Category Archives: Photonics Business

The IEEE Photonics Conference 2014 (IPC-2014) has announced a Call for Papers seeking original technical presentations in lasers, optoelectronics, optical fiber networks and related topics for the industry’s premier fall photonics conference. Scheduled for October 12-16, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla in San Diego, CA, the conference was previously known as the IEEE LEOS Annual Meeting.

As the premier autumn gathering for scientists and engineers in photonics and light-related technologies involving quantum electronic devices, as well as other laser and lightwave applications, the IEEE Photonics Conference is anticipated to include more than 500 technical papers, invited plenary talks on important industry issues, weekend events for young photonics professionals and students, as well as a manufacturers’ exhibition.

The short course, Introduction to Silicon Photonics Device Design & Fabrication, is designed to teach students how to design passive silicon photonic devices using analytic and advanced numerical techniques. Student designs will be fabricated by a state-of-the-art rapid-prototyping 100keV electron-beam lithography facility.  All designs will be tested using an automated optical probe station and the data provided to the students.  Students will then analyze their experimental data.

The paper submission deadline is May 9, 2014 and papers will be accepted immediately. Authors will be notified in late June of the acceptance status of their paper. The complete Call for Papers can be found at http://www.ipc-ieee.org/call-for-papers.

Papers are invited in the following areas:

  • Biophotonics
  • Displays & Lighting
  • High Power/Intensity Sources
  • Microwave Photonics
  • Nanophotonics
  • Non-Linear and Ultrafast Optics
  • Optical Communications
  • Optical Fiber Technology
  • Optical Interconnects
  • Optical Micro/Nano Resonators & Devices
  • Optical Networks & Systems
  • Photonic Integration and Packaging
  • Photonic Materials & Metamaterials
  • Photodetectors, Sensors, Systems & Imaging
  • Semiconductor Lasers

Four Special Symposia Topics Announced

Supplementing the regular conference program will be four special symposia featuring invited speakers:
–    Optoelectronic Devices for Solar Energy Harvesting — covering photovoltaics, solar fuel devices, solar desalination, solar water purification, and photocatalysis
–    High Power Diode Lasers & Systems – covering advances along the entire laser technology chain: diode laser sources, beam-combining, optical systems, packaging, reliability, and manufacturing of laser systems
–    Hollow Core Fiber Space Division Multiplexing – covering the state of the art in hollow core space division multiplexing (SDM) for optical communications.
–    Optomechanics – covering developments at the intersection of two previously distinct subjects:  Optical (micro-)cavities and micro (nano) mechanical resonators.

For registration and other information about IPC-2014, visit http://www.ipc-ieee.org/ or contact:

Ingrid L. Donnelly, CMP
Senior Conference Planner
IEEE Photonics Society (formerly LEOS)
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Tel: +1 732.562.5597
[email protected]

The 2014 Optical Interconnects Conference, sponsored by the IEEE Photonics Society, announces a Call for Papers for the 25th anniversary of this premier conference, dedicated to bringing advanced interconnect technologies from research labs to commercial realization.  Initially conceived as the Workshop on Interconnections within High Speed Digital Systems, the Optical Interconnects Conference has now evolved to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration between researchers, engineers, system architects and programmers to solve the challenges of high performance interconnect systems, especially in future petascale and exascale platforms in supercomputers and datacenters. The conference is scheduled for 4 – 7 May 2014 at the Loews Coronado Bay Hotel in Coronado, CA, USA.

Original research papers are being sought by the Optical Interconnects Conference 2014 in the following topic areas:  interconnect system architectures & applications; datacenter & supercomputer interconnects; optical transmitters, receivers & components; ultra low power and/or high bitrate interconnects; fundamental limits & novel concepts in electrical and wireless interconnects; silicon photonics, hybrid & monolithic photonics integration, end-to-end (electrical-optical-electrical) links; optical switching devices, architectures & control networks; emerging interconnect standards; and interconnect packaging.

A highlight of previous workshops, a special Working Group Problem Session challenges participants to solve an optical interconnect application problem. In a four-hour Sunday afternoon session, attendees will break out into small groups combining diverse skill areas to brainstorm solutions to a predefined design problem. These individual groups will present their findings in a Monday evening session.

Papers will be accepted immediately, and the paper submission deadline has been extended to 7 February 2014. Authors will be notified by late March of the status of their paper. Accepted papers will be published on the IEEE Xplore digital library shortly after the conference, providing worldwide exposure for all authors.  The complete Call for Papers can be found at http://www.oi-ieee.org/call for-papers.

