·     BCC to issue market research report on compound semiconductors in December.

·     Cermet and Isonics to jointly develop pure zinc-64 oxides for blue LED substrates.

·     Color Kinetics among fastest growing companies in New England.

·     Color Kinetics issued patent on intelligent power technology.

·     Cree introduces first UV LED (InGaN on SiC) for illumination market (405/395 nm versions).

·     Cree introduces 3-inch off-axis n-type SiC wafers.

< span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Symbol; layout-grid-mode:line'>·     ElectraLetter introduces LED channel letter signage; reports significant energy savings.

·     Fairchild introduces new ultra-bright LEDs with transparent substrate AlInGaP technology.

·     Honeywell expands HB-LED wafer mfg facility in Canada (Czochralski grown sapphire crystals).

·     KSU issues press release on micro-LEDs which could boost efficiency by 60%.

'·     LumiLeds settles patent dispute with UEC.

·     LumiLeds introduces new blue, green and orange high flux SMD LEDs.

·     Matsushita develops low-cost blue laser diode using special crystal to transform red to blue.

·     Microsemi collaborating with Cree on GaN-based blue LED, Optimite LED package can handle up to 100 mA of continuous current. Also collaborating with Nitronex on UV LEDs.

·     Motorola makes breakthrough in combining compound semi materials with Si.

·     NASA Glenn Research Center receives another patent for growing atomically flat surfaces.

·     Nat’l Inst. for Materials Science(Japan) realizes UV LED using diamond pn junction (235 nm).

·     Nichia – US Trade Commission terminates an investigation of the company.

·     Nichia’s patent dispute with Toyoda Gosei: JPO ruling in dispute.

·     Nichia to debut violet lasers in April 2002.

·     Nitronex raises $24.5 million in 2^nd round financing; forms alliance with Microsemi for blue and UV LEDs; creates Optoelectronics division to commercialize SSL products.

·     Osram to buy out all shares of Osram Opto Semi from Infineon.

·     Osram collaborating w/ 4 German institutions on blue laser diode development.

·     Osram’s LED lighting installed at Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

·     PIDA projects Taiwan opto-electronics industry growth.

·     Sony/NEC reports violet lasers (410 nm) ready for commercialization.

·     Sound Off is testing LED lights for emergency vehicle warning lights.

·     TDI, Inc. achieves 1.5 “ GaN bulk wafers, single crystal structure; commercialization in one year.

·     TIR completes $2.5 million in first round financing; introduces “Destiny” line of products.

·     Toshiba launches LED driver IC that raises operating efficiency of white LEDs to 85%.

·     UV LED consortium formed by Uniroyal and three Florida universities.

·     Uniroyal buys out Emcore share of Uniroyal Optoelectronics; reports that Sept. is biggest sales month in their history.

·     Uniroyal’s NorLux develops LED array with high light emissions over small area.

·     United Epitaxy - volume product of UHB-LEDs (AlGaInP chips) in new plant;  mass production of AlGaAs VCSELs.

·     UC-Berkeley grows nanolasers that can be tuned from blue to deep UV.

·     UCSB’s Nakamura sues Nichia

·     UCSB’s Nakamura receives Cree Chair.

·     UCSB's UC-SMART program has new project for self-assembled photonic materials.

·     U of South Wales (Australia) develops new Si LED, inverted pyramid structure, claims 100x more efficient that existing Si components.

·     Zetex: Launches programmable constant current drive for white LEDs maintains 94% efficiency level.

ABSTRACTS

·      BCC announced that it expects to have a report, “More than Silicon—The Market for Compound Semiconductors,” available in December of this year.  This report looks at the market for semiconductors made from compounds in the II, III, IV, V and VI element groups. This $15 billion market has more than tripled in five years time and continues to develop fabrication methods. This study provides an update on the compounds that fulfill the promise of full spectrum, high brightness LEDs, night-vision technology and low cost, efficient lighting for automotive, commercial, and household applications. Also included are revenue forecasts, company profiles and a full description of the industry producing this growing list of uniquely capable devices. (Report description online here.)

·      Cermet Inc. (Atlanta) and Isonics Corporation, Inc have announced a joint development program to evaluate isotopically pure zinc-64 oxide as a substrate for manufacturing blue LEDs and blue laser diodes for next generation optical storage and telecommunications.  Cermet is developing single crystal ZnO as a replacement for Aluminum oxide and silicon carbide substrates for the manufacture of GaN optoelectronic devices.  The program is expected to take 12-18 months to complete.  (Press release online here.)

