The research project on silicon photonic components BOOM supported by the EU Seventh Research Framework Programme has been launched successfully in May 2008. All consortium partners have gathered for the kick off meeting in Athens for the first time and discussed their joint activities within the new project.

The BOOM consortium consists of highly-skilled organizations with a proven track record in the field of photonic integration acting from basic research to application. In order to overcome technology roadblocks and re-enforce the European position in high-value photonic products, BOOM is setting up communication channels between three European SMEs (AMO, LioniX, EXELITE), one major telecom operator (Telecom Italia), three European universities (ICCS/NTUA, TU Berlin, Technical University of Eindhoven) and three top European research centers (Heinrich-Hertz-Institut, IMEC, IHP).  The project is coordinated by the Institute of Communications (ICCS) & Computer Systems of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). The technology partners of BOOM are pioneers in the field of silicon photonics not only on a European but also on an industrial level. The particular role of AMO GmbH, Aachen within this project consist in the evaluation of single project results to ensure industrial applications.

The main objective of the BOOM project is the systematic advancement of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) integration technology to develop compact, cost-effective and power efficient silicon photonic components. These components will enable photonic Tb/s capacity systems for current and new generation high speed broadband core networks. In order to achieve these goals BOOM aims to develop a SOI optical board technology capable to blend the cost-effectiveness and integration potential of silicon with the high bandwidth and processing power of III-V material. As such BOOM aims to provide a new generation of active and functional silicon photonic components including: ultra-high speed wavelength converters, high-speed transmitters and WDM photodetectors. In addition, BOOM invests in the development of improved CMOS compatible waveguide technologies to fabricate miniaturized, low loss and fully reconfigurable wavelength routing cross-connects based on two dimensional grids of serially interconnected micro-ring resonators.       
                        
The project refers to the European research program ICT-2007-2 „Photonic Components and Subsystems“. Further details of the projects’ objectives and partners can be found on the project websitewww.ict-boom.eu.