Agilent to Compete Against Lumileds Scott McMahan, News EditorAugust 17, 2005...Assuming that the deal with Royal Philips goes through, Agilent Technologies will no longer have a stake in Lumileds. It would therefore be free to
compete with Lumileds in the LED market. Previously according to Agilent, it had
an agreement with Lumileds not to sell white LEDs that were above 1 watt in power.
Now the company says that will no longer the case following the Philips buyout, and that it will be allowed to release high-power,
white LEDs on its own that fill the same market niche as Lumileds’ white
LEDs. In a departure from the company’s previous policy, Agilent has just introduced
high-brightness, surface-mount white LEDs for automobile applications. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... August 17, 2005...The advanced LED market has grown so rapidly that Strategies Unlimited has
divided their invaluable industry resource, the High-Brightness LED Market Review
and Forecast, into two parts. The first part of the 2005 report covers the demand
side, and is now available. The supply side report will be due out in a few
months. According to SU's Bob Steele, who holds a remarkable record over the
years for numbers that are right on target, the HB LED industry continues to
uphold its remarkable history of successful growth. "From 1995 onward,
the market for HB LEDs grew at an average annual rate of 46%, reaching $3.7
billion in 2004. In recent years, much of this growth has been driven by the
increasing use of HB LEDs in mobile appliances (mobile phones, digital cameras,
PDAs, etc.)."
According to Strategies, the mobile appliance segment accounted for 57% of
the HB LED market in 2004. "As the mobile appliance application begins
to saturate, the HB LED market is entering a period of slower growth than it
has experienced historically. For the next five years, growth rates may be expected
to be in the range of 10-15% per year, rather than the 40-50% that the industry
has come to expect," says SU's Bob Steele who adds, "However,
even with these lower growth rates, the HB LED market is still expected to reach
$6.8 billion in 2009, nearly twice the level of 2004. Growth will be driven
by emerging applications such as illumination, automotive headlamps, and backlights
for LCD monitors and TV screens." This is the 6th such report from
Strategies and analyzes the entire HB LED market in depth, including supplier market shares. As usual, detailed quantitative market analysis is provided, including breakouts by application and product type, in terms of units, ASPs and revenue. Five-year market forecasts are provided for each application and HB LED product type and is basically a "must have" for anyone in the business.
The new Strategies Unlimited report is the sixth from the company on LED applications
and markets. It analyzes the HB LED market in depth, from both the demand side
and the supply side, including supplier market shares. Detailed quantitative
market analysis is provided, including breakouts by application and product
type, in terms of units, ASPs and revenue. Five-year market forecasts are provided
for each application and HB LED product type. High-Brightness LED Market
Review and Forecast -- 2005 is available for immediate delivery from Strategies
Unlimited for $4,950. More information on the report is available by contacting
Tim Carli, Sales Manager, at +1 650 941-3438 ext. 23, or by email at tcarli@strategies-u.com.
Company
news release
|
|
The
LED Supply
Chain Conference
Materials,
Epi, Chips and Devices...
June 8-9 Hsinchu, Taiwan
|
|
When
markets are uncertain, winning companies in growth markets push
forward while the incumbent technologies pull back. Now is the
time to press the advantage, and knowledge and updated connections
are what you need to do it. To help you use your time most efficiently,
this 7th Annual international event has been moved to early June
as a lead-in for the 2009 Taiwan Photonics Festival later that same
week. Senior executives from the key industry players will gather
as we examine the complete vertical market, from leading manufacturers
and developers of advanced materials and processes, to packaging
and packaged devices. Before you meet the
crowds, get focused on the key market and technical developments
you need to know. Visit www.BlueTaiwan.com
for all the details.
|
|
TDI Releases Novel 3-inch Semi-Insulating Substrates
August 17, 2005...Technology Devices International, Inc. (TDI) of Silver Springs, Maryland USA,
will now make new 3-inch semi-insulating substrate materials available for nitride-based
semiconductor devices. The company's new product consists of 10 - 18 micron thick
single crystal AlN film deposited on a conductive silicon carbide (SiC) substrate.
The company says the product is targeted for use in substrate applications for
ultra high power AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). Other
possible applications include: ihigh power blue and ultra violet (UV) light
emitters, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs).
