Selected to Participate in NEDO’s “Research and Development Project of the Enhanced Infrastructures for Post 5G Information and Communications Systems/ Development of manufacturing technologies for advanced semiconductors”

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Head office: 2-6-4 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Hideya Moridaira) has been selected to participate in the “Research and Development Project of Enhanced Infrastructures for Post 5G Information and Communications Systems/ Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Technologies” conducted by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Using our knowledge of photonics, one of our core technologies, we will work to develop next generation optical semiconductor devices.

Around the world, 5G is increasingly being used in commercial operations. Going forward, it is expected that data will be sent, processed and used in a wide range of areas in addition to general users, including for smart cities, agriculture, corporate DX and mobility. In order to realize the infrastructure for these next generation communications environments, there is increasing need for 5G with enhanced functionality (Post 5G), including ultra-low latency and multiple simultaneous connections.
The “Research and Development Project of Enhanced Infrastructures for Post 5G Information and Communications Systems/ Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Technologies” aims to strengthen the development and manufacturing foundation for Post 5G information and communications systems through the development of core technologies for Post 5G information and communications systems and manufacturing technology for the advanced semiconductors required by such systems.

Furukawa Electric will partner with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, NTT Innovative Devices Corporation, NTT Devices Cross Technologies Corporation and Shinko Electric Industries Co., Ltd. to conduct research and development for the project’s “Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Technologies”. We will be in charge of creating an optical semiconductor device that realizes photonics-electronics convergence as shown in Fig. 1. In particular, for the light source shown in Fig. 2, due to the requirements for increased output, reduced power consumption and integration with silicon photonics, we will work to develop manufacturing technology for increasing the mass producibility of the optical semiconductor device. The project is scheduled to be implemented for five years until FY2028.