Professional Documents
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Imaging in the
Ultrafast Lane Quantum Dots
Set to Enhance
Next-Gen Displays
Expert Q&A:
Trends in Laser Alignment
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May 2011
t
TABLE OF CONTENTS
18 | TECH NEWS
A game of quantum hot potato
Atoms acting as lasers
Extremely fast film processes recorded
Mimicking photosynthesis for cheap hydrogen fuel
USAF works to improve silicon photonics processes
Navy looks to deep-six noisy lighting
Terahertz bomb sniffer wins student prize
N-slit laser interferometer developed
Superskin goes solar
More powerful integrated circuits
Manipulating nanowires for single-mode lasers
28 | FASTTRACK
Business and Markets
Some telecom laser makers produce 1M per month
Attracting top workers is a full-time job in Germany
37 | GREENLIGHT
Ultrafast laser scribes solar cells
by Laura S. Marshall, Managing Editor
NEWS & ANALYSIS
10 | EDITORIAL
12 | LETTERS
68 | BRIGHT IDEAS
81 | HAPPENINGS
83 | ADVERTISER INDEX
84 | PEREGRINATIONS
A bun bakers new best friend
DEPARTMENTS
THE COVER
An x-ray converter developed at JILA
takes an ultrafast laser beam and changes
it into laserlike beams at much shorter
wavelengths and pulse duration. The laser
accelerates electrons within an atom,
creating a rainbow of laserlike x-rays.
Reprinted from Nature Photonics. Courtesy
of Tenio Popmintchev and Brad Baxley, JILA.
Cover design by Senior Art Director
Lisa N. Comstock.
18
Photonics Spectra May 2011 4
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PHOTONICS: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant
energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The range of applications of photonics extends
from energy generation to detection to communications and information processing.
Vol ume 45 I ssue 5
www. phot oni cs. com
38 | IMAGING IN THE ULTRAFAST LANE
by Hank Hogan, Contributing Editor
At wavelengths outside the visible regime, ultrafast imaging
offers new possibilities for biological and industrial applications.
45 | PRESERVING MOORES LAW
PUSHES LITHOGRAPHY TO ITS LIMITS
by Marie Freebody, Contributing Editor
Can lithography create integrated circuits with features
that are 22 nm or smaller, or will other methods be required?
48 | EXPERT Q&A: TRENDS IN LASER ALIGNMENT
by Laura S. Marshall, Managing Editor
Steve Bohuczky of Opto-Alignment Technology and Mory Creighton
of Pinpoint Laser Systems discuss laser alignment issues and challenges
and the current and future markets.
54 | QUANTUM DOTS:
SET TO PERMEATE THE NEXT GENERATION OF DISPLAYS
by Lynn Savage, Features Editor
Less expensive quantum dots may be a long-lived, power-efficient option
for the booming display market.
60 | USING SBIRs AS A PLATFORM FOR SUCCESS
by C. David Chaffee, Contributor
Brimrose Corp.s founder and CEO, Dr. Ron Rosemeier, describes his strategy
for winning Phase I and II SBIRs and STTRs, along with his experience
in building a thriving business.
PHOTONICS SPECTRA ISSN-0731-1230, (USPS 448870) IS
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY Laurin Publishing Co. Inc., Berkshire
Common, PO Box 4949, Pittseld, MA 01202, +1 (413) 499-
0514; fax: +1 (413) 442-3180; e-mail: photonics@laurin.com.
TITLE reg. in US Library of Congress. Copyright 2011 by Lau-
rin Publishing Co. Inc. All rights reserved. Copies of Photonics
Spectra on microlm are available from University Microlm,
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48
45
FEATURES
Photonics Spectra May 2011 5
54
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What makes
a cost-effective choice
and what that means for you.
Free-Form
Lenses
Optical glass free-form lenses let you integrate an entire array
of different functionalities into a single lens to achieve what
would otherwise require a complicated optical subassembly.
