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Editorial: Come Play Poker Thursday Evening at CS Vision in Vancouver (after Mantech)
... Early this year, we decided to remake the approach we had applied in our years organizing the programs for the CS Outlook meets to create a high-energy gathering of compound semi (CS) and solid state lighting (SSL) industry executives and marketeers in a half-day affair (Thursday pm, April 27th...
Jump down to the full story
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Features:
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Fujitsu and Mitsui Launch QD Laser Inc.April 21, 2006...Fujitsu Limited and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. have established a new optical device
venture, QD Laser, according to Japan’s Corporate News Network. The venture,
which will utilize Fujitsu’s quantum dot laser technology, will reportedly
leverage venture capital funding from both companies. Quantom dot-based lasers
reportedly offer temperature-independent operation, low power consumption, long-distance
transmission, and high speed. Fujitsu indicated the new venture will utilize
quantum dot semiconductor crystallization leading-edge technology developed
thus far by Fujitsu. In addition QD Laser will offer laser design and process
technologies. The venture’s main markets will be in optical telecommunication
and lighting. Fujitsu
News Release. Mitsui & Co. is a trader of industrial materials such
as steel, non-ferrous metals and chemicals as well as in machinery, electronic
and industrial products and lifestyle-related products, including foodstuffs,
textiles and general merchandise.
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April 21, 2006...Cree Inc. president/CEO Chuck Swoboda said in his recent report to financial analysts that Cree’s earnings for the quarter were in line with
the target range. Swoboda said that Cree’s XLamp production capacity limits
in the third quarter dampened revenues and gross margins. He also said the company
hopes to grow XLamp sales to 10% of the company’s overall LED revenues,
and the company remains on track to have a TV or monitor to be released that
will use Colorwave Backlighting technology by the end of the year. The company
further indicated in their earnings release that it is moving its advanced device
wafer fab from its Durham, North Carolina USA headquarters campus to its Research Triangle Park (RTP) campus. Swoboda said that this will
in the short term increase expenses. Overall, the XLamp product revenue grew,
while silicon carbide chip sales were down for the quarter.
Swoboda sited lower than expected pachinko demand, slower progress in winning
new white LED designs, and the impact of the lower dollar against the yen for
the slow growth. He predicted that Q4 would would allow only marginal revenue
improvements as the capacity for XLamp production is increased and the fabrication
facility is moved. "The fourth quarter will be a transition quarter for
Cree as we start production of our high power products in our new Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina fab, which will add some additional operational expenses
as well as one-time costs associated with the move. The combination of these
investments and those we are making in R&D should put Cree in a strong position
to grow our new products businesses." Company
Earnings Release Panasonic to Release Blu-ray Drive for PCsApril 21, 2006...The race is on to get those next generation DVD products out there. Panasonic
has chosen June 10 as the projected release date for its Blu-ray DVD drive for PCs. The
company says the new disk drive for PCs can both store and playback data. According to Macworld,
“Playback of movies stored on BD-ROM (Blu-Ray Disc read-only memory) discs
is much more taxing on the hardware, and will have to wait in any case until
suitable playback software is available.” In the article one expert said that movie playback would require a
high-end PC of 3 GHz or more. However, as a storage device, the Blu-ray
drive is apparently well within the range of current average computer performance.
sp3 Introduces Fourth Generation Diamond Deposition SystemApril 18, 2006...sp3 Diamond Technologies of Santa Clara, California USA (Not to be confused
with another diamond technology company, Group4 Labs, which sells diamond substrates),
a supplier of diamond film products, equipment, and services has introduced
a new CVD diamond deposition reactor. The company claims that the Model 650
hot filament CVD diamond deposition reactor is the most economical system available
for high quality production of diamond products. According to the company, the
deposition reactor can be configured to produce ultra-smooth nano-crystalline
or rougher micro-crystalline structrures from submicron to 50-micron plus thickness
on wafers up to 300mm in size. Company
News Release Dow Corning Awarded Japanese Patent for Silicon Carbide Barrier Layer
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 19, 2006...Dow Corning reported receiving a Japanese patent, JP 3,731,932 B, for the
use of silicon carbide as a barrier layer to prevent the diffusion of metal
atoms between adjacent conductors separated by a dielectric material. According
the corresponding US patent no. 5,818,071,
the advancement “allows for the use of low resistivity metals and low
dielectric and constant dielectric layers in integrated circuits and wiring boards.”
