PowerPhotonic’s US manufacturing plan is forging ahead, with its Arizona, production line clean room.

13 January 2023

PowerPhotonic, designer and manufacturer of precision, wafer-scale optics, has announced that the clean room for its manufacturing site in Sahuarita, Southern Arizona is now installed. The clean room will house the entire US production line, which was constructed at the company’s headquarters in Dalgety Bay, Scotland, and delivered in early October.

Mark McElhinney, CEO of PowerPhotonic Inc., said, “A US manufacturing facility is central to PowerPhotonic’s expansion plans. Only US manufacturers can supply critical components to the strategically important US defence market, where our optics have many applications. The completion of the clean room is a significant step forward on our manufacturing plan and means we are on track to begin making optical products in the US for the first time, in 2022.

“The US facility also gives PowerPhotonic a much-needed increase in capacity, helping us to the meet growing demand for our products. What is more, with two, autonomous, production lines, one in the UK and one in the US, there is now essential resilience built into the business, de-risking the supply chain for our customers.”

The clean room reduces contamination of the manufacturing process from air-borne dust and particles and is similar to facilities used for semiconductor wafers production. PowerPhotonic’s clean room is ISO 6, Class 1000, meaning at least 180 complete changes of air in the room every hour, whilst filtering out all but 1000 particles per cubic meter. It is a high specification, but an essential part of maintaining product quality in a nanoscale, manufacturing environment.