Unlocking the Power of Photonic Integrated Circuits in MedTech

Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) are optical microchips that combine multiple optical functions to create an optical circuit. These chips can generate, manipulate, and detect light. Today, PICs are the backbone of high-speed internet as these chips offer high-speed optical connectivity with minimal energy consumption. There has been a growing interest in research and commercial applications for PICs for various markets, including medical technology (MedTech), as they offer compact optical solutions at a low cost when mass-produced. 

Benefits for MedTech

The most significant benefits of PICs for the development and deployment of innovative MedTech systems in healthcare include:

• High Sensitivity and Reliability: PIC-based biosensors exhibit high sensitivity and reliability. These features enable the deployment in areas such as point-of-care diagnostics, where accurate and rapid results are required for effective patient management.

• Compactness and Miniaturization: PICs enable the development of compact and miniaturized devices, which is particularly advantageous for wearable health devices and lab-on-chip applications. This miniaturization results from the integration of complex optical functions into small form factor chips, which is key for the development of advanced diagnostic and monitoring technologies that are more user-friendly and more accessible.

• Cost-Effectiveness: The integration of photonic components onto a single chip and ability to manufacture them on a large scale, significantly reduces the cost of a chip. Thus, use of PICs makes advanced medical technologies more affordable for widespread use.

• Accelerated Performance: PICs offer improved performance characteristics such as low propagation losses, high power handling, and efficient integration of active components. These features are vital for the development, deployment and operation of high-performance imaging and sensing solutions in healthcare. The latter are enabling more precise diagnostics and better patient outcomes.

• Versatility in Applications: PICs are very versatile and can be used in a wide range of MedTech applications, from biosensing and imaging to environmental monitoring in healthcare-related settings. This adaptability makes PICs capable of addressing diverse medical challenges.

Overall, PICs are transforming MedTech based on innovative solutions that enhance the accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility of healthcare technologies. Their ability to integrate multiple functions into single microsystems and devices makes them suitable for a wide range of advanced medical diagnostics and treatment applications.

PIC-Enabled Transformative Applications in MedTech

Some of the most prominent MedTech applications that are enabled by PICs include:

Advanced Diagnostics

PICs are enhancing diagnostic capabilities through technologies like Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), which is a contactless imaging technique that is used for examining living tissue. OCT is a very useful tool for medical diagnostics thanks to its non-invasive imaging capabilities, which enable high-resolution images of biological tissues. PICs can be used to miniaturize OCT systems, making them more accessible and portable for widespread clinical use. For instance, one of the popular applications of OCT is the detection of tumors or eye disorders. Existing OCT equipment is however costly and bulky in size, which prevents the adoption and use of the technology outside hospitals. PICs can alleviate this limitation based on a significant reduction of the size and cost of the devices. Specifically, PICs enable the development of handheld OCT probes, which are based on lasers and detectors that are directly integrated onto the photonic chip. 

Wearable Health Devices

The miniaturization and integration capabilities of PICs make them ideal for the development and integration of wearable health devices. These devices can continuously monitor vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen levels, and glucose levels with high precision. The compact nature of PICs allows for the development of lightweight and comfortable wearables that provide real-time health monitoring. Commercial companies have demonstrated  PIC-enabled systems for spectroscopic breath analysis. It can reveal diseases or metabolic disorders based on the detection of trace gases like methane and nitric oxide. In this direction, laser-based absorption spectroscopy is used to combine high sensitivity and high temporal resolution. The miniaturization and mass production offered by PICs can adopt this spectroscopic technique into handheld devices. In this context, commercial companies are attempting to demonstrate a sensor that can be mounted in a smartwatch to enable the monitoring of a range of different biomarkers. 

Point of Care (PoC) Diagnostics

As already outlined, PIC-enabled biosensors can be very efficient in detecting pathogens based on the measurement of changes in the refractive index of their waveguides. The main advantage of such methods is that the resulting measurements can be very accurate. Moreover, based on such devices it is possible to detect different pathogens using a single chip with only a single sample. As a prominent example, PHIX provides the packaging for a PoC diagnostics biosensing platform, which is enabled by a PIC that comprises Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) and photodiodes. The latter are integrated within a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), along with protective layers. This packaging leads to a cost-effective disposable cartridge that can be integrated within a portable diagnostics device.

