitiveness of European Photonics companies and manufacturing industry in Europe.”

One of the six industrial use case partners is the automotive supplier HELLA. Dr. Daniela Karthaus, responsible for new optical technologies at HELLA, said: "As a leading manufacturer of automotive lighting systems we strive for developing the latest innovations in order to provide the best solutions to our customers. Within the PHABULOuS project, HELLA looks at highly innovative micro-optics for miniaturizing the existing automotive lighting solutions to enable new design possibilities as well as the reduction of construction space and weight to contribute to an efficiency increase for electric vehicles and autonomous driving.”

PHABULOuS has received funding in the order of 15 Mio. EUR in the framework of the Horizon 2020 Work Programme.