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Commentary & Perspective...
The Blue Laser Lane's NarrowingApril 28, 2005...Solid state GaN blue lasers have been an especially bright and colorful topic
(literally and figuratively) in these pages since 1995. This was when Shuji Nakamura
made his major breakthroughs in R&D that moved attitudes and aspirations
away from ZnSe. Ten year later, here we are going into our Third Annual BLUE
event (www.blue2005.com), and the top news
of the week in the blue spectrum lane is once again GaN blue lasers. And it's
exciting news. Two vertically integrated Japanese-based competitive giants on
the blue laser foodchain, Sony and Toshiba, are realizing that having two separate
specifications, or "standards", above the blue laser diode level,
is indeed counterproductive. (Ref: April
25 headline news).
Those of you attending BLUE 2005 in Taiwan
May 16-18 will learn the latest from the blue laser lane from Asif
Anwar, Director of the GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service at Strategy
Analytics, who will be speaking at 9:30am Tuesday, May 17th. But the
news about a possible compromise provides an opportunity to call your attention
to the fact that blue lasers are an important part of BLUE 2005. The same basic
ingredients go into making a blue laser diode that go into the recipe
for a blue spectrum LED. The key ingredient is GaN. I've been told that the
difference between creating an exceptional blue LED and a mediocre blue laser
isn't that much... but I suspect it's more complicated than that.
People new to our field have asked "How did the event get its name?"
My partner and the head of CompoundSemi Online Inc., Tom Griffiths, came
up with that. In and around the turn of the century, GaN blue spectrum LEDs
and laser diodes had much in common, namely, leading edge gallium nitride (GaN)
based compound semiconductor material science and manufacturing technology.
In 2002, Shuji Nakamura, our industry's prime GaN blue spectrum breakthrough
artist, left Japan and Nichia to begin his teaching and research profession
at the University of California's Santa Barbara campus (UCSB) in the USA (with
GaN gurus such as Umesh Mishra and Steven DenBaars). During this time, Shuji's former company
was starting to crank out major volumes of GaN-based blue and violet laser diodes.
About the same time, Taiwan was under the threat of sinking with so many GaN
MOCVD reactors coming online to make blue spectrum LEDs (blue, green, violet,
white, etc... i.e. the "blue spectrum."). Tom and I agreed that the
simple term "BLUE" said it all and would stick in people's minds for
many years to come. Obviously, it has. We're expecting a sell-out crowd at BLUE
2005 this year.
Also around that time, business was virtually collapsing in the telecom sector,
so we had fun with the name "BLUE" and used a play on words with the
hook "Celebration of the Blues." We even had a rock and blues
band perform the night of the banquet. Although business was severely down for
most compound semi industry companies at that point,
Taiwanese LED makers (and Lumileds and Cree in the USA) were the exception. Despite the fact that many
Asians couldn't travel to the USA due to the SARS flu epidemic, most everyone in the compound semi blue spectrum supply chain attended
BLUE 2003 in Dallas, Texas.
Shuji and Steve DenBaars were there. Someone from each of the Big 5 spoke.
The major researchers of advanced LEDs and laser diodes were there, and all
the supply chain was represented. The GaN substrate developers attended in especially high numbers. George
Brandes who was then with ATMI (prior to his group being purchased
by Cree) gave an excellent, evenhanded presentation of the state of the
art in GaN substrate and GaN epiwafer development. We had a great time. We also
gave out our first Pioneer
Awards. The event was so spectacular. Because there were so many that
could not attend in person due to SARS or hard times, we posted audio and
slides of the presentations along with still pictures. And given that I had the pleasure
of crafting the Pioneer Awards, we did a pictorial layout of that special evening
online as well. Take a look. See what you missed. Here's the link
to those BLUE 2003 posts.
By the next year, 2004, the scales had tilted so obviously toward Asia that
we decided to move the event to Hsinchu, Taiwan. Smart move. Go where the majority
of the action is. Blue spectrum LEDs were taking off and Taiwan, China and Korea
were starting to literally take over the die manufacturing and packaging field.
Standards were the least of our worries. We couldn't even agree on basic metrics,
but that wasn't stopping the supply lines from flowing at full throttle. Things
were happening fast and CompoundSemi Online was smack in the middle of the action.
BLUE 2004 was wildly successful. No rock and blue bands nor Pioneer Awards,
unfortunately, but the business networking was exceptional and everyone had
a great time getting to know one another better. Blue lasers took a bit of a
back seat as blue LEDs skyrocketed to fame.
