December 2008 C o n n e C t i n g t h e
Volume 14 C o m p o u n d
Number 11 S e m i C o n d u C t o r
C o m m u n i t y
in d u S t r y teChn o lo gy
5
Headline News: EU seeks 2010 incandescent bulb ban…
17
Different faces fit for GaN researchers: Researchers can
III-V solar deals ready for 2009 build-out…Nokia choose between non-polar, semi-polar and polar
forecast rattles GaAs chip stocks. substrates for nitride growth. But what are the benefits
of one of these faces over another? Richard Stevenson
6
The Month in RFICs: Sanken claims first GaN-on-Si reports from IWNS.
inverter…Sumitomo improves bulk SiC growth rate…
Nitronex teardown shows thermal impact…Anadigics Yellow brights
sheds 100 jobs and gifts market share. efforts at the University of California,
Santa Barbara, have extended nitride
10
The Month in HB-LEDs: MOCVD suppliers see order LeDs into the yellow. p18
push-outs…LED backlights to grab TV share in 2009…
HVPE promises high-indium LEDs.
12
The Month in Optoelectronics: Finisar readies bailiffs as
QPC defaults…Falling sales trigger upheaval at JDSU… U
C
SB
Quantum-dot VCSELs further chip comms.
21
Avago shrinks its chip footprint: Surface mount
Sending in the bailiffs processes that populate printed circuit boards with
QPC Lasers’ efforts to gain funding passives can now add active die too, thanks to Avago’s
based on its surface-emitting diode WaferCap technology. This ultimately opens up a path
lasers have failed. p12 to low-cost amplification for cable TV, base stations and
instrumentation, says the company’s Jim Roland.
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IMEC enlarges nitride epiwafers: GaN FETs grown on
P
C
Q large silicon wafers should make a big impact in the
multi-billion dollar power electronics market. They can
13
Portfolio: QPC’s demise heralds consolidation In early operate at breakdown voltages of up to 800 V, offer
November, QPC Lasers filed for bankruptcy and superior switching efficiencies to silicon incumbents
became the first direct compound semiconductor and give little away in terms of cost, says IMEC’s
casualty of the 2008 global financial crisis. Is this a sign Marianne Germain.
of things to come, or an isolated incident, wonders
Michael Hatcher.
26
Product Showcase/Suppliers Guide Solar
14
Interview: We ate with scalpels and tweezers, says
Aixtron founder Twenty-five years ago, two scientists at
27
Materials Update: MBE unmasks the real indium oxide
Aachen University in Germany joined forces with a Indium oxide was thought to be a very wide-bandgap
local businessman to launch an equipment company. material with no carriers close to its surface. But recent
The result: the world’s leading MOCVD tool supplier. results suggest otherwise and indicate that this material
Richard Stevenson talks to Aixtron co-founder could be used for terahertz generation, says a team of
Holger Juergensen about the early days. researchers from the UK.
Looking back
28
Research Review: Luminescence interrogates
Aixtron’s first location was the Aachen interfaces…Nitrides deliver high ultraviolet
University technology center in efficiencies…Single-frequency laser hits 12 W power
Germany. p14 record.
n
t
ro Main cover image: GaN has a hexagonal crystal structure. All of today’s
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x
devices are grown on the c-plane and are subjected to strong internal
electric fields that hamper light emitters by pulling electrons and holes
apart. However, researchers are learning how to avoid these problems by
turning to growth on non-polar planes, such as the m-plane. See p17.
Compound Semiconductor’s circulation figures are audited by BPA International
Compound Semiconductor December 2008 compoundsemiconductor.net 1
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