GaN-Net - Gallium Nitride Newsletter

I have dedicated a few pages on wide bandgap semiconductor news and other developments in the back of Microelectronics Review. This is available by paid subscription only (we have to eat) but we would be happy to set you up with a free 3-issue trial and then we can by arrangement take your fee by online credit card transfer (or by cheque).

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Toyoda Gosei has established a facility in Takeo City, Saga Prefecture for its second production base for GaN-based LEDs.

Construction on the new facility began in April 2004, and LED production is scheduled to commence in May 2005. The new $140m plant will have 3,300 sq. m of floor space after initial construction, with scheduled expansion to 7,800 sq. m by 2006. Monthly production capacity will commence at 29m chips rising to 130m in 2005 and 200m in 2006. The new Kyushu plant will enable the company to meet growing demand for blue LEDs and will also serve to diversify the company’s production base, lowering the risk of production loss in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes. Toyoda Gosei currently has a single factory in Heiwacho, Aichi Prefecture for GaN LEDs.

Furukawa America Announces New FITEL 488nm SHG Blue Laser for Biomedical Applications

Furukawa America Inc. announces the release of the FITEL 488nm Second Harmonic Generation blue laser for bioinstrumentation applications including DNA sequencers, fluorescent microscope cell analysis and other biomedical analytical equipment.

The FITEL blue laser is manufactured by the Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., the world's leading supplier of semiconductor pumping laser diodes for the telecommunications industry. Furukawa Electric deploys these same proven technologies in the 488 nm SHG blue laser, using semiconductor laser and wavelength conversion devices to meet the specific needs of biomedical use.

A Fiber Bragg Grating stabilized 976nm semiconductor laser, with polarization maintaining fibre, creates the initial light source. FBG reflectivity is carefully tuned to control the longitudinal mode of laser oscillation to achieve stable wavelength conversion with the SHG device. This configuration reduces the number of components required and increases reliability. The light output is coupled to a single mode fibre to produce an ideal Gaussian beam with excellent pointing stability. FITEL 488nm SHG Blue Laser Specifications: Output power from single mode pigtail 20mW Power stability Less than +/-1% Beam quality M(2) Less than 1.1 Pointing stability Less than 3 urad (smaller than measurement limit) Power consumption Less than 18W Size 127x177x42.7mm T. Known for high performance and highly reliable optical technologies, Furukawa Electric's introduction of the FITEL 488nm blue laser marks its recent entry into the biomedical field.

Evident Technologies announced has received funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to demonstrate and develop efficient white LEDs. This technology promises to produce better colour characteristics suitable for general illumination. Evident will produce quantum dot nanomaterials, a novel semiconductor particle that have tunable colour properties complementing low cost LED, to produce high quality white light. This quantum dot-based light will have higher efficiency than halogen or incandescent lights. Evident will be collaborating with the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on this effort.

Nitronex has pioneered the development of 100mm GaN on silicon (SIGANTIC) platform technology and is now offering an epiwafers service.

Blu-Ray domestic digital DVD-R has been launched by Matsushita. Claimed to be the world's first DVD recorder that supports single-side, dual-layer Blu-ray Discs it has a maximum capacity of 50 Gb. The DMR-E700BD, the high-end model of Matsushita's DIGA DVD recorder series, can record up to four and a half hours of digital high-definition programming or up to 63 hours of analog programming.

Mr. Etsuji Shuda, Director, Home AV Business Unit of Panasonic AVC Networks Company, says, "As digital broadcasting services are expanding, demand for recording and storing HD video is increasing. Our new product responds to such a demand. We believe the upcoming Olympic Summer Games in Athens is one of the factors behind the expanding demands. The new model records superb digital HD video without compromising picture quality."

Supporting DVD-RAM and DVD-R discs, users can choose the most appropriate media for their recording needs. The DMR-E700BD also features the Electronic Program Guide (EPG), allowing users to schedule recording of their favorite programs through easy-to-understand on-screen guides.

The DIGA BD/DVD recorder will be introduced to the Japanese market on July 31, 2004 with an open-price basis.

APA Optics signed a 3-year lease with Veeco Compound Semiconductor, Inc. to locate and operate the Company's new multi-wafer MOCVD system in Veeco's Process Integration Facility in White Bear Lake, Minnesota (This facility is near the Company's Blaine office). Operating the MOCVD machine at Veeco's facility will provide central access to significant electrical, optical, and structural characterization tools currently being rented from various suppliers. These tools are used to optimize and control the growth of transistor material.

The Company purchased the MOCVD system during the later part of fiscal 2004 to enhance its capabilities in this technology area. Once this MOCVD system is fully operational, it will be sufficient to handle the Company's internal MOCVD material growth requirements. The system can grow material on 6 wafers of 2 inch diameter at one time.

After installation, MOCVD growth will be performed in Veeco's facilities using the new machine while phasing out the growth in the Company's Blaine facilities. These steps will also eliminate expenses for significant leasehold improvements that would have been required at the Company's Blaine facility. The machine will be operated by the Company's employees. The lease with Veeco protects APA's intellectual property while providing improved access to potential customers and state of the art crystal growth resources. APA believes that this system will be operational during the second quarter of fiscal 2005.

In addition, the Company has begun streamlining its UV detector manufacturing operations. In particular, it has begun phasing out detector packaging operations in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The Company will also discontinue growth and processing operations of its standard GaN and AlGaN detectors. These actions are taken due to the availability of these detectors from off-shore sources at much lower costs.

"We will only perform MOCVD growth and processing of custom AlGaN detectors which are not routinely available from outside resources," said Mr. Peter Nussbaum, Manager for GaN products.

"These custom processed detectors will also be packaged by our off-shore partners and/or suppliers," added Mr. Nussbaum. The company believes that these steps will reduce operating costs as well as the manufacturing costs of its UV products.

Both of these activities will impact the personnel in Blaine and Aberdeen facilities. Up to ten positions related to these activities will be eliminated in the immediate future.

Kwality Photonics Pvt. Ltd. which recently launched Hi Flux LEDs has now announced the release of PLCC SMD LEDs that deliver exceptional brightness thanks to the specially designed lead frame profile that greatly improves heat dissipation of the device.

Designed with a new non-diffused lens that simplifies backlighting displays and coupling to light pipes, the new KLSL3228 can be used in a variety of lighting and display applications including dashboard lighting in cars, traffic signals and signs, advertising billboards, LCDs and A/V systems.

Air Products extended its PRISM® high purity nitrogen (HPN) Systems to include new, state-of-the-art production and supply technologies.

The new product line, called Micro HPN Series, better serves customers with small nitrogen volume demands by offering a fully automatic and highly flexible on-site nitrogen supply system.

While much of the attention on the DVD market has focused on the major capacity improvements enabled with the emerging blue laser technology, standard DVD technology will soon received a boost from double-layer media that increases per-disc capacity from 4.7 to 8.5 gigabytes.

Sales of DVD recorders of all formats are expected to surpass 11 million units over the next 18 months, according to IDC. But just as the market for first-generation DVD recorders is taking off, new technology developments will boost optical technology to 1OO gigabytes or more, per disc, in the next three years.

Sony Electronics reported that it will begin customer shipments of its Professional Disc for DATA (ProDATA) later this month. The company also said it has two more advanced models in the works. The devices are based on blue-laser technology.

The ProDATA drive with 23GB of native capacity write-once, read-many storage is attracting interest from a spectrum of users, many of whom are faced with the necessity of archiving data for compliance purposes, a Sony spokesman said.

What about a consumer version of the blue laser technology? A consumer model is shipping to customers in Japan. DeMoulin said Sony currently has no plans to introduce a consumer version in the US: “We can't quite see it yet,” he said. “But it's out there on the horizon.”

See also: ‘Blue-Laser Disk Stores Data For Professionals’ - pretty good review of the beast which says ‘Sony's blue-laser offering is intriguing. Factor in the drive's inexpensive, high-capacity media and the BW-RU101 begins to look like a logical migration path for those who have outgrown tape or magneto-optical technology’.

