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Games
console to use Blu-ray format The GaN-laser-based format is expected to be used in Sony's successor to the hugely successful PlayStation games console. Japanese electronics powerhouses Sony and JVC are both making moves to accelerate the development of Blu-ray disc data storage technology. The format, which relies on GaN-based diode lasers, is believed to have been identified by Sony as a key component of the company's forthcoming games console, commonly known as the PlayStation3. According to reports in the Japanese press, Sony revealed its decision to use the format in the console at a press conference held by the Blu-ray disc founders. Sony has been investing cash into the development of Blu-ray technology and has an agreement with Nichia, the leading GaN laser manufacturer, under which the two companies share intellectual property relating to manufacture of the 405 nm devices. Sony is expected to reveal more details about the use of the 50 GB dual-layer discs in the games console at an event in Japan in March next year. At the same press conference, the Blu-ray founders approved the playback-only, or BD-ROM, version of the technology. "Blu-ray disc is on schedule for companies to introduce BD-ROM players, drives and pre-recorded software to consumers beginning in late 2005," said Maureen Weber, the general manager of Hewlett-Packard's optical data storage business. Meanwhile JVC says that it has developed a manufacturing method allowing low-cost production of Blu-ray discs. A report in the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun suggests that master discs can be manufactured with current DVD production equipment. That means the capital investment required to shift to the new format should cost less than 10% of the conventional cost of changing technologies. JVC plans to make the master discs using a laser emitting in the far ultraviolet, says the report. More complex approaches, for example electron beam equipment, has so far been used to make the master discs. At the other end of the supply chain, Japanese materials suppliers have formed an R&D association to develop large GaN and ZnO crystals for use as substrates upon which the blue diode emitters can be manufactured. Mitsubishi and five other companies plan to have equipment in place to fabricate 2-inch substrates from the crystals within five years. The market for these substrates is expected to reach ￥ 40 billion ($366 million) in 2010. SiC
defects slashed with new growth scheme A Japanese team may have opened the door to widespread commercial application of SiC devices through a new growth method that reduces substrate defects in the material by three orders of magnitude. Widespread commercial application of SiC-based electronic devices appears to be much closer now that a Japanese team has made large-diameter SiC substrates with vastly reduced numbers of defects. Writing in the prestigious scientific journal Nature (26th August issue, page 1009), Daisuke Nakamura and his colleagues at Toyota and DENSO Corporation say that they have rendered SiC substrates "virtually dislocation-free". "We have succeeded in manufacturing a large-size substrate, which makes feasible commercial applications," said the team in its paper. "It will be possible in the near future to eliminate dislocations perfectly, and to enlarge the [substrate] diameter to several inches." Until now, growth of SiC wafers has been plagued with large concentrations of defects. This has meant that only a very few commercial applications of the material, such as in Schottky diodes, have been possible so far. Bipolar SiC devices have tended to suffer from a degradation in the material's electrical properties that appears to originate from in-plane dislocations. Nakamura's team made the breakthrough by employing "repeated a-face growth" (RAF). Starting with a single SiC crystal grown on an a-face, and which consequently had a high density of dislocations, the team took a section of this crystal along its a-axis. Then, they allowed the crystal to develop on its other a-face, before continuing with conventional c-face growth. It appears to be repetition of the a-face step that eliminates stacking faults and which suppresses dislocations. In a 20 mm-diameter substrate grown with RAF, the average etch-pit density (EPD) was 75 cm-1, three orders of magnitude lower than conventional SiC substrates. The result for micropipes was even better, which were completely eliminated in the RAF-grown wafers. The team also made some PIN devices using the technique. According to Nakamura and colleagues, these were found to much more reliable than is normally the case. With a view to making the technology suitable for commercial deployment, the team then set about increasing the crystal size to a much wider diameter. They made a 3-inch substrate, whose average EPD was two orders of magnitude lower than found in conventionally-grown material. The growth technology may be used in other materials too, provided that the crystal structure is hexagonal. Northlight
outsources packaging to Thailand The rise of component manufacturing in Asia continues, with ex-Ericsson firm Northlight outsourcing its packaging to Fabrinet, a manufacturing services company in Thailand. Swedish optical components manufacturer Northlight Optronics has signed a three-year volume manufacturing agreement with Fabrinet, a manufacturing services company based in Thailand. Northlight, which produces InP-based laser transmitters, receivers and optical amplifiers, including 10 Gb/s EML and DFB lasers, for applications such as long-haul, metro and high-speed Ethernet. The company formed from the sale of Ericsson's optoelectronics company in January 2003, and Ericsson now has a minor stake in the Northlight. Northlight will continue to undertake epitaxial growth of components, with the module packaging and manufacture of optical sub-assemblies outsourced to Fabrinet. The process transfer is already underway, with Fabrinet expecting to ship products during the current quarter. "The demand for active components is picking up and we are getting very encouraging feedback from our customers regarding our new TOSA/ROSA platform," said Dirk Sinerius, Northlight's CEO. Mark Schwartz, Fabrinet's CFO, added: "Fabrinet's skilled engineers, low cost labor force, and broad base of optical manufacturing technologies are attractive to companies seeking an outsourced manufacturing partner. Since formally opening our European office last year, we have seen a substantial growth in our European business."
Samsung
lights up monitors with LEDs Samsung releases a number of LCD monitors that use LED-backlight technology. Korean
manufacturer Samsung Electronics has released a variety of display components
at the co-located Asia Display '04 and the 4th International Meeting
on Information Display held at Daegu, Korea. The company claims that its 21 inch LED backlight is only half the thickness of comparably-sized monitors, and that its 17 inch version has twice the brightness of competitive models. Sony, the Japan-based consumer electronics firm, has also recently released a range of LED-backlight products (see related story). The previously undisclosed LEDs used in Sony's Qualia series are high-power Luxeon LEDs manufactured by US-based Lumileds. Lumileds claims that the Luxeon lit televisions deliver a color gamut of 105% of the NTSC color space (a measure of the quality of color reproduction, defined by the US National Television Systems Committee), 35-40% more than conventional technologies. This improvement means finer and more exact color definition for the viewer. Lumileds explains that other advantages of using Luxeon LEDs are a reduction of waste material thanks to the extended life of the backlight system, and no ultra-violet radiation or forward heat which provides designers with a greater degree of flexibility. Samsung has also unveiled a 46 inch LCD panel in portrait configuration. This product is aimed at targeting various commercial applications such as billboards, picture frames, menus, fashion shows and interior decoration. Although conventional portrait products tend to only display graphics, Samsung has gone one step further and developed software for its new product for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer customers.
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