Bookham Achieves 200W Output With 10mm Laser Diode Bar
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 27, 2009...Optical component maker, Bookham, of San Jose, California USA, boasts a 200W 10mm laser diode bar. The company believes that 200 watts is the industry's most powerful commercially available continuous wave (cw) single bar diode laser. According to Bookham, the laser offers a 60 percent power increase over its previous laser diode bar with the same footprint. The company says that the new laser diode bar is designed to enable manufacturers of direct diode laser systems to compete with fiber lasers and CO2 lasers in multi-kilowatt material processing applications. It reportedly has a micro-channel single-sided cooling configuration to allow low pitch of the stack. It has a wall plug efficiency of 65 percent. The bar is available in wavelengths from 915nm to 980nm and will be shown at the Bookham booth at Photonics West 2009.
"Bringing to market a diode bar capable of delivering 200W with such a small form factor is a major achievement, and one that sees Bookham continue to innovate and to lead the way in high power components," said Gunnar Stolze, Director High Power Laser Marketing and Sales at Bookham. "CO2 laser systems have dominated the materials processing market in the 5kW to 20kW range for applications such as metal cutting and welding; this high power, high brightness bar - a truly disruptive technology - will open up that significant market to the direct diode manufacturers."
Company News Release TriQuint’s Success in Smartphones Featured on PBS’ ‘NewsHour with Jim Lehrer’
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 27, 2009...TriQuint's success in the Smartphone market has garnered significant media attention. The company was featured on the January 22, 2009 broadcast of PBS' "News Hour with Jim Lehrer." (Online
link to transcript of PBS' NewsHour segment)
The NewsHour chronicled how several high tech companies are responding to the economic downturn.
In December 2008, TriQuint hosted Lee Hochberg, correspondent for the popular PBS show. Analysts deemed TriQuint’s strategy to focus on multiple communications markets to be "sensible" during the economic downturn. The company is reportedly offering products for mobile handsets, network infrastructure, and defense communications. The NewsHour highlighted TriQuint’s success in the smartphone market, through its interview with TriQuint President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ralph Quinsey.
TriQuint News Release
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January 26, 2009...Osram Opto Semiconductors of Germany, has introduced a blue laser diode in a TO38 package. The company contends that the mini laser is the smallest in its class. Osram says that the laser would make an ideal component for a tiny projector integrated into a mobile device. So far, such a device is mostly just theorized. However, Dr. Thomas Höfer, Head of Laser Projection at Osram Opto Semiconductors said, “Our newly developed blue laser is a further step in our quest to enable miniaturized projectors that can be fully integrated in mobile devices.”
Osram points out that lasers are the first choice as light sources for these applications. They convert mobile devices into high-performance multifunctional devices that can not only record images but also present them in razor sharp detail.
The blue laser has a wavelength of 450 nm and an output of 50 mW. The voltage is 5.5 V, and the slope efficiency 0.9 W/A. It combines all the important properties for mini projectors such as small size, high efficiency and good visibility of the blue light, and excellent beam quality. and therefore needs only relatively simple small optics to shape the beam. Integrated laser projectors will allow content such as digital photos and video clips to be viewed in high quality on almost any surface irrespective of the distance over which they are projected.
Osram says it is also working on the other key components of such a projector, red and green lasers.
Company News Release Digi-Key to Offer Cree GaN HEMTs for Microwave Applications
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 27, 2009...Digi-Key Corporation of Thief River Falls, Minnesota USA and Cree, Inc. announced that Digi-Key is now stocking Cree's Gallium Nitride (GaN) HEMT transistors for general purpose microwave applications. Digi-Key's portfolio already includes Cree's SiC power components, SiC MESFETs, and high-brightness and high-power LEDs. The company will now supply Cree's GaN HEMT general-purpose transistors, in power levels ranging from 10W to 90W. They are reportedly ideal for microwave applications that require high efficiency, multi-octave bandwidth performance to 6GHz, high gain, and low parasitic capacitance within small package footprints. Cree says that the design enables smaller, lighter, and more energy efficient systems, often with fewer amplifier components, than required with other microwave transistor technologies.
"We are pleased that Digi-Key is stocking Cree GaN HEMT transistors," said Jim Milligan, Cree's director of RF and microwave products. "Digi-Key has the distribution expertise and industry channels to help accelerate the adoption of our GaN HEMT technology."
Digi-Key News Release Aixtron AG and Ovonyx Partner to Develop Deposition Technology for Advanced Phase-Change MemoryJanuary 21, 2009...Aixtron, an MOCVD equipment maker based in Aachen, Germany, reports signing a cooperative agreement with Ovonyx. The agreement is to qualify atomic vapor deposition (AVD) process technology to further advance and scale phase change memory products. Aixtron points out that manufacturers of Flash and DRAM memory are encountering production capacity challenges as chip geometries shrink.
Aixtron says that phase change memory (PCM) is widely considered a practical alternative for future commercial, high-volume semiconductor memory. Ovonyx and its largest shareholder, Energy Conversion Devices, invented and pioneered the development of phase change memory technology. Aixtron says that PCM provides a high performance, dense, array-addressed semiconductor memory technology that is competitive with Flash and DRAM in terms of price. Aixtron In addition to Flash and DRAM, Ovonyx says that its PCM technology can be used to replace embedded applications such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable MOS logic.
Tyler Lowrey, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ovonyx said, “We look forward to working with Aixtron to develop conformal deposition processes that will further enhance the commercialization of PCM products by worldwide chipmakers.”
