NL rebrands as Innolume; targets silicon photonics
"Innolume" is the new name for the US-German company formerly known as "NL Nanosemiconductor".
The rebrand comes as the firm consolidates its acquisition of Zia Laser, and sets its sights on the emerging field of silicon photonics.
Having split with company founder Nikolai Ledentsov, whose initials provided part of the previous company name, Innolume has also shaken up its senior management team in a bid to re-focus its direction under CEO Jürgen Kurb.
The new management structure features two chief technology officers. In comes Larry West, who will head up a new focus on silicon photonics at Innolume s Santa Clara, CA, office, alongside Alexey Kovsh, who remains as CTO of laser technology.
According to his Innolume biography, West was previously director of photonics at semiconductor equipment giant Applied Materials "“ also based in Santa Clara.
Also joining the senior ranks are Andreas Goebel, VP of photonics integration, and Gregory Wojcik, VP of engineering. Like West, they both worked on silicon photonics at Applied Materials.
Although its core business is currently focused on the development and sale of quantum dot epiwafers at its Dortmund, Germany, manufacturing facility, where MBE capacity is being expanded currently, Innolume clearly sees a big future in silicon photonics.
Exactly what type of silicon photonics products Innolume will offer is not yet clear, but the key application area for such technology will clearly be optical interconnects for high-speed IC and computer architectures.
"Within ten years, the established approach of using electricity in copper wiring just won't work," Innolume says, adding that the ideal solution of using light in optical fiber is just simply too expensive.
"We believe that the industry is at a tipping-point where only disruptive technology can tip the balance from copper wiring to fiber-optics to allow the computing and networking performance to continue on its exponential growth path."