Throughout the past five years, blue lasers have moved to the point where application
news outstripped development news. Except for the major and highly influential
users being based in Hollywood in the USA, virtually all the blue laser diode
action was in Japan. And when a technology becomes essentially a Japanese monopoly,
well... you're simply not going to hear very much about it outside hardcore
research conclaves. The improvements are in the materials, like GaN substrates,
and we do hear from some of those companies, especially those based in the USA.
But the business really revolves around Japan. In addition to Nichia... Sony,
Fujitsu, Xerox, NEC, Matsushita, and Toyoda Gosei came on the radar scope as
blue laser makers in the 2000 timeframe. One way or the other, due to the lock-on
they have with the blue laser IP, everyone has to go through Nichia, which I
feel accounts account for the lack of hard information. Many others say
they're making blue lasers, but what that actually means, and how far along
they really are is something else. We do know that Cree continues to
improve their GaN on SiC proprietary approach in the USA... and they have George
Brandes and his team on their side now, which means bulk GaN substrates will eventually come into play... so Cree remains an interesting prospect. Also, various people are looking into GaN substrates for blue spectrum LDs because that will be a way around the Nichia patents.
I believe that because there have been two separate standards camps lobbying
the DVD Forum in Japan, that's been the
major inhibiting factor to other blue laser diode developers. Nichia's blue
lasers are expensive, and lowering the price has been a key issue. The performance
is there, but systems integrators always want to lower the costs of their basic
components. In the Fall of last year, Nichia was selling their blue lasers for
around 100,000 yen. Around the same time, NEC Compound Semiconductor Devices
Ltd. was reported to be near mass production capability with parent NEC Electronics
(and due to sample by now, with NEC Kansai Ltd. producing the parts and outsourcing
assembly domestically). Toshiba had developed production technology reportedly
lower in cost to about half the cost of Nichia's. And Matsushita was entering
in-house production along with Sony and Sanyo Electric
with Sharp following suit. Sony and Nichia have a patent-sharing arrangement
on blue lasers, while Toshiba, Sanyo and others are said to have developed proprietary
technologies, but my guess is that there's quiet negotiation with Nichia all
the way up and down the line given Nichia controls about 800 patents surrounding
GaN blue lasers. Those fabricated on sapphire substrates, that is. As mentioned above, blue GaN substrates are coming into play now, with another major Japanese company, Sumitomo Electric (SEI) as the current front-runner, with companies like Kyma in South Carolina USA rising in the pact. More and more blue spectrum LD manufacturers are sampling SEI and Kyma GaN, and there are a other good companies getting good at growning GaN.
Asif Anwar will be able to tell you more about the fast-changing blue spectrum
LD scene during his talk at BLUE 2005.
My bet is that with the atmosphere changing to hybrid solutions and win-wins
among the main Japanese players, that the issue for 2005-2008 will revolve around
lower costs of main components, such as the GaN blue laser die. That means
squeezing costs down and improving lifetimes, the burden of which falls on the
crystal growers. We'll see how it all pans out. If you have questions about the
solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or have news
or views to share, we want to hear from you!
Feel free to contact us anytime. 
The main office line is
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Osram Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Citizen Electronics
LIGHTimes StaffMay 3, 2005...Osram Opto Semiconductors headquartered in Regensburg, Germany, has filed a patent
infringement suit in Dusseldorf Regional Court against LED manufacturer Citizen
Electronics of Tokyo, Japan for importing, selling, and offering certain white
LEDs in Germany. Osram hopes to get a restraining order and compensation as part
of the suit. Also as part of the suit, the company wants to prevent Citizen from
importing numerous LEDs and Citizen products containing this LED to Germany.
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 May 3, 2005...Intematix has collaborated with its third licensee Itswell Co., Ltd. of Cheongwon
Chungbuk, Korea to create a phosphor specific to Itswell’s needs. (Ref:
previous articles: article 5296,
and article 5400)
Itswell plans to use the technology on their range of blue-spectrum LED applications
for markets in Korea, Japan, USA, and Europe. Intematix Chief Executive Officer,
Ruediger Stroh stated, "We have collaborated with Itswell in creating
a highly optimized phosphor that matches their chip selection. During the course
of this collaboration Itswell's solid technical process and marketing reach
have become quite evident to us. It is a privilege for our patent-backed phosphors
to have been validated by such a capable company, further expanding our presence
in IP-critical markets worldwide."
