Press Release
EU-Funded Project 'Next-2Digits' Boosts Graphene
Expertise and Knowledge Sharing within the EuropeanUnion
In October, a new Horizon Europe funded project
started. With a consortium of 11 partners from 8
different countries, the Next-2Digits project aims todevelop the next generation of sensors and imagers
enabled by 2D materials digital integration.
Coordinated by the National Technical University ofAthens, Next-2Digits benefits from the presence ofwell-reputed academic, research and industrial
teams, whose areas of work span from graphene and2Dmaterials
synthesis,characterization,
manipulation, and integration, as well as in the fieldsof photonics, material science, application-based
integration technologies and validation.
Next-2Digits will run for 3 years and 3 months.

Next-2Digits is also collaborating with the GrapheneEU project “Europe in the Lead Coordination andSupport Action”. Developed under the scope of the Graphene Flagship Initiative, which is the European
Union-funded research and innovation endeavour that aims to bring graphene and related materials fromthe laboratory to the market, this partnership provides a platform for collaboration, coordination andsupport for the Graphene Flagship core projects and associated members.
Along with the GrapheneEU, Next-2Digits will contribute to increase the expertise in the graphene field
and to spread knowledge among various stakeholders.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under
grant agreement No 101120651.

What is Next-2Digits about?
Photodetectors (PDs) and modulators (MDs) are essential components of Photonic Integrated Circuits(PICs) and Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits (OEICs).
The introduction of Graphene and other two-dimensional materials (2DM) in the pallet of thecompatible materials to the PIC and OEIC industry has offered a novel paradigm in integrated PDs andMDs with miniature footprint and ultrawide bandwidth, outperforming the standard materials andarchitectures. The main challenge, when graphene is deposited, is the introduction of the impurities anddefects, especially when polymers and solvents are involved. This degrades the performance of devices,often drastically.
Next-2Digits will tackle these challenges and introduce the direct wafer-scale integration of graphenein PICs using two additive technologies:i.

semi dry transfer of Graphene layers for full wafer scale integration and direct die processing,andii.

Laser Digital Transfer (LDT) of intact 2DM pixels directly on the stack and without the needof any post-processing.

In this way, relevant interfaces will be largely defect-free with high carrier mobilities and large
bandwidths, enabling thus the advent of the next generation of integrated PDs and MDs. In addition,
the proposed technology, being one-step and free of chemical processing, will have significant
advantages in terms of cost, material, and energy saving, and reduced resulting waste.
Next-2Digits envisions to develop the first hybrid Graphene-based PDs and MDs which will be
integrated in three device demonstrators:
1. A miniaturized LiDAR with an integrated graphene photodetector will be validated at TRL5 in
an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to fulfil the requirements of long flight times and minimalenergy consumption in advanced geo-mapping.
2. A PIC greenhouse gas sensor with sensitivity below 50ppm and miniaturized footprint offering
multi-sensing capability. The PIC-based sensor device will be validated at TRL5 in two typesof biogas plants.
3. An on-chip polarization diversity receiver (PDR) offering extended bandwidth and highresolution will be used for biomedical optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in a
cardiovascular application and compared against currently available receivers.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme undergrant agreement No 101120651.

The Consortium:
Partner Name

Short nameCountry

1. National Technical University of Athens

NTUA

Greece2. Graphenea Semiconductor S.L.

GSEMISpain

3. Ommatidia Lidar S.L.

OMMASpain

4. Silex Microsystems AB

SILEX

Sweden5. Senseair AB

SENSE

Sweden

6. YellowScan

YSCAN

France7. Linköping University

LIUSweden

8. Bert energy GMBH

BERTGermany

9. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

VTTFinland

10. AMIRES s.r.o.

AMI

Czech Republic

11. Gooch & Housego (Torquay) Ltd.

G&H

United Kingdom

Contacts:
Website:https://www.next-2digits.eu/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/next-2digits/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Next_2Digits

Prof. Ioanna Zergioti

Marco Messina

Project Coordinator

Project and Dissemination Manager

NTUA

AMIRES s.r.o.

email: zergioti@central.ntua.gr

email: messina@amires.eu

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme undergrant agreement No 101120651.