Noted Japanese Market Researcher and GaN Substrate Expert Last Minute Adds to Taiwan BLUE 2007 Speaker Lineup
Jo Ann McDonald, founding editorApril 12, 2007...We're thrilled to announce two last minute additions to this year's superb
lineup of speakers at the 5th Annual Solid State Lighting Suppliers Conference
(SSLS), otherwise known as BLUE
2007. The event runs from April 17th through 19th at the Ambassador Hotel
in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Additions to the agenda
are noted Japanese market researcher, Takaaki Maehara, of the famed Nomura
Research Institute (NRI) in Japan whose specialty is the Japanese LED market.
Mr. Maehara is with the Information & Communication Industries Consulting
Division of NRI. Also newly added to the BLUE 2007 speaker lineup is Dr.
Keith Evans, president and CEO of Kyma
Technologies, a noted USA advanced compound semiconductor substrate developer.
Dr. Evans is an expert on all phases of the native GaN and AlN substrate R&D
and market scene as well as the entire spectrum of competitive substrate technologies.
Mr. Maehara will share with our largely Taiwanese audience of SSL suppliers
the expertise on the Japanese market NRI has long been noted for. He will also
provide the kind of expertise current and prospective suppliers to Japanese
LED makers and systems integrators sometimes find difficult to obtain. Mr. Maehara
will present an overview of the Japanese market, outline recent activities of
Japanese LED vendors, and relate to the audience current and future needs of
the burgeoning Japanese SSL marketplace. Although his is a largely a business-oriented
presentation, due to travel constraints Takaaki Maehara will present his findings
on Wednesday in the late morning, during the Technology Forum portion of BLUE
2007. Dr. Evans will address the pending "GaN substrate wars" head-on
in his talk, outlining the many and varied flavors of GaN substrates currently
on the market, the market opportunities for improved substrates for current
and future commercial devices (which is significant), along with a prognosis
of how the competition is likely to become even more fierce in the near future.
Dr. Evans' talk is being slated for the late morning on Thursday, April 19th,
during the Business Forum, but he will be available both days of the conference
to discuss the topic of GaN substrates as well as the USA and international
research and development scene with his fellow attendees to BLUE 2007 in Taiwan.
Consult the BLUE 2007 updated
agenda for exact times of these and other talks, and the BLUE
2007 website for particulars of attending and registering
for this outstanding Taiwan LED event.
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EpiWorks Completes Phase I of 6-Inch HBT Wafer Capacity Expansion
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 12, 2007...EpiWorks Inc. of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois USA, which offers epitaxial wafer products
for optoelectronics and wireless applications, reports that it has completed
Phase I of its capacity expansion plan. According to the company the expansion
at its production facility in Champaign, Illinois boosts its production capacity
of 6-inch HBTs to over 50,000 wafers per year. The production equipment was
purchased last summer, and wafers from the equipment are being qualified by
EpiWorks’ customers.
The company offers both 4- and 6-inch InGaP HBT production. "Demand
for our InGaP HBT technology has increased steadily over the past two years,
and we are very pleased to have successfully completed the first phase of our
capacity expansion in an aggressive time-frame. We expect to fill the new capacity
by the end of the year, and, as this new capacity fills, we plan to begin our
phase II expansion. This will double our capacity by 2009 to over 100,000 6"
wafers/year," said Quesnell Hartmann, President at EpiWorks.
Dr. David Ahmari, Executive Vice President at EpiWorks.points out that the
switch to MOCVD-produced PHEMT and integrated HBT/FET technologies may spawn
a large increases in demand for the company’s wafers. Dr. Ahmari added,
"We believe that our advanced technology and ability to interact at
a high-level with our customers will continue to enable further, rapid advancements
in our materials technology." Company
News Release HRL Claims W-Band GaN Breakthrough
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 12, 2007...HRL, an R&D laboratory in Los Angeles that is owned by Boeing and General
Motors, reports that it has demonstrated a gallium nitride (GaN) MMIC which will enable GaN-based W-Band wireless devices. HRL points out that previously, W-band(75 GHz to 110 GHz)
devices had to be made with indium phosphide (InP) and gallium arsenide (GaAs).
These had the limitation of temperature and had short channel effects. The company says it expects to have a 300 percent increse in range using GaN components in a W-band communication system. If used in radar, the company contends that it can have a 70 percent increase in range. Furthermore, according to the company, MMIC’s with GaN offer 5-times the power density of
corresponding InP or GaAs MMIC’s.