The worldwide unique Docter Optics glass molding
technology allows first of its kind economical industrial-scale
production of free-form lenses in diameters ranging from 10 to
100 mm.
For you, that means you can equip your new products with lenses
that feature the complex surfaces you need to achieve maximum
optical functionality and performance.
www.docteroptics.com
Automotive Solutions
Precision Glass Components
Optical Systems
Express Glass Services
Turning Ideas into Components
Editorial Staff
Group Publisher Karen A. Newman
Managing Editor Laura S. Marshall
Senior Editor Melinda A. Rose
Features Editor Lynn M. Savage
Editors Caren B. Les
Ashley N. Paddock
Copy Editors Judith E. Storie
Patricia A. Vincent
Margaret W. Bushee
Contributing Editors Hank Hogan
Krista D. Zanolli
Gary Boas
Marie Freebody
Electronic Media Staff
Director Charley Rose
Multimedia Services & Marketing
.NET Developers Brian L. LeMire
Alan W. Shepherd
Creative Staff
Senior Art Director Lisa N. Comstock
BioPhotonics Art Director Suzanne L. Schmidt
Designer Janice R. Tynan
Editorial Offices
2 South Street, PO Box 4949
Pittsfield, MA 01202-4949
+1 (413) 499-0514; fax: +1 (413) 442-3180
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contact you, please notify us at the main office, and we will put you in touch
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Editorial E-mail: editorial@photonics.com
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Photonics Spectra May 2011
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OPTI CAL FI BERS FI BER LASERS & AMPLI FI ERS FI BER GYRO COI LS DI RECTED ENERGY
TECHNOLOGY
PERFORMANCE
QUALI TY
VALUE
RANGE OF PRODUCTS
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Call 1.800.435.0786 or
visit www. greenlee.com
or www.tempo.textron.com
Let the originators of this technology customize
an OTDR system for your application. Plus learn
more about our entire family of ber optic tools.
t TECHNEWS
Photonics Spectra May 2011
USAF works to improve
silicon photonics processes
A dark-field optical image of a silicon photonic chip is shown in
comparison to the size of a penny. Courtesy of Elijah Douglas
Christenson.
ARLINGTON, Va. The US Air Force Office of Scientific
Research announced that it will fund efforts to put silicon
photonics within the grasp of scientists and startup compa-
nies. The new program will be called OpSIS, short for
Optoelectronic Systems Integration in Silicon, and will be
housed at the University of Washingtons Nanophotonics
Lab in Seattle.
The OpSIS programs goal is to bring prototyping
capabilities within reach of startup companies and re-
searchers. It will provide design rules, device-design
support and design-flow development to nonexperts so
they can design and integrate photonics and electronics.
Although many research groups are designing, building
and testing silicon photonic devices or optical chips
in-house, the OpSIS researchers will use a shared infra-
structure at the foundry at BAE Systems in Manassas, Va.
There, they will work toward creating high-end, on-shore
manufacturing capabilities that they hope will be made
available to a wider community.
Over the past decade, silicon photonics has brought
about a digital electronics revolution. But high cost and
a lack of standard processes have kept complex photonic
circuitry incorporating silicon chips has been out of reach
for researchers in the past few years. In an effort to make
silicon photonics more accessible, scientists are building
a less expensive, next-generation silicon-based electro-
optical chip using commercial nanofabrication tools; the
new chips could improve data communications, lasers
and detectors.
Silicon optical chips are crucial to the US Air Force
because of their size, weight, power, rapid cycle time and
program risk reduction and, most importantly, because
they can move information in computers using light and
electricity.
By harnessing the ability to develop optical chips for
commercial uses and create software tools that will make
the design process easier, the integration of silicon photon-
ics into new system capabilities is expected to impact the
Air Force, the Department of Defense and commercial
avionics.
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ARLINGTON, Va. The big buzz aboard
US Navy vessels these days is the one com-
ing from noisy fluorescent lighting, prompt-
ing the rollout of a quieter alternative.
