Ahead of his speaking appearance at Microelectronics US, Tuqeer Nasir, of General Graphene Corporation, explains the key facets of his work, what needs to happen next in graphene, from integration to collaboration, and what excites him around the wider photonics sphere.

Hi, Tuqeer. Could you introduce yourself, your career to date and your work at General Graphene Corporation?

I am a business development director at General Graphene Corporation, where I lead the commercialization of CVD graphene films and carbon nanomaterials across applications including electronics, optoelectronics, sensing, and life sciences.

I hold a PhD in Nano Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, have authored over 15 peer-reviewed publications, and hold multiple patents focused on low-dimensional nanomaterials. My work focuses on bridging nanomaterials innovation with scalable manufacturing and real-world deployment.

Can you outline some of the interesting projects you and/or your team is working on right now?

At General Graphene, our work is focused on enabling graphene integration into real device platforms, particularly in photonics, optoelectronics, and sensing. This includes advancing wafer-scale graphene on silicon, improving transfer and process compatibility, and supporting GFET-based biosensing applications.

A key priority is ensuring that graphene can be delivered with the consistency, scalability, and cost structure required for practical adoption.

You recently cited an article in the npj Nanophotonics journal around graphene-advanced functional devices for integrated photonic platforms, noting how graphene is evolving from a 'material of interest into a more structured part of the photonics toolkit'. How far along are we in the journey from graphene physics to a convergence of integration and system design to operationalisation?

Graphene has clearly transitioned from fundamental research into demonstrated device-level functionality across modulators, photodetectors, and nonlinear photonics. However, the gap today lies in scaling these demonstrations into reproducible, manufacturable systems.

The challenge is no longer proving performance, but ensuring graphene can be integrated cleanly and consistently within established photonic platforms and fabrication workflows.

What needs to be done in the meantime to expedite this journey in your opinion and how should the industry go about it?

A key bottleneck is the integration process itself, particularly transfer-related contamination, variability, and compatibility with wafer-scale fabrication. These factors directly impact device performance and reproducibility.

Progress will come from closer collaboration between material suppliers, device engineers, and system designers, with a focus on scalable processes, standardized integration approaches, and cost-effective manufacturing pathways.

What is the most interesting/exciting application for graphene in photonics for you right now and why?

Graphene’s role in high-speed modulators and broadband photodetectors is especially compelling, particularly when integrated with silicon waveguides. These applications leverage its ultrafast carrier dynamics and tunability to enable compact, energy-efficient photonic components.

What makes this exciting is the potential to translate these capabilities into scalable, integrated systems rather than standalone demonstrations.

What is the most interesting/exciting broader research or technology for you right now and why?

Beyond graphene, the broader push toward heterogeneous integration is particularly compelling. Combining different material systems within a single platform is enabling new device architectures and more practical pathways toward deployment.

This system-level approach is where we are likely to see the most meaningful progress in the near term.

You will be speaking at Microelectronics US on the panel 'Scaling and Miniaturizing Photonic Integration.' What is the overarching message you would like attendees to come away with from your session?

The key message is that scaling photonic integration is fundamentally an integration and manufacturing challenge, not just a materials challenge.

For graphene to move beyond promising demonstrations, it needs to be available at scale, at the right cost, and in a form that integrates reliably into existing fabrication ecosystems. We’re particularly interested in working with research teams and industry partners who are actively exploring these integration challenges and looking to translate them into scalable solutions.