HRL said that high power and low noise are key attributes of the heterostructure
field effect transistor (HFET) structure that has enabled the HRL GaN MMIC advance.
The devices in general will allow the faster tranfer of information and lighter antennae. According to HRL, GaN-based W-band applications
include all-weather radar, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as the
high-speed wireless data links that are allocated across the W-band. Company
News Release AOI Raises $28 Million in Series E Funding Round
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 12, 2007...Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (AOI), a private company that manufactures laser
diodes and is headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas (near Houston) USA, reports
raising $28 million in capital through private placement. The company says it
will use the funding to expand product development and capacity. Since the company’s
inception in 1997, it has reportedly raised $68.9 million in funding.
AOI points out that it is a vertically integrated company which combines design,
wafer growth, processing, packaging, and module design to produce semiconductor
components and modules. Dr. Thompson Lin, founder, president and chief executive
officer of AOI commented, “As the telecommunications industry continues
to grow, this investment will better position us to serve the needs of our customers
and strengthen our market leading position.” Company
News Release April 12, 2007...Samsung of Korea plans to step up production of blue and white gallium nitride
(GaN) LEDs, Aixtron indicated. Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. (SEMCO) has
purchased two AIX 2600G3HT GaN metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)
systems. The systems will go into SEMCO’s facilities in Kyungki-Do, South
Korea.
The company says it has been happy and satisfied with the performance of the
Aixtron Planetary Reactors systems that it has been using, but to keep up with
demand for blue and white LEDs the company decided to order the two new MOCVD systems. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... BluGlass Boasts of Huge Savings of GaN on Glass
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 10, 2007...BluGlass of Australia reports that an independent assessment commissioned by
Wright, Williams, & Kelly Inc. found that its remote plasma CVD (RPCVD)
process for deposition of GaN on glass substrates can cut the cost of manufacturing
GaN-based devices. BluGlass says the report shows that its process can yield up
to 48 percent savings for LED epi on 2-inch diameter glass substrates compared
to standard MOCVD on 2-inch sapphire substrates. Additionally the BluGlass points
to a 70 percent reduction in material costs (largely because of the difference
in price between sapphire and glass substrates and utilizing nitrogen instead
of toxic ammonia.).
Additionally, BluGlass says that because of the greatly reduced temperature
requirement of 700 degrees Celsius instead of around 1000 degrees Celsius for
conventional MOCVD, the operating cost over the useful lifetime of a reactor
(about 7 years) is about $8 million lower. Company
Investor Presentation JDSU Appoints Optical Communications President; Introduces Optical Filters; Named Test and Measurment Company of the Year
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 10, 2007...JDSU of Milpitas, California USA, reported that it has appointed David Gudmundson
as president of Optical Communications. JDSU says that Gudmundson will be responsible
for Optical Communications sales, operations, and product development. Previously
senior VP of corporate development and marketing, Mr. Gudmundson played an integral
role in a number of strategic transactions including the acquisition of: Lightwave
Electronics, Acterna, and Agility Communications. Company
News Release.
JDSU also announced the introduction of two new optical filters, a laser line
detection filter and a detector response filter. The laser line rejection filter
is designed to be used in applications including night vision and laser based
biomedical instrumentation. The detector response filter is designed to be used
in remote sensing, homeland security instrumentation, and biomedical instrumentation.
Company
News Release. In other recent news Frost and Sullivan named JDSU “Test
and Measurement Company of the Year.” Company
News Release WJ Communications Goes Fabless
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 10, 2007...WJ Communications, a radio frequency solution developer of San Jose, California
USA, reported that it completed closing its gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafer fabrication
facility in Fremont, California on March 30, 2007. The facility was part of
the company’s 2004 acquisition of EIC inc. (Ref: Coverage).
Plans to close the facility were announced in November 2006. (Ref: Coverage).
The company plans to use Global Communication Semiconductors Inc. of Torrence,
California to supply the GaAs and InGaP wafers.
Bruce Diamond, President and Chief Executive Officer of WJ Communications,
stated, “Operating under a fabless business model will enable us to focus
our resources on new product introductions for high growth markets, including
Wireless Small Signal, Wireless Power, WiMax and RFID.” He added, “The
associated cost savings of $1.0 to $1.25M per quarter will assist in further
improving our financial performance in the coming quarters and years, making
this an important milestone for WJ.” WJ
Communications News Release Anadigics to Construct 6 Inch GaAs Wafer Fab in Kunshan, China
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 10, 2007...Anadigics Inc. of Warren, New Jersey USA, reported that it has entered into
an investment contract with Kunshan New and Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
(KSND), to jointly construct a 6-inch gallium arsenide IC wafer fabrication facility in the city of Kunshan in the Jiangsu Province
in China. Anadigics anticipates initially spending $10 to $15 million over the first two years of the project, which will begin in the fourth quarter of 2007, and expects
to commence an initial production phase in the first quarter of 2009. After
the initial investment the company expects the facility lifetime to be 50 years and their investment to reach an estimated $50 million to run through its lifetime.