·      Color Kinetics has been received a “Rising Star” ranking from the prestigious New England Technology Fast 50 Program, which is an annual ranking of the fastest-growing technology companies in the area.  Rankings are based on the percentage of growth in revenues over a three year period.  The company attributes its phenomenal growth to its pioneering intelligent LED-based lighting technology and comprehensive intellectual property portfolio.  Their Chromacore products use microprocessor-controlled, multicolored LEDs to generate millions of colors and a variety of dynamic lighting effects.  (Press release available online.)

·      Color Kinetics has received its fifth U.S. patent (#6,292,901) covering it “Smartjuice” intelligent power technology and encompasses methods and systems for multiplexing power and data over conventional wiring, allowing for control of intelligent digital light fixtures. The technology can be found in the company's Juice Box product, which is used to enable advanced control of the company's iColor MR lamps.  The company describes Smartjuice as a “groundbreaking technology that adds a whole new level of lighting control and design options in many environments, such as retail, architectural, and residential.  Smartjuice technology multiplexes power and data on one wire so that data can be delivered over existing wiring, eliminating the need for separate wires.” (Press release, online here.  Patent text is available at the USPTO, online.)

·      Cree introduced the first UV LED for use in the illumination market in late July.  These 12 mW, 405 nm and 395 nm UV (InGaN on SiC substrate) devices are the brightest LED available on the market today, according to the company.  Cree is targeting an average selling price comparable to their MegaBright blue LED and the company expected to begin volume production within several months.  The UV product is an offshoot of a collaboration with NIST (ATP-funded work).  (Press release online here.)  Cree has recently posted the specification sheet for this LED product online.  The specs note that these LEDs have a geometrically enhanced vertical chip structure to maximize light extraction efficiency and require only a single wire bond connection.  (Note:  Specs for MegaBright line are also available online.)

·      Cree Inc. has introduced two new 3-inch, 4H and 6H, off-axis, n-type silicon carbide (SiC) wafers.  These new wafers will complement their on-axis products.  Cree is the only known manufacturer with commercially available single crystal 3-inch SiC substrates, according to the company.  (Press release online here.)

·      ElectraLetter announced the availability of new channel letter signage using LEDs, or ElectraLEDs.  The company says that ElectraLEDs show an energy savings of 90% at 13 cents per kWh for 180 feet of signage compared to comparable lighting. Under these assumptions, ElectraLEDs would cost $138/year vs. fluorescent lamps at $3,100/year vs. neon tubing at $2,045/year.  [Business Wire, 9/5/01]

·      Fairchild Semiconductor introduced new ultra-bright LED lamps for use in outside environments that employ transparent-substrate-AlInGaP technology.  They claim their technology delivers significantly more light output than most LED devices in the marketplace.  One of their products emits amber light (594 nm) and one emits red (635 nm).  Both have a luminous intensity of 3,000 mcd at 20mA forward current, and both are encapsulated in a water clear epoxy lens package.  (Press release and product datasheet available online.)

·      Honeywell Electronic Materials (HEM) has completed the first phase of expansion at its $12 million, state-of-the-art HB-LED wafer manufacturing facility in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.  The facility supplies sapphire substrates used in the manufacture of HB-LEDs.  HEM is a primary producer of Czochralski grown sapphire crystals which are fabricated for various applications using the optical, mechanical and insulating properties of single crystal aluminum oxides. Completion of this phase allows for high volume sapphire substrate production.  HEM also stated that Phase II expansion has already begun. This expansion will be completed by the end of 2001 and will double crystal growth capacity allowing the company to produce more than 300,000 substrates per year. Next, generation sapphire product development will also be enhanced.  (Press release online here.)

·      Kansas State University issued a press release about the blue LED work of Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin.  The researchers have created blue micro LEDs that are more efficient that conventional LEDs – putting hundreds of interconnected miniature LEDs in the same space as one conventional LED could boost the efficiency by 60 percent.  Kansas State is able to make and fabricate the miniature blue LEDs on research/laboratory-grown 2-inch wafers, which Lin claims is a unique feture of KSU – “There are very few universities that have the technology to get the light out.” 100 of their micro-LEDs are grown in a .5x .5 mm space, and can be individually turned on or off.  They believe the micro-LEDs will be particularly useful for micro displays as well as solid state lighting.  The work is funding by NSF, DOE, ARO, BMDO, ONR and DARPA.  (KSU press release online here.)

