Digital Optics Corp. (DOC--Charlotte, NC) was awarded a $1.6-million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology`s Advanced Technology Program for a photonics manufacturing project to be completed over the next two years. DOC will develop and demonstrate the processes needed to implement prototype wafer-scale integration of miniaturized optoelectronic systems. The project centers around the concept of an integrated micro-optical system, which is a low-cost, compact module consisting of optics, lasers, detectors, and electronics that are aligned and assembled on a wafer into complex 3-D systems.