Advanced optics, photonics and electronics packaging for multimodal sensing systems

This is an innovation action (IA) which aims at significant impact on European industries leading to increased sales and new business. The APPLAUSE project will increase the competence and capabilities in manufacturing in advanced optics, photonics and electronics. The pilot lines will cover technology building blocks (WP2, lead by IMEC), design, modeling, simulation (WP3 lead by Fraunhofer ENAS), equipment and materials (WP4, lead by AMS), electronics packaging technology (WP5 lead by Fraunhofer IZM), ICT and security integration (WP6 lead by Silicongate), test metrology and reliability (WP7 lead by RoodMicrotec), demonstration and assessment (WP8 lead by TBD). Our company (IDEAS) will be a partner and use case leader/owner. The IDEAS use case is thermal infrared imaging. Thermal infrared (TIR) cameras offer essential and new insights/sensory experience that are not possible with conventional cameras: TIR is important in many fields of applications, such as thermography and surveillance, with 4 million TIR units sold in 2021 (ABI Research on ADAS 2017). However, the cost of TIR cameras limits mass market adoption and further growth, especially for high-performance systems where average sales price is 13 thousand EUR per unit (Yole 2016). Our goal is to reduce the cost of TIR imaging systems and to enable new market adoption (for example in automotive and cobotics). The key to low-cost is the technology based on uncooled micro-bolometer sensor arrays (MBA) and wafer-level packaging. The components and processes will be free of ITAR restrictions to maximize sales potential. The use case brings together SMEs (IDEAS, RoodMicrotec, Swissbit, Pactec) and RTOs (3 Fraunhofer Institutes ENAS, IZM, IMS and USN in Norway) with heritage in all key capabilities needed to reach the goal of low-cost and ITAR free TIR. The funding within this ECSEL program is essential to enable European capabilities in low-cost TIR technology.