Honda Prize 2025 awarded to VCSEL pioneer Kenichi Iga of Japan…

10 Sep 2025

…and Asian VCSEL foundries choose Eulitha’s lithography tool for 6-inch fabrication, as market booms.

The Honda Foundation has selected Dr. Kenichi Iga, an honorary professor at the Institute of Science Tokyo and the 18th president of former Tokyo Institute of Technology, as the winner of the 2025 Honda Prize.

The international award in science and technology honors Dr. Iga’s pioneering work in conceiving the vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and his contributions to advancing associated research and applications.

The Honda Prize, established in 1980, is a leading international award for scientific and technological achievements across a wide range of academic fields, encompassing the entire research process from discovery and invention to application and widespread usage.

The 46th Honda Prize will be awarded to Dr. Iga for his conception of VCSEL – in 1977 – and his pioneering contributions to its development and practical applications. The award ceremony will take place at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, on November 17th. In addition to the prize medal and diploma, Dr. Iga will receive ¥10 million (USD 68,000) in prize money.

A VCSEL, with a vertical resonator, is more compact than conventional edge-emitting laser, allowing dense integration, stable single-wavelength oscillation, mass production, continuous wavelength tuning and low power consumption. These features drive innovations in optoelectronics, including high-speed data communication, fiber optics, 3D facial recognition, computer mice and lidar systems for autonomous vehicles.

When Dr. Iga first proposed VCSEL, his concept was met with scepticism from both academia and industry due to concerns about its feasibility. However, through persistent research and continuous advocacy, Dr. Iga and his team gradually established global recognition for this innovative technology.

In 1988, his collaborator, Dr. Fumio Koyama, later a professor at former Tokyo Institute of Technology (now the Institute of Science Tokyo), achieved the first room-temperature continuous-wave operation of a VCSEL—a decisive step toward its commercialization. Since the late 1990s, VCSELs have been industrialized worldwide, transforming modern optoelectronics and shaping numerous industries.

Asian VCSEL foundries choose Eulitha’s lithography tool

In related news, Eulitha, a provider of advanced photolithography solutions, has announced that “several Asian VCSEL foundries have adopted its deep ultra-violet (DUV) patterning platform for 6-inch wafer production. The company has recently shipped “multiple systems” to support the rapidly growing demand for VCSELs used in applications ranging from lidar, 3D sensing, data centers, and optical communications.

Eulitha’s platforms use proprietary non-contact optical lithography technology, known as Displacement Talbot Lithography, to deliver a range of features. High-resolution, precision patterning is suitable for advanced VCSEL arrays, while DTL’s large exposure field covers an entire 6-inch wafer in a single shot, reducing stitching errors and enhancing uniformity.

The company is exhibiting, this week, at CIOE 2025, in Shenzhen, China, through 12th September, and the company is giving a presentation on “Innovative optical lithography for high-resolution patterning in semiconductor laser production”. It adds that adoption of its technology “marks a strategic shift among manufacturers seeking to meet the increasing need for high-resolution patterning that is cost-competitive, particularly as VCSEL designs become more complex.”

Growing demand

Eulitha says, “VCSEL technology is experiencing global growth, driven by its pivotal role in enabling high-performance lidar systems for autonomous vehicles, 3D facial recognition in consumer electronics, and energy-efficient optical interconnects in data centers. Additionally, polarized sensing—an emerging capability made possible with specially structured VCSELs—offers improved accuracy and contrast in biometric and industrial sensing, fueling further innovation and market expansion.”