Microelectronics and Photonics
Microelectronics and photonics are enabling technologies that play a pervasive role in a wide range of applications that are fundamental to our society, from communications to life sciences, from sensors to automotive. Pavia has developed a school internationally known in both disciplines that has allowed over time to activate important collaborations with different companies that have settled in Pavia also to strengthen the collaboration with the Department.
In particular, the Microelectronics area is mainly focused on the design, implementation and characterization of integrated circuits and systems. The applications are wide spectrum and range from DC-DC conversion techniques to the development of front-end circuits with very high sensitivity to support particle physics experiments, from analog signal processing for radio frequency transmissions to the development of integrated circuits for processing optical signals including solutions based on silicon photonics up to the development of integrated circuits for sensors and non-volatile memories. The research activities of the microelectronics groups cover a very wide spectrum of frequencies that are concretized with the development of circuits operating in the base band, to those for Radio Frequency up to millimeter waves and sub-THZ for imaging applications.
The research groups have both laboratories for the design of integrated circuits based on the most advanced technologies (up to 15 nm Fin-FET) that can accommodate over 40 PhD and post-doctoral students, both of laboratories of experimental characterization of complex systems.
In the field of Photonics, the Department’s teams cover a broad spectrum of skills and technologies ranging from the development of laser sources, to the study of devices and systems for sensors, from communications to integrated photonics, from life sciences to quantum photonics.
Competences cover a wide area of multidisciplinary knowledge, ranging from the study of the physics of photonic processes to the development of optoelectronic systems. From research in the field of Photonics, two university spin-off companies (Bright Solutions and Julight) have been founded, operating in the international market in the field of laser sources for industrial and sensor applications.
Overall, the laboratories dealing with Photonics extend over an area of over 500 square meters and are equipped with over 20 optical tables and several optical sources in continuous and ultrafast, advanced instrumentation for the study and testing of both optical systems in the air and integrated systems based on fiber and optical circuits.
Reference laboratories
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