Plainview, N.Y. (U.S.A) and Leuven (Belgium), January 28, 2026 – Veeco
Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO) and imec announced today that they have
collaboratively developed a 300mm high volume manufacturing compatible
process that enables the integration of barium titanate (BaTiO3 or BTO)
on a silicon photonics platform. BTO is a promising material with unique
electro-optical properties that can be used for high-speed and low-power
light modulation in emerging applications such as high-speed optical
transceivers, quantum computing, light detection and ranging (LiDAR),
and AR/VR applications. Historically, approaches to integrate BTO have
struggled to meet the desired cost targets to make it viable for
high-volume manufacturing. Veeco has now delivered its first Molecular
Beam Epitaxy (MBE) based cluster system, marking a significant milestone
in Veeco’s and imec’s partnership and their dedication to enhance
silicon photonics platform capabilities. The new 300mm platform is
designed for the epitaxy of BaTiO3 single crystalline thin films on
silicon, available with both solid and hybrid Molecular Beam Epitaxy
(MBE) solutions. With the integration of these alternative growth
techniques, the system will be capable of BTO-on-Si deposition with
improved repeatability and at a lower cost than classical MBE methods.

The optical transceiver market for datacom is expected to grow to $13.1
billion in 2030, up from $2.9 billion in 2024. However, to alleviate the
trade-offs of current silicon modulator technologies, including high
power consumption, performance (speed, drive voltage), and area, the
introduction of novel electro-optic materials, like BTO, into silicon
photonics will be crucial. At present, there is no commercially
available production-compatible solution for manufacturing these
materials. In partnership with Veeco, imec is now addressing this
industry need to develop scaled solutions that allows the integration of
materials such as BaTiO3 and SrTiO3 onto a 300mm silicon platform.

“Over the past 4 years, imec and Veeco have collaborated on developing
alternative techniques for BaTiO3-on-Si and benchmarking both material
and electro-optic properties towards defining a strategy for advancing
large-scale manufacturing solutions,” says Clement Merckling, Scientific
Director at imec. “With the introduction of Veeco’s first-of-its-kind
MBE solution, we are expanding our capabilities for heterogeneous
integration of beyond-Si electrooptic materials, strengthening our R&D
offering for current and new partners with an interest in exploring and
prototyping next-generation silicon photonics technology.” added Joris
Van Campenhout, imec Fellow and Optical I/O Program Director.

“This partnership with imec is a monumental step forward for the MBE
industry, datacom and quantum computing production,” commented Matthew
Marek, Senior Director of Marketing for Veeco’s MBE Product Line. “The
historic view of MBE processing has been that it is slow and expensive;
however, new hardware developments that our team validated in
partnership with imec bring MBE into a cost-effective domain that is
suitable for semiconductor fabs. We are excited about the work underway
between our two organizations to demonstrate a repeatable, high-volume
BTO production process. We anticipate this effort will help us achieve
our shared goal to unlock BTO photonic modulator breakthroughs for a
better and greener future.”