A new project called GATEPOST, funded by the European research and development program Horizon Europe and part of the Graphene Flagship Initiative, has been launched.
To realize the potential of IoT and 5G/6G applications, high-performance computing with low power consumption is required. Reliable security solutions will also be essential to combat the growing number of cyber-attacks. Existing solutions cannot meet these new requirements, as they tend to lag behind in terms of performance, latency and operational costs. This is where the GATEPOST project comes in, aiming to revolutionize computing and security with a ground-breaking graphene-based approach.
"Graphene and 2D materials hold great potential and open up unprecedented possibilities for efficient non-linear light interaction with ultra-fast response times," said Dr Mindaugas Lukosius, who welcomed all eight project partners at the kickoff meeting, as well as Emilie Klecha, responsible for GATEPOST at the EU Commission, and Jackie Brown from the Graphene Flagship Initiative to the kick-off meeting on behalf of the lead partner, the IHP - Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics in Frankfurt (Oder). "Our project has set itself the goal of integrating these materials into complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) made of silicon nitride. If we succeed in combining graphene with standard CMOS processes, we will be on the verge of a breakthrough in data processing and memory," said Lukosius.
To achieve this ambitious goal, eight European partners have joined forces, all of them experts in their field: IHP - Leibniz Institute for High Performance Microelectronics from Germany (leader in the integration of graphene-based technologies), Akhetonics GmbH from Germany (pioneer in the development of all-optical general purpose processors), Hewlett Packard Enterprise Belgium (leader in optical memory), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from Greece (with a research focus in optical memory), Enlightra Sàl from Switzerland (pioneer in extreme bandwidth data transmission enabled by light), Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung from Germany (with a focus on amplification media and amplifiers based on III-V semiconductors), EurA AG from Germany (innovation consultancy) and the Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum from Belgium (internationally recognised for the entire semiconductor supply chain).
The main purpose of the kick-off meeting was to get to know each other personally and to discuss the working plan. The kick-off meeting was followed by a tour of the IHP premises. The 2D experimental pilot plant, which will produce the innovative components designed as part of GATEPOST, was also visited and the project partners were visibly impressed. Stefan Durm, Head of International Projects at Ellwangen-based EurA AG, and Christina Tanosova, Project Manager, attended the event. "We are delighted to be part of this excellent consortium and to manage the project together with IHP," said Durm. GATEPOST is an acronym for "Graphene-based All-Optical Technology Platform for Secure Internet of Things" and strengthens the European supply chain in the field of high-performance computing, Lukosius summarized.
The project’s first major milestone was the creation of a new type of chip based on graphene. At a meeting held at project partner EurA in Germany, Leonardo Del Bino, co-founder of another German project partner, Akhetonics, presented the first photonic integrated GATEPOST chip and discussed its modelling, simulation and design process. He likened the chip, which is based on graphene-on-silicon nitride technology, to “a cake made up of many layers with different ingredients”, with each layer having “its own mask that determines exactly where the ingredient is placed in the cake.” The scientist further explained: “The design of the GATEPOST chip initially contains nine layers, each with its own mask representing a specific material at a specific point in the cake.” The chip is currently being manufactured at IHP in its 2D-Experimental Pilot Line. According to Del Bino, there are plans to include some elements to the currently simplified chip by the end of the project. The meeting included discussions on development and testing that needs to be performed in the coming months to reach the next milestones.