The Solid State Lighting (SSL) project,
created by the Office of Naval Researchs
TechSolutions program, is one of several
using recommendations and suggestions
from Navy and Marine Corps personnel.
The project introduced 33 energy-saving,
nonhazardous LED fixtures to the USS
New Hampshire in late January. Installa-
tion also is scheduled in July aboard the
USS New Mexico. These submarines will
serve as pilot platforms to enable the
Navy to measure savings achieved from
the SSL project.
The LED fixtures also are being installed
for testing on three surface ships: the USS
Pearl Harbor, USS Preble and USS Chafee.
Although the SSL project is in its early
stages, the LED fixtures may one day
replace existing hazardous fluorescent
lights aboard submarines and surface
ships. LEDs can reduce fuel use and
maintenance requirements
fleetwide and increase fleet
readiness. They contain no
hazardous materials, unlike
fluorescents, which must be
stored onboard until expensive
and intensive disposal proce-
dures are carried out.
TechSolutions worked
with Energy Focus to produce
patented LED fixtures that are
direct replacements for fluo -
rescents. The replacements
produce the same light output
but use half the power. Energy
Focus fixtures have had a good
track record on Navy ships,
but TechSolutions products
were the first to be fully quali-
fied by the service. Those
components met the most
stringent electromagnetic inter-
ference standards, requiring
innovative manufacturing
methods.
22
t TECHNEWS
Photonics Spectra May 2011
Navy looks to deep-six noisy lighting
Submarines and surface ships may one day have all their fluorescent
lights replaced by solid-state LED fixtures.
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TROY, N.Y. A new detection method
extends the distance from which powerful
terahertz technology can remotely sniff
out hidden explosives, chemicals and
other materials.
Benjamin Clough, a doctoral student
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has
developed a technique that uses sound
waves to boost the effective distance of
terahertz spectroscopy from a few feet
to several meters. For the innovation,
Clough was named winner of the 2011
$30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Stu-
dent Prize, which is awarded annually
to a Rensselaer senior or graduate student
who has created or improved a product
or process, applied a technology in a
new way, redesigned a system or demon-
strated remarkable inventiveness in
other ways.
Cloughs method circumvents a funda-
mental limitation of remote tera hertz spec-
troscopy, which is that it works at only
short distances, so it has not been suitable
for detecting bombs or hazardous materials.
24
t TECHNEWS
Photonics Spectra May 2011
Terahertz bomb sniffer wins student prize
Benjamin Clough, a doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has developed a method for extending
the distance from which terahertz technology can detect explosives, chemicals and other hazardous materials.
Courtesy of Kris Qua, Rensselaer.
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His method uses sound waves to re-
motely listen to terahertz signals and
identify a target. First, two laser beams
are focused into the air to create small
bursts of plasma, which in turn create
terahertz pulses. Second, another pair of
lasers is aimed near the target to create
a second plasma, which detects the tera-
hertz pulses from the first two laser
beams after they have interacted with
the material. The detection plasma pro-
duces acoustic waves as it ionizes in
the air.
Using a sensitive microphone to listen
to the plasma, Clough detected terahertz
wave information embedded in the sound
waves. The information was converted
into digital data and checked against a
library of known terahertz fingerprints
to determine the targets chemical com -
position.
Using acoustics, Clough has identified
terahertz fingerprints from several meters
away. Separately, he has demonstrated
plasma acoustic detection from 11 m,
a distance limited only by available
lab space.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. Scientists have developed an N-slit laser interferometer
that is suitable for secure terrestrial free-space optical communications over
propagation distances and clear-air turbulence detection.
The device was created by physicists from Interferometric Optics and the
US Army Space and Missile Defense Command. The findings were reported
in the Feb. 3, 2011, issue of Journal of Optics (doi: 10.1088/2040-8978/13/3/
035710).
Previously, N-slit interferometers were used for industrial metrology
applications, including microdensitometry, microscopy and optical modula-
tion measurement of thin-film gratings generated from a variety of manufac-
turing processes. Advantages of this type of interferometer include a simple
architecture and the use of low- to medium-power single-transverse-mode
narrow-linewidth lasers.
