28 Jan 2008 Bookham Announces 4 million Polarisation Stabilised VCSELs Shipped, Transitions Manufacturing to Zurich Facility to Meet Growing Demand. Bookham, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKHM) has announced that it has shipped over 4 million polarization stabilised VCSELs for optical computer mouse applications, and that it has transitioned manufacturing to its High Power Laser facility in Zurich, Switzerland to meet increasing volume demand from consumer applications.
The move will allow Bookham to increase capacity of VCSEL production and offer customers scalable manufacturing to meet growing demand. This facility has had massive investments in semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment to provide a high capacity and well controlled high precision manufacturing environment. As well as established business in the datacoms sector, VCSELs have seen significant take up as an alternative to LEDs in optical computer mice.
“We expect that the optical navigation market will ultimately demand high volume production capability approaching 100 Million chips annually,” said Karlheinz Gulden, Director VCSEL products at Bookham. “Low cost and high reliability, combined with stable single mode emission and, crucially, low power consumption, have made VCSELs an attractive option for optical computer mice manufacturers. During last year, Bookham shipped more than 4 Million 850nm single mode VCSELs with active polarization stabilization. With the completed transition to the new facility, we now have the infrastructure in place for further scaling of our manufacturing capacity to meet the explosive demand of VCSEL for low power optical engines.
Bookham Executive Vice President Steve Turley, added, “The transition into our main Zurich wafer fabrication facility not only allows us to capitalize on the ever-increasing demand for VCSELs, it also enables us to maximize use of the facility and increase our day-to-day efficiency.”
This facility houses some of the photonics industry’s most advanced technology and utilizes cutting-edge techniques in the manufacture of high power lasers and VCSELs. Manufacturing of VCSELs was previously carried out at the facilities of Avalon in Zurich, Switzerland, which Bookham acquired in 2006. |
