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June 21, 2006...Cree, announced that its 20 mA white LED prototype has achieved an independently
verified 131 lumens/watt with a correlated color temperature of 6027 K. Cree
previously achieved 100 lm/watt with their LEDs in February 2005 and has raised
the benchmark 31 percent. (Ref: Coverage).
The measurement of the Cree's white EZBright LED chips was confirmed by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland. "This is the highest level of efficacy that has been publicly reported
for a white LED and raises the bar for the LED industry," said Scott
Schwab, Cree general manager, LED chips. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Spire Named Among Top 100 Nanotechnology Companies CompoundSemi News StaffJune 21, 2006...Spire Corporation, a maker of efficient solar cells, optoelectronic components,
and provider of III-V epitaxial service, has been named one of the 100 leading
public nanotechnology companies by the International Association of Nanotechnology.
The criteria included: (1) current involvement in R&D, manufacturing, and
marketing of nanotechnology products and services; (2) intellectual property
position in nanotechnology; (3) advanced engineering processes in nanotechnology
and nanoscale manufacturing and production; (4) impact in the marketplace; (5)
sales and revenue derived from nanotechnology products or services. While company’s
nano-structured coatings and surface treatments go into thousands of medical
implants, its their work in solar energy and the growth of nano-scale semiconductor
epitaxial structures that is of interest to CS News readers. Company
News Release Veeco Co-Sponsors MBE Awards; Seeks NominationsJune 21, 2006...Veeco Instruments Inc. will co-sponsor two MBE awards this year—the Al
Cho Award and the MBE Innovator Award. According to the company both awards
recognize individuals who have made significant advances in molecular beam epitaxy
(MBE) through their innovations. Each award consists of a monetary honorarium
and an engraved plaque. The company is seeking nominations for the awards. The
Al Cho Award was initiated in 2003 and cosponsored by Veeco and other members
of the MBE community. It will be presented in early September at the International
MBE conference in Tokyo, Japan. The fast-approaching submission deadline for
this award is July 1, 2006.
The MBE Innovator Award was also initiated in 2003. It is co-sponsored by Veeco
Instruments Inc. and the North American Molecular Beam Epitaxy (NAMBE) organization.
The award will be given at the North American Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy
at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The submission deadline for this
award is September 1, 2006. According to Veeco, award nominations for both awards
are open to all universities, government organizations, or commercial companies
worldwide. Nominees must have shown or are currently showing innovation in advancing
MBE technology. NAMBE and International MBE Advisory Committee Officials will
select each organization’s winner from the submitted nominations. Veeco
News Release Sony Releases Movie Titles, Player, and Computer for Blu-ray Discs CompoundSemi News StaffJune 21, 2006...Sony Pictures Home Entertainment of Culver City, California USA, delivered
the first of seven Blu-ray disc titles on June 20. At the same time, Samsung
Electronics released the first commercially available Blu-ray Disc player, and
Sony released a Blu-ray compatible VAIO PC. The Blu-ray DVD is named for the
color of the laser used to decode the disks. Blue solid state lasers use nitride-based
diodes. So the coming of the next generation DVD technology is eagerly anticipated
in the compound semiconductor industry. Company
News Release HB LED Market Growth Slower But Healthy, Says Strategies Unlimited LIGHTimes StaffJune 20, 2006...Strategies Unlimited of Mountain View, California USA, reports that the high
brightness LED market which once had the astonishing annual growth rate of 46
percent per year, only grew 6.2 percent in 2005. The reasons the research firm
cited for the slowing growth include: over capacity among Asian Manufacturers
leading to price erosion and the saturation of the mobile phone market for full
color displays. The mobile appliance market still accounted for 52 percent of
the HB LED market in 2005, according to Strategies Unlimited. The company said
that all other HB LED applications grew at a very healthy rate of 18 percent
for 2005. The company expects a more modest annual growth rate of 15 to 20 percent per
year for the HB LED market for the next five years. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Aviza Ships ALD Tool to DRAM Maker CompoundSemi News StaffJune 19, 2006...Aviza Technologies of Scotts Valley, California USA, a provider of semiconductor
equipment and processing technology, reports the deployment of its atomic layer
deposition (ALD) system, Celsior, to a large, undisclosed DRAM supplier based in
Europe. The company says it has shipped many other ALD systems in recent months
to companies in: Taiwan, China, and Europe. Aviza contends that the Celcior
lowers the cost of ownership by increasing throughput, lowering chemical consumption,
and extending the process window. "Aviza's Celsior ALD system offers
the critical hardware and process capabilities demanded by this very precise
deposition technology to satisfy chipmakers' stringent production requirements
for 90-nm and below geometries," said Subrata Chatterji, Vice President
and General Manager, ALD Business Unit of Aviza Technology, Inc. Company
News Release Veeco Gets MBE System Orders CompoundSemi News StaffJune 19, 2006...Veeco Instruments Inc., a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) equipment maker located
in Woodbury, New York USA, reported receiving orders for two of its Gen200 MBE
systems. IPG Photonics of Oxford, Massachusetts, plans to use the system to
produce high-quality GaAs-based lasers. The second order for the system came
from an undisclosed multi-billion dollar electronics manufacturer which plans
to collaborate with Veeco in developing technology for oxide film deposition.