“We’re very pleased to work with Vice Mayor Zhu and KSND to
expand our wafer fabrication capacity in Kunshan,” said Dr. Bami
Bastani, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anadigics, Inc. “This
project is expected to provide us with an attractive cost structure and to enable
us to meet our future fab capacity needs thereby contributing to the growth
of our Company, as well as providing us with increased access to one of the
fastest-growing markets for wireless and broadband communications.”
Company
News Release CIGS Solar Startup, Solyndra Raises $79 Million
CompouondSemi News StaffApril 6, 2007...Solyndra, a Santa Clara, California startup, which will specialize in copper indium gallium selenium (CIGS) solar cells has raised $79 million in funding. CIGS manufacturing
is expensive and startups in the field have to have vast infusions of capital
to pay for the required manufacturing facilities. Investors in the new solar
company include CMEA Ventures and Redpoint Ventures, CNET reported in an article.
(Note: that article made several factual errors about the efficiency and
manufacturing cost of CIGS photovoltaics.) According to another article, this in a VC publication, Solyndra's technology will be led by VP of Engineering Benny Buller, formerly a GM at Applied Materials.
CIGS technology is more efficient than conventional solar cells, but it also
costs more to produce. Each company has its own recipe for CIGS photovoltaics.
The main difference from company to company seems to be in manufacturing techniques
and the type of surface upon which the CIGS material is deposited. There is
no word yet on how Solyndra plans to manufacture the photovoltaics, or what
material they will be manufactured on. However, the startup has a long list
of job openings on its web site. Several other companies in the sector have
recently received significant funding. Nanosolar recently announced raising
$100 million. Austin-based Heliovolt also raised funds to set up its own facility. Georgia Tech Researchers Produce Nanoscale Generator
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 6, 2007...Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia USA have developed a nanonscale generator that uses
zinc oxide nanowires on a gallium arsenide, sapphire, or flexible polymer to
generate a direct current by harnessing mechanical energy from environmental
sources such as ultrasonic waves, mechanical vibration or blood flow. The nanogenerator
utilizes small electrical charges created when the zinc oxide nanowires flex.
The nanogenerator could provide power for nanoscale devices without batteries
or other external power sources. Commenting on the R&D breakthrough, Zhong Lin Wang, Regents’ Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech said, "This is a major step toward a portable, adaptable and cost-effective technology for powering nanoscale devices. There has been a lot of interest in making nanodevices, but we have tended not to think about how to power them. Our nanogenerator allows us to harvest or recycle energy from many sources to power these devices." An explanation about the nanogenerator will be reported in the April 6 issue
of the journal Science. The Georgia Tech research was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Emory-Georgia
Tech Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence. Georgia
Tech News Release Technical University of Berlin Orders Thomas Swan System to Develop Nitride Alloy Materials
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 6, 2007...The Institute of Solid State Physics at the Technical University of Berlin
has ordered a Thomas Swan epitaxial growth system from Aixtron. The system, which
will be set up in the 3x3-inch configuration, will be used to develop GaN/ (Al,
Ga, In ) nitride alloy based materials for optoelectronic devices such as lasers
and LEDs. The materials will have high aluminum concentration and will go
into lasers and ultra-violet LEDs. The new reactor will add to the University's
other Aixtron systems, the AIX 200RF and the AIX 200/4 in the cleanrooms of
the Eugene-Paul-Wigner Building.
The new system was chosen in part because of the Institute of Solid State Physics’
experiences with the other Aixtron systems. Professor Michael Kneissl, head
of the Experimental Nanophysics and Photonics group, commented, “…The
Thomas Swan 3x2 inch FT is clearly superior to other vertical systems in terms
of process stability and precursor efficiency. It has demonstrated the process
flexibility, uniformity in thickness, doping, and composition required for next-generation
optoelectronic devices. It also supports a number of different in-situ control
techniques. Alongside our existing systems it will be a useful platform for
us to develop high-Al III-nitride laser diodes and high-brightness UV LEDs."
Aixtron
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