[PC Pro] With the imminent release of 16-speed DVD write speeds and dual-layer DVD recorders already on the market, the DVD optical format will soon max out, paving the way for next generation blue laser products. Next year - June, according to Andrew Wyllie, product manager of NEC's Business Equipment Division - will see the inauguration of the next generation of optical storage technology: blue laser-based drives.

As with the -R and +R formats, there's going to be a battle over this. There are two formats, both based on blue laser technology. Blu-Ray offers discs with up to 27GB a layer and supported by Hitachi, LG, Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Thomson. The alternative is HD-DVD, developed by Toshiba and NEC, and offering up to 15GB per layer.

It may come as little surprise that Wyllie is backing the HD-DVD format, despite the commoditising powers of box builders such as Sony in the other camp.

'No-one would touch Blu-Ray,' he says. And he has his reasons. 'This will be a fight,' he says, 'But it will be the movie studios that will decide.'

Agfa has continued to make enhancements to the :Advantage line. At Drupa, Agfa announced an addition to the :Advantage line of violet systems, the :Advantage CL and :Advantage CLS and they are making their North American debut at NEXPO.

These new violet laser-based systems feature a multiple cassette option and automation designed to provide high productivity. The CL does up to 160 plates per hour, while the CLS can reach speeds of up to 220 plates per hour. Agfa launched the :Advantage line with the :Advantage DL at NEXPO last year, specifically to meet the needs of newspapers in North America. To date, 40 systems have been sold.

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/computer/storage/dvdram/about/future/future4.htm

Cree, Inc., released an update to the company’s business outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004, which ended June 27, 2004.

As a result of increased demand in the LED business, Cree is raising its revenue target for the fourth fiscal quarter to a range of $85 to $87 million, as compared with the previous target of $83 to $85 million that was announced earlier in the quarter.

After the first two months of the current quarter, LED demand has exceeded the previous forecast and the Company has also experienced improved price stability. This combination is targeted to result in an overall gross margin in a similar range to the third quarter of fiscal 2004 and earnings above the previous target range.

LEDtronics announces Concave Cylindrical 5mm (T1-3/4) Discrete LEDs that emit light that is as bright at its edges as it is in the centre. Concave lenses improve the quality of the light beam by spreading out the collimated beam of light that LEDs typically emit. These high-intensity LEDs produce illumination that is bright even in direct sunlight, making them excellent sources of illumination for applications such as backlighting, medical equipment and channel-letter illumination. Sturdy leads are provided for wire wrap applications. Select from six sunlight-visible colours: Green (525nm and 568nm), Cool White (8000K), Blue (461nm), Yellow (596nm and 585nm), Red (655nm, 660nm and 630nm) and Orange (606nm).

On June 3rd Cyberlux reached agreement to acquire TrueToForm Limited, Inc. (TTFL), a privately held firm that designs, manufactures and markets products primarily to the hospitality industry, with operations in Boston, Mass. and Los Angeles, Calif. Upon completion of the transaction, TTFL will become the "specialty lighting division" of Cyberlux.
"The acquisition of TTFL will open new distribution channels for Cyberlux's superior long-term interim and emergency lighting systems through TrueToForm's established relationships in the hospitality industry, restaurant chain markets, and traditional lighting distribution," observed Mark Schmidt, President of Cyberlux.
Mark Allen, President of TrueToForm, commented, "The consolidation with Cyberlux will provide an exciting competitive differentiation for several of our unique existing and future product categories, which can now be enhanced by joining with the advanced diodaltm technology patented by Cyberlux. The success of TrueToForm in commercial building sales channels presents an opportunity to bring the superior emergency long-term interim lighting solutions by Cyberlux to an established, receptive, customer base," Allen continued.
"In addition to increasing sales volume for the combined company during the second half of 2004, the inclusion of Mark Allen in Cyberlux's executive management and his appointment to the Board of Directors will add further vitality to the expansion objectives of the Company," noted Donald Evans, Chairman of Cyberlux.

Osram Opto Semiconductors accused Dominant Semiconductors, the Malaysian manufacturer of LEDs, of patent infringement. The complaint, filed with the United States international trade commission, comprises two basic technologies. The first group covers technology that enables LEDs to emit white light from a single semiconductor chip. Applications for these LEDs include backlighting for cell phones and automobile dashboards.
The second concerns technology for electrical connection structures used in LEDs, including high-power LEDs for automobile lighting applications, such as interior lighting and rear combination light systems. Osram has requested an order to prevent a wide range of Dominant's LEDs, and products containing them, from being imported to the US. Meanwhile, Nichia said it has filed a lawsuit against Sharper Image to prevent it selling products containing white LEDs that infringe Nichia’s US patents. It has also succeeded in getting two other companies to start using Nichia’s white LEDs in place of devices made by Nichia’s rivals in Taiwan. Plus Nichia America Corporation has filed a lawsuit against Sharper Image Corporation, claiming infringement of a patent relating to white LEDs.
Osram also said it has linked up with Ford to produce a "Focus Concept" car, using Osram's LEDs for many external lighting functions. The "Focus Concept" car, launched at the Auto China Motor Show 2004, uses Osram's Golden Dragon and TOPLED ranges of LEDs for front turn indicator lights, reversing lamps, brake lights and tail and indicator lights.
Osram claims that its LEDs have offered Ford engineers more flexibility, allowing them to produce reliable, efficient, three-dimensional lamp designs.

Engis UK is offering its customers a completely new process for the surface planarization and polishing of high quality compound semiconductor substrates and other difficult-to-machine materials like GaN and SiC.
By using the efficiency of precisely graded micron diamond in specially formulated slurries, the new Engis Microtech CMP-D polishing systems are said to reduce production costs, improve throughput, ease cleaning and are effective for use with extremely hard and chemical resisting materials.
The Microtech range can be used to replace and/or augment costly traditional CMP polishing, sys Engis. Engis Microtech CMP-D polishing systems have been designed to be effective on materials such as sapphire, SiC, III-nitrides and other substrate materials used for MEMS and Nanotechnology applications.

Start-up LED manufacturer in Ripon, CA, USA, The Fox Group, has developed a production method for manufacturing blue GaN-based LEDs by HVPE, a feat once considered impossible. The company has established a manufacturing facility in Montreal, Canada and in mid-May shipped its first order of 460 nm FoxBlue LEDs.

Veeco Instruments Inc., announced the purchase of a GaNzilla™ MOCVD system by Shanghai Blue Light Technology Co., Ltd. (SBL). SBL will use the tool to produce high-brightness AlInGaN-based blue, cyan, and green LEDs in its role as a leading provider of chip and wafer products stemming from China's Optoelectronics Project of the National High Technology Program (863 Plan).

Catherine Jin, Chief Technology Officer of Shanghai Blue Light Technology, stated, "The Veeco platform offers the high level of material uniformity needed to support our innovative chip technology, while also providing attractive competitive advantages for mass production." James Dong, Executive Vice President of SBL, added, "The addition of the GaNzilla tool will substantially expand our production capacity for high performance GaN LED materials."

Marlin Braun, Senior Vice President of Veeco's Compound Semiconductor division, said, "This order is another example of manufacturers selecting our GaNzilla tools in the emerging Chinese LED market. We're excited that Shanghai Blue Light Technology and others recognize the industry-leading throughput and low cost of ownership provided by the GaNzilla platform."

One of the coveted Bavarian Energy Awards has gone to the “Sustainable energy concept for the infrastructure for manufacturing light emitting diodes” in the new optical chip factory in Regensburg/Burgweinting. Robert Wittgen, Chief Finance Officer at Osram Opto Semiconductors, recieved the award from Dr. Otto Wiesheu, the Bavarian State Minister.

