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Announcements 4Press Releases 4News Media 4Conferences & Exhibitions
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· DenseLight, backed by leading international venture capital company 3i Group, has secured a two-year R&D project that will further position the company towards delivering world-class proven technologies in photonics and high-speed communications products.
· The project targets at combining a suite of advanced technologies to deliver low-cost high-performance proven products that include a wide range of InP-based photonic gain chips, laser chips, embedded optical channel monitors, SLEDs, integrated laser arrays, Raman pumps, high-speed electronics, and test and packaging solutions.
· The Company has already garnered strong commercial interest during Photonics West 2002, and will showcase its range of products at OFC 2002. The Company is confident that it is able to provide vertically integrated solutions from "R&D to Specs" through wafer fab processing, gigabit-class integration, packaging and reliability testing to empower optical networks players with components and sub-components that have low cost-of-ownership, small footprint, high performance, and multiple functionalities.
Singapore, 11 March 2002 - Singapore-based DenseLight Semiconductors ("DenseLight") today announces that it has secured a two-year R&D project that is worth several millions of dollars to further develop its strong proprietary technologies in photonics and high-speed communications products. DenseLight, with its initial US$30 million funding, has been able to develop robust, high-performance products with multiple functionalities in small footprints that address the sub-component and component levels, drastically reducing cost of ownership for network operators.
The company has already announced its DensePICTM technology, which has been cited as "a surprise to the optical component industry"1. The DensePICTM technology is based on quantum-well intermixing (QWI), a technique for altering the band-gap of a semiconductor so that it can emit or absorb light at a different wavelength. Currently, most methods for creating multiple sections on a single chip have been techniques such as growth and regrowth, and selective area epitaxy, which typically require more process steps and longer cycle times. Through its in-house developed techniques, DenseLight's QWI process is able to engineer different bandgaps in a single process sequence, significantly reducing production cycles and increasing the yields and reliability of the products.
Introducing new products during OFC 2002
In the coming OFC 2002 in March 19-21, DenseLight will showcase its broad range of photonic chips, embedded Optical Channel Monitors (OCMs) with passive and active functionalities integrated on a single InP chip, and Superluminescent Light Emitting Diodes (SLEDs) for telecommunications and biomedical applications. Although details of the multi-million dollar project remain confidential, DenseLight is proud to reveal that many of these products that will be showcased in OFC 2002 attest to their initial success in implementing the two-year R&D project.
DenseLight's broad range of photonic chips include FP Gain Chips, DFB Direct Modulated Laser Chips, Raman pumps, integrated laser arrays, and other variations of its proprietary DensePICTM chips. The company intends to be more responsive to customers' needs, and to involve them early in joint development projects. The ultimate rationale is to leverage on the company's scalable manufacturing technology, stable manufacturing process, and strong commitment to reliability and testing, to enable fast time-to-market, and accurate response to changes in the market and technology.
DenseLight aspires to provide vertically integrated solutions to customers. The company has been developing strong competencies in device design, InP-based processing, Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) fabrication, gigabit-class integration, packaging, and reliability testing. To build on the vision to become vertically integrated, the company has amassed a critical mix of talents and skills to prepare itself for the coming developments.
"DenseLight is now engaged in close discussions with a number of industry players, who are very interested to work with us in joint development projects. We are very excited about the current pace of progress and expects even more enquiries during OFC," noted Dr Yee-Loy Lam, DenseLight's Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, who will be delivering a Product Showcase presentation in the same event.
Indeed DenseLight's engineers were carefully selected based on their qualifications and previous experience in both multinationals and innovative start-ups, and represent strong assets to the company.
Added Dr Lam, "DenseLight's goal is to attract, train, and retain the best. We will spare no efforts to realize our human resource policy to create a dynamic and exciting work environment for an international team of associates, working towards the common objective of building a successful company. In this aspect, we are very fortunate to be located in Singapore, which has established a strong reputation for manufacturing excellence, and which is very aggressive in advancing into new high-tech industries."