·      LumiLeds settles patent dispute with United Epitaxy Company (UEC) of Taiwan: At issue was US patent 5,008,718 which is owned by LumiLeds Lighting and relates to the use of a window layer to greatly enhance light output extraction from AlInGaP LEDs. LumiLeds claimed infringement of the '718 Patent by UEC's AlInGaP products.  In late August, they announced that they had settled the litigation, although the exact terms of the settlement were not disclosed.  Both parties agreed to dismiss all claims and couterclaims asserted against each other.  In a related agreement, LumiLeds has granted UEC a license under several patents for which UEC will pay fees and royalties.  LumiLeds also stated that they would consider using UEC as a supplier.  (8/30/01 press release available in press release section here.)

·      LumiLeds has introduced new blue, green and orange high flux surface mount LEDs. The typical intensities of the new SMD devices are (at 20mA): orange - 220 mcd; green - 200 mcd; blue- 100 mcd. The blue and green LEDs are based on InGaN and the orange on TS AlInGaP.  The company believes that they will be able to introduce SMD LEDs with even better intensity values by the end of the year, and says that their new products are among the brightest available on the market.  (Business Wire, 8/1/01)

·      Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has developed a low-cost blue laser diode that does not infringe on any existing patents, including those of fluorescent lighting firm Nichia Corp, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources. Matsushita's technique uses a special crystal to transform a red laser into blue, it said. The  firm plans to begin mass-producing the diode by the end of 2002.  The company will by year-end begin shipping samples for between 2,000 and 3,000 yen per diode. (Press release available online.)

·      Microsemi Corp. announced in mid-October that it has made significant progress in the development of its blue LED products scheduled to be released by the end of 2001.  (See company press release and article in CompoundSemi News.)  The company is developing a “comprehensive light engine portfolio” in its development of blue, UV and white LEDs and its new LED driver.  In two separate alliances, Microsemi is developing different approaches to blue and UV LEDs:

Þ     For GaN-based LEDs, Microsemi is seeking to eliminate problems with lifetimes, high operating voltage, package degradation and the ability to drive the LEDs at higher than typical rated current of 30mAmps.  Microsemi’s patent pending Optomite LED package can handle up to 100 mA of continuous current without overheating or stressing the LED chip and reducing its lifetime.  For these initial products, Microsemi will be using Megabrite die from Cree, comparable to the brightest blue on the market today.  Microsemi will begin sampling key customers in late October.

Þ     The second approach is being developed in a joint alliance with Nitronex.  By combining Nitronex’s “Sigantic” (GaN onsilicon) process and Microsemi’s patented MMSM chip scale architecture, thecompanies aim to develop a “package-less” technology to significantly increasebrightness, reduce VF, and eliminate problematic epoxy packaging.  The patented approach uses glass instead ofepoxy.  (More information can be found in the press release from Nitronex, available online.)

·      Motorola has announced that it has made a breakthrough in combining compoundsemiconductor materials, e.g., GaAs, InP, GaN and others, with traditional silicon.  Its lab in Tempe, AZ has demonstrated working cellular handsets using power amplifiers that combine GaAs on a silicon wafer.  Previously, efforts to combine InP and other light emitting compounds were thwarted because of mismatch issues between the two types of materials. Motorola claims its technique allows the two disparate compounds to bond by applying an intermediate material layer.  Motorola plans to broadly license the technology although it has not disclosed a commercial launch date.  Another important breakthrough by this lab is the ability to use GaAs on 12 inch wafers.  GaAs is typically limited to 4- and 6-inch wafers.  Full text of this press release is available online.

