JDS Uniphase Consolidates in San Jose and Shifts Senior ManagementAugust 22, 2003...JDS Uniphase of Ottawa, Canada and San Jose, California USA has announced that
its founder, Jozef Straus (CEO and Co-Chairman) and Syrus Mandavi, President/COO,
are stepping down from their offices and that it will close the Ottowa operation
and consolidate in San Jose. The new CEO will be Kevin Kennedy. The consolidation to San Jose, which
is a noted compound semi MOCVD-based semiconductor laser facility, bodes well
for the reinstatement of compound semi-based systems as JDSU gets back on track.
Details of the senior management changes are included in the company
news release with the current spin available on Reuters,
but what matters most to our readership are those assuming the new leadership
slots. Kevin Kennedy, age 46, has been a director at JDS Uniphase Corporation
since November, 2001 and hails from San Jose. Since August 2001, he has served
as COO of Openwave Systems, prior to which he spent 7 years with Cisco, last as Senior Vice President of the Service Provider Line of Business and Software Technologies Division, and previously spent 17 years at Bell Laboratories. Dr. Kennedy is also a Director of Openwave Systems, Quantum Corporation and Rambus.
Vitesse Completes Acquisition of Multilink and Avanex Acquires Vitesse Transponder
BizAugust 22, 2003...Keeping up with compound semi foundry pioneers at Vitesse Semiconductor of
Camarillo, California USA has never been easy, as a sort of whether they're
in or out of the compounds appears to be an ever-evolving process. News over
the past few days relating to Vitesse is that Vitesse has officially completed
their acquisition of Multilink Technology Corporation of Somerset, New Jersey.
The stock transaction of approximately 4.2 million shares of Vitesse stock going
to Multilink can be estimated at about $29.4 million given Vitesse's closing
stock price on August 21 at around $7/share. Company
news release. More details can be found on Multilink's company
news release. And on August 22, Avanex of Fremont, California USA, announced
that it has signed an agreement with Vitesse to acquire the assets of Vitesse's
optical systems division which will result in expanding Avanex' portfolio of
transponders. Vitesse's Optical Systems Division is located in San Jose, California.
Under the terms of the agreement, Avanex will acquire "substantially all
of the assets" of Vitesse's Optical Systems Division in exchange for approximately
1.2 million shares of Avanex common stock. Based on the closing price of Avanex's
stock on August 19, 2003, the transaction has a value of approximately $6 million.
Under the terms of the agreement, Avanex will also buy up to $2 million in products
from Vitesse over the next three years. Walter Alessandrini, Chairman, President
and Chief Executive Officer of Avanex, noted, "The acquisition of this business
will enhance our already strong presence in transponders and expand our customer
traction in subsystem products. Avanex will have a competitive cost structure
by leveraging the world-class component capabilities we acquired this year from
Alcatel and Corning. In addition, through our future relationship with Vitesse,
a leader in high speed communication integrated circuits, we believe that Avanex
will have a significant advantage in developing intelligent solutions that integrate
optics, electronics, firmware and software." Avanex provides what they call
"Intelligent Photonic Solutions" targeted to meet the needs of fiberoptic
communications networks moving to greater capacity, longer distance transmissions,
improved connectivity, higher speeds and lower costs. Avanex was incorporated
in 1997 and is headquartered in Fremont, Calif. Avanex also maintains facilities
in Erwin Park, NY; Livingston, UK; Nozay, France; and San Donato, Italy. Company
news release.
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Kopin Leverages the Fan Chair at NCSU by Licensing Oxide PatentsAugust 22, 2003...Kopin Corporation of Taunton, Massachusetts USA has announced that it has licensed
Oxide-based intellectual property belonging to North Carolina State University
(NCSU) that Kopin says will provide the company with its next generation of
CyberLite LEDs. The NCSU incubator has, in the past, spun out compound
semi companies Cree Inc. and Nitronex. The patents that Kopin have licensed,
exclusively, are being generically called "Domain Epitaxy" and include
two patents on cubic Zinc-Magnesium-Oxide (ZnMgO) and Zinc-Cadmium-Oxide (ZnCdO).
The oxide-related patents could conceivably compete with GaN-based HB-LED devices. Also of note is that Kopin uses Aixtron MOCVD tools, and Aixtron is one of the few tool makers addressing the oxide market. According to Kopin, these patents are important because they can be used to
produce LEDs and lasers of any color across the visible spectrum, including
the three primary colors needed for white LEDs. All three patents were invented
by Professor Jagdish Narayan and his team at NCSU. Professor Narayan was named
as the John C. C. Fan Family Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and
Engineering in May 2003. The endowed chair is named after Dr. John C. C. Fan,
founder and CEO of Kopin Corporation. Leveraging these academic "chairs"
are becoming a common practice between companies and universities. The "Cree
chair" at UCSB, for example, which included a $1 million grant, went to
blue spectrum pioneer Shuji Nakamura. For those residing in countries where
the custom of "university chairs" is unfamiliar, these aren't actual
chairs to sit on, they are actually specific and very targeted financial grants
which often include "in kind" privileges between companies and universities.
Whereas Cree founders hailed from NCSU themselves, John Fan received his PhD
from MIT and upon the founding of Kopin, was closely aligned to MIT during Kopin's
startup years. Company
news release. SET Scores AlGaN/GaN "MOSHFET" Oxide Heterointerface PatentAugust 22, 2003...Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. (SET) of Columbia, South Carolina USA has
been issued what could be a very pivotal GaN electronic USA patent. Title of
the patent is "Metal Oxide Semiconductor Heterostructure Field Effect Transistor"
(MOSHFET) which is an AlGaN/GaN device, designed by SET principals and GaN experts
(and RPI professors) Dr. Remis Gaska and Dr. Michael Shur. The patent could
well become the first commercially viable compound semiconductor MOS transistor.
According to the inventors, the device has demonstrated superior performance
compared to conventional GaN-based and GaAs and InP based transistors. We'll
be covering this patent in more detail when we get the exact number and facts,
but suffice to note that the main reason why MOS approach is working for AlGaN/GaN-based
transistors is a very high electron sheet density in the device channel (more
than 10-15 times higher that in comparable AlGaAs/GaAs based HEMTs), which evidently
suppresses parasitic effects related to the charge trapped at Oxide/AlGaN heterointerface.
According to the inventors, who are also authors of with Arturas Zukauskas of
the new textbook, Introduction to Solid State Lighting, these ultra-high
power MOSHFET transistors are expected to be the key building blocks for microwave
power amplifiers (MPAs) that amplify radio-frequency signals and are central
pieces in transmit/receive modules of both military and commercial radars and
communications systems, including networks of base stations for wireless communications.
SET is heavily supported by the USA's prestigious DARPA and Missile Defense
(MDA) agencies in the DoD. Michael Shur was recently honored by CompoundSemi
Online for his outstanding pioneering work in GaN at the Blue
2003 event in Dallas this June and has been an instructor of CS Online's
notable 101 workshops
at CS Outlook conferences.
Company news release. Veeco to Webcast Silicon/Compound Semi "Convergence" Seminar Sept. 9August 22, 2003...The St. Paul, Minnesota USA arm of Veeco Instruments Inc. noted for its leading
edge contributions to MBE epitaxy technology (formerly known as "EPI-MBE"
and "Applied Epi") is hosting a unique seminar on what Veeco feels
is a recognizable trend towards the convergence of the silicon and compound
semi industries. The seminar, titled just that, is being held at the St. Paul
Veeco facility on September 9 in conjunction with the official opening of the
company's new Process Integration Center (PIC) in St. Paul. To broadcast the
news to as wide an interested audience as possible, the seminar is being made
available to the general public via webcast. Why the emphasis on convergence
of these two normally distant semiconductor industries? "The need to produce
ever-thinner and higher purity films is fueling the convergence of the silicon
and compound semiconductor industries," said Marlin Braun, Vice President
and General Manager, Veeco MBE Operations. "This seminar will present the
market dynamics, material sets, and advanced devices pulling compound semiconductors
into production applications for the semiconductor, data storage and lighting
industries." Attendees at and listeners of the seminar will also learn how
Veeco's new epitaxial PIC has been established to is enable this industry convergence.
"The silicon and compound markets need to integrate tools and processes,"
said Dr. Hwa Cheng, Director, Veeco PIC. "Our PIC and its MBE production
tools, both modeled after those in the silicon industry, can provide these integrated
solutions." We look forward to listening in and reporting on the seminar.
Details and the impressive lineup of seminar speakers are available over the
company website at www.veeco.com.
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