As another example, Bialoom integrates PICs in their proprietary silicon plasmo-photonic biosensor technology, which combines silicon photonics and plasmonics. This technology is used to create biochips embedded in disposable cartridges, designed for rapid and sensitive detection of biomarkers from blood samples. The primary application of Biabloom’s biochips is the diagnosis and treatment of severe infections, which provides a point-of-care diagnostic solution that enables quick and evidence-based medical decisions.

Optical Sensors in Minimally Invasive Surgeries 

Minimally invasive surgeries require precision and real-time feedback. PICs enable the development of sophisticated optical sensors that provide surgeons with critical information during procedures. For example, application-specific photonic integrated circuits (ASPICs) can offer haptic feedback to surgeons, which enhances their ability to perform delicate operations with greater accuracy.

The above-listed applications illustrate that the integration of PICs into MedTech goes beyond mere technological improvements. It enables a paradigm shift that is enabled by a combination of hardware, software and process related innovations (e.g., innovations in diagnostic operations). PIC-enabled solutions are more efficient, cost-effective, and scalable, which enables innovative healthcare solution integration. 

Industry Leaders Insights on the Future of PIC-based MedTech 

Recent research initiatives have demonstrated the future of integrating PIC microsystems within MedTech devices and applications. For instance, Maarten Buijs, the CEO of Surfix Diagnostics envisions that future photonic biochips will integrate both light sources and signal detectors to enable the next generation of point of care devices. 

In the near future, PICs could be widely used to provide rapid laboratory testing results from simple samples (e.g., urine), which will boost timely diagnostics and more effective treatments. Likewise, PICs will reduce the cost of complexity of blood tests, which could transfer laboratory-level diagnostics at the point of care. As a prominent example, SiPhox Health has already developed a silicon photonic chip for home-based blood testing, which enables an innovative approach to providing high-quality blood test results quickly and efficiently at home. The company’s solution can measure up to fifty biomarkers from home, which enables patients to gain insights on their heart health, check for inflammation, and access information about the functioning of their thyroid, metabolism, and hormones.

There are also PICs applications in biological research beyond PoC diagnostics. As a prominent example, IMEC highlights the use of silicon nitride-based photonic platforms in medical applications. These platforms could get a boost by the integration of III-V light sources into photonic circuits, which will enable medical tools such as fluorescence microscopy used in DNA sequencing and biological research. Relevant research focuses on the use of photonics on chips to create light interference patterns for very high-resolution fluorescent excitation. 

Overall, recent advances in PICs and their integration in MedTech applications demonstrate the potential of this technology to transform healthcare. Nowadays, almost 27 years after the development of the first SiN PIC-based sensing devices, there is a growing number of PIC applications that are already transforming diagnostic tools, enhancing wearable devices, and improving surgical outcomes. Most importantly, the precision, size, cost-effectiveness and non-invasive operations advantage of the technology make it an enabler for a whole range of novel healthcare applications that are hardly possible nowadays. In the years to come, it is highly likely that PICs enable innovative applications beyond what is available today, which will further revolutionize healthcare delivery.

The Global Photonics Engineering Contest is now live!

The Global Photonics Engineering Contest invites engineers, innovators, and startups to push the boundaries of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) and create applications that address complex engineering challenges and push the boundaries of the industry. Whether you’re in semiconductors, data & telecom, medtech, or agritech, we want to see your breakthrough idea that can harness the power of PICs to change the world.

• Prize: €50,000 worth of services from the PhotonDelta ecosystem to to make your idea market-ready + a chance to receive up to €2 million in pre-seed funding.
• Audience: Open to all engineers, researchers, OEMs, hardware manufacturers, startups/scale-ups, research teams, and students working on innovative PIC applications.
• Early Bird Opportunity: All submissions received by 31st December 2024, will receive personalized feedback from PhotonDelta engineers.
• End date: March 3rd 2025

ENTER THE CHALLENGE NOW