Leveraging on Singapore's drive towards a knowledge-based economy
Singapore already plays host to 14 wafer fabs, and is endowed with a highly skilled workforce that is able to support a wide range of activities from electronic packaging, automation, electronics design to supply chain management. The country has also attracted a number of well-established optics companies such as electronics giant Agilent (US), Hoya (Japan), telecoms component maker Zolo (US), and technology provider Perkin Elmer (US)2 .
Recognizing the emergence of strong competition from neighbouring countries and increasingly from China, Singapore has been progressing up the value chain, to develop its own technologies and intellectual property assets.
The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) which plays a key role in charting Singapore's next step to becoming a knowledge-driven economy, has outlined ways to boost innovation and enterprise, and has ear-marked the optics/photonics industry as one of the key industries leading the country's economic growth.
Noting the achievements of DenseLight to date, Mr Taik-Him Chua, Assistant Managing Director, EDB, remarked, "DenseLight is a good example of an innovative enterprise with leading-edge expertise in photonics. Singapore is now able to offer comprehensive and sophisticated capabilities for the photonics industry. In addition, our pro-enterprise environment enables our entrepreneurs to start new companies and our enterprises to grow. DenseLight has leveraged successfully on our competitive advantages to reach out to the global market."
Company is targeting at market traction and growth in 2002
OFC 2002 will be an important platform for DenseLight to showcase its technologies and capabilities to many other world-class players. The mega-event represents one of the most authoritative trade events in the optical networking space, one in which many exhibitors will demonstrate their latest ware, and also in many occasions, to engage visitors for closer discussions. Similar to the past few years, the OFC this year is also expected to draw a huge number of delegates from the international optical networking community, who are keen to source for low-cost high-performance products and to strike strategic alliances.
After many months of in-depth discussions with various optical companies relating to their technical requirements, DenseLight has already started product sampling and qualifications with a number of alliance partners, and expect to further link up with many industry players during this important event in Anaheim.
Indeed, with funds in place, a dedicated team, and exciting new products that DenseLight will manufacture on a commercial scale, the company looks set to achieve its plans, and enhance shareholder value. The award of the two-year R&D project to DenseLight with a total value of several millions of US dollars has further enhanced the position of the company in its pursuit of empowering optical networks.
References:
1. "DenseLight Goes to the Quantum Well", Lightreading.com's News Analysis, January 10, 2002 - http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=10759
2. "Singapore: full of eastern promise", optics.org's Feature Article, 20 February 2002 - http://optics.org/article/feature/2/2/1/1
About DenseLight Semiconductors
Headquartered in Singapore, DenseLight Semiconductors provides value-added component solutions for next-generation optical networks. DenseLight Semiconductors' mission is to deliver integrated optical subsystems on a single chip, thereby empowering customers with competitive advantages in performance, power consumption, footprint, and total cost of ownership. DenseLight has from the beginning organised itself to be a leading player in the optical components market. The company has a highly functional online support network that is designed to meet the needs of global customers in a timely and flexible manner.
Incorporated in May 2000, DenseLight Semiconductors currently has a 50,000 ft2 commercial production, close to the Singapore International Airport. Its 15,000 sq. ft. submicron-class cleanroom is complete with integrated capabilities in state-of-the-art electronic and photonic IC design, integrated InP epitaxial growth, wafer fabrication and processing, packaging, functional and reliability testing, and back-end assembly and testing capabilities. The company has launched a number of new products, including direct modulated DFB lasers, high-performance gain chips and superluminescent diodes with soon to be released products including tunable lasers, Raman pump lasers and embedded optical channel monitors.
DenseLight will be on site at OFC 2002 in Anaheim, Los Angeles USA (Mar 19-21). Please feel free to visit our experienced engineering and technical marketing teams at booth #6407 Hall A. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.denselight.com. DensePICTM is a trademark of DenseLight Semiconductors. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
For further information, please contact:
Dr Lye-Hing Chua, Tel +65 6415-4432, Fax +65 6415 4414, Email: lhchua@denselight.com
Dr Siu-Chung Tam, Tel +65 6415-4418, Fax +65 6415 4414, Email: sctam@denselight.com