·      NASA Glenn Research Center announced that they had received a second patent for their method of growing atomically flat surfaces, without a single step even one atom high, on commercial semiconductor wafers.  While the patents cover silicon, silicon carbide and III-V semiconductors, to date, the researchers have only demonstrated the process with SiC.  Phil Neudeck says that they have demonstrated the process over 50mm diameter SiC wafers. The research team makes step-free surfaces by first etching device-sized arrays of mesas into wafers. Next, by controlling conditions, the researchers limit crystal growth to  the riser, or side, of each atomic step. The CVD process is done in a commercial epitaxial system. The crystal at each step grows sideways until the step reaches the edge of the mesa, leaving behind an atomically flat surface.  Tony Powell, a senior research physicist, says, "We've flattened silicon carbide mesas as large as 0.4 x 0.4mm  and, depending on the mesa size, over half of the mesas on a wafer."  What results is a wafer full of individual IC-sized areas that are step-free.  When mesa sizes are kept well below 10⁴cm², the process can be carried out with high yield over nearly all of a 50 mm SiC wafer.  [Solid State Technology, July 2001]

·      National Institute for Materials Science (Tsukuba, Japan) researchers have realized an ultraviolet light-emitting diode with the use of a diamond pn junction,formed from a boron-doped p-type diamond layer and phosphorus-dopedn-type diamond layer grown epitaxially on the {111} surface ofsingle crystalline diamond. The pn junction exhibited good diodecharacteristics, claim the authors, and at forward bias of about 20 volts, strongultraviolet light emission at 235 nanometers was observed andwas attributed to free exciton recombination. (Ref:  “Ultraviolet Emission from a Diamond pn Junction,” Satoshi Koizumi, Kenji Watanabe, Masataka Hasegawa, and Hisao Kanda;  Science 2001 June 8; 292: 1899-1901) 

·      Nichia/Rohm:  The U.S. International Trade Commission has terminated its investigation against Nichia related to the company’s assertion that Nichia’s InGaN semiconductor diode parts infringed on Rohm patents.  The commission also ordered Rohm to show cause that its complaint was not improper.  (Press release available online.)

·      Nichia vs. Toyoda Gosei on GaN-Based Blue LED dispute:  In early October, the Tokyo High Court rendered another decision in this patent dispute, indicating that the Japan Patent Office incorrectly revoked Toyoda’s blue LED patent.  CompoundSemi News reports that the wording of the patent dispute announcements is confusing and the number of issues and patents involved are numerous, and has provided a useful compendium of reading on the issues for interested readers. Nichia commented that they would continue to seek a court-ordered ban on the manufacture of these devices by Toyoda.  (CompoundSemi News, article available online.)

·      Nichia and violet lasers:  Nichia’ violet laser plans have received quite a bit of attention from the press (e.g., this article in CompoundSemiNews).  This 405 nm laser with output power for continuous oscillation at 30 mW or more can be used as a light source for next-generation digital video disks and other large capacity optical disk devices.  Commercialization is planned for April 2002.  [See also item on Sony and NEC violet laser developments .].

·      Nitronex news: 

Þ     The company raised $24.5 million in second round financing in July, adding to their $10.1 million first-round financing.  The company says that the funding will enable them to produce their GaN wireless and optoelectronic components.  One of the funding principals believes that Nitronex is developing the highest-quality GaN in the industry.  (Press release available online.)

Þ     Nitronex also has formed an alliance with Microsemi Corp. to fabricate blue and UV LEDs on silicon substrates. The companies intend to increase light output and reduce the power demanded by their future line of LEDs to light the displays of battery-operated mobile phones, PDAs, and other information appliances.  The two companies seek to create LED products that will no longer be affected by limits on the usage of SiC and sapphire-based LEDs in various applications.  Microsemi and Nitronex are looking to develop a 3.4-V device that can extend battery life up to 20% to 30%, reducing the need for voltage boost converters to drive the LEDs in low-battery conditions.  (Press release available online. See also Microsemi announcement in earlier item.)

Þ     The company then created an Optoelectronics Division, which will enable Nitronex to extend the design and cost advantages of Si-based GaN to markets including lighting and data storage.  The new division will commercialize solid-state lighting and data storage solutions by leveraging its technical strengths in low-defect density pendeoepitaxy process and “Sigantic” platform technology.  Warren Weeks is the general manager of this division.  Full text of this press release is available online.

·      Osram GmbH has announced that it will acquire all of Infineon Technologies’ shares in their joint venture, Osram Opto Semiconductors at a cost of Euro 565 million.  The acquisition will strengthen Osram’s market position in optical semiconductors, while Infineon will focus its resources more strongly on its core business.  Osram Opto will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Osram.  Osram is transforming the company from a traditional manufacturer of light bulbs into a high tech company.  (Press release  available online.)

