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31 Oct 2003
Including news from Corning, Samsung Electronics, Sony, Rockwell Collins, MEMSCAP and more.
• Corning, US, has agreed to license its molded glass component technology to Tamron of Japan. The components are typically used in digital still cameras and display systems.
Corning has also announced that it will make a 1.4-meter diameter primary mirror for the photometer onboard NASA’s Kepler mission. Using the instrument, Kepler will measure the brightness of 100 000 stars similar to the Sun and search for Earth-sized planets.
• Samsung Electronics of Korea and Sony of Japan are teaming up to make 7th generation amorphous TFT LCD panels. The companies estimate that a capital investment of $2 billion will be needed to begin mass production. A line to make the 1870 x 2200 mm substrates will be installed at Samsung’s Tangjeong facility in Korea and is expected to reach a production capacity of tens of thousands of sheets by summer 2005.
• SBG Labs, a US maker of liquid-crystal displays, has acquired all the patents and trademarks held by DigiLens. A developer of optical components based on electrically-switchable Bragg gratings, DigiLens had ceased trading due to the optical communications market downturn. SBG plans to exploit DigiLens’s brand and patents in the consumer and automotive display markets.
• Rockwell Collins, US, has been awarded a $20 million contract to provide dual head-up display systems for 60 of the US military’s C-130J transport aircraft. Awarded by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, the contract is set to run through to 2009.
• MEMSCAP of France is to acquire fellow Frency firm Opsitech for EURO3.75million in stock. Opsitech specializes in producing integrated optics that are compatible with MEMS-based devices.
• Intense Photonics has won a £80 000 research contract to develop high-power 1.5 micron semiconductor lasers. The Scottish company will concentrate on improving the output power and beam quality of short-pulsed lasers. The contract was awarded by BAE Systems as part of a UK Ministry of Defense study looking into the performance and cost-effectiveness of electromagnetic remote sensing equipment.
• Lumileds Lighting has started shipping a warm white version of it high-brightness Luxeon LED. According to Lumileds, the device as a color-rendering index of 90, a correlated color temperature of 3200 K and an average light output of 20 lumens.
• BFi OPTiLAS has extended its distribution agreement with CO2 laser maker Universal Laser Systems to include Spain and Portugal.
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