For registration and other information about 2014 Optical Interconnect Conference, visit http://www.oi-ieee.org/

CEA-Leti, Fraunhofer IPMS-CNT and three European companies — IPDiA, Picosun and SENTECH Instruments — have launched a project to industrialize 3D integrated capacitors with world-record density.

The two-year, EC-funded PICS project is designed to develop a disruptive technology through the development of innovative ALD materials and tools that results in a new world record for integrated capacitor densities (over 500nF/mm2) combined with higher breakdown voltages. It will strengthen the SME partners’ position in several markets, such as automotive, medical and lighting, by offering an even higher integration level and more miniaturization.

The fast development of applications based on smart and miniaturized sensors in aerospace, medical, lighting and automotive domains has increasingly linked requirements of electronic modules to higher integration levels and miniaturization (to increase the functionality combination and complexity within a single package). At the same time, reliability and robustness are required to ensure long operation and placement of the sensors as close as possible to the “hottest” areas for efficient monitoring.

For these applications, passive components are no longer commodities. Capacitors are indeed key components in electronic modules, and high-capacitance density is required to optimize – among other performance requirements – power-supply and high decoupling capabilities. Dramatically improved capacitance density also is required because of the smaller size of the package.

IPDiA has for many years developed an integrated capacitors technology that out performs current technologies (e.g. tantalum capacitors) in terms of stability in temperature, voltage, aging and reliability. Now, a technological solution is needed to achieve higher capacitance densities, reduce power consumption and improve reliability. The key enabling technology chosen to bridge this technological gap is atomic layer deposition (ALD) that allows an impressive quality of dielectric.

The PICS project consortium will address all related technological challenges and set up a cost-effective industrial solution. Picosun will develop ALD tools adapted to IPDiA’s 3D trench capacitors. SENTECH Instruments will provide a new solution to more accurately etch high-K dielectric materials. CEA-Leti and Fraunhofer IPMS-CNT will help the SMEs create innovative technological solutions to improve their competitiveness and gain market share. Finally, IPDiA will manage the industrialization of these processes.

About PICS The PICS project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program managed by REA-Research Executive Agency http://ec.europa.eu/rea (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° FP7-SME-2013-2-606149.

The PICS Project will last for two years and the consortium consists of three SMEs: IPDiA (France, coordinator), Picosun (Finland) and Sentech Instruments (Germany), and two leading research organizations: Fraunhofer IPMS-CNT (Germany) and CEA-Leti (France). Project objectives are to bring to mass production high density and high voltage capacitors based on ALD and etching development. Further information is available at www.fp7-pics.eu

 

About IPDiA IPDiA is a preferred supplier of high performance, high stability and high reliability silicon passive components to customers in the medical, automotive, communication, computer, industrial, and defense/aerospace markets. The company portfolio includes standard component devices such as silicon capacitors, RF filters, RF baluns, ESD protection devices as well as customized devices. IPDiA headquarters are located in Caen, France. The company operates design centers, sales and marketing offices and a manufacturing facility certified ISO 9001 / 14001 / 18001 / 13485 as well as ISO TS 16949 for the Automotive market. For further information, please visit www.ipdia.com

About Picosun Picosun is the world leading provider of ALD solutions for global industries. Picosun’s pioneering, unmatched expertise in ALD equipment design and manufacturing reaches back to the invention of the technology itself. Today, PICOSUN™ ALD systems are in daily production use in numerous prominent industries around the globe. Picosun is based in Finland, it has its subsidiaries in USA and Singapore, and world-wide sales and support network. For more information, visit www.picosun.com.

 

About SENTECH Instruments SENTECH Instruments GmbH develops, manufactures, and sells worldwide advanced quality instrumentation for Plasma Process Technology, Thin Film Measurement, and Photovoltaics. The medium-sized company founded in 1990 has grown fast over the last decades and has today 60 employees. SENTECH is located in Berlin, capital of Germany, and has moved to its own company building in 2010 in order to expand its production facilities.