Intematix announced their first phosphor products, the White Lightning Y450
and Y460 in late March. According to the company these patent protected solutions are available
for high volume use with non-infringing phosphor options for designers and manufacturers
of white LED solutions. “Our customers in Japan, the US and Europe
are world leaders and demand LEDs based on best in class, infringement-free
chip, packaging and phosphor technologies. Intematix is a key partner in delivering
on this promise to our world-leading customers," said Dr. Soon-Jae
Yu, Itswell's Chief Executive Officer. Company News Release
Cree CEO, Charles Swoboda Becomes Chairman Replacing Neal Hunter
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 2, 2005...Cree Inc. of Durham, North Carolina USA has named the current President and CEO, Charles Swoboda Chairman
of the company's board of directors. Mr. Swoboda will take the place of F. Neal
Hunter, a co-founder of Cree, who resigned his directorship as of April 25th to pursue other opportunities. Mr.
Hunter helped found the company in 1987. He was CEO from 1994 to 2001 and board
chairman from 1995 until his resignation.
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TIR and Lexel Technology Update and Correction
Scott McMahanMay 2, 2005...TIR demonstrated its new lighting platform at the Lightfair International in
mid-April. Contrary to what I reported in a previous article,
Lexel technology is not a single product, but multiple technical breakthroughs
that can be optimized depending upon the specified application. The company engineers used average or below average LEDs equivalent to what was on the market
about 6-12 months ago, and put them together with their patented technology. The company describes their technology as equivalent to a conventional lamp, ballast, and reflector combination, not just a fixture technology.
In their demonstration they compared the light emitted from their lamp to that
emitted by High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps including metal halide, mercury vapor, and high pressure sodium. The HID lamp emitted about 500 lumens within
its arc and consumed about 50 Watts of power. The TIR lamp which uses a broad
range of technical breakthroughs consumed 30 Watts of power and emitted approximately
1000 Lumens or roughly 3X the efficiency in lm/W. The company says that their Lexel technology can reach about 60% of the lighting market with light systems of 1000 Lumens or less. Lexel technology boasts precise color temperature control and dimming
using a closed-circuit feedback system. Their technology platform will eventually be available for use with 0-75
watts of power.
You can’t purchase such a lamp of the shelf just yet. TIR is working with
industry partners to find the specifications needed for various applications.
The company expects that in the next 12 to 18 months that you will begin seeing
products on the market with their Lexel technology. The Lexel is not a single
product but a range of technological breakthroughs that other companies can
soon use in their lighting applications. The company is still working with industry
partners to decide on the right type of business arrangement to ensure the widest
adoption of the product. Licensing, manufacturing, and co-manufacturing are
some of the possibilities they are looking at.
Brent York, TIR's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) says, "Lexel addresses
all of the major obstacles that have prevented LED-based light sources from
entering the mainstream illumination markets and does so in a simple and cost
effective way." In describing the fact that Lexel actually incorporates
several breakthrough technologies, York notes that, "by combining a leapfrog
improvement in thermal management with more than 95% drive efficiency, an inexpensive
but extremely accurate feedback system, and the most advanced optical system
for SSL to date, Lexel will finally deliver the light output, color temperature
control, extremely long life, and energy efficiency that the lighting industry
has been promised." TIR is expanding its IP portfolio with 44 patent applications
in the field of SSL, the majority are going into their Lexel platform. TIR will
continue its research to further develop Lexel. Company
News Release Brent York will be speaking at Blue 2005, at 8:30 am, Wednesday May 18. Lamina Adds Distributor, Kaga Electronics of JapanApril 29, 2005...Lamina Ceramics of Westampton, New Jersey USA, is adding Kaga Electronics of Tokyo, Japan to its distributor network. Kaga, a Tokyo-based electronics manufacturer and distributor, will sell Lamina’s LED light engines. It will also develop and sell products equipped with them. “Ultra-bright LED light engines like those we’ve developed are being used in increasingly more applications. Kaga wants to grow its solid state lighting business to meet this demand,” said Taylor Adair, president and CEO, Lamina Ceramics. “We’re pleased the company selected us to be a major player in this expansion.” In addition to selling LEDs and modules, Kaga will sell LED drivers made by its subsidiary Kaga Components Co. Company News Release Agilent Products Selected as Finalists for EE Times Quarterly Ultimate Product AwardApril 29, 2005...Agilent of Palo, Alto California USA, announced that its LCD TV backlighting system and its automotive LEDs, have been selected as finalists for this quarter’s EE Times Ultimate Products award. The Ultimate Products award is a product peer-review program developed by EE Times and eeProductCenter. Each quarter the eeProductCenter editors select the 10 most significant new products in seven categories. One of the finalists, the Agilent HDJD-JB01-8831A, is an illumination and color management (ICM) system for backlighting LCD flat-panel TVs. It boasts 25 percent richer colors than current fluorescent