The low defect AlN/SiC substrates reportedly have both the thermal conductivity
of SiC and the high intrinsic electrical resistivity of AlN. In addition TDI
says they have a good lattice and thermal match to GaN-based devices. Also according
to TDI, the product provides reliable insulation and low current leakage for
HEMT devices at a fraction of the price of semi insulating SiC
"Substrate related issues in nitride electronics are well known. Due to
lack of native AlN and GaN substrates, nitride devices are fabricated on foreign
substrates, which are not lattice and thermally matched to the device structures,
limiting their performance, reliability, and causing device degradation. Proprietary
stress-control technology developed at TDI allows us to put in production these
new substrate materials, which will allow the nitride community to speed up
development and commercialization of advanced nitride semiconductor devices,"
stated Vladimir Dmitriev, President and CEO of TDI. Company
News Release Agilent to Sell Semiconductor Business and Its Stake in Lumileds CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 15, 2005...Agilent Technologies of Palo Alto, California USA, announced it will sell its semiconductor business to Kohlberg Kravis
Roberts & Co and Silver Lake Partners for $2.66 billion. Company president
and CEO, William Sullivan said that the semiconductor business unit of agilent was half as profitable
as it should have been this year. The chip testing business posted a loss for
the quarter. The company will cut 1,300 of its 28,000 workers in the divested
units. The moves are expect to cost $200 million. Agilent will close 11 locations,
Chief Financial Officer Adrian Dillon said at a meeting with analysts in New
York. According to the company, the sale will close by Oct. 31, and Agilent
expects the divestiture will be largely completed by the middle of FY2006.In addition to the sale of its semiconductor business, Agilent has agreed to sell
its 47% stake in Lumileds Lighting Inc., a maker of advanced LEDs of all colors (and a leading manufacturer of white LEDs) to its JV partner in Lumileds, Royal Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands for approximately $950 million and $50 million in debt payoff. (Lumileds'
company news release) Lumileds was originally set up as a 50-50 partnership between Agilent and Lumileds. Lumileds employees hold approximately 3.5% of the original Agilent shares.
Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Epistar and United Epitaxy of Taiwan to Merge LIGHTimes StaffAugust 15, 2005...According to filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) and Epistar, LED chipmaker,
Epistar of Hsinchu, Taiwan and LED maker United Epitaxy Company (UEC) will merge
under the name Epistar. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... GigaBeam to Use Vitesse InP TechnologyAugust 15, 2005...GigaBeam Corp. of Herdon, Virginia USA, has entered into an exclusive agreement
with Vitesse Semiconduct to use Vitesse’s proprietary indium phosphide (InP)
semiconductor technology. GigaBeam says it will use the technology in its proprietary
RF modules. "We are excited to have exclusive access to certain of Vitesse's
technology and know how. As a company, GigaBeam is committed to incorporating
into its products proprietary technologies which we believe will continue to provide
us with sustainable competitive advantages, " said Lou Slaughter, GigaBeam's
Chairman and CEO.
GigaBeam's WiFiber G Series was introduced at Supercomm in June 2005. The company
says it is currently developing its next generation WiFiber, which will include
the their 10 Gigabits-per-second products operating at 10Gig E and OC192 protocols.
Mr. Slaughter added, "The Vitesse technology and know-how being obtained
under this new agreement will be incorporated into our next generation 10 Gigabits-per-second
products. Our strategy is to continue to develop and commercialize products
designed to lead the market in overall performance and cost for last mile communications."
The FCC has assigned WiFiber the 71-76GHz and 81-86GHz part of the spectrum.
GigaBeam says that the current speed achieved by GigaBeam's WiFiber 2 and anticipated
WiFiber G Series product lines is one Gigabit-per-second. The company claims
this is equivalent to 647 T1 lines or 1,000 DSL connections. GigaBeam also plans
deployment of future products capable of 10 Gigabits-per-second which is the
10 Gigabit Ethernet protocol standard. Company
News Release Cree Awarded Airforce Contract for SiC MMIC Development CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 11, 2005...Cree Inc., of Durham, North Carolina USA, was awarded a $19.7 million cost share contract to develop and manufacture silicon carbide monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) devices for next generation military radar systems, according to the Department of Defense. The DoD reported that $4.1 million of the funds have been obligated thus far. The work is scheduled to be completed in March 2010. Solicitation began March 2005 and negotiations were completed July 2005. In early July of this year, Raytheon was awarded a $580 million contract through Boeing to provide 190 GaAs-MMIC-based radar systems for the Super Hornet fighter aircraft used by the U.S. navy.