With its long-term energy concept, Osram Opto Semiconductors is setting new standards in sustainability. Systematic energy savings and economical use of resources are among the stated corporate objectives of the company. In Burgweinting, this has been interpreted as making the best possible use of available energy. For example, high-purity water needs to be preheated from 10°C to 20°C, which takes a large amount of energy. This is provided exclusively by waste heat produced round the clock in generating compressed air and at various process cooling stages. This heat is passed via two heat exchangers to the preheating circuit, changing from a waste product back into a useful source of energy. Members of the jury considered this pioneering idea worthy of an award. Potential savings are estimated to be in the region of 3 million kWh per year. This is equivalent to around 500 tonnes less carbon dioxide and therefore represents a significant improvement in the environment.

Since 2003, this most up-to-date optical chip factory in the world has been manufacturing light emitting diodes, laser diodes and sensors based on the latest technologies. The positive energy balance is being particularly assisted by light emitting diodes as these robust light sources have considerable energy-saving potential. They have very long lives and are much more efficient than conventional light sources in converting electrical energy into light. They are being used for more and more applications, including automotive lighting, display backlighting and even general lighting.

Nichia Corporation to Double LED Capacity
According to Japanese newspaper, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nichia Corporation says it aims to double LED production capacity at the Tatsumi manufacturing site. This is to counter Asian competition;
Nichia currently has around 70% share of the global market for this type of LED. By boosting production it reckons it can be more competitive, and increase market share of lower-end markets, such as LEDs for lighting handset keypads. Nichia will build a 6-storey building, costing ¥4 bn and install manufacturing equipment worth ¥20-30 bn, said the report.

Cree, Inc. announced that Sumitomo Corporation has agreed to purchase $160 million of Cree's LED products during Cree's fiscal year ending June 2005, subject to end customer demand and other terms and conditions. As part of the agreement, Cree and Sumitomo also announced the extension of the current distributorship relationship through Cree's fiscal year ending June 2007. Both companies anticipate that the purchases will cover Cree's full line of LED products representing its standard brightness, mid-brightness and high brightness devices, including MegaBright®, XBright® and XThin(TM) LEDs.

Chuck Swoboda, Cree's President and CEO stated, "This new agreement is the largest purchase commitment in Cree's history and highlights the strength of our partnership with Sumitomo and our Japanese customers. We believe the growth in Japan is representative of the strong worldwide demand for our LEDs. New products are driving end customer demand and helping us expand our relationships with the major LED packagers."

Koichiro Kusano, General Manager of Sumitomo's Electronic Materials & Equipment Division stated, "We expect shipments to Japanese customers during the twelve months ending June 2004 to exceed our contract commitment, and end customer demand continues to grow. The technology being delivered by Cree, combined with the strong market demand for high brightness blue, green and white LEDs in Japan, continues to be a winning formula for success in the market."

Earlier, Cree introduced three new LED products targeting the mobile appliance market. The UT230 product is aimed for the price-sensitive keypad market. The XB500, in blue and green versions, is targeted for the camera flash function of mobile appliances. Additionally, Cree has expanded the XT offering, used primarily for illuminating mobile phone LCDs, to include a design that is compatible for a wider range of packaging processes. All three products are available for immediate delivery.

Finally, Chuck Swoboda, president and chief executive officer, delivered the keynote address at Blue 2004 - The International Industry Review for Advanced LED and Semiconductor Laser Technologies in Hsinchu, Taiwan. His speech, which was titled: ”Nitride LED Industry Perspective: The Road to Consolidation” focused on future trends in the nitride LED market.

Agilent Technologies Introduces Extra-Bright InGaN LEDs; Brighter Lamps Broaden Company's Range of Full-Color Sign and Mono-Color Traffic Signal Applications

Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced a series of extra-bright InGaN LEDs targeted for the outdoor electronic sign and signals market. These are the company's brightest InGaN LEDs and enable Agilent to expand its range of applications to include full-color signs and mono-color traffic signals that require the brightest LEDs possible. The combination of high brightness and weather-resistant packaging makes these LEDs ideal for applications such as traffic signals, pedestrian crossing signs, speed limit and exit signs, stadium scoreboards, advertising and other variable message signs.

The HLMP-Cxxx circular-pattern and HLMP-Hxxx oval-pattern extra-bright LED lamps, from Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group, are available in blue, green and cyan, and in 15-, 23- and 30-degree circular viewing angles. The blue and green versions are available with 40-degree by 100-degree oval viewing angles, specifically designed for full-color video and passenger information signs. The oval-shaped radiation pattern and high luminosity make these devices excellent for wide field-of-view outdoor applications where a wide viewing angle and readability in sunlight are essential. These lamps have very smooth, matched radiation patterns ensuring consistent color mixing in full-color applications, and uniformity across the viewing angle of the sign.

"Our new series of extra-bright InGaN LED lamps provide superior performance and significantly enhance our capability to capture a growing share of the electronic signs and signals applications," said Soo-Ghee Lee, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Optoelectronic Products Division. "As an LED leader, we're committed to providing our customers the highest-quality products in volume and at competitive prices."

Agilent's blue and green LEDs are based on the most efficient and cost-effective flip-chip InGaN material technology. The 470 nm typical dominant wavelength for blue and 521 nm typical wavelength for green are well suited to color mixing in full-color signs. The 505 nm typical dominant wavelength for cyan is suitable for traffic-signal applications. These extra-bright InGaN lamps are supplied in 5 mm (T-1 3/4) through-hole packages and combine Agilent's most advanced through-hole packaging technology to ensure maximum light extraction from the die. The die is attached within the reflector cavity, and the cavity is encapsulated by Agilent's proprietary epoxy blend. This means the lamps perform with high reliability over the -40 C to +85 C temperature range and are protected from UV radiation and humid environments.

Pricing of the Agilent HLMP-Cxxx circular-pattern and HLMP-Hxxx oval-pattern extra-bright LED lamps is $0.40 each in 1,000,000-piece quantities. Samples and production quantities (four-week guaranteed lead-time) are available now through Agilent's direct sales channel and worldwide distribution partners.

Further information about Agilent's light-emitting diode products is available at www.agilent.com/view/led.

Kopin's CEO Dr. John C. C. Fan was a featured guest speaker at CompoundSemi Online's "Blue 2004: Advanced LEDs & Lasers" conference, taking place May 11 - 12, 2004, in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The conference is the world's premier gathering of LED and laser experts.

Dr. Fan, whose company produces the award-winning CyberLite(TM) LEDs, delivered a presentation entitled "Heteroepitaxy to a Brighter World - Past, Present and Future" at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 12, in the kick-off spot on the second day of the conference. Heteroepitaxy refers to the combining of traditionally incompatible semiconductor materials, a process used to create the building blocks for novel solid-state electronic devices.

Dr. Fan's presentation explored lessons learned from developments in heteroepitaxy concepts going back 25 years; apply them to GaN, the material from which blue LEDs and lasers are fabricated; and project the future direction of these products.

"This Blue 2004 conference is by and for visionaries in two of the world's most exciting and fastest-growing blue technologies, LEDs and lasers. Excellent material quality is a necessary requirement for high-performance LEDs and lasers," Dr. Fan said. "Heteroepitaxy is a critical science in advancing these devices. We are looking forward to some inspiring and enlightening give and take."

The Kopin CyberLite LED, recently chosen as "Product of the Year" by the editorial staff of Electronic Products Magazine, has achieved high power efficiency, ESD robustness and miniaturization. CyberLite LEDs achieve their superior performance by using Kopin's patented NanoPocket(TM) technology. NanoPockets, formed naturally during the epitaxial growth, confine the generation of light inside nano-scale "pockets" and away from defects to yield higher efficiency. Nearly 50 nanometers wide and 2 to 3 nanometers thick, there are more than 5 million NanoPockets in each LED chip.

INTRINSIC Semiconductor Announces SiC Wafer Sales and Distributor for Japanese Markets

INTRINSIC Semiconductor, a privately held manufacturer of wide bandgap materials, announced that it is offering commercial sales of a variety of silicon carbide (SiC) wafer products for use in microelectronic devices. Key products offered are insulating and conducting SiC substrates for use in GaN and SiC high power and high-frequency device development. INTRINSIC also announced today that it has engaged New Metals and Chemicals Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) as its distributor for its products in Japan.