·      Osram Opto Semiconductors is collaborating with TU Braunschweig, the Universities of Stuttgart and Ulm and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (all three in Germany), for the development of a blue semiconductor laser diode. The collaboration aims to develop a thin gallium nitride film on which this laser can be grown. The new laser diode is able to produce a beam of light with a 420 nm wavelength and current work is focusing on increasing the diode's wavelength and improving its performance. (Ref:  Handelsblatt [a German business newspaper] September 04, 2001, German business newspaper.)

·      Osram Sylvania, the National Park Service, and the National Park Foundation have installed a new LED lighting system, valued at $800k, for the Jefferson Memorial that illuminates four areas of the site for the first time.  The system uses 78% less energy. The system was donated by OSRAM and designed by the Mintz Lighting Group of New York.  OSRAM donated the system as a gift to highlight the company’s 100^th anniversary and the 200^th anniversary of Jefferson’s inauguration. The event was to have been celebrated on September 12^th in a ceremony designed to showcase both the partnership and the results of the new technology, but was postponed due to the September 11^thtragedy.  The project is described online.

·      Taiwan Optoelectronics Industry Growth:  PIDA (a Taiwan industry association) predicted that Taiwan’s domestic opto-electronics industry will grow from about $9.9 billion in 2000 to $16.17 billion in 2003 at the recent Opto-Taiwan 2001 exhibition.  Participants (mostly Taiwanese), however, did not seem optimistic for this year, with one saying that opto-electronic component makers are operating at only about 20% of their capacity.  Emcore representatives commented that last year they had put up a fab for VCSEL epitaxial wafers with a capacity of 1 million units per month (based on analysts’ estimates), but are currently producing only 100k units per month, which was the capacity of their old fab.  Component makers do not agree on when the market will improve but believe that once it does, growth will be strong.  Trends were also discussed at this exhibition, and one major trend noted was the movement of LEDs from “indication to illumination.”  Component makers are trying to extend the lifetimes of LEDs for this purpose.  (See special report from Global Sources, online here.)

·      Sony Corporation and NEC recently announced at the Japan Society of Applied Physics meeting that their violet laser technologies have “reached commercial product level.”  They are challenging Nichia, the market leader in this area (see above), which first introduced violet lasers based on GaN grown on a sapphire substrate, at 30 milliwatt output power.  Sony’s violet laser (410 nm wavelength) operates at the same power level, but has realized a 15,000-hour lifetime at 60° C.  Sony has introduced a structure consisting of Si and SiO2 layers along the ridge stripe to guide the light.  The resultant laser operates at a threshold current and voltage of 37.4 milliamps and 4.2 volts.  NEC has developed a 410 nm violet laser with a structure that the company claims is well-suited to volume production compared with current violet lasers.  NEC developed a technology called RIPS (ridge by selective regrowth) that features a two-step layer growing process.  In the first step, layers for the n-cladding layer, the n-optical guiding layer, the multiple quantum well layer and the p-optical guiding layer are grown on the GaN substrate.  After the first growth, an SiO2 layer is deposited and a window strip is patterned using standard photolithography techniques.  In the second growth step, a remaining p-cladding layer and a p-GaN contact layer are epitaxially regrown on the openings of the SiO2 layer using epitaxial lateral overgrowth.  Then, p- and n-electrodes are evaporated on the top and bottom of the device.  The process does not need dry etching, which improves the diode characteristics.  (EE Times – for more detail, article online here .)

·      Sound Off, a company in Hudsonville, Michigan, makes almost all the flashing police car lights in the country, and warning lights for fire trucks and ambulances.  They are testing the use of LED lights for these applications because they are safe alternative (“brighter than traditional strobes and never burn out”).  In addition, the LED lights turn on faster and make a more noticeable true red color, which also makes them a safer solution. (Grand Rapids Press, Aug 18, 2001)

·      Technologies & Devices International (TDI, Inc. in Gaithersburg, MD, Vladimir Dmitriev, founder) is progressing very well in creating bulk GaN, according to CompoundSemi News.  The company’s 1.5 inch GaN bulk wafers were previewed at the recent International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors.  The company expects that they may have the boules and wafers in commercial production within one year.  TDI's bulk GaN material has been recently characterized as a single crystalstructure, verified by transmission electron microscopy at Arizona State University. According to Professor S. Mahajan who performed the characterization, "These single crystal GaN samples have fairly high crystal quality with low dislocation density."  The accomplishment was a result of teamwork by the 20+ people at TDI and those on their development team, which includes the Office of Naval Research (ONR), BMDO, the Naval Research Labs (NRL) and NIST, as well as researchers at Cornell University, led by material researchers Les Eastman and Mike Spencer, and researchers at Erlangen University in Germany. TDI is in active discussions with potential commercial development and manufacturing partners for volume production of their proprietary GaN bulk growth process.  (For more information, see the McDonald Report and follow-up article in CompoundSemi News, and company press release and description.)