Chemical Warfare Agent Detection Systems Development Update CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 11, 2005...Northwestern University researchers (Illinois, USA) have created a quantum cascade laser that may one day be a part of a man portable (or perhaps even handheld) system to detect chemical warfare agents (CWA’s). Portable compound semi-based CWA detectors is a field in which Ahura Corporation of Wilmington, Massachusetts USA already has a established a foothold with their Ramen laser-based handheld devices. Northwestern's development effort is part of a three-year program called Laser Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (LPAS), funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create a system that can warn against a wide variety of potential threats.
The researchers at Northwestern University have created the quantum cascade laser (QCL) that can operate continuously at high power and at room temperature with an emission wavelength of 9.5 microns and light output greater than 100 milliwatts, according to a PhysOrg.com article. The researchers contend that existing standard diode lasers such as those that read CD’s or scan barcodes do not operate at the wavelengths required to detect chemical warfare agents (CWA’s). While every chemical has a unique 'fingerprint’ because it absorbs light at a particular frequency, most CWA’s absorb light in the 8 to 12 micron range.
Over the next two years, the Center for Quantum Devices director, Manijeh Razeghi and her team at Northwestern will work to put together a detection system based on the center's far-infrared laser. The system will then be evaluated by DARPA for use by the military.
The Center for Quantum Devices at Northwestern, a leader in high-power QCL research. was reportedly the first university research lab in the world to successfully grow, fabricate, and test quantum cascade lasers in 1997. After the initial demonstration of room-temperature pulsed lasers in 1997, the primary efforts of Razeghi and her colleagues over the past several years have been to increase the laser's operating temperature, power output, and efficiency for the continuous operation necessary for sensitive chemical analysis.
The Ahura Corporation's approach focuses on a device with a similar function of detecting chemical warfare agents and other potential threats. Unlike the device the Northwestern University researchers are attempting to design, the handheld Ahura system uses a Ramen-laser for spectroscopy. The results are interpreted by a sophisticated algorithm and compared with signatures of known chemical agents including industrial chemicals, explosives, narcotics, and chemical warfare agents. The system, called the First Defender, can be used through glass or plastic. Details on First Defender can be found on the company's website, www.ahuracorp.com. Ahura recently received the Product Innovation Award for Homeland Security Devices for their First Defender product from Frost and Sullivan. Applied Materials Enters MOCVD Equipment Market CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 10, 2005...Applied Materials Inc. of Santa Clara, California USA, plans to make and sell
metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment to produce high-k dielectrics
for advanced gate-stack applications, according to a recent EE Times
article. The company, which already produces CVD and atomic layer disposition machines,
is also expected to enter the ALD tool market for gate-stack applications.
In the article, Pravin Narwankar, high-k engineering manager for the Front
End Products Division at Applied Materials said that MOCVD technology is expected
to give chip makers the ability to produce high-k gate-stack films with lower
costs than ALD-based tools on the market. The article points out that device manufacturers are struggling to reduce current
leakage in their cutting edge devices while increasing performance. Narwankar
said, “The 45-nm transistor is at the cross roads,” He
added,. “Silicon dioxide has hit the wall at 65-nm. Silicon dioxide
has also hit the wall for low-power applications.”
According to the article,
companies are evaluating the use of ALD, plasma enhanced ALD, MOCVD, and related
technologies for the production of high-k for gate stacks to overcome such hurdles. Applied Materials has also gained a new ALD product, based on a mini-batch technology
through its acquisition of Torrex. The company showcased its technology at the
AVS 5th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition 2005 in San Jose
on Monday. Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - compoundsemi.com
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info7 -at - compoundsemi.com
or call +1 (512) 257-9888
|