The collaboration will take place at Veeco’s St. Paul, Minnesota MBE Process
Integration Center (PIC). The process development will run parallel to the manufacturing
of the identical system that will be delivered to the customer upon completion.
“These orders signify further adoption of Veeco’s cluster-based
systems for production applications. Our PIC provides customers with the unique
ability to qualify production processes scaled from research systems and to
work together to expand MBE technology to new materials and substrates,”
commented Jeffrey Hohn, vice president, and general manager of Veeco MBE Operations.
Veeco
News Release NeoPhotonics Acquisitions Extend Product Offerings to Reconfigurable Optical Networks CompoundSemi News StaffJune 19, 2006...NeoPhotonics has increased its vertical integration through acquisition of
LightConnect and OptTun. NeoPhotonics, an optical component maker for FTTx and
other broadband networks headquartered in San Jose, California USA, has acquired
LightConnect, Inc., of Newark, California, and OpTun Inc., of Santa Clara, California.
LightConect, a dominant manufacturer of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMs)
components for optical communications, provides products including: variable
optical attenuators (VOAs), blockers, dynamic gain equalizers (DGEs), and dynamic
channel equalizers (DCEs). OpTun another optical component maker, specializes
in planar lightwave circuit (PLC)-based reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexers
(ROADMs). Terms of the acquisition based on a combination of cash and stock
were not announced.
Dr. Ferris Lipscomb, VP of marketing at NeoPhotonics stated, “The
only way to achieve the high performance required by advanced networks at an
economically viable cost is through optical integration. LightConnect’s
MEMS switches and VOAs are the industry’s solution of choice. Similarly,
OpTun’s very low power integrated Switch-VOA-Tap (SVT) module is a key
part of these solutions. When combined with NeoPhotonics’ extensive suite
of passive PLC products, including our ultra low loss, very wide band DWDM MUX/DMUX,
customers will have the benefits of leading edge performance for all ROADM architectures,
including Blockers, Switched (2-Deg) ROADMs and Wavelength Selective Switches
(WSS).” NeoPhotonics
News Release Nitronex Gets $21.8 Million in Venture FundingJune 19, 2006...Nitronex of Raleigh, North Carolina USA, a developer and manufacturer of power
transistors has closed a deal to get $21.8 million in venture funding from Alloy
Ventures. The company recently introduced its gallium nitride on silicon technology
called Sigantic, for the WiMax Market. Sigantic technology reportedly adds the
scalability of silicon to the high power, high frequency, high operating voltage,
and broad bandwidth performance of gallium nitride (GaN). Nitronex plans to
use the capital to finish the development and expand manufacturing of several
new products; accelerate hiring in operations, engineering, sales and marketing
and finance; expand into new global markets; and take advantage of emerging
opportunities in cellular, WiMax, broadband and more.
Alloy Ventures, a provider of expansion capital focused on information technology
and life sciences joined new funding providers Intersouth Partners, Arch Venture
Partners, and Diamondhead Venture. Returning investors include: VantagePoint
Venture Partners and Contender Capital. According to Nitronex, the funding round
is one of the largest raised in the Research Triangle region. Charles Shalvoy,
Nitronex CEO said, “We believe that our GaN on silicon based products
offer significant advantages over existing LDMOS and GaAs solutions for the
WiMax, cellular, and broadband wireless markets. With our new financing, we
plan to accelerate our efforts to introduce a broad family of innovative RF
power transistor products for these markets.” Nitronex
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