·      TIR (Vancouver, Canada) completed $2.5 million in first round financing at the end of September.  The company is aiming to be a leading innovator and supplier of solid-state lighting systems that use recently-developed, high-intensity light-emitting diodes, powered and controlled by integrated circuits and other electronic components, as their light sources.  TIR also announced at LightFair a new line of architectural products, their “Destiny” line that uses LumiLeds Luxeon LED arrays.  The first two products in the Destiny Series are an illuminated pole for decorative landscape and public area applications, and a matching wall-mounted "colorbar" that can be used as a vertical design element on the exterior of almost any commercial or corporate structure.  See press releases online here.

·      Toshiba Corporation announced the commercialization of a LED driver IC that raises the operating efficiency of white LEDs to 85%.  The new driver IC supports highly efficient back lighting and improved performance of LCDs installed in a wide range of mobile products. Mass production started in October 2001, at an initial monthly volume of one million units.  The device uses a current drive technology that maximizes operating efficiency and improves performance by 20%.  The result is the choice of a 20% decrease in power consumption while maintaining LED emissions at the same level as in current products, or maintaining power consumption at present levels and boosting LED emissions by 20%.  The IC is also the first to adopt a driving current de-rating function with ambient temperature, allowing it to measure power consumption against heat and so maximize LED performance at room temperature.  The IC can be simply optimized to support a wide range of applications, from cellular phones to PDAs.  (More details on the IC’s benefits and characteristics available in press release, online here.)

·      UV LED Consortium:  Uniroyal Optoelectronics has announced a long-term collaboration with three Florida universities (U of FL, U of South FL, U of Central FL), called “UV Florida,” to accelerate Uniroyal’s development of UV LEDs.  According to the announcement, the company is nearing completion of its state-of-the-art R&D facility.  The project will be funded by a portion of Florida’s $3.6 million R&D incentive program.  Initially, the project will develop a 350-400 nm AlGaInN-based UV LEDs.  Each university will bring special areas of expertise to the project – U of FL will focus on epitaxial growth and processing of UV LEDs, while U of South FL and Central FL will provide structural measurement and electrical and optical characterization.  Tim Anderson and John Hitt are among the scientists associated with the projects.  (Press release online here.)

·      Uniroyal Technology business news:

  Þ     Uniroyal has acquired Emcore's minority ownership position in Uniroyal Optoelectronics, LLC (UOE).  Uniroyal's ownership interest in the Optoelectronics joint venture was 64%.  (Press release online here.)

Þ     The company’s compound semiconductor and optoelectronics segment had its highest sales month (in September) since its inception.  Strong demand for HB-LEDs is fueling their sales. (Press release posted online here.)

·      Uniroyal’s NorLux division has developed a LED array that contains a closely spaced array of chips mounted to an aluminum substrate.  They claim this configuration yields high light emissions over a small area, efficient heat sinking, and easy mounting.  The LED chips themselves are separated from the aluminum by a dielectric layer that is thermally but not electrically conductive.  The aluminum draws heat from the chips, allowing the device to be driven at higher levels than standard LEDs.  The LED array is intended for white light applications.  NorLux also has in development optics that will increase on-axis intensity by an order of magnitude or more.  One example is a total internal reflection lens that accepts 180 ° of incoming radiation and produces a 30 ° outgoing cone of light.  (Press release available online.)