Dr. Cengiz Balkas, INTRINSIC President and CEO stated, "To date INTRINSIC has dedicated extensive efforts on developing a robust and cost effective technology base as well as a distinct intellectual property position. As a result, we are very pleased to offer competitively performing SiC wafers to the rapidly developing SiC and GaN materials and device markets. With its world class team and infrastructure, INTRINSIC is positioned to be a major player in this field. We are committed to becoming the cost and volume leader servicing the wide bandgap device markets."

"We are very pleased with this business alliance with INTRINSIC Semiconductor and look forward to supporting the wide bandgap industries in Japan as they develop novel SiC and GaN semiconductor devices using INTRINSIC's high-quality SiC substrates," said Mr. Minoru Mito, General Manager of New Metals.

INTRINSIC Semiconductor is a privately held emerging growth company focusing on materials and device technologies based on SiC and GaN; clear forerunners for next-generation high power and high-frequency device applications. For additional information on INTRINSIC, please visit www.intrinsicsemi.com.

ON THE WEB: Sony Bets on Blue Lasers
An article by Paul Shread says that Sony Electronics is rolling out storage products based on blue laser optical disc technology.

Sony's Professional Disc for DATA (ProDATA) drives pack 23GB of storage capacity onto a single-sided optical disc by using blue laser technology and advanced optics, according to Robert DeMoulin, marketing manager for branded storage products in Sony Electronics' IT Products Division. That's five times the capacity of DVDs and 32 times the capacity of CDs.

With 11MB/second read and 9MB/second write transfer speeds, DeMoulin says the technology is ideal for high-performance applications such as document and medical imaging, email archiving, enterprise content management, multimedia projects, graphic design, and audio/video editing and authoring.

ProDATA drives use a blue-violet laser to achieve a shorter wavelength (405nm) than is possible with the traditional red lasers (650nm) used in CD, DVD, and MO (Magneto Optical) drives. The shorter wavelength creates a smaller laser beam spot, which results in higher storage density.

Akzo Nobel - High Purity Metalorganics (HPMO) has developed a TMIn Bubbler that delivers solid TMIn at 95% with a flow rate of 600sccm at a bubbler pressure of 180Torr (240mBar) and a temperature of 17 °C.

The bubbler is a patent pending proprietary design developed by engineers at Akzo Nobel HPMO. Flow rates can be as high as 1000 sccm. Initial availability will be in a 450 ml bubbler loaded with 320 g of TMIn by the middle of June, 2004. The bubbler can be used in a standard configuration (straight in the bath) or with an Akzo Nobel Heat Exchanger.

Further testing is being conducted in-house as well as at chosen customers' sites in production environments. Future work will include larger bubblers (1 kg) and demonstration of the same delivery characteristics with higher flows.

Passengers and visitors to Dubai International Airport can look forward to a spectacular sight in the Sheik Rashid terminal. Five “UFOs”, each six metres in diameter, appear to hover in the air, producing breath-taking lighting effects thanks to LED technology from OSRAM Opto Semiconductors.

LED modules with special optics that tightly focus the light beam give lighting designers wonderful freedom to create new effects. The lights on these futuristic objects are switched on and off in a cleverly controlled sequence to simulate UFOs taking off and landing. The light sources are so small that they can meet the extremely demanding geometrical requirements of the circular elements. Light emitting diodes are robust and can withstand the frequent on/off switching that the various scenarios from take-off to landing demand. The also have many other important advantages such as long life, low power consumption and availability in all colours. There are more than 8500 LEDs in each of the five UFOs:

The objects are designed to produce a large number of different lighting effects. Clever control of the lights and “smoke” cannon combine to create a space-age atmosphere.

The objects are the result of a joint project involving six different companies. Under the management of Ontario Light (Innsbruck), who were responsible for overall lighting design, the five other companies who provided their specialist know-how were OSRAM Opto Semiconductors (lighting technology and LED modules), Herbert Demanega, the Innsbruck-based architects, KCA International (concept and design), Otto Valenta GmbH from Fieberbrunn (construction, steel structures, engineering) and Elmar Schrutek of Vienna (control technology).

Lumileds lighting is opening a new plant in Malaysia to meet increasing demand for its high brightness Luxeon LEDs. The facility, located in a 200,000 sq-ft building, will replace the company’s Penang factory this summer, tripling both floor space and manufacturing capability.

NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display unveiled LCD prototype displays using Lumileds Luxeon LEDs at the 13th annual Windows hardware engineering conference. NEC-Mitsubishi used the LEDs for backlighting a 21.3-in LCD monitor with a resolution of 1600 by 1200 pixels, and a 23-in LCD monitor with 1920 by 1200 pixels.

Nitronex, a privately held manufacturer of GaN-based RF power transistors, announced that Chris Rauh has joined Nitronex as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Rauh will lead Nitronex’s global sales and marketing efforts to deliver advanced GaN on silicon products for the electronics industry.

Rauh will be responsible for new business development and building key strategic partnerships to promote the commercialization of GaN based products. As part of expanding Nitronex’s market penetration, Rauh will oversee all North American, European and Asian customer relationships and strategic alliances.

"We are excited Chris is joining our team. He is a seasoned veteran of the wireless infrastructure market and semiconductor industry who has proven expertise and success in building global sales organizations,” commented Charles Shalvoy, Executive Chairman and CEO of Nitronex. "Chris will focus on driving the adoption of GaN on silicon products in the market by expanding our relationships with current customers and partners, as well as identifying opportunities in new markets where GaN technology can provide significant performance improvements over incumbent technologies.”

At TI from 1986 to 2004, Rauh held a variety of sales management positions, most recently, Worldwide Sales Director for TI’s Wireless Infrastructure Business Unit. Rauh brings a wealth of wireless infrastructure knowledge, international experience in all major world markets, and proven expertise executing complex business deals including licensing, joint development agreements and annual contracts. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

“Nitronex is at the forefront of revolutionizing GaN-based technology and I am eager to work with the management team to realize the vision of the Company,” Rauh said of his appointment. “I look forward to helping bring Nitronex’s first power transistor products to market and leveraging this emergent technology for new commercial applications.”

Cree has introduced the newest product addition to the XThin(TM) product family, the XT-21(TM). The XT-21(TM) offers an increased radiant flux with brightness levels of 21mW minimum, and is now commercially available in the 460nm blue version. In addition to the XT-21, the company offers the XT-16(TM) and XT- 18(TM), which were released in mid-January of 2004. Target markets for the XT-21 are white light applications, including LCD backlighting for mobile appliances and digital camera flashes.
Mike Dunn, Vice President, Optoelectronics, stated, "Cree continues to drive its R&D efforts to new LED brightness levels for the XThin family of products. We believe the XT-21 will enable our customers to deliver world-class surface mount white LEDs for the next generation of mobile appliances incorporating color LCD displays. White LEDs are the primary choice for illuminating color LCD displays in mobile phones and digital cameras."
Cree, Inc. introduced two new versions of its LED product family. The new green versions include the XT-290™ LED and the XB-900™ LED. The XT-290, offered in a 527nm version, has a typical radiant flux of 9mW at 20mA. It is also the thinnest, brightest, and with a typical forward voltage of 3.2V, consumes the least power of any Cree standard size green LED chip. The XB-900 527nm version has a typical radiant flux of 30mW at 350mA, and the XB-900 505nm version has a typical radiant flux of 45mW at 350mA. Key uses for these products are white light applications using RGB technologies (where discrete red, green and blue LEDs are combined to create white light), traffic signals and signage. Production quantities are now available for both products.

