1. Purpose of the gate
Engineering samples let lead customers start their own design and evaluation work while qualification continues. This gate checks that samples are good enough for that purpose, that customers know their limits, and that they can legally and safely be shipped.
For photonic products, shipping samples raises specific compliance questions: the provisional laser safety class under IEC 60825 and the labels and handling it needs, and the export classification of the samples and evaluation platforms. These must be settled before the first shipment.
What done means at this gate: assembled parts or modules go to lead customers for evaluation, with their known issues documented.
The gate closes the Packaging & Fibre Attach stage, which covers assembling the photonic die with its electronic die, laser and fibres into a package or module: die attach and bonding, fibre array or connector attach with active or passive alignment, adhesives and their cure, optical and thermal design of the package, co-packaging beside a host chip where the application calls for it, and the assembly process capability that volume will depend on.
10 more sections for registered members.