Fujitsu and Mitsui set up quantum-dot venture
Fujitsu and Mitsui have set up a joint venture called QD Laser (QDL) that will develop and manufacture semiconductor lasers based on quantum-dot structures.
The two industrial giants are providing start-up funds of ¥290 million ($2.5 million) through their corporate venture capital funds, with Fujitsu set to own 61% of the company and Mitsui the remaining 39%.
The quantum-dot technology has been developed by Fujitsu Laboratories in collaboration with Yasuhiko Arakawa's research group at the University of Tokyo.
Fujitsu says that by commercializing quantum-dot lasers, it will add to its already sizeable share of the market for optical transmission devices in the US and Japan. "Fujitsu will also be able to enhance its competitiveness in the optical access market, for which fully-fledged global expansion is anticipated," added the company.
Quantum-dot laser structures have long been seen as the ultimate in semiconductor laser technology. Because of the quantum effects inherent to what are effectively zero-dimensional active regions, they potentially offer temperature-independent operation and therefore no need for cooling, low power consumption and very-high-speed operation.
The German company NL Nanosemiconductor has been at the forefront of the development of such devices, which it manufactures using MBE (see related story).
QDL will be headed up by president and CEO Mitsuru Sugawara from Fujitsu Laboratories.
Fujitsu's corporate lab has also worked on semiconductor optical amplifiers for optical communication applications, while the parent company s network systems division is engaged with fellow Japanese firm Yokogawa on the commercialization of a novel III-V switch to be used in next-generation networks (see related stories).