The Air Force Research Laboratory recently awarded Raytheon, a Virginia-based defense solutions company, a contract to develop a domestic production capability for thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) wafers.
TFLN is a material used in artificial intelligence and computing technologies, data centers, telecommunications, and advanced sensing systems. In defense, it is used in photonics. Currently, the supply is mainly from foreign sources. Raytheon hopes to provide a secure, domestic alternative that will be available to the defense industrial base and commercial industries.
“Global access to TFLN has become increasingly constrained, with supply consolidation leaving U.S. companies vulnerable to international disruptions,” Colin Whelan, Raytheon president of Advanced Technology, said. “Through this effort, Raytheon will stand up an independent U.S. supplier of next‑generation TFLN, building an open, third-party source that can serve a broad range of defense and commercial customers.”
Under the contract, Raytheon’s Advanced Technology team will assist U.S.-based G&H in developing the process for manufacturing high-quality TFLN wafers. Production then transitioned to G&H that will manufacture the TFLN wafers at low-rate initial production.
The companies will collaborate closely to ensure successful technology transfer and production readiness. The Advanced Technology team excels in ion slicing.
Raytheon is a business of Virginia-based RTX.