Tarranix has commissioned the manufacture of its first mask featuring photonic logic gates

Tarranix has sent its first production mask to the manufacturing stage, which incorporates the designs for the first photonic logic gates developed by the team.

This development represents one of the most significant milestones achieved by the project to date. Following a phase focused on the design, simulation and optimisation of the devices, Tarranix is now embarking on the process that will enable these digital models to be converted into physical chips.

Manufacturing thus marks the transition from a primarily theoretical phase to a new experimental stage, in which the team will be able to test and characterise the actual behaviour of the photonic circuits.

Production mask containing CYRAGATES

The foundations of a future photonic processor

Logic gates are the fundamental components of any computing system. In conventional processors, these operations are carried out using transistors and electrical signals. Tarranix is working to transfer these functions to the field of photonics, using light to carry and process information within a chip.

The first structures sent for fabrication include photonic logic gates designed to perform basic operations. These gates form the starting point for developing progressively more complex circuits, such as adders, arithmetic-logic units and other structures needed to build a complete computational architecture.

Tarranix’s long-term goal is to lay the foundations for the first purely photonic home computer: a system in which the main processing operations are carried out using light rather than relying exclusively on electrical signals.

From digital design to the laboratory

The production mask acts as the blueprint that defines the geometry of the circuits to be fabricated on the chip. It contains the microscopic guides and structures that will direct and combine the light signals to carry out the intended logical operations.

The first chips will measure approximately 5×5 millimetres. Various designs and test devices will be integrated within this small area. Each logic gate occupies approximately 100 micrometres, a scale that allows multiple structures to be incorporated onto a single chip and their performance to be compared.

Tarranix is expected to receive the manufactured chips in September 2026. Upon receipt, the team will begin the experimental characterisation phase in the laboratory.

During this stage, the behaviour of the physical devices will be tested, the results will be compared with the simulations, and potential improvements for future versions of the chip will be identified.

A decisive step for Tarranix

The manufacture of this first mask does not yet signify the creation of a complete photonic processor, but it does represent the realisation of its most fundamental components.

The results obtained will enable the validation of the designs developed to date and allow progress towards the integration of several logic gates within more complex photonic circuits.

With this milestone, Tarranix leaves behind a stage based exclusively on digital models and enters a decisive phase of experimentation, measurement and physical validation.

After months of research, design and simulation, Tarranix’s first photonic logic gates are on the verge of becoming real devices.

Light is getting ever closer to starting to compute.