The company said that the silicon carbide barrier layer prevents copper metallic
species from diffusing into and contaminating neighboring dielectric film layers
in the chip interconnect structure. As a result, chip manufacturers can continue
building devices that are smaller and faster than preceding generations. Company
News Release Strategies Unlimited Predicts Explosive Growth in Fiber Laser Market
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 17, 2006...Technology market analyst company, Strategies Unlimited, says that fiber lasers
will capture a large share of industrial laser market by 2010. A fiber laser
gets its name from the optical fiber which is used as the resonating cavity
where the laser action takes place. Fiber lasers allow significant miniaturization
of high powered lasers over models that use gas containers as the resonating
cavity. According to the a report from Strategies Unlimited (SU), the fiber
laser is likely to gain a large share of the $2 billion industrial laser market
by 2010. SU says that fiber laser sales will have a compound annual growth rate
of 35% through 2010. In comparison, SU says it expects the industrial laser
market to grow have a compound annual growth rate of only 9% per year. So over
the next 4 years SU expects the revenues generated from fiber lasers to be over
3.3 times (1.35 ^ 4) its current level. Company
News Release Startup, epiTactix Focuses on RF PAs
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 17, 2006...An Australian startup company, epiTactix Semiconductor
Innovation, has come onto our radar in the compound semiconductor world. epiTactix
is a spinout from the large government-based research and development organization, CSIRO which has
6,500 employees. epiTactix touts its proprietary technology for GaAs on metal
wafers utilized in advanced RF devices. According to the company, it specializes
in developing novel compound semiconductor devices, low cost wafer fabrication
processes, and custom integrated circuits for advanced radio systems. The company
said their current development program is focused on RF power amplifiers in
the 0.5 to 5 GHz band, with particular emphasis on 3G/4G cellular standards
and WiMAX. epiTactix has begun Series B funding discussions in which the company
says it has the potential to receive matched Australian Government funds. epiTactix
will be attending CS Mantech in Vancouver, April 24-27. Company
Intro Presentation IXYS Listed in Silicon Valley 150
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 17, 2006...Power conversion technology company, IXYS of San Jose, California USA reported
that the company was again listed in the San Jose Mercury News “SV150,”
the 150 largest revenue generating companies with headquarters in San Jose.
According to the San
Jose Mercury News, even the 150th largest revenue earner made 111 million
in revenues for 2005. In the compound semiconductor sector, Aviza Technologies,
and Bookham were new to the list published April 10, 2006. IXYS says that it
has climbed the list for the last four years, this year reaching number 97 on
the list. Company
News Release 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
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Commentary & Perspective...
Come Play Poker Thursday Evening at CS Vision in Vancouver (after Mantech)
April 18, 2006...Early this year, we decided to remake the approach we had applied in our years organizing the programs for the CS Outlook meets to create a high-energy gathering of compound semi (CS) and solid state lighting (SSL) industry executives
and marketeers in a half-day affair (Thursday pm, April 27th in Vancouver)
that picks up as CS Mantech wraps up. As you've seen mentioned in this column (and in those only mildy annoying logo banners scattered about the site), it's called, "CompoundSemi
Vision 2006" (CS Vision, for short). Tagged onto Mantech, those attending and exhibiting at that premier event can simply make use of their "after-time" that afternoon and evening to kick back and spend some quality
minutes with one another in a relaxed "tell me something new - let's make
a deal" type atmosphere that executives and marketers long for following
any large industry gathering. That's when the real deals go down. Many
a company has been bought and sold at a CS Outlook. We intend to carry on that
fine tradition at our CS Vision events.
Plus, the Vancouver airline scene is such that, if you attend all of Mantech
through Thursday noon, most attendees can't fly away until Friday morning anyway.
The way most are plotting their Vancouver stay, they'll either man or visit
the Mantech exhibits on Tuesday, do business or attend Mantech talks on Wednesday
and Thursday morning, and attend CS Vision Thursday afternoon and evening before
heading out Friday. We're also holding it at the same hotel as Mantech, the
Vancouver
Fairmont, and we've priced it like a workshop (only $395) to make it a "no-brainer" type of decision.
We also thought it would be fun to do something different for a change and
came up with a "poker game"
party theme for that Thursday evening following the talks. The Fairmont said
we can't use real money, but hey, piles of traditional chips make it feel like
the real thing. And maybe there will even be visors and cigars to make it even
more fun. You may not be able to light up the cigars either, but I bet you can
chew on them as you size up your opponents and "chew the fat" (i.e.
trade gossip, tell tall stories) over a few hands of poker with your pals, customers...
and competitors. Signups are starting to stream in and we expect a goodly number
of walk-ins, especially from those natural gamblers. So I guess you could call
CS Vision, The Real Deal. I figure the marketers and business strategy
guys, especially, are going to like the poker game theme. It's not only fun,
it falls into their job description.
