Category Archives: LEDs

July 31, 2002 — Kopin Corp., a Taunton, Mass., supplier of semiconductor products for voice, video and data products, announced it has produced blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are brighter than conventional LEDs, yet require less power, using a process that creates “nanopockets,” according to a news release. The blue LEDs can be combined with a yellow phosphor to create a white LED.

Nanopockets are structures that confine the production of light away from defects in the LED. Company President John C.C. Fan said solid-state sources for general lighting are the ultimate goal. The results were published in the July 29 edition of the journal Applied Physics Letters.

July 26, 2002 — Acusphere Inc., a Watertown, Mass., developer of specialty pharmaceuticals using microparticle technology, announced the completion of a $15 million seventh round of institutional financing, issued as Series J.

The round was led by Thomas Weisel Capital Partners. BA Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Alta Ventures, MVI Medical Ventures, Prism Venture Partners, BancBoston Ventures, Audax Group, Technology Funding, Boston University and CIT Group also participated. All were previous investors in the company.

The recent round brings company funding to a total of $80 million, which includes both venture rounds and corporate transactions. The funding should get the company “well into 2003 or into 2004,” according to James Fitzgerald, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Fitzgerald said the company will use the funds to continue developing its ultrasound contrast agent for pulmonary imaging, its new formulation of the cancer drug paclitaxel, and a sustained release version of an asthma medication. “What we’re hoping to do with this financing is advance all of these candidates into the clinic,” he said, “to get far enough through trials to get human data, so we can have constructive discussions with large pharma.”

Acusphere was founded in 1993, partly based on technology developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It employs 55 people.

July 25, 2002 – Tokyo, Japan – The semiconductor business that NEC Corp. will spin off in November will focus on system chips and will be led by Kaoru Tosaka, currently head of NEC’s chip business, the company said.

The new firm, which will initially be 100% owned by NEC, aims to eventually go public, reported the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. It will handle system chips and discrete semiconductors. It will turn NEC Compound Semiconductor Devices Ltd. and other firms into group companies, with a system chip factory in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, and a microcomputer plant in Kumamoto coming under its umbrella.

Tosaka became head of NEC’s electron device division in April and has since tried to rebuild the semiconductor business, which incurred a loss of about 100 billion yen in FY01.

About 25,000 employees, including overseas staff, will be transferred to the new company. The firm will increase marketing staff by retraining and reassigning some engineers, enabling the business to design high-performance systems chips in a short time to meet customer demand.

The firm will likely need to implement further restructuring because excess employees are expected from the manufacturing sector as a result of a shift from the previous pursuit of increased scale.

July 25, 2002 — Arthur Zafiropoulo, chairman and chief executive of Ultratech Stepper Inc., will serve as chairman of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), an industry trade group representing over 2,500 companies, according to a news release.

Zafiropoulo, a SEMI board member since 1995 and vice chairman for the past year, was elected chairman by the group’s membership. He became president of Ultratech in 1990, led a management buyout of the firm in 1993, and has been chairman and CEO since 1994. Ultratech develops lithography tools used in making MEMS.

SEMICON West – Ultratech Stepper Inc.’s chairman and CEO Arthur Zafiropoulo, has been elected by the membership of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) as chairman of the industry association’s board of directors for 2002.

A SEMI board member since 1995 who served as SEMI vice chairman for the past year, Zafiropoulo succeeds Disco Corp.’s chairman and CEO Sekiya Kenichi in the role of SEMI chairman.

“Receiving this vote of confidence from the SEMI membership is a great honor,” said Zafiropoulo. “I look forward to working with the member companies and the other SEMI officials and board members to help our industry continue to anticipate market and technology challenges, as well as seek creative solutions.”

Zafiropoulo became president of Ultratech in 1990, led a management buy-out of the company in 1993, and was appointed chairman and CEO in 1994. Prior to joining Ultratech, Zafiropoulo served as president of the General Signal Semiconductor Equipment Group’s international operations. He was also founder and president of Drytek, a dry-etch company acquired by General Signal in 1986 and subsequently purchased by Lam Research Corp. in 1993.

Zafiropoulo holds several US and foreign patents, and his early-’90s turnaround of Ultratech earned him induction into VLSI Research Inc.’s Semiconductor Industry Hall of Fame.

July 23, 2002 — The NanoBusiness Alliance, a New York industry association formed to drive development in small tech, announced the availability of two reports: “Quantum Dot and Semiconductor Nanocrystal Patent Survey” and “Small Tech Sensors: U.S. Markets, Applications and Forecasts” that were originally announced at Nanobusiness Spring 2002 in May.