SENTECH plasma etchers and deposition systems including ALD support leading-edge applications. They feature high flexibility, reliability, and low cost of ownership. SENTECH’s plasma products are developed and manufactured in-house and thus allow for customer-specific adaptations. More than 300 units have been sold to research facilities and industry for applications in nanotechnology, micro-optics, and optoelectronics. More information: www.sentech.de

About Fraunhofer IPMS-CNT Fraunhofer IPMS-CNT is a German research institute that develops advanced 300 mm semiconductor process solutions for Front-End and Back-End-of Line applications on state-of-the-art process- and analytical equipment. Research is focused on process development enabling 300 mm production, innovative materials and its integration into Systems (SoC/SiP) as well as nanopatterning through electron beam lithography. Fraunhofer is largest application-oriented research organization in Europe with 66 institutes and 22,000 employees. More information:  www.cnt.fraunhofer.de

About CEA-Leti By creating innovation and transferring it to industry, Leti is the bridge between basic research and production of micro- and nanotechnologies that improve the lives of people around the world. Backed by its portfolio of 2,200 patents, Leti partners with large industrials, SMEs and startups to tailor advanced solutions that strengthen their competitive positions. It has launched more than 50 startups. Its 8,000m² of new-generation cleanroom space feature 200mm and 300mm wafer processing of micro and nano solutions for applications ranging from space to smart devices. Leti’s staff of more than 1,700 includes 200 assignees from partner companies. Leti is based in Grenoble, France, and has offices in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Tokyo. Visit www.leti.fr for more information.  

Abingdon, England—Oxford Instruments (OXIG:LSE) has acquired Asylum Research (Santa Barbara, CA), a maker of scanning probe microscopes (SPM) with subsidiaries in the UK, Germany, and Taiwan. Its products are used by academic and industrial customers across the world for a wide range of materials and bioscience applications.

Asylum Research is being acquired from its management for an initial debt free, cash free consideration of $32 million with a deferred element of up to $48 million payable over three years depending on performance. Asylum Research generated Earnings Before Interest and Taxation (EBIT) of $1.1 million in 2011 from revenue of $19.6 million, and had gross assets of $6.2 million. The acquisition will be funded from existing facilities and is expected to be completed before the end of December 2012.

The acquisition of Asylum Research is in line with Oxford Instruments’ 14 Cubed objectives, to achieve a 14% average compound annual growth rate in revenues and a 14% return on sales by the year ending March 2014.  This acquisition contributes to the planned acquisition element of the revenue growth objective. While Asylum Research is expected to deliver less than the 14% targeted margin in this and the next financial year, following the acquisition the 14 Cubed margin target for the Group remains unchanged.

Approximately 60% of Asylum Research turnover comes from customers working in the materials science area where the customer base and routes to market are shared with Oxford Instruments. This opens opportunities for market synergies and the development of new integrated products. The remainder of Asylum Research’s turnover is in the bio-nano area where SPM instruments are used for research into soft materials such as DNA. This market provides a new growth opportunity for Oxford Instruments.

Jonathan Flint, Chief Executive of Oxford Instruments, noted, "The acquisition of Asylum Research significantly increases our footprint in the nanotechnology space and complements our strong position in electron microscopes with a presence in another fundamental nanotechnology measurement technique. The acquisition also gives us access to the rapidly growing bio-nano market as it allows customers to perform analysis of organic samples in their natural liquid environments, something which cannot readily be done using electron microscopes.

(Image: Toshiba Corp.)

Tokyo, Japan–This month (Dec. 2012), Toshiba Corporation (Tokyo: 6502) will begin mass-production of gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) white-emitting LEDs and start selling them to makers of general purpose and industrial LED lighting.

Conventional GaN-based LEDs, which include green, blue, violet, UV, and white LEDs, are manufactured using expensive sapphire wafers either 2 or 4 in. in diameter as substrates for the GaN-based LED thin films. Silicon wafers are far cheaper than sapphire — thus the push to Si.

Toshiba and Bridgelux (Livermore, CA), a company specializing in epitaxial growth and other LED manufacturing (and which has been working hard on GaN-on-Si LEDs), have developed a process for manufacturing GaN-based LEDs on 200 mm Si wafers. Toshiba has brought this process to a new production line at Kaga Toshiba Electronics Corporation (Iwauchi-cho, Japan) , a subsidiary of Toshiba and a discrete-products manufacturing facility. Mass production of packages using the new line’s output starts this month.

The 1 W LED is called the TL1F1, is 6.4 mm x 5.0 mm x 1.35 mm in size, and has a light flux of 112 lm at a 350 mA current. Toshiba plans a production capacity of 10,000,000 units per month.

Source: http://www.toshiba.com/taec/news/press_releases/2012/opto_12_657.jsp