ATMI, Inc. has sold its life safety sensors business to City Technology, Ltd., part of the First Technologies Group of Companies, for $11 million.
Gene Banucci, ATMI Chief Executive Officer said, "With the sale of our former Life Safety Systems business, we have completed the divestment of two of the six units accounted for as ATMI's discontinued operations. We remain on track for meeting our goal of divesting or partnering these businesses by the end of 2004. City Technology specializes in the design and manufacture of high quality gas detection sensors and will offer our Life Safety Systems employees a new, better home where the sole focus is on gas sensors."
Dan Sharkey, ATMI Chief Financial Officer, said, "As with the Cree deal for our Gallium Nitride business, this is an all cash transaction. ATMI expects to recognize a small gain over book value."

INTRINSIC Semiconductor, the privately held manufacturer of wide bandgap materials, announced that it is offering commercial sales of a variety of SiC wafer products for use in microelectronic devices. Key products offered are insulating and conducting SiC substrates for use in GaN and SiC high power and high-frequency device development. INTRINSIC also announced that it has engaged New Metals and Chemicals Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) as its distributor for its products in Japan.
Dr. Cengiz Balkas, INTRINSIC President and CEO stated, "To date INTRINSIC has dedicated extensive efforts on developing a robust and cost effective technology base as well as a distinct intellectual property position. As a result, we are very pleased to offer competitively performing SiC wafers to the rapidly developing SiC and GaN materials and device markets. With its world class team and infrastructure, INTRINSIC is positioned to be a major player in this field. We are committed to becoming the cost and volume leader servicing the wide bandgap device markets."
"We are very pleased with this business alliance with INTRINSIC Semiconductor and look forward to supporting the wide bandgap industries in Japan as they develop novel SiC and GaN semiconductor devices using INTRINSIC's high-quality SiC substrates," said Mr. Minoru Mito, General Manager of New Metals.

Kopin CEO Dr. John C. C. Fan will be a featured guest speaker at CompoundSemi Online's "Blue 2004: Advanced LEDs & Lasers" conference, taking place May 11 - 12, 2004, in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The conference is the world's premier gathering of LED and laser experts.
Dr. Fan, whose company produces the award-winning CyberLite) LEDs, will deliver a presentation entitled "Heteroepitaxy to a Brighter World - Past, Present and Future" at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 12, in the kick-off spot on the second day of the conference. Heteroepitaxy refers to the combining of traditionally incompatible semiconductor materials, a process used to create the building blocks for novel solid-state electronic devices.
Dr. Fan's presentation will: explore lessons learned from developments in heteroepitaxy concepts going back 25 years; apply them to gallium nitride (GaN), the material from which blue LEDs and lasers are fabricated; and project the future direction of these products.
"This Blue 2004 conference is by and for visionaries in two of the world's most exciting and fastest-growing blue technologies, LEDs and lasers. Excellent material quality is a necessary requirement for high-performance LEDs and lasers," Dr. Fan said. "Heteroepitaxy is a critical science in advancing these devices. We are looking forward to some inspiring and enlightening give and take."
The Kopin CyberLite LED, recently chosen as "Product of the Year" by the editorial staff of Electronic Products Magazine, has achieved high power efficiency, ESD robustness and miniaturization. CyberLite LEDs achieve their superior performance by using Kopin's patented NanoPocket(TM) technology. NanoPockets, formed naturally during the epitaxial growth, confine the generation of light inside nano-scale "pockets" and away from defects to yield higher efficiency. Nearly 50 nanometers wide and 2 to 3 nanometers thick, there are more than 5 million NanoPockets in each LED chip.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced in late April receipt of an order in excess of $10 million for multiple MOCVD production systems from Fujian Quanzhou Sanan Group Ltd., a manufacturer of HB-LEDs based in Fujian Province, China.
The order is for Veeco TurboDisc MOCVD GaNzilla systems, which can be used for the production of white, blue and green HB-LEDs. MOCVD tools are used for the critical first step in the growth of compound semiconductor materials employed in rapidly growing HB-LED lighting applications. The tools will be shipped to the customer over the coming year.
According to Marlin Braun, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Veeco's Compound Semiconductor Operations, "This multiple unit order is an example of the strong worldwide growth opportunity for Veeco in the rapidly emerging LED market. We are pleased to be partnering with Fujian Quanzhou Sanan Group to help enable their LED production efforts. Veeco's GaNzilla systems are designed specifically for the production environment, and offer manufacturers a high-throughput, low-cost-per-wafer technology solution." (Strategies Unlimited reports that the GaN LED market was $2.7B in 2003 and is forecasted to reach more than $5B by 2008.)
Mr. Xiu Cheng Lin, President and CEO of Fujian Quanzhou Sanan Group, commented, "With this significant expansion of our production capacity we are taking a major step toward achieving our stated goal of becoming the leading supplier of LED materials in China. The multi-system order reflects our belief that the Veeco GaNzilla tool is the premier production platform for the growth of GaN materials."

Nichia Corporation and Sony Corporation have come to an agreement on the cross license of Blue-Violet Laser Diode related patents for optical disc use.
In December 2002, Nichia and Sony agreed to collaborate on the development of Blue-Violet LD as well as building-up an environment to share the usage of the related technologies which the 2 companies possess, to accelerate the growing demand of Blue-Violet LD. Nichia and Sony have also worked in collaboration on the Blue-Violet LD development for optical disc recording/play-back use.
The cross license agreement will further strengthen the collaboration and will enable usage of all related patents on Blue-Violet LD, with no time limit, in the field of the optical disc recording/playback usage. Collectively, there are approximately 800 patent applications in total filed by both companies.
Blue-Violet LD is a 405nm wavelength semiconductor laser which will be vital for Blu-ray disc system, enabling digital recording of high-definition (HD) contents (movies) in consumer use and professional disc system XDCAM. It is the key device in the HD era, in various occasions where high quality images/movies are the key in HD contents creation in Digital HD broadcasting and recording/play-back in consumer use.
Through the cross-license, in addition to Nichia, which is most advanced on a world-wide basis as the Blue-Violet LD supplier, Sony will also mass-produce and be the supplier of Blue-Violet LD, leading to building-up a stable environment of the supply of Blue-Violet LD for optical disc use, required for Blu-ray disc system market which is expected increase significantly.
The convergence of technologies of both companies lead to achieving cost-down by improving production efficiency and further enhancing the production design/manufacturing of higher-performance/high-level-output Blue-Violet LD.
Results of the join developments so far have already been implemented in mass production by both companies, and mass production shipment by Nichia and partial shipment of evaluation samples to other companies by Sony are under process.
Both companies have agreed to continue to collaborate in technology development, leading to enhanced performance of Blue-Violet LD and contribution in the development of Blu-ray disc and XDCAM market.

Air Products has received a 7-year contract to supply its UHP 'White Ammonia' product to Lumileds Lighting. Air Products will also provide its Bulk Specialty Gas Delivery System designed specifically for delivering UHP specialty gases. Its White Ammonia will be supported at Lumileds' San Jose manufacturing facility by its bulk specialty gas system.

Kopin announced that its CyberLite LED was chosen as Product of the Year by the editorial staff of Electronic Products Magazine. The magazine's 28th annual award series recognizes outstanding electronic components from the thousands of products introduced in 2003. The selection of CyberLite and other winners was based on significant advances in technology or its application, and its innovation in design.

APA Optics sold certain assets related to its discontinued Optics manufacturing segment to PNE, Inc. dba IRD, of Litchfield, MN, for an undisclosed amount of cash. PNE will be subleasing a small portion of APA's Blaine facility for up to one year to conduct Optics manufacturing with the purchased assets.