backlighting, and the ICM system works with red, green, and blue LEDs, such as Luxeon LEDs. The other Agilent product selected as a finalist, the Envisium Power PLCC-4. It is a surface-mount (SMT) LED, (plastic leaded chip carrier), jointly developed by Agilent and Lumileds Lighting, that is primarily for automotive exterior lighting, such as center high-mounted stoplights, front turn signals, rear combination turn, tail and stoplights, and mirror turn signals. The two Agilent products were selected along with seven other finalists in the Interconnect, Passive and Electromechanical Components category. “We are excited that our innovative products are finalists for an Ultimate Products award," said Lee Soo Ghee, vice president and general manager for the Optoelectronic Products Division in Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group. Company News Release  JDS Uniphase Gets Lean and Tough With North American Consolidation and Fitzhou, China Divestiture
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 28, 2005...JDS Uniphase of San Jose, California USA, announced a net loss for the quarter, but outlined some previously announced and some new consolidation and cost cutting strategies which it hopes will save the company $80 million per year. JDS Uniphase reported a net loss of $38.6 million or $0.03 per share for the third fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2005. The same period of 2004 showed a net loss of $7.3 million or $0.01 per share. The company showed a 3.7 % decrease in net loss over the previous quarter. Net revenue for the quarter was at the high end of expectations with $166.3 million. This is a decrease from the net revenue of the previous quarter at $180.5 million. North American customers represented 64.2% of net revenue. European customers made up 19.7% of net revenue, and the remaining portion 16.1% was from the Asia-Pacific region. The company held $1.38 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. At the end of the quarter. Aproximately $1.328 billion was cash, money market and highly-liquid fixed income securities.
JDSU announced the divestiture of its Fuzhou facility in China. Kevin Kennedy, company president and CEO said, "The divestiture of our Fuzhou operation in China, announced today, and the North American manufacturing consolidation, announced last week, are two elements of our broader profitability strategy." He added, “We currently expect existing headcounts to be reduced by more than 1350 by the end of the calendar year 2005 which includes approximately 850 in North America and over 500 in China." As another cost cutting measure, the company will phase out the high volume light engine manufacturing. The company expects net revenue of $160-170 million for the fourth quater ending June 30, 2005. Executive Changes Due to Growth at Color Kinetics
LIGHTimes StaffApril 27, 2005...Color Kinetics CEO, founder, and creative visionary, George Mueller will step into full-time founder chairman role, and COO Bill Sims will add CEO role as part of the company’s planned maturation and growth. Bill Sims, who is currently serving his fourth year as the company’s president and COO, will become president and CEO. Both will remain on the board of directors, effective July 1, 2005. "In my tenure as CEO of Color Kinetics, I have seen the company's extraordinary transformation from a pioneering start-up with promising technology, to an established category leader in intelligent solid-state lighting," said Mueller. "This is a perfect time to hand the reins to Bill, whose notable contributions to Color Kinetics' success, vision for the company's direction, and sharp focus on operational excellence make him an ideal leader in this fast-paced industry." Company News Release
Color Kinetics has also elected an industry outsider, John E. Adele to its board of directors. Adele is the founding chairman of Boston Scientific, a multi-billion dollar medical industry leader credited with advancing less invasive medicine. Mr. Abele's achievements include testifying before the Senate about medical devices and founding the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI). He has published and lectured extensively and holds many patents. Mr. Abele, a physics and philosophy graduate of Amherst College, has a major interest in how technology is invented, developed, and adopted.
"John is a visionary leader whose trailblazing efforts reshaped the medical device industry as it exists today. We are thrilled to complement the strengths of our Board with his extraordinary wisdom and perspective on how small, inventive companies grow to change the world," said George Mueller. "Color Kinetics helped to define an entirely new category of lighting technology, and continues to pave the way for its many applications in a growing number of markets," said Mr. Abele. "I welcome the opportunity to join its Board and help steer the company's initiatives in its next exciting phase of growth." Company News Release
George Mueller will be the keynote speaker at BLUE2005 which takes place in Hsinchu, Taiwan, May 6-8. Color Kinetics Enlists Help of David Cunningham for Joint Product DevelopmentApril 26, 2005...Color Kinetics (CK) of Boston, Massachusetts USA, has enlisted the help of industry veteran, David Cunningham, an inventor and industry pioneer credited with developing several successful lighting products. The company plans to capitalize on Mr. Cunningham’s knowledge and expertise to jointly develop intelligent solid-state lighting solutions.
In related news, we at LIGHTimes would like to remind our readers that CK co-founder, chairman, and CEO, George Mueller, will be our keynote speaker at BLUE 2005 event May 16-18 in Hsinchu, Taiwan, speaking on Tuesday afternoon, May 17th in the main slot at 4pm before the banquet.
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