We’re proud to share that technology developed by the Keystone Photonics team, now part of FormFactor, has been nominated for the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2026 (German Future Prize)(opens in new tab), the German Federal President’s Award for Innovation and Technology.

The nominated work from Dr. Philipp Dietrich, Prof. Christian Koos, Dr. Matthias Lauermann and their teams tackles an important challenge in silicon photonics: how to efficiently connect to and test photonic integrated circuits as the technology moves toward high-volume manufacturing.


Bringing Silicon Photonics Test to the Wafer Level

Silicon photonics(opens in new tab) is becoming increasingly important for AI infrastructure and next-generation data centers, where moving more data while managing power consumption is a growing challenge. As these technologies scale, manufacturers also need practical ways to test increasingly complex photonic devices efficiently and reliably.

Keystone Photonics developed specialized optical probing technology that allows photonic devices to be accessed and tested directly at the wafer level. Engineers can characterize devices and identify problems earlier in the manufacturing process, before investing additional time and cost in packaging and integration.

This technology is a natural fit with FormFactor’s broader expertise in wafer-level test, precision positioning and test automation. Since Keystone Photonics became part of FormFactor, we have been bringing these capabilities together to support more complete optical and electrical test solutions for silicon photonics and co-packaged optics.


From Research Innovation to Production

The nominated technology grew out of research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and was brought into commercial applications through Keystone Photonics and Vanguard Automation.

What began as an innovative approach to a difficult photonics problem now has an important role to play as silicon photonics moves from the lab into higher-volume manufacturing. As part of FormFactor, the Keystone team and its technology are contributing to a broader effort to make photonic device testing more scalable, repeatable and production-ready.

FormFactor is building on this foundation with integrated silicon photonics test solutions that bring together optical and electrical wafer-level measurement, high-precision alignment and production automation. These capabilities will become even more important as AI, co-packaged optics and next-generation data-center architectures place greater demands on photonic device performance and manufacturing scale.

The German Future Prize nomination is an exciting recognition of the technology, but it is also recognition of the people behind it and the work required to turn advanced research into a practical solution for semiconductor and photonics manufacturing.

Congratulations to Philipp, Christian, Matthias and the entire team on this well-deserved recognition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Credits: Deutscher Zukunftspreis/Bildschoen