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BluGlass updates on laser diode production

Almost a year on from announcing its intentions to capture 6-10 per cent of the gallium nitride (GaN) laser diode market by 2025, Australian semiconductor firm BluGlass has released an update on the development of its laser diode products.

The products include standard laser diode designs and novel, remote plasma chemical vapour deposition (RPCVD) tunnel junction designs. They are intended for a range of applications in markets including industrial, displays and biotech.

The laser diode business unit has made progress in all three of its development areas: technology, product development and manufacturing preparedness.

‘The company remains on track to deliver initial sample products of one of its standard laser diode designs to customers for testing this calendar year and into early 2021, on the back of promising technical results in three of our laser diode product development roadmaps,’ the firm said in its update.

Three different standard laser designs have been demonstrated after being fabricated into test devices: 405nm, 420nm and 450nm. 

‘Our 405nm design is showing good performance, approaching commercial specifications in brightness,’ the firm said. ‘These results have been verified through multiple fabrication vendors, as we qualify both our laser diode designs and our manufacturing supply chain simultaneously.’

BluGlass’ full range of bespoke laser diode development encompasses wavelengths ranging from violet (395nm) through to blue (450nm) and green (525nm). The technology will be applied to a wide range of markets, seen below:

Intended application areas of BluGlass' laser diodes.

The devices are being simulated and modelled, designed, and then grown on wafers at BluGlass’ Australian manufacturing facility. They are then shipped to the US for multiple wafer processing steps including cleaving (being cut into individual laser diode chips) before final optical coating (insertion of coated mirrors to enhance the directional emission/lasing), packaging and burn-in testing (performance reliability testing of 100,000 hours).

Product development results from wafers grown earlier in the year were initially delayed due to supply chain impacts caused by Covid-19, BluGlass reported in its update. As a result, the firm has diversified its supply chain, and is qualifying multiple providers in each segment of the supply chain around the world to help mitigate future delays and ensure that it is working with the best suppliers in each segment.

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