·      United Epitaxy (UEC) (Taiwan) reports starting production of AlGaInP UHB-LEDs at new plant and lowering UHB-LED production costs to NT$0.1 - $0.2 per chip (or about three-tenths of a US cent), making it reasonably competitive with the NT$0.1 per chip for traditional LEDs.  UEC plans to install 80-100 MOCVD reactors to raise UHB-LED capacity to 1 billion chips per month over the next five years, because they expect that world demand will reach 2.5 billion chips by 2005 (news reported by III-Vs Review, August 2001, online here). The company has also started mass production of epiwafers of AlGaAs VCSELs of wavelengths from 780-850 nm in both ion-implant and oxide-confined form.  (See also article from CompoundSemi News that describes this technology, available online.)

·      Univ of California-Berkeley’s Peidong Yang and colleagues have grown nanolasers, with diameters of 20-150 nanometers with lengths up to 10 micrometers, that can be tuned from blue to deep UV.  With their new method, high density, structured arrays from nanolasers can be produced economically.  The lasers are pure crystals of zinc oxide.  Gold film is deposited on a sapphire substrate and placed in hot zinc oxide gas.  The gold forms regular arranged nanocrystals when it is headed.  The gold nanocrystals stimulate the growth of extremely pure zinc oxide wires.  Perfectly flat, hexagonal end faces are formed, which are optical resonators for lasing, for ZnO and for air.  The technique is quite compatible with common industrial methods. The nanolasers are pumped with an Nd:YAG at room temperature.   (Ref: Science 2001 292: 1897-1899, “Room-Temperature Ultraviolet Nanowire Nanolasers.”  For more detail and pictures, see stp gateway article online here.)

·      Univ of California-SB’s Shuji Nakamura filed suit against former employer, Nichia, claiming that he holds rights to much of his patented work conducted there.  Nakamura blames Nichia for the litigation, saying he had intended to start a new life in the United States but that Nichia’s action last year was a hindrance to his work, so he decided to sue. (Nichia and Nakamura are in another legal battle over consulting work that Nakamura did for a competitor, which the company claims is a violation of trade secrets.)  Nakamura is demanding about $17 million (2 billion yen) in compensation for his research that has earned Nichia roughly 80 patents and contributed to 2 billion yen in profits.  (This story was carried by many sources, see for example, EE Times, August 28,2001, available online.)

·      UC-SB’s Nakamura has also been named the first recipient of the Cree Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Center for Solid State Lighting and Displays. Cree pledged $1.2 million to the College of Engineering at UCSB in September 2000 toward the endowment of the Cree Chair and to support research in the field of gallium nitride-based electronic materials and devices. Nakamura is currently the director of the UCSB Center for Solid State Lighting and Displays. (Press release available online.)

·      UC-SB’s UC-SMART program, designed to enhance industrial research support through matching funds, announced in July that it will provide about $1.5 million to fund the “Design and Manufacturing of Materials and Devices for Optical Electronic Applications” program, being conducted under the auspices of the five-year, $15 million research alliance with Mitsubishi.  One project, run by Glenn Fredrickson and David Pine, focuses on self-assembled photonic materials and devices and specifically on the development of new inorganic particles that are very efficient at scattering light.  The project aims to engineer a titanium sphere, 10 microns wide, filled with one-micron spherical voids.  Researchers believe that the size and packing of the spherical voids may result in a particle that looks and behaves like a small piece of photonic crystal, which could produce more cost-effective coatings and a light diffuser particularly well-suited to solid state lighting devices.  Other projects funded by this effort are related to organic chromophores, nanoparticle patterning, and better conducting polymers.  (See UCSB announcement.)

·      Univ of South Wales (Australia) researchers have developed a new Si LED that they claim is 100 times more efficient that existing Si components.  The diode works at almost room temperature and was improved with the use of solar cell technology.  The new LED has an efficiency of 1% at 300K but researchers believe they can achieve 5% efficiency.  Professor Martin Green is the contact for this work.  Inverted pyramids were etched in an Si LED and the pyramids reflect absorbed light back into the semiconductor.  (For more detail, see stp-gateway article online, which includes picture of the Si LED.)

·      Zetex provides a programmable constant current drive for white LEDs that maintains an efficiency of 94% (a ZXSC300 converter circuit). The combination of a ZXSC300 controller IC and an FMMT617 low saturation switching transistor feeds single or multiple white LEDs, connected in series or parallel, from a wide range of input voltages. The efficiency conversion produced by the circuit is sustained as power cell voltage descends to as low as 0.8V, said the supplier. A modification of external components also allows the boost converter to be configured for either maximum battery life or maximum LED brightness. (Electronics Weekly, July 18, 2001.)