The scientists proved experimentally that the device is a viable interfero-
metric tool over long free-space propagation paths under fair atmospheric
conditions. In the lab, they demonstrated that very subtle attempts to inter -
cept the interferometric characters, using microscopic natural fibers, could
be detected by observing the diffraction patterns superimposed over the
interferometric signal.
The US Army High Energy Laser Laboratory project was funded through
a subcontract to BAE Systems.
25
t TECHNEWS
Photonics Spectra May 2011
N-slit laser interferometer developed
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STANFORD, Calif. A new ultrasensitive
electronic skin can detect chemicals and
biological molecules in addition to sensing
an incredibly light touch. And now, this
superskin can be powered by stretchable
solar cells, opening up more applications
in clothing, robots, prosthetic limbs and
more.
Researchers at Stanford University are
making the skin self-powering, using poly-
mer cells to generate electricity. The new
cells are not just flexible but also stretch-
able. They can be stretched up to 30 per-
cent beyond their original length and snap
back without any damage or loss of power.
The artificial skins foundation is a flex-
ible organic transistor made with polymers
and carbon-based materials. To allow
touch sensing, the transistor contains a
thin, highly elastic rubber layer molded
into a grid of tiny inverted pyramids.
When pressed, this layer changes its thick-
ness, altering the current flow through the
transistor. The sensors have from several
hundred thousand to 25 million pyramids
per square centimeter, depending upon the
desired level of sensitivity.
To detect a particular biological mole-
cule, the surface of the transistor must be
coated with a different molecule that binds
to the first one when both come into con-
tact. The coating layer has to be only 1 or
2 nm thick. The sensor can be adjusted to
detect chemical or biological materials.
The team members successfully demon-
strated the concept by detecting a certain
kind of DNA. They are now working to
extend the technique to detect specific
protein biomarkers that could be useful
for medical diagnostics. The same ap-
proach can also be used to detect chemical
substances in either vapor or liquid envi-
ronments, they said.
Regardless of what the sensors detect,
they transmit their data to the processing
center, whether a human brain or a com-
puter, via electronic signals. Running on
solar power, the sensors are light, mobile
and simple to use.
The discovery has opened the door to
many possible applications. Its stretchabil-
ity offers the potential to bond solar cells
to curved surfaces such as car exteriors or
architectural elements without cracking or
wrinkling. One day, the innovation could
even allow robots and other devices to
perform functions that human skin cannot.
The research appeared online Feb. 25,
2011, in Advanced Materials (doi:
10.1002/adma.201004426).
26
t TECHNEWS
Photonics Spectra May 2011
Superskin goes solar
The foundation for the artificial skin is an organic transistor made with flexible polymers and carbon-based
materials. Courtesy of L.A. Cicero.
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Manipulating nanowires for single-mode lasers
HANGZHOU, China, and BEIJING A single-nanowire laser has been devel-
oped that, unlike earlier ones, which operated mostly in multiple modes, operates
in a controllable single mode.
Researchers from Zhejiang and Peking universities used a nanowire between
50 and 75 m in length and 200 nm in diameter to develop the breakthrough
laser, which emits a wavelength of about 738 nm.
To produce a nanowire that functions as a single-mode laser, the scientists
excited a looped nanowire with a pulsed laser. The looped nanowire doubles as
a loop mirror, reducing the lasing threshold and increasing the wires reflectivity.
Together, the low threshold and high reflectivity create a high-quality lasing cav-
ity in the nanowire.
By adjusting the loop size with fiber probes, the team tuned the lasers wave-
length. When the loop size was reduced, the optical path of the smaller lasing
cavity caused the wavelength to change.
This single-mode laser could be used as a nanoscale coherent light source for
optical communications, sensing and signal processing applications.
