High-power GaAs laser outfit plans production ramp
Germany-based GaAs laser developer Jenoptik Diode Lab is to ramp production of its high-power chips in early 2006.
The small company, which was set up three years ago as a spin-out of the Ferdinand Braun Institute for High Frequency Technology, will build a new facility in Berlin-Adlershof to manufacture the chips.
The complex will include 500 square meters of cleanrooms for 3-inch GaAs production, as well as in-house research and development laboratories and offices. The company roster will swell considerably from the current 8 employees with the addition of 40 jobs. Work on the site is due to begin this spring.
Diode Lab will principally be making lasers for its parent company Jenoptik Laserdiode, with the lasers destined for applications in materials processing, medicine, and displays technology.
"The new [manufacturing] site in Berlin will allow Jenoptik's photonics group to react more flexibly to market demand," said the company in a statement.
However, Jenoptik Diode Lab will also be free to deliver components to external companies.
The company currently sells 808 nm, 915 nm and 940 nm laser bars with output powers of 40 W or more.