Dr. Bernd Schulte, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Aixtron AG. said, “We believe that, working with Ovonyx, we can accelerate commercialization of AVD phase change material deposition into high volume production and offer chip manufacturers higher productivity and low cost of ownership solution.” Aixtron News Release
Vishay Releases TrenchFET(R) Power MOSFET in Micro Foot Package With Backside Insulation
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 21, 2009...Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. today released its TrenchFET power MOSFET in the company's Micro Foot package with backside insulation.
The company says that the Si8422DB is optimized for power amplifier, battery, and load switching in portable devices such as cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras, MP3 players, and smart phones. The 2-mil backside coating of the device reportedly insulates the top of the Micro Foot package to prevent electrical shorts from being created by temporary contact with moving parts in portable devices.
According to Vishay, this insulation allows the device to be used in applications with very thin height requirements in which other items may be directly above it, such as: shielding, buttons, or touch screens. The company contends that it allows traces to be better optimized by not having to be routed to areas on the PCB with less height restrictions.
The 20-V n-channel Si8422DB offers an 1.55-mm by 1.55-mm footprint with a 0.64-mm profile. The device has an on-resistance range from 0.043 ohms at 1.8-V VGS to 0.037 at 4.5-V VGS, with a maximum gate-source voltage of +/18 V.
Samples and production quantities of the new Si8422DB are available now, with lead times of 10 to 12 weeks for larger orders. Company News Release Mitsubishi Electric Develops 110 mW Output 638nm Laser Diode for Projectors
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 21, 2009...Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Tokyo has developed a 638-nanometer wavelength laser diode with output power of 110 milliwatts in single lateral-mode operation. According to the company, the device will be used in palm-size mobile color projectors and other display systems. The company boasts that the laser diode, the ML520G54, also achieves the world’s highest wall plug efficiency of 28 percent. Sample shipment will begin on February 1, 2009.
The company says that the market is seeking to further extend the use of laser diodes to display equipment.
Personal entertainment players, mobile phones and other mobile equipment, are garnering attention as possible laser diode applications. These would require a small, high-output and highly efficient laser diodes as a light source, while employing micro mirror devices to scan the laser beams. While portability has been achieved in the industry, the company says that only its laser diodes have enough output power and brightness to satisfy mobile color projector manufacturers. The company notes that the device’s compact 5.6-millimeter “TO CAN housing” package makes it suitable for integration in mobile color projectors, laser display apparatus, industrial instrumentation, and biomedical fields. Company News Release
Cree Posts Strong Quarter
LIGHTimes StaffJanuary 22, 2009...Overall, Cree had a strong second quarter. Cree reported record revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2009 of $147.6 million and non-GAAP net income of $17.8 million including the licensing fees associated with licensing its bulk GaN technology with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. Excluding the licenses the company had $142.5 million in revenue. This was a 19 percent increase over Q2 of fiscal 2008.
The company notes that its LED sales growth was driven by a double-digit increase in XLamp LED components and LED lighting product sales. However, LED chip and high-bright LED component sales declined single digits due to lower demand in consumer, mobile, and automotive applications.
Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and chief executive officer state, "As we start the third fiscal quarter we are facing reduced visibility from both our customers and distributors. Overall backlog is down from this point last quarter but in line with the seasonal booking pattern we saw in fiscal Q3 of last year. The recession has reduced near-term demand for some of our products in consumer, mobile, and automotive applications, but we continue to forecast growth in commercial LED lighting." Q2 Fiscal 2009 Results Press Release Fraunhofer ISE Achieves 41.1% Efficiency for Multi-junction Solar Cells
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 19, 2009...Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have again achieved a record efficiency. This time the researchers achieved 41.1 percent conversion efficiency for its solar concentrator cells. Its achieved this efficiency when the mult-junction solar concentrator cells received sunlight concentrated 454 times. The 5 mm? cell was made with GaInP/GaInAs/ Ge (gallium indium phosphide, gallium indium arsenide on a germanium substrate).
The researchers use metamorphic growth and a special technique to overcome a lattice mismatch between gallium indium phosphide and gallium arsenide.
The cells are made out of thin Ga0.35In0.65P and Ga0.83In0.17As layers on GaAs or Ge substrates. The researchers point out that unlike conventional solar cells, the semiconductors in these cells do not have the same lattice constant (distance between the atoms in a crystalline structure). The researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have succeeded in overcoming this obstacle. They reportedly managed to localize the defects in a region of the solar cell that is not electrically active. As a result, the active regions of the solar cell remain relatively free of defects. The solar spectrum is divided into three equally large spectral regions on different material layers with each generating the same amount of current.
Fraunhofer ISE is reportedly working together with the company Azur Space in Heilbronn as well as Concentrix Solar GmbH in Freiburg to make this technology competitive as soon as possible.
Fraunhofer ISE News Release SMI Opens Application Lab for ZnO Deposition
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 19, 2009...Structure Materials Industries (SMI) of Piscataway, New Jersey USA, has opened its application lab facility for deposition of Zinc Oxide and its alloys. SMI notes that it has a decades-long history in development of Zinc Oxide and its alloys and has built considerable capabilities in its in-house applications lab, including 4 ZnO deposition tools, thermal and laser annealing stations, and other support services. According to the company, the tools are used predominantly in support of customer development needs and deposition tool purchasers.
SMI contends that that in GaN-based LEDs, especially UV LEDs, only ZnO alloys will effectively allow UV light out while maintaining conductivity. ZnO allows effective engineering of the index of refraction, the bandgap, band alignment, and so on. SMI says that ZnO conductors are applicable to CdTe and CIGS photovoltaics as well as conventional LEDs. Other applications of ZnO are in nanowire structures are have great potential as sensors and possibly even a new type of laser, and thin film transparent, and power transistors at relatively very low cost. In addition the company says that ZnO or its alloys - can be used as a phosphor layer in a device structure, such as a white light LED. SMI News Release Our news features are reported
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