RF Micro Devices Inc. announced its strategic focus around three core business units, comprised of cellular, wireless connectivity and infrastructure, with each unit reporting to president and CEO Bob Bruggeworth. RFMD forecasts the total market addressed by these core business units will grow to approximately $6 billion in three years, and it has identified opportunities it believes will drive the Company's revenue beyond $1 billion within three years.
RFMD's infrastructure business unit is focused on components for wireless base stations. RFMD recently introduced innovative driver amplifiers that leverage proprietary thermal enhancements to RFMD's GaAs semiconductor process - enabling the highest output-power driver amplifiers available in the infrastructure market. Similar to the GaAs power amplifiers RFMD develops for handsets, RFMD's GaAs driver amplifiers enable superior efficiency, versus silicon LDMOS at a similar or better linearity, while covering all major frequency bands, including the 3G UMTS frequency band. The Company is also commercializing GaN for wide bandwidth base station PAs that operate at higher efficiency and better linearity than existing designs using silicon LDMOS. RFMD expects GaN PAs will improve the performance and lower the overall cost of wireless base stations, thereby proving to be a disruptive technology in the infrastructure market.

In the Japanese press comes a report that Nichia president said that his company is not considering an out-of-court settlement with Shuji Nakamura over GaN LED patents. Eiji Ogawa, president of GaN-based LED and laser manufacturer Nichia, has said that the company will not consider an out-of-court settlement with Shuji Nakamura, according to a report in the Japanese business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
The researcher, who is now at the University of Santa Barbara, CA, filed a lawsuit against his former employer in August 2001, but lost his original claim that he owned a disputed patent (patent “404”) relating to a two-flow MOCVD technique.

Cree, Inc., reported quarterly revenue for its fiscal year 2004 third quarter of $77,113,000, a 28 percent increase over the $60,223,000 reported in the comparable quarter in the year ago period. Net income for the third quarter increased 42 percent to $15,089,000, or $0.20 per diluted share, compared to $10,632,000, or $0.14 per diluted share, as reported for the third quarter of fiscal 2003. Overall gross margin for the third quarter increased to 50 percent of revenue compared to 47 percent of revenue reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2004, while net margin increased to 20 percent of revenue. Cash and investments increased to $241 million and cash flow from operations was $30.5 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2004.

Chuck Swoboda, President and CEO of Cree stated, "Cree delivered excellent revenue and earnings in the quarter led by continued strong demand for our LEDs. Our decision to invest aggressively in R&D is paying off as new high brightness products are driving the growth of our business. We have good visibility for Q4, which allows us to target a strong finish to the fiscal year and puts us in a good position to build on this momentum in 2005."

Sony Corp unveiled its new mass-production technology for next-generation large capacity optical disks using a blue-violet laser called Blu-ray disks, which are capable of recording over two hours of digital high-definition video.

The NICHIA exhibit to "Light & Building". Opened in Messe Frankfurt in Germany 18 to 22, April, 2004. 'Various LED expected as a source of light for the lighting to which Power LED is assumed beginning is exhibited'. It has also announced new products of “C” series. The Top Emitting 2-in-1 type (Blue and Red / Green and Red), the Top Emitting 3-in-1 type (Small package), and the Side Emitting 3-in-1 type.

Nitronex closed $6 million in additional funding from existing investors.
The funds will be used to accelerate new product development and sales and marketing activities. To date, the company has raised $50 million in venture funding from investors such as Alliance Technology Ventures, TPG Ventures and VantagePoint Venture Partners, which all participated in this latest round.
Nitronex also announced that Charles E. Shalvoy has joined the company as Executive Chairman and acting CEO. Shalvoy was most recently President and CEO of Conductus Inc., a manufacturer of superconducting products for wireless networks. Prior to Conductus, he was President and COO of Therma-Wave.
"I am excited about the opportunities at Nitronex as we begin to see customer adoption of the technology in many large, rapidly growing markets," Shalvoy said in a statement. "We believe our GaN on silicon technology can provide significant performance and cost advantages in a number of markets and we expect to introduce our first power transistor products for the wireless market later this year."

From modest beginnings in the mid-1990s, the non-Japan region of Asia, including Taiwan, South Korea and China, has become the world's largest volume producer of high-brightness LEDs. Using advanced device manufacturing techniques based on MOCVD, 23 companies in the region produced the equivalent of 13.4 billion red-orange-yellow (InGaAlP-based) LED chips and 3.4 billion blue and green (GaN-based) LED chips in 2003, representing 80% and 40% of the world totals, respectively. The total regional revenue for merchant epitaxial wafers and chips amounted to $403 million in 2003.
Taiwan has long been the leader for HB LED production in the region, but South Korea has also become a significant producer in recent years, and in 2003 mainland China began ramping up its production capacity and sales. Driven by growing demand for blue LEDs for backlighting mobile phone keypads, the production of GaN-based blue LEDs chips was the dominant growth factor in the region in 2003. Although the vast majority of chips produced to date have been of low-to-medium performance levels, technology and performance are steadily improving, and several Asian producers are beginning to target the higher-performance HB LED markets now served by top-tier suppliers such as Nichia, Cree, Toyoda Gosei, Osram and Lumileds.
Strategies Unlimited's recently released 270-page report, Asian Producers of High-Brightness LEDs (Taiwan, South Korea, China), provides a detailed accounting of HB LED activity in Asia. The report was prepared in conjunction with industry veteran Dr. Robert Walker, who has more than 10 years experience with the HB LED industry in Asia, serving as a supplier, investor and consultant. The report includes in-depth information on epitaxial wafer and chip production capacities, production and shipment levels, revenues, markets, pricing, vendor market shares, product and technology trends, and history for each of the 23 companies, and this information is aggregated for each country and for the region.
Asian Producers of High-Brightness LEDs (Taiwan, South Korea, China) is available for immediate delivery from Strategies Unlimited for $3,750. The report can be ordered by contacting Tim Carli, Sales Manager, at +1 650 941-3438 ext. 23, or by e-mail at tcarli@strategies-u.com. More information on the report is available on Strategies Unlimited's web site, www.strategies-u.com.

A Step Closer to the Optimum Solar Cell - Kin Man Yu and Wladek Walukiewicz have tested the optical and photovoltaic effects of several novel solar cell materials. Solar Access reports about new materials for PV: 'Besides cost, the most fundamental issue in assessing photovoltaic solar cells is efficiency - how much of the sunlight that falls on the cell can it convert to electricity? For the second time in two years, Kin Man Yu and Wladek Walukiewicz of the Materials Sciences Division, working with colleagues from Berkeley Lab and other institutions, have announced a new solar cell material that may be able to achieve extraordinary efficiency. In every other way these discoveries are different, however'.

According to Physics Web, Physicists at the Russian Academy of Sciences are claiming to have created a form of diamond that superconducts. Vladimir Sidorov and colleagues say that their material, which they made by doping carbon with boron at high temperatures and pressures, exhibits bulk superconductivity below around 4 kelvin and remains a superconductor in strong magnetic fields (E A Ekimov et al. 2004 Nature 428 542).This is the first time that boron-doped diamond -- which is normally a semiconductor -- has shown superconducting behaviour.

Cornell Provost Biddy Martin has announced the five faculty winners of the Provost's 2004 Award for Distinguished Scholarship. Established by a generous gift from Ronay and Richard Menschel, the awards are given to recognize outstanding research and scholarship being done by recently tenured Cornell faculty, and they are an opportunity for the university to recognize its own talented researchers. This year's winners include Kevin Kornegay is the founder and director of the Cornell Broadband Communications Research Laboratory, which conducts research related to the design of high frequency integrated circuits for high data rate wireless and optical communication systems. Working with silicon carbide, he also develops integrated circuits for harsh environments that remain functional under high pressure or high temperature.

The University of Strathclyde Institute of Photonics has won £2.6m for a 4-year project to develop AlInGaN-on-sapphire UV 280 and 440nm micro-LED arrays. From the original blue going to UV will open up applications such as mask-less lithography, an image source for liquid-solid rapid prototyping and analysis of chemical and bio-chemical samples, they said. Also involved in the programme are Heriot Watt University, Imperial College and the University of Sheffield. Read more here.

