Edison, a fab built for photons

Field notes

Edison’s argument is that conventional CMOS manufacturing treats photonics as an inconvenient exception, forcing optical components to accept someone else’s tolerances and queue. The proposed line instead sequences six dedicated modules, from lithography through fibre packaging, with optical test before packaging. The page also gives a useful constraint: etch uniformity would need to remain below a nanometre across the wafer. It explicitly separates demonstrated physics from unfinished manufacturing, leaving the plant’s operational status unresolved.