PHOTON DESIGN LIMITED

Their core work

Photon Design is an Oxford-based SME specialising in software tools and process design kits (PDKs) for photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, with a particular focus on Indium Phosphide (InP) platforms. Their core product line — electronic design automation (EDA) tools for photonics — sits at the intersection of semiconductor fabrication and optical system design, making them a rare commercial actor able to bridge the gap between foundry processes and circuit designers. In EU projects they contribute PDKs, design-rule documentation, and simulation environments that allow researchers and engineers to design chips compatible with InP foundry lines. Their involvement in both a doctoral training network (EDIFY) and a commercial pilot line initiative (InPulse) shows they serve both academic training ecosystems and industry-facing manufacturing scale-up simultaneously.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earliest H2020 involvement (EDIFY, 2018), Photon Design's contribution centred on foundational design infrastructure: generic foundry concepts, process design kits, and InP semiconductor toolchains used to train a new generation of PIC engineers. By 2019, with InPulse, the emphasis moved from training infrastructure to real-world commercialisation: pilot line access, ecosystem sustainability, and lowering barriers for companies wanting to tape out InP chips. The trajectory is clear — from enabling education to enabling production, tracking the broader maturation of the European photonic foundry market itself.

Photon Design is moving from being a tools provider in research consortia toward being an active enabler of commercial InP PIC supply chains — future collaborations are most likely in pilot line, foundry access, and PIC standardisation projects.

How they like to work

Photon Design has never led an H2020 project, joining exclusively as a partner or third party — a pattern consistent with a specialist SME that contributes a well-defined proprietary asset (PDK/simulation software) rather than managing broad research programmes. Despite their modest funding footprint (EUR 118,500 total), they reached 20 consortium partners across 8 countries, suggesting their tools are seen as enabling infrastructure that large consortia pull in rather than a service they push. This makes them an easy, low-friction partner to add: they bring a specific, valued deliverable with minimal project management overhead.

Photon Design has collaborated with 20 distinct partners across 8 countries within just two projects, indicating they plug into large pan-European consortia rather than small bilateral partnerships. Their reach is firmly European, consistent with the InP PIC community concentrated in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and the UK.

What sets them apart

Photon Design occupies a rare niche as a commercial SME that provides the actual design software and PDKs that make InP photonic foundries usable — a role that sits between foundries (who fabricate) and system integrators (who design products), with few direct competitors at the European level. Their Oxford base and long-standing focus on photonic EDA software means they bring mature, field-tested tools rather than research prototypes, which is precisely what pilot line consortia need to attract industrial users. For a consortium building an InP-based photonic ecosystem, Photon Design is essentially the PDK owner — without them, circuit designers cannot reliably interface with the foundry process.

Highlights from their portfolio

• InPulse
  The only project where Photon Design received EC funding (EUR 118,500), targeting a self-sustained InP pilot line — the most commercially consequential initiative in their portfolio and a direct signal of their role in industrialising European photonic manufacturing.
• EDIFY
  A Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral training network in InP PIC fabrication where Photon Design participated as a non-funded partner, underlining their standing as a reference provider of PDKs and design tools for the next generation of European photonics engineers.