A study of their findings was published online Feb. 15, 2011, in Nano Letters
(doi: 10.1021/nl1040308).
t TECHNEWS
Photonics Spectra May 2011
More powerful integrated circuits
SUNNYVALE, Calif. A record 1 Tb/s
on a single integrated indium phosphide
chip has been achieved, allowing for
more efficient data-handling technologies
and expanding the capacities of optical
networks.
Infinera Corp. has manufactured a pho-
tonic integrated circuit (PIC) that enables
optical networks to be more powerful,
flexible and reliable using equipment
that is significantly smaller and less ex-
pensive and that uses less energy than
previous systems. At the core of a new
10-channel receiver, with each channel
operating at 100-Gb/s data rates, the latest
PIC contains more than 150 optical com-
ponents on a chip smaller than a finger-
nail. The components include frequency-
tunable local oscillator (LO) lasers,
devices for mixing the LO and incoming
signals, variable optical attenuators for
LO power control, a spectral demulti-
plexer that separates individual wave-
length channels, and 40 balanced photo -
detector pairs.
The new technical advance behind the
technology is its ability to detect incoming
data encoded using a spectrally efficient
modulation technique known as polariza-
tion multiplexed quadrature phase-shift
keying, or PM-QPSK. The technique
enables four times more information to
be conveyed each second than possible
with the previous method of simply
switching a laser light on and off.
Infinera expects its terabit PICs to be
commercially available within the next
few years. Its 500-Gb/s PIC will be avail-
able in 2012, and its 100-Gb/s devices are
in use in long-haul and metro networks
worldwide.
At a fraction of the cost and power
consumption, the PIC optical networks
may soon take on the intelligent features
of routed networks, with the ability to
reroute traffic in the event that a fiber
breaks.
The work was presented at OFC/NFOEC
on March 7.
Compiled by Photonics Spectra staff
Photonic integrated chips with faster, more powerful
processing ability aim to put electronic chips out of
business.
511TechNews.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 4:27 PM Page 27
Some telecom laser makers produce 1M per month
R
obust growth is anticipated and,
in fact, already occurring in ele-
ments of the optical components
market. When compared with past quanti-
ties, one area of extraordinary growth is
lasers, the sources or drivers of any fiber
optic network, and their accompanying
receivers. In fact, the fiber optics telecom-
munications industry has never seen the
mass production of these components that
is currently under way. These tiny, grain-
of-salt-size devices that pulse billions of
times per second deliver a binary code
through optical fiber that enables voice
calls, video transmissions and data
messages.
Laurin Publishing (LP) believes that a
central reason for this acceleration is the
enormous global market for fiber-to-the-x
(FTTx) applications. However, there are
other drivers, including data centers and
other short-reach applications. Laser man-
ufacturers do not always know where the
devices they make end up, especially in
the volumes that are being dispensed.
Once, it would have been considered
substantial volume if an active compo-
nents vendor could make 10,000 transmit-
ters in a year, but the industry has reached
the point where some manufacturers now
make more than 1 million lasers per
month. The report details the level of pro-
duction and the corresponding downward
price spiral that continues to affect this in-
dustry.
These lasers remain relatively sophisti-
cated devices despite the massive volumes
being produced. They transmit at a narrow
or fixed wavelength, usually in the C-band
for distances of up to 20 km, with very
high reliability and operating at a versatile
temperature range with an extremely low
margin of error. Manufacturers say each
one of the sources is tested prior to ship-
ment.
BY C. DAVID CHAFFEE
CONTRIBUTOR
The $10 laser is coming
As the report will show, prices have
dropped precipitously. In fact, several
manufacturers told us that they now can
manufacture the lasers for about $10. This
fabled price goal for the laser driver goes
back to the first days of fiber optics, sug-
gested by founder Charles Kao and other
early pioneers as being necessary if the
technology were ever to reach its full
commercial potential. The fact that we
are approaching this level of cost for such
a complex and multifaceted device repre-
sents a milestone in the optical transport
industry.
We must mention one caveat. Retail
clients for these transceivers, including
system vendors and, finally, carriers, are
not paying these prices, but