Not really nitrides but certainly wide bandgap semiconductors... A Japanese government research institute has found a way to accelerate the growth of artificial diamonds, edging closer to producing diamond-based semiconductors.The institute will aim to apply the technology to develop one-inch diamond semiconductor wafers, Yuji Horino said. The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology said it successfully grew a diamond crystal at the same rate as that announced last year by the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Cree, Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the GaN substrate and epitaxy business of Advanced Technology Materials, Inc., the wholly-owned subsidiary of ATMI, Inc., through an asset purchase transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Cree will purchase the assets of the business, including related intellectual property, fixed assets and inventory, in exchange for cash. The parties anticipate that the acquisition, which is subject to certain third party approvals and other customary conditions, will close during the fourth quarter of Cree's fiscal year ending in June.

Chuck Swoboda, CEO and President of Cree, stated, "We believe ATMI's GaN substrate and epitaxy capability will complement Cree's existing silicon carbide and GaN materials business. In addition, this acquisition provides Cree with fundamental IP related to GaN substrates and epitaxy technology which is synergistic with our existing patent portfolio in the optoelectronic, materials and microwave areas." Dr. Calvin Carter, Cree's Director of Materials Technology, added, "We are pleased to enter into this agreement with ATMI. They are a well respected and recognized industry leader in GaN materials. We intend to continue to service existing ATMI GaN customers and believe our own use of GaN substrates could provide performance enhancements for our future products."

Meanwhile, Cree and Boston University stated that the patent infringement lawsuit brought against substrate company AXT in June last year concerning LED manufacture has been dropped. Cree alleged patent infringement about LEDs previously made by AXT while AXT is itself in a pickle over alleged H&S infringement (see here) has decided to focus on other III-Vs and Ge substrates and has dropped all of counterclaims.

Forge Europa has expanded its QuadriLED series of lighting products to include a rugged 7.6mm square flat top LED design, available in the full spectrum of colours as well as white. The robust package, which has low thermal resistance, allows devices to be run at currents up to 50mA ensuring optimum performance without loss of long-term life. A new range of custom AlGaInP and InGaN die has been selected to maximise output. An unusual flat top shape ensures that viewing angles for all colours are an impressive 115 degrees with a remarkably smooth angular intensity pattern. Due to the unique transmission properties of the package, the LEDs are ideally suited to backlighting, fascia, signage and switch top illumination. The QuadriLED white LEDs can be supplied in Forge Europa's standard chromaticity selection or in new "traffic light" bins T1, T2 and T3 as defined in Highways Agency specification TR2136.

According to Space Daily, on March 18th, 2004, the Blu-ray Founders Group(a) accepted TDK as the first manufacturing company member specializing in recording media. Since June 2003, TDK has been selling its Blu-ray Disc in the Japanese consumer market for the purpose of recording digital satellite TV. The company will provide show attendees with a first-hand look at its prototype blue laser disc for Sony's "Professional Disc" systems. TDK will also show its prototype blue laser disc for Sony's "Professional Disc for DATA" drive systems, as well as its line of 4mm and LTO Ultrium data tape recording media. TDK will also showcase its groundbreaking prototype blue laser disc for Sony's "Professional Disc" Systems.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced that South Epitaxy Corporation (SEC) of Taiwan has ordered five E300 GaNzilla) MOCVD tools to produce high-brightness blue and green LEDs. The GaNzilla reactors will be installed in SEC's new facility, built to significantly boost the company's capacity to manufacture GaN-based LEDs. According to Charles Cheng, CEO of South Epitaxy, "An order of this size required an extensive evaluation process. With several GaNzilla systems already operating at our facility, we are producing the brightest and best quality LED chips among all chip suppliers in the world, and we have experienced firsthand numerous production advantages. The high level of material uniformity and throughput provided by the Veeco TurboDisc(R) platform enables us to meet our customers' growing demands for quality LED material at low cost, and will be the basis of our production plan moving forward."

MAXIM Integrated Products has introduced the MAX6964 RGB and white LED driver. Through a 400kHz, 2-wire, SMBus/I2C-compatible serial interface, the MAX6964 provides microprocessors and microcontrollers with seventeen 7V-tolerant output ports, each capable of sinking up to 50mA.

AIXTRON UPDATES: The city of Aachen has decided to retrofit 111 city traffic lights with LEDs. Delivering very favorable power consumption, durability and safety, LEDs are the state-of-the-art technology in traffic lighting which can be seen in many locations worldwide. The implementation of LED technology into traffic lights is already widespread outside of Germany. The Purchase Order for the installation of the LED traffic lights in Aachen was awarded to Siemens. In the framework of a joint project between Siemens, the city of Aachen and AIXTRON, the first LED traffic lights had already been installed in 1998 at the junction of Roermonder Str. / Kackertstr in Aachen.

Meanwhile, Aixtron reported revenues of €91.3 m for the full fiscal year 2003. This represents a drop of almost 40% on its 2002 revenue, €150.7 m. It therefore recorded a net loss of €19.2 m for 2003, this compares to a profit of €15.3 m in the previous year.
However. Aixtron forecasted a return to growth for 2004 , with revenue predicted to be €121 m, which would amount to a 33% increase. It believes that it will break even on this figure.

Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment (TSSE) member of the AIXTRON group has secured further system sales in Japan by receiving an order from the research group of Dr. Kobayashi of NTT Photonics Laboratories. The 6x2” Closed-Coupled Showerhead (CCS) MOCVD system will be used for the extensive research and development of innovative electrical and optical devices based on GaN materials.
Dr. Kobayashi’s research group within the High-Speed Devices and Technology Laboratory is contributing extended effort to the development of the next generation of electrical and optical devices and networks. The CCS technology will be utilized for continued progress for optimization of compound semiconductor structures based on larger substrate sizes.

The market for GaN laser diodes will grow at a CAAGR of 195% through 2008, according to a new study from Strategy Analytics, the UK-based global research and consulting company. "Gallium Nitride Laser Diodes: Markets and Applications" describes the established markets for GaN-based laser diodes, which include printing, spectroscopy, biological agent detection and laser projectors.

Strategy Analytics believes, however, that these markets will not provide substantial growth moving forward. Instead, growth will be driven by optical storage applications with the emergence of violet-DVD players, accounting for over 97 percent of unit shipments by 2008.

"Despite the impressive growth, the existence of two competing standards for violet-DVD -- namely Blu-ray and HD-DVD -- will mean that the GaN laser diode market will still be at an early stage of development in 2008," cautions Asif Anwar, Analyst, from the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice. "The influence of movie studios and the IT industry will be crucial in deciding which violet-DVD format becomes the accepted standard, and when next-generation DVD begins to have mass appeal."

The proliferation of violet-DVD will also depend heavily on the development of high-definition TV (HDTV) content and displays. Furthermore, while violet-DVD players will be recordable from the outset, they will face competition from the growing popularity of existing recordable DVD technology.

The study provides an overview of the technology involved in manufacturing GaN-based laser diodes, focusing in particular on substrate issues. It highlights the key manufacturers and developers of laser diode chips, as well as suppliers of laser diode modules and materials suppliers.

There have been new developments regarding the disputed payment awards to Prof Nakamura by his former employer, Nichia Chemical Industries. The newswires had stories such as the one on The Miami Herald which goes on to say: Nichia had deposited Y10 bn at the Justice Ministry after a court approved its request to block an option for the provisional execution of a January ruling ordering it to pay Y20 bn to Prof Nakamura of a key semiconductor device, Nichia officials said. It submitted the sum with the ministry's Tokyo Legal Affairs Bureau immediately after the ruling by the Tokyo District Court, the officials said.

Meanwhile, things are hotting up on the Blu-Ray front. Firstly, Reuters says that Matsushita Electric is to launch six new DVD recorders including an advanced model using blue laser light. This in a bid to fortify its position as the top DVD recorder maker. 'The planned launch by Matsushita will put the rival camp behind in actual product offerings, since NEC and Toshiba have no plan to launch their blue laser light DVD recorders until 2005. At a Tokyo news conference, Matsushita officials offered few details on the new product, which is scheduled to hit store shelves in July'.