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The quantum dot report, which costs $1,599, was produced with law firm Foley & Lardner. It was compiled from a search of issued U.S. patents on quantum dot research.

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The sensors report, which costs $1,999, was produced with Deloitte & Touche. It covers current applications and future prospects for U.S. sensor markets. Bundled together, the two reports cost $2,750.

July 15, 2002 — MEMGen Corp., a Burbank, Calif.-based developer of microdevice manufacturing technology, announced it has closed on $5.7 million in Series A1 financing, an extension to its first round of venture capital.

Partech International led the investment. Also participating were original investors DynaFund Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Chevron Technology Ventures LLC, Zone Ventures, Atherton Venture Partners LLC, Venture Law Group and Riordan & McKinzie, as well as McDonnell 1998 Co-investing, a DynaFund limited partner.

The company initially closed on over $11 million in Series A financing in Feb., 2001 and secured a $1.5 equipment lease line of credit from Pentech Financial Services in July 2001. Terms of the current Series A1 investment are “more or less” identical to the original Series A round, said Adam Cohen, MEMGen president and chief executive, with the exception of a higher price. Cohen said that Partech “brought us European connections we consider to be valuable.”

Cohen said current funding is being used to accelerate development of the company’s core EFAB technology and that he does not anticipate another funding round anytime soon. MEMGen’s EFAB platform integrates 3-D CAD with MEMS manufacturing processes. The company says its system can provide mass production capability without a clean room.

July 12–DURHAM, N.C–Chipmaker Cree, Inc. has been awarded more than $26 million in government contracts from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL) for silicon carbide (SiC) microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) process development.

The U.S. Navy, the Missile Defense Agency and the Department of Defense’s Title III program jointly fund these contracts. Under Cree’s existing Title III contract with AFRL, the project added $3.2 million through a contract modification for additional tasks focused on improving yields of the three-inch diameter high purity semi-insulating SiC substrates to be used for these devices. The remaining $23.3 million will be provided through a new contract with ONR.

The cleanroom fabrication work will include the development of more automated wafer handling systems for the larger diameter wafers, as well as the implementation of statistical process control for these new processes. The program is incrementally funded, with funding in future government fiscal years subject to appropriation and allocation of the contracted amounts.

The program builds on Cree’s past demonstrations of SiC MMIC performance with the goal of providing enhanced production of SiC materials, both substrates and epitaxy, and cleanroom processing, in support of high-power MMIC amplifiers useful in military radar applications. All of the work will be directed to yield enhancement and cost reduction for MMICs fabricated on
Three-inch diameter wafers.

“We are excited to move this technology forward from the R&D stage into a manufacturing environment,” says John Palmour, Cree’s director of advanced devices.

Adds Jim Milligan, Cree’s manager of advanced microwave programs, “This program is intended to enable lower cost high power SiC amplifiers that can significantly enhance the performance of a variety of military radar systems while maintaining affordability.”

July 10, 2002 — BodyMedia Inc., a Pittsburgh-based provider of body monitoring products, announced the close of a $6.5 million second round of financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet.

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Prescient Partners II LLC, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and previous investors Draper Triangle and Saturn Partners also participated. The company previously received $6.9 million in a first round of financing that closed in December 2000, according to Astro Teller, BodyMedia’s chief executive.

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BodyMedia’s SenseWear Armband tracks movement, heat flow, skin temperature, heart rate, galvanic skin response and other data. Among its many integrated sensors is a dual-axis MEMS accelerometer from Analog Devices .

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“With this next set of money we intend to become cash flow positive and solidify and be able to announce a set of partnerships,” specifically in the areas of clinical and self-care weight management and performance sports, Teller said. He also said the company is shrinking the size of the device. “It will be significantly smaller in 12 to 18 months. In fact, I can say roughly half the size.”

July 9, 2002 — Picoliter Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.-based developer of micron-scale and smaller volume liquid handling technologies, announced it has raised $22 million in a second round of financing.

New investors Abingworth and the Sprout Group led the round. Previous investors Delphi Ventures, Alloy Ventures and Palo Alto Investors also participated. First round funding was $5.1 million.

Elaine Heron, Picoliter chief executive, said the funds will be used to commercialize products, especially instruments. She said it will take between a year and a year-and-a-half before a product is announced. She also said she is not sure whether the company will require another round of venture funding.