VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is a state owned and controlled non-profit limited liability company established by law and operating under the ownership steering of the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy.
VTT is an RTO whose activities are focused on three areas: Carbon neutral solutions, Sustainable products and materials, and Digital technologies. VTT is impact-driven and takes advantage from its wide multitechnological knowledge base to strengthen Finnish and European industrial competitiveness. VTT can combine different technologies, produce information, upgrade technology knowledge, and create business intelligence and value added for its stakeholders.
VTT has a staff of 2130, net turnover in 2021 was 154 M€ and other operational incomes were 99 M€. Over the years, VTT has gained vast experience from participation and coordination of numerous European projects including R&D Framework Programme projects and other thematic frameworks and programmes. VTT is ranked among the leading European RTOs. In December 2017, VTT has been recognised with the “HR Excellence in Research” award by the European Commission.
Role of institution in the project
In Med-IPUT, VTT exploits its silicon photonics design and fabrication expertise (https://www.vttresearch.com/en/ourservices/silicon-photonics). VTT leads WP3 regarding the development of the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform for design and fabrication of transducer arrays for the medical imaging demonstrator, as well as a PIC read-out unit featuring demultiplexing devices and monolithically integrated Ge photodetectors.
Within WP2, VTT will contribute on the definition of IPUT based transducer array demonstrator requirements and system architecture by providing expertise and design guidelines regarding the SOI platform.
Päivi Heimala
Päivi Heimala is a Senior scientist and project manager at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and leads WP3 regarding the SOI platform development. She holds a Lic. Phil. degree in physics from the University of Helsinki. She has over 30 years of experience in silicon photonics research including silica, silicon nitride, and SOI waveguides. Currently her role at VTT is mainly in project management and she is leading VTT’s R&D activities in several silicon photonics related projects.
Srivathsa Bhat
Srivathsa Bhat received his M.Sc. degree in photonics from Sri Sathya Sai University in 2008, and his M.Tech. degree in solid state technology from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras in 2010. Between 2010-2015, he pursued his doctoral degree in the Photonic Integration group at Eindhoven University of Technology on the topic of hybrid integration of InP membrane lasers on Silicon. Later in 2015, he joined 7 Pennies Consulting where he held the position of a senior business analyst forming clusters and organizing trainings and workshops on photonic integration targeting the North American markets. In 2017, he joined VTT’s Silicon Photonics team as a research scientist. Between 2018-2022, he was the coordinator of VTT MPW runs and his current focus is on the design and fabrication of integrated photonic chips for various applications.
Sami Ylinen
Sami Ylinen has been with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland since 2007, specializing in process integration for silicon photonic devices and microfabrication technologies. His expertise includes silicon etching, hybrid integration, and advanced lithography techniques including UV, e-beam, and nanoimprint, as well as wafer bonding. He holds an M.Sc. in electronics from the University of Jyväskylä and has contributed to over 30 scientific publications.
Mikko Harjanne
Mikko Harjanne is a research scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. He has over twenty years of experience in the design and simulation of photonic integrated circuits and optical components. He specializes in thick-SOI platform and wavelength division multiplexers.