MICRAM MICROELECTRONIC GMBH

Their core work

MICRAM Microelectronic GmbH is a German semiconductor company specializing in high-speed electronic and photonic integrated circuits, particularly for optical communications and advanced RF/THz applications. Their work centers on designing and fabricating chips using BiCMOS technology — a process that combines the high-speed capabilities of bipolar transistors with the density advantages of CMOS — enabling data transmission at 200 Gbps and beyond. In the plaCMOS project they contributed to wafer-scale integration of photonic, plasmonic, and electronic components on a single chip, targeting mass-manufacturable transceivers for next-generation data networks. In parallel, through TARANTO, they worked on pushing BiCMOS nanoscale platforms toward radio-frequency and terahertz operating ranges, where conventional silicon struggles.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects began in 2017, so there is no meaningful long-term chronological shift to observe — the available data represents a single snapshot in time rather than a career arc. Within that snapshot, the keyword evidence clusters entirely around plaCMOS (photonics, plasmonics, 200 Gbps transceivers), while TARANTO carries no indexed keywords despite covering BiCMOS RF/THz work. The most honest reading is that MICRAM operates across two complementary high-speed chip domains simultaneously: electronic (BiCMOS/THz) and photonic-electronic (CMOS photonics), rather than having evolved from one to the other.

MICRAM appears to be positioning at the intersection of high-speed electronics and integrated photonics — a space that is growing rapidly as datacenters and telecom networks push beyond 100 Gbps per channel — making them a relevant partner for anyone developing next-generation optical interconnect or transceiver chipsets.

How they like to work

MICRAM participates exclusively as a consortium partner and has never led an H2020 project, suggesting they contribute deep technical capability within larger, multi-partner programs rather than driving project strategy. Their two projects both involve large consortia — the 38 unique partners across 8 countries are spread across two projects, indicating they are comfortable working in complex, multi-national research programs. This profile fits a specialist component supplier or chip design house that brings a specific technology piece to a broader integration effort.

MICRAM has collaborated with 38 unique partners across 8 countries through just two projects, indicating both programs involved substantial consortia — typical for ECSEL and RIA-scale photonics and semiconductor initiatives. Their network is European in scope, though geographic breakdown by partner is not available from the data.

What sets them apart

MICRAM occupies a rare niche as an SME with demonstrated hands-on expertise in both BiCMOS-based RF/THz chip design and CMOS-integrated photonics — two areas that are converging in next-generation communications hardware. Most photonics companies do not have RF/THz circuit depth, and most RF chip houses do not work with plasmonic modulators or ferroelectric materials; MICRAM's project record spans both. For consortium builders in optical communications, high-speed datacom, or 6G/THz sensing, they offer specialist IC and process knowledge that is difficult to find at SME scale.

Highlights from their portfolio

• plaCMOS
  The largest-funded project for MICRAM (EUR 751,721) and technically ambitious — targeting wafer-scale monolithic co-integration of photonics, plasmonics, and electronics at 200 Gbps, a benchmark relevant to next-generation datacom and telecom infrastructure.
• TARANTO
  An ECSEL-RIA project pushing BiCMOS nanoscale platforms into RF and terahertz frequency ranges, demonstrating MICRAM's engagement with the foundry-level semiconductor ecosystem and future wireless/sensing applications beyond conventional silicon limits.