To further muddy the scene, Microsoft is wading in. See: 'DVD Forum provokes HDD spec punch-up' by Faultline at The Register Mobile: 'The infamous DVD Forum has almost certainly provoked all-out warfare within the consumer electronic community with its latest decision - to include Microsoft Windows Media 9 codec in its new high density disk standard.... Products are not expected for at least two years but a vote for Microsoft will almost certainly mean smany of the big Japanese firms pull out, even to the extent of breaking up the forum'. The DVD Forum has endorsed the Microsoft Windows Media Video (WMV) 9.0 format, H.264, and MPEG-2 as mandatory for players that will support HD-DVD video. The move, if formally approved, will be a huge victory for Microsoft's efforts to expand support for its media formats. Publishers of next-generation HD-DVDs will be able to select either WMV, H.264, or MPEG-2 (the current format used by DVDs) when authoring high-definition video discs. HD-DVD is competing with Blu-ray technology to replace current-generation DVDs and offer additional storage capacity.

We also found this when searching for violet lasers - it is from February and concerns 'Fujifilm Celebrates 500th Saber Violet-laser Platesetter' in the What They Think online news site: Fujifilm has achieved yet another milestone in the prepress arena – the production and purchase of the company’s 500th Saber violet-laser platesetter. This milestone marks an impressive and important achievement for Fujifilm, as the Saber series of violet platesetters was introduced a little more than a year ago at Graph Expo 2002 in Chicago'. See another article where we read: “We expect that 30mW violet laser diodes will become the de facto standard for violet imaging,” said Theo De Keersmaecker, Agfa's director of CtP.

In a third article, we read that 'The new violet laser-based systems, which will be introduced at Drupa later this year, will feature a multiple cassette option designed to provide high productivity. The CL provides speeds of up to 160 plates per hour, while the CLS can reach speeds of up to 220 plates per hour. By utilising violet diodes, Agfa's systems allow users the lowest cost of ownership and exceed the newspaper industry's requirements for speed, reliability and consistency'.

Not much other news about at the moment except for a few new products and so on. These include Epiworks and Akzo Nobel announcing partnership for liquid precursors to investigate the potential of liquid-phase metalorganics in MOCVD. Not much mention of III-nitrides but perhaps there is the potential.

Omron is to establish a design centre in Hong Kong to handle LCD backlight design and development. Initially it will concentrate on design/development of compact size backlights for mobile phones aimed at the China and Taiwan markets.

The Lumileds Luxeon DCC is billed as the first fully assembled LED-based RGB light source for use as an alternative to cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) in LCD backlights.
Available in five sizes for backlights ranging from 5 to 18.1in, these ready-to-use systems use Lumileds' high-powered Luxeon LEDs to bring the colour, control and longevity benefits of solid-state lighting to LCD displays.
Each Luxeon DCC integrates Luxeon red, green and blue emitters in a one-piece unit that can be deployed with light guides and other components to form a complete illumination system for LCD backlighting.
This strategy offers significant benefits to backlight and display manufacturers, including: faster time to market, because each light source can be deployed in the backlight assembly without the component integration or individual LED selection required by other suppliers; lower development costs, both because there is no need to engineer the light source and because Luxeon DCCs are accompanied by reference designs that offer technical guidance for incorporating the modules into backlighting systems; and consistent brightness and colour uniformity, achieved through Lumileds-exclusive intelligent binning that enables LEDs used in each Luxeon DCC to be matched for flux, colour, forward voltage and temperature variability.
The industry-leading brightness of the Luxeon LEDs used in the system minimises the number of LED packages required to generate the necessary light output, limiting LED arrays to only one edge of the light source.

But if have a look at the new patent awards there are some items of interest mainly from the Far Eastern players.

Mitsubishi Cable Industries: Method for growing GaN compound semiconductor crystal and semiconductor substrate - 6,700,179 - 'the dislocation density of the GaN group compound semiconductor crystal can be reduced without using a masking material in the epitaxial growth, whereby a high quality epitaxial film can be obtained'.

Here's one from an old friend from the Caswell days, Ray Pengelly of Cree Microwave, Inc. - 6,700,444 - N-way RF power amplifier with increased backoff power and power added efficiency. An RF power amplifier for amplifying an RF signal over a broad range of power with improved efficiency includes a main amplifier for amplifying an RF signal over a first range of power and with a power saturation level below the maximum of the broad range of power. A plurality of auxiliary amplifiers are connected in parallel with the main amplifier with each of the auxiliary amplifiers being biased to sequentially provide an amplified output signal after the main amplifier approaches saturation.

Matsushita Electric Industrial - 6,696,704 - Composite light-emitting device, semiconductor light-emitting unit and method for fabricating the unit. The photofluorescent compound shifts the wavelength of radiation that has been emitted from the light-emitting element, while the filtering compound partially absorbs the radiation.

Lucent Technologies - 6,699,760 - Method for growing layers of group III-nitride semiconductor having electrically passivated threading defects which also includes performing an epitaxial growth of a second layer of III-nitride semiconductor on the first layer under growth conditions that cause the growth surface to become smooth. The two-step growth produces a lower density of threading defects.

Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha - 6,695,913 - III-Nitride optoelectronic semiconductor device containing lattice mismatched III-Nitride semiconductor materials. Graded layers are introduced at the interfaces between the cladding layers and both the contact layers and the active layer. The constituency of each graded layer is graded from one side to the other of the layer such that the layer is lattice matched with the adjacent layer on each side with the result that the strain at the interfaces between the layers is reduced and the possibility of deleterious dislocations being introduced at the interfaces is minimised. By removing or reducing such dislocations, the efficiency of the operation of the device is increased.

Lumileds Lighting - 6,696,703 - Thin film phosphor-converted light emitting diode device provides a phosphor-converted LED device comprising one or more phosphor thin films that convert primary light emitted by the LED into one or more other wavelengths of light to produce light of a particular color.

Pioneer Corporation - 6,693,303 - Nitride semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same. The device includes an active layer, and a barrier layer made from a predetermined material and provided adjacent to the active layer. The barrier layer has a greater band-gap than that of the active layer. The device also includes a barrier portion formed of the predetermined material for surrounding a threading dislocation in the active layer. The barrier portion has a vertex.

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. - 6,693,021 - GaN single crystal substrate and method of making the same, comprises a mask layer forming step of forming on a GaAs substrate a mask layer having a plurality of opening windows disposed separate from each other; and an epitaxial layer growing step of growing on the mask layer an epilayer made of GaN.

However, only last night we enjoyed an intriguing science documentary on BBC. Not about GaN but the programme called 'Horizon' dealt with synthetic diamonds... to our surprise it included an old friend. Robert Linares and his son have formed a company called Apollo to exploitclear synthetic gems. Read a transcript of the programme here.

Photonic Products is offering a new range of lower-cost thermoelectrically cooled (TEC) laser diode modules offer exceptional wavelength and power stability (better than 1%), greatly increased pointing accuracy and significantly extended laser diode lifetime. The new TEC laser diode modules in the blue region of the spectrum produce elliptical output beams and output powers of 50mW at 405nm, 15mW at 440nm and 4mW at 473nm. TEC modules can also be custom manufactured with virtually any laser diode in a 9 or 5.6mm package at nonstandard wavelengths or powers.

Exclusive to RJS Electronics is a new range of super-bright LEDs is available in red, green, blue, yellow/white and white with both 3- and 5-mm options. The LEDs are excellent for many applications including broadcast equipment backlighting, indicator panels, medical instrumentation. The range offers a variety of LED scan area, are manufactured by a top Japanese manufacturer.

Arnd-Dietrich Weber, SiCrystal, will be receiving on 20 April 2004 in conjunction with the SEMI International Reception in conjunction with SEMICON Europa 2004 in Munich the SEMI Europe Standards Merit Award.

Arnd has worked very hard the last years to develop a global specification for polished monocrystalline silicon carbide wafers. They are now available from the SEMI website as SEMI M55 and SEMI M55.1.