Take a look at the refreshed lineup of VIPs steering CS Vision. We've posted
the pictures of our two co-chairs on the event
home page. Chairing the get-together this year are Bruce Fornier, VP of
Business Development at TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. and Bill Quinn, CTO of
Veeco Instruments TurboDisc Division. TriQuint and Veeco's TurboDisc
Division (formerly the core of Emcore) have long supported our CS Outlook events,
which we used to hold in conjunction with Gorham. The CS Vision events are totally
under our charge here at CS Online Inc. now, and following CS Vision 2006 in
Vancouver, CS Vision will again be co-located with CS Mantech in 2007, which
is slated for next spring in Austin, Texas... which, coincidentally, is where
CS Online Inc. is headquartered. So, by attending the CS Vision in Vancouver,
you'll be in on the ground floor of something new, based on the reputations
of two long-standing industry events. I see this "overlap" and "co-locating"
trend to be a healthy sign for the CS and SSL industries we serve as budgets
continue to stay tight and a way to maximize time "out on the road."
Take a close look at the intensified
agenda and see why this is a must-attend for Mantech marketers, especially.
Bruce and Bill will kick things off at 1p followed immediately by a 2006 industry
supply and demanded market update by Strategy Analytics's longtime guru, Asif
Anwar, director of SA's GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service.
Those who've attended our CS Outlook programs in the past know that Asif is
very good at being "right on the money" with his market projections.
Then we move over to the SSL side of the CS business with an analysis of the
LED industry's impact on the compounds from Robert Walker, president & CEO
of BridgeLux (formerly eLite Opto). Bob Walker is also co-chair again for our
big Solid State Lighting Suppliers Forum (SSLS
2006) event May 9-11 in Taiwan. It might not hurt to play a few hands of
poker with Bob at CS Vision to get an even better handle on the scene in Asia,
and especially China. Bob's clearly a pioneer in advocating the 'bridging' of
US and Asian talents to speed up the industry" (hence the BridgeLux name).
I enjoyed seeing that eLite Opto had changed its name to BridgeLux. Check out
their new website, www.bridgelux.com,
for more background on what they're doing these days, under this rather well-chosen
new name. The site is illuminating to say the least (pun intended), showing
that the fabless model is definitely working for the production of affordable
LEDs. One of the things posted on the BridgeLux site that caught my eye was
a Forbes Asia article
by my press colleague (and author), Bob Johnstone. It's titled "Lighten
Up" and covers Bob Walker's view (as of last October) of the China
R&D, manufacturing and systems integration (as well as political) scene
as well as that of Wu Ling, the dynamic former medical doctor who directs the
China Solid-State Lighting Alliance in Beijing. Wu Ling is a lovely, articulate
and brilliant woman who will again be speaking at our SSLS meet in Taiwan.
You'll get a lot of fresh info from Bob Walker and the other speakers at CS
Vision in Vancouver. Those other confirmed speakers to date include: Morris
Young of AXT who will speak about InP strategies, Ivan Eliashevich of Emcore
addressing recent GaN substrate advancements, Drew Hanser of Kyma on GaN wafer
strategies, Primit Parikh of Cree on GaN device strategies. Speaking for the
GaAs side of progress will be our co-chair, TriQuint's Bruce Fornier. A few
last minute speakers are still juggling their schedules and will be announced
soon, so stay tuned to the CS
Vision event website. While you're there, pre-register
to attend. It'll save you from having to stand in line. As I said earlier,
we've priced it like a workshop, at only $395. Heck of a deal. Plus... you get
to play poker with the industry pros.
Like our CS Vision event coordinator (and CEO of CS Online Inc.), Tom Griffiths,
said when drafting the blurb about the Poker Party... "If you know when
they have the cards and when they're bluffing, you'll be ready for the next
big deal... Canada says we can't play for money, but we can play for chips,
possible prizes, and bragging rights to carry in to 'Texas-Hold'em' next year
in Austin." If you have news or
views to share about the compound semiconductor, LED or solid
state lighting industries
contact our Publisher, Tom Griffiths
His direct tel in Austin is +1-512-257-9888
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