Stacking functional 3D thin films enables modular heterogeneous integration of high-performance photonic microchips
https://phys.org/news/2026-09-photonic-legos-functional-3d-thin.html "silicon and silicon nitride photonics route optical signals effectively, but struggle executing complex tasks on single chip/ lattice-mismatch heteroepitaxial growth defects... overcome growing thin films on parent substrates/ peeling off into freestanding single-crystalline nanomembranes then stacked onto optical chips creating high-performance heterogeneous 3D integrated architectures... scalable manufacturing of multi-functional photonic integrated circuits for computing and optical communications"