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Thales and Alcatel form III-V research lab

Two French companies, Thales and Alcatel, are to form a joint research laboratory to develop optoelectronic and microelectronic III-V technologies.
Thales and Alcatel have created a joint research laboratory in France dedicated to III-V semiconductor technologies, targeting applications in telecommunications, defense, space and security.

With about 100 researchers, the lab expects to be a major European player for industrial research in the field of III-V components. The main fields of research are optoelectronic and microelectronic components for optical fiber transmission (InP HBT circuits, laser sources, modulators and photodetectors), GaN-based high-frequency, high-power transistors and circuits, infrared imaging photodetectors and high-power laser diodes.

The laboratory, known as the Alcatel-Thales III-V Lab, will re-enforce both companies expertise in the field of optoelectronic and microelectronic components based on III-V technologies. Alcatel, one of the world s leading suppliers of telecommunications equipment, is at the forefront of research into optoelectronic components. Just over one year ago, Alcatel sold is Optronics unit, which manufactures fiber-optic components, to Avanex (see Avanex buys Alcatel Optronics).

Thales (formerly Thomson-CSF), is a global electronics company serving the aerospace, defense and information technology industries, and is a European leader in high-frequency optoelectronic and microelectronic R&D for defense applications. The company is an established supplier of high-power laser diodes, as well as being a partner with EADS in the GaAs MMIC foundry United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS).

Located at the heart of the French Optics Valley in the county of Essonne, the lab is located on two sites: one in Marcoussis, within Alcatel s French research center, and the other in Palaiseau, on the campus of the Polytechnique institute, where Thales future research center will be located.

A consortium (Groupement d Interêt Economique) equally held by Thales and Alcatel will manage the Alcatel-Thales III-V Lab. The main objectives of the lab are to develop strategic technologies to guarantee competitiveness and autonomy of both companies; anticipate scientific and technical advances and their impact on future systems; establish scientific and industrial partnerships; and encourage industrial transfer to parent companies, industrial partners or high-tech small and medium enterprises.

For fundamental research, the Alcatel-Thales III-V Lab will draw on existing partnerships, notably with the CNRS and its labs: the LPN-CNRS (Laboratoire de Photonique et Nanotechnologies) in Marcoussis, the IEMN (Institut Electronique en Micro et Nanotechnologies) in Lille, the IRCOM (Institut de Recherche en Communications Optiques et Micro-ondes) in Limoges, the IOTA-CNRS (Institut d Optique et de Technologies Avancées), and the Polytechnique engineering institute in Palaiseau.

Niel Ransom, Alcatel s Chief Technology Officer, said: "The gathering of these two research units offers great synergy opportunities regarding research infrastructures and tools. It also presents excellent complementarities at the staff skill level. Alcatel is the world leader in optical systems for telecommunications, and it is essential for our future to preserve the mastery of technologies to be embedded in our future systems."

Dominique Vernay, Thales s Chief Technology Officer, declared: "This joint lab embodies our partnership research policy, to realize a dual technology platform and to develop specific components designed for our needs. For Thales, the strategic dimension of the research topics encompassed by the lab is an assurance of its success."

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