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Editorial: Who Are You...? Who Who... Who Who?
... Note in our news this issue, that an Albuquerque, New Mexico USA company named Lumidigm is supplying Unisys with what's called an anti-spoofing biometric sensor. We haven't covered Lumidigm before now, but we've definitely keeping an eye on them and learning what it is they do. What they do...
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Cree Gets More Vertical with Move Into PackagingOctober 28, 2003...During Cree's annual shareholder meeting, held Tuesday morning at the company's
corporate headquarters in Durham, North Carolina USA, Cree President and CEO,
Chuck Swoboda, announced that Cree is indeed moving up the vertical model and
into packaged devices, starting with their power white advanced LED line. To
date, Cree has stuck with supplying only SiC substrates, SiC on SiC wafers,
GaN on SiC wafers, and GaN on SiC individual bare die. While they will continue
to offer bare blue spectrum LED die in many hues and brightness, including white,
the move upward in the supply chain to packaged parts will undoubtedly result
in making Cree more competitive with the current USA leader in blue spectrum
and other advanced LED offerings, namely Lumileds. Lumileds is made up of the
same HP/Agilent development team where Chuck Swoboda began his advanced LED
career prior to taking over the helm at Cree. And as Cree moves into the packaging
of their high power SiC devices, the value added will be significant as that
customer base has strong need for properly packaged devices that compliment
the attributes of SiC and leading edge wide bandgap devices such as those based
on GaN. Cree is clearly a specialist company in wide bandgap electronic device
technology. Expert packaging of those devices makes Cree even more valuable
to the compound semi industry. Calling their packaged blue spectrum LEDs precisely
what they are, "lamps," the first packaged product family expected
to catapult Cree quickly into the high power packaged blue spectrum LED arena
is called XLamp. The new line combines Cree's XBright power chip
with innovative packaging technology, and as Chuck explained to shareholders,
that technology does not include phosphor coatings, a step which Cree will continue
to leave to their customers. The XLamp product will be available in multiple
colors for all applications and pre-production sampling of a 1 Watt surface
mount XLamp device is targeted for early calendar year 2004 with initial
production targeted for mid-year. Commenting in the news release, Chuck Swoboda
said, "The introduction of the XLamp product family is the next step
in our plan to drive the market for LED based lighting. We believe that our
ability to offer a high power packaged LED product in addition to our power
chip will be critical in accelerating the adoption of this important technology
into the lighting market. Cree's will continue to focus on meeting the needs
of our customers' chip requirements and will work aggressively to support applications
utilizing our power chip." Company
news release. Lumileds Moves Warm Whites into Volume Shipping ModeOctober 28, 2003...Lumileds Lighting of San Jose, California USA has pushed their "warm white"
version of Luxeon HB-LEDs from sampling stage (where they indeed received a
warm reception), into volume shipment mode. Stating that their version
of warm white are the first blue spectrum industry's first truly warm whites
to deliver production quantities, Lumileds warms boast a color rendering index
(CRI) of 90, a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 3200K, and an average light
output of 20 lumens that is up to 10 times brighter than standard LEDs, with
an expected retention of 70% of its initial light output through 50,000 hours
of operation under typical conditions. For those unacquainted with CRI's and
CCTs and retention lifetimes, the new product essentially opens the door for
significantly greater use of solid-state illumination in interior and task lighting
applications by overcoming the resistance of lighting designers and consumers
to the cooler blue tones of conventional white LEDs. Luxeon warm white provides
an industry-leading In addition, it is the first solid-state light source to
closely match the black body illuminant spectrum across the visible colored
range. These characteristics, says Lumileds, based on advanced phosphor material
technology developed by Lumileds engineers, make it possible for the first time
to create LED-powered luminaires that achieve lighting effects comparable to
those produced with incandescent and halogen bulbs. Potential applications range
from hospitality lighting, including retail stores, restaurants and hotels,
to luminaires and fixtures for display cases and cabinets, task and accent lighting,
and cove and architectural lighting. Luxeon warm white emitters are immediately
available in both unmounted and mounted form in the batwing radiation pattern. (Hmm... batwing design... just in time for Halloween!).
Testimonials from a variety of early stage customers integrating Lumileds warm
whites into their rather remarkable lighting systems are included in the company
news release. Lumidigm to Develop Anti-Spoofing Biometric Sensor for UnisysOctober 28, 2003...Unisys Corporation has contracted with Lumidigm,
Inc., of Albuquerque, New Mexico USA to help develop an anti-spoofing optical
deep tissue biometric sensor that detects live tissue. The development contract
is in support of a Research and Development Task Order Unisys has with the USA's
DoD for Biometrics R&D Support. Lumidigm will use its core technology, which
is called LumiGuard, to develop an anti-spoofing sensor, which they're
calling LumiSure. The sensor measures liveness and other properties of
live human tissue. The targeted application of the LumiSure technology
will be to integrate the sensor with fingerprint and hand geometry sensors to
reduce or eliminate the potential of fraud using artificial methods. Lumidigm
is scheduled to deliver the first prototype sensor during the first quarter
2004. “Lumidigm is pleased to be partnered with Unisys to create this unique
biometric sensor that will reduce or eliminate the most common ways to spoof
fingerprint and hand geometry systems on the market today,” explained Lumidigm’s
chairman and CEO, Bob Harbour. “As the federal government continues the wide-scale
deployment of biometric solutions for heightened security, participation in
projects like this, with Unisys, will provide us with the opportunity to further
improve our state-of-the-art biometric technology." Lumidigm was established
in July, 2001 as a separate, privately held, spin-off company from InLight Solutions.
It is located in the Science & Technology Park at the University of New Mexico,
in Albuquerque. Company news release FLIR Acquires Indigo Systems for $190 Million and Indigo Moves to Larger QuartersOctober 28, 2003...Indigo Systems of Goleta, California USA, noted for its pioneering work in
advanced IR miniaturization and IR cameras, is merging with FLIR Systems Inc.,
which is based in Portland, Oregon USA. The two have entered into a definitive
agreement whereby FLIR acquires Indigo but it looks as though Indigo will retain
its individual identity for now, and regards this as more of a partnership type
merger. FLIR designs and manufacturer thermal imaging and stabilized camera
systems for thermography and imaging applications. Tim Fitzgibbons, CEO of Indigo
commented that “FLIR is the ideal partner for Indigo. Our strengths marry
perfectly with FLIR’s industry leading sales and marketing and systems integration
capabilities.” Company
news release. Retention of Indigo's individuality appears more likely as
two days after the merger announcement, Indigo announced the expansion of their
headquarters to a larger facility in the same business park complex in Goleta,
noting that this is the second move to larger headquarters in the last 15 months
and marks the fourth major expansion for Indigo Systems in the past six years.
Goleta is the town that surrounds UC Santa Barbara, famed for its compound semi
R&D programs. Indigo's new 86,246 sq. ft. corporate offices' sublease runs
through April 30, 2010 and the proximity to UCSB is an added incentive to not
only keep the 210 Indigo employees secure but promises easy expansion tapping
their geographical base. The new business address is: Indigo Systems 70 Castilian
Drive Goleta, CA 93117-3027 Tel. 805.964.9797 / Fax 805.685.2711. Website is
www.indigosystems.com. Company
news release Compound Semi Pioneers Receive USA's Highest Technology HonorsOctober 23, 2003...Cree co-founder and wide bandgap material science pioneer, Calvin Carter, has been named a National Medal of Technology
Laureate, along with a team of outstanding compound semi pioneering researchers
that includes Nick Holonyak
of the University of Illinois, M. George Craford
of LumiLeds Lighting, and Russ Dupuis,
formerly a professor at the University of Texas who is now at Georgia Institute
of Technology. Viewing the DoC Technology Administration website
where the awards are explained, note
that this is a 2002 award and that is because the nomination and review process takes over a year. For example, nominations for 2004 are now being sought. And also note, that in the past recipients section
that these gentlemen join an impressive group. The compound semi community has
long been aware of Nick Holonyak's contributions with his inventions of thyristors
and LEDs, and of Russ Dupuis' contributions to MOCVD technology, but both George
Craford and Calvin Carter are not as well-known by name, being classic "unsung
heroes," until now, for their work in making their respective companies
the industry leaders they are today. For an indepth look at Calvin Carter's
background and contributions to the industry, we refer you to a special post containing that information. Calvin Carter's Medal of
Technology, an individual award, and the award to the Holonyak/Craford/Dupuis
team will be bestowed on these great compound semi technology pioneers at a
White House ceremony on November 6th. In this initial coverage, we add to Cree's news release announcing
Calvin's honor, and the news release issued by
the USA's Secretary of Commerce announcing the awards, because Calvin Carter,
along with his co-founders John Edmond and John Palmour were recipients of CompoundSemi
Online's first-ever Pioneer Awards at Blue
2003 in Dallas last June (see
awards story and pictures). As noted in our original
publicity of those awards, George Craford was to also be included, along with ONR's Max Yoder (Max was the one who nominated Calvin for the Medal of Technology) but along
with John Palmour and Calvin, George and Max could not appear in person. John Palmour and Calvin
Carter will, however be featured panelists at the upcoming Compound
Semi Outlook conference in Dallas, live and in person... at which
time we will present them both with individual CompoundSemi Pioneer Awards "trophies." (We're still working on the right blue spectrum-related venue to get Max and George their Pioneer Awards.) While it won't quite be the USA White House reception Calvin and his fellow
awardees will receive on November 6th, it gives us tremendous pride and pleasure
that pioneer technologists from our close-knit community continue to be given
the recognition they have long deserved.... from not only their nation, but
also from their international technology community peers. Our heartiest congratulations
to them all, and we look forward to continuing their public and industry recognition
at our December 16th celebration, and invite everyone to join us in Dallas in doing
so. RF Micro's On Top and Just Keeps On GrowingOctober 23, 2003...With sales leaping 24.3% this reported quarter, and their powerful little compound
semi power amps now in 50% of all the handsets currently in use, RF Micro Devices
of Greensboro, North Carolina USA is the ideally typical high performance compound
semi RFIC and wireless sector leader right now. Nokia, Motorola and Samsung
are all +10%ers for RFMD, and their largest customer, Nokia in turn, posted
a 26.5% gain in revenues from a year ago, so it looks like wireless is winning
as the hot area of the industry right now... a topic high on our agenda at the
Compound Semi Outlook for 2004 conference (CS
Outlook) slated for December 15-17, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. Of special note
to our compound semi community is that RFMD is transitioning quickly into 6
inch GaAs, with the 6 inch line now responsible for about 50% of their output,
that RFMD's Polaris radio line is their next hot product, and that they actively
and attentively have GaN electronic devices in the queue behind their GaAs lines.
USA/Euro winter holidays and Chinese New Year in January are big sell times,
so things should continue strong for the strongest in cellphones, which includes
RFMD and their supply chain partners. In their conference call to financial
analysts, RFMD underscored that they had quickly gone from a 4 cent loss to
a 6 cent profit per share for shareholders, stating... " We're working
with every phone customer on the planet." As to "displacing competition,"
they commented "We believe we took share. Smaller competitors being sold
or moved around and that some Asian competitors lost share." RFMD faces
no immediate capacity constraints (likely quite the contrary, since none of
the majors are yet working back to capacity having ramped significantly before
The Bubble burst a couple years ago). When will they see their first commercial
revenues from GaN electronic components? "Not this fiscal year. Next probably,
but with developing a 'new technology' its hard to predict. From a customer
standpoint, the interest is exceptional." RFMD stated their priorities
for GaN rollouts include dealing with Issues of reliability versus capability
and that by 2005 they intend to be producing GaN electronic devices "in
the hundreds of millions." And finally, addressing the fast-changing ODM
landscape, RFMD noted that shake outs continue with "the cream of the crop
taking more market share" which pretty well sums up what's happening all
over the compound semi industry: while shakeouts continue, the cream rises.
Company
news release AXT Concentrates on Its Roots After Sale of Opto to Lumei OptoelectronicsOctober 23, 2003...AXT of Fremont, California USA, with manufacturing in mainland China, is
firmly back to doing what it's always done best, supplying the compound semi
industry with starting substrates, most specifically, GaAs, as well as InP and
Ge substrates. On September 27th AXT quietly completed a sale of substantially
all of the assets of its optoelectronics business to Lumei Optoelectronics,
Corp, a California company we do not yet know much about, but one which is believed
to be associated with a mainland Chinese illumination firm called Dalian Luming
which we introduced
to the compound semi community Aug. 22, after gaining more details of AXT's
decision to sell their opto operations, and hearing from others in the community
that Dalian Luming was a target purchaser. (See AXT
Fights Back editorial and. AXT reported that the pricetag paid by Lumei
Optoelectronics was "the (Chinese) RMB equivalent of $9.6 million."
Set aside in the deal is a building in Monterey Park, California USA that AXT
expects to sell in 2004 for approximately $1 million, thus one million dollars
of the sale proceeds will be held in escrow for a limited period. Immediately
following the sale, the company repaid its outstanding equipment loans and leases.
Another factor attached to the sale for which we have no details, was that AXT
would receive approximately $8.1 million in tax refunds. AXT, now with 886 employees,
117 of which are still in the USA, is rapidly moving their operations to China,
where AXT also has significant ownership in both Ga and Ge raw materials operations.
"Revenue during the third quarter was flat, but we saw improvements in product
quality and acceptance," said Morris Young, President and CEO of AXT. "While
price competition continues, the appreciation of the yen and euro in recent
months makes us more competitive. Furthermore, our substrate business continues
to generate cash from operations. Our decision to discontinue the optoelectronics
business was difficult, but it was the best decision for the company. Now we
can focus all of our efforts on growing and improving the performance of our
core substrate business. With the proceeds of the sale of the optoelectronics
assets and the receipt of approximately $8.1 million in tax refunds, we paid
down our equipment loans and leases and simultaneously improved our cash balances
by $9.6 million compared with the second quarter of 2003. We are committed to
completing the efforts needed to turn the substrate business around including
further improving product quality, regaining market share, and reducing costs
of production," Young said. Company
news release Our news features are reported
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For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
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For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
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The
McDonald Report
Commentary & Perspective...
October 28, 2003...Note in our news this issue, that an Albuquerque, New Mexico USA company named
Lumidigm is supplying Unisys with what's called an anti-spoofing biometric sensor.
We haven't covered Lumidigm before now, but we've definitely keeping an eye
on them and learning what it is they do. What they do is straight out of what
you'd expect to see on the hit TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
The show's theme song is the the old rock hit, "Who Are You" written by... who else
but, "The Who." I personally haven't been this excited about a startup
integrating advanced LEDs into systems since OptoLum.
Whereas OptoLum is focused on a true white LED-based "lightbulb" technology
and the thermal management thereof, Lumidigm is taking a variety of HB-LEDs
and a photodetector, and integrating them into a very small module that an read
an individual "skinprint" and be embedded into just about anything.
Your front door can be opened with your nudge when your hands are full
of groceries. Your office and PC, and cellphone can be entered or used
only by you. Certain security possessions are for your hands only. The
wall, door, PC, gun, etc. knows "who you are" at a touch. Here's what
Lumidigm has to say about themselves and what they do:
"Lumidigm’s tiny security products operate by bouncing harmless
infrared and near infrared light through the product user’s skin during normal
use. These light measurements provide the information necessary to verify that
the person using the product is indeed authorized. Lumidigm products can pass
light through skin on virtually any part of the body, not just the finger or
face, thus providing product makers with incredible design flexibility. Low
cost and low power consumption makes Lumidigm technology ideal for portable
consumer products and industrial applications. Lumidigm envisions a future where
consumer products like cell phones, PDAs, automobiles, and even handguns have
personalized protection and applications from Homeland Security to industrial
safety, Lumidigm offers verification options that are difficult to defeat."
In conversation with Richard McCaskill, VP of Business Development and
Marketing, and other principals of Lumidigm, one thing definitely novel worthy
is that they're working with Smith & Wesson to perfect a 9mm handgun, (popular
weapon carried by police, CIA, FBI, etc.) that can only be used by its owner(s),
and be used with even less chance of misfire than can be touted by current versions.
That's a case where technology can make handguns tremendously safer for law
enforcement and individual, responsible owners. The other thing of note is for
the advanced LED community, which is their search for bare die, versus packaged
die. It turns out Cree and various SouthEast Asian suppliers are about the only
place people like Lumidigm can get bare die. Known good bare die, unpackaged
but properly tested, with good, long lifetimes, is a very sought after commodity.
As Cree pointed out today when announcing they'll be adding packaged products,
buyers of advanced LEDs have to be very cautious who they buy from as IP issues
follow the die up the value added foodchain. Want to get to know Lumidigm?
You can contact Rick McCaskill at +1-505-272-7354 rcmccaskill@lumidigm.com
Alan Thompson Reports on LED 2003October 28, 2003...Our Senior Technology Editor, Dr, Alan Thompson, attended Intertech's LED 2003
meet which was held recently in San Diego, California USA. To follow are highlights
of that meet.
Market survey data that the LED business is healthy and growing was
reinforced by Blue 2003
participants in Dallas this past June. In particular, the high brightness and
white LED segments of the industry were leading the way in growth rates and
new applications captured as device performance improved and costs reduced.
These conclusions were confirmed by attendees at Intertech’s Light Emitting
Diodes conference (LED 2003) held in San Diego. Attendance was up to sharply
over the previous year and most people were bullish on the future for these
devices. Some excellent technical results were reported and new applications
explored.
The conference was organized into three main sections, a market and
industry overview, a technology update, and applications. Dr. Jagdish Rebello
of iSupply led off with his analysis of the backlighting market for LEDs. This
segment had 17% of the total LED market in 2002, and he forecast an 18% CAGR
over the next 5 years to reach $1.1B, mostly going into color cell phone displays.
Dr. Johan van der Linden of the EPO gave a comprehensive overview of the international
patenting process. Dr. Reiner Beccard from Aixtron gave a detailed account of
MOCVD equipment sales, pointing out that in the last couple of years the market
has been mostly in Taiwan and mostly for HB-LED production, bolstering what
was otherwise a very difficult period for tool manufacturers.
The venture capital situation was covered by Dr. Robert Walker (Vincera
Ventures) who explained the basics of VC investing and then raised the point
that there is a lot of capital sitting on the sidelines that has to be invested
in something soon. He asked whether this should follow the model being successfully
used in Taiwan and be applied to US companies addressing the solid state lighting
market, which promises high growth rates and plenty of market opportunities.
The answer is not simple but certainly got the audience talking!
The technology portion was led off by Dr. Klaus Streubel of Osram,
who gave an excellent explanation of why they are using thin film LEDs, particularly
for higher output applications. He reported the outstanding output of 96 l/W
for an amber small die LED, close to the "magic" 100 l/W goal. While this was
at 20mA, it was still above 80 l/W at 70mA, giving 12 l output at that current.
The fact that this technology scales for larger die promises well for newer
applications. Dr. Bernd Keller also gave an exciting talk covering advances
in white LEDs at Cree, reporting 4.7 l at 20mA with an efficiency of 74 l/W.
These results are starting to match the output of fluorescent lamps and show
that the march toward higher efficiencies is progressing well. He explained
that we still need a factor of 10 better l/$, and since the efficiency will
saturate, much of this will have to come from better light extraction and cost
reduction.
Thermal management becomes important as power increases and Dr. Keller
he showed an R&D lamp module giving 1200 lumens at 32 l/W bettering incandescents
by 2X. Presentations by Toyoda-Gosei, Nichia, and GELcore stressed improvements
in color rendition for white, achieving color temperatures in the desirable
3000 to 4000K range and CRI’s in the 90 region by improving phosphors and adding
more to the mix. Dr. Gerd Mueller of Lumileds gave a very comprehensive and
educational talk on white LEDs leading up to the Luxeon warm white lamps which
give 20 l/W typical for production devices, matching good halogens.
Applications were covered by a number of authors and also demonstrated
by several of the exhibitors. A Japanese surgeon gave a well received presentation
on using white LED goggles developed at Kyoto University. Presenters from North
American Lighting, Hella, and the FAA covered the automotive and aviation markets,
while others discussed the problems of packaging for optimum light output or
luminance while taking care of thermal needs and protection from the environment.
The marriage of efficient LEDs and solar power for remote applications such
as bus stops and small airfield runways was nicely shown by Carmanah Technologies.
The often overlooked problems of driving LED devices were covered by P.C. Yong
of Dialight, while Lynk Labs showed a novel one-wire driving scheme for displays
in general. Louis Brill, who is a contributing editor for Signs of the Times
magazine put it into perspective for everyone by showing some very large and
impressive LED signs, especially around Times Square The meeting brought together
those developing and making LEDs and those trying to use them to replace other
lighting technologies or to imagine entirely new ones, and the enthusiasm of
the participants for LEDs and their applications bodes well for the future of
this industry. - Alan Thompson
If you have questions about the
solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or have news
or views to share, I'm Jo Ann McDonald, Editor of LIGHTimes and CompoundSemi News.
Feel free to contact me directly, anytime. 
My direct tel at the ranch is
+1-325-463-5345
From time to time Jo Ann may comment on companies in which she holds a
modest investment - be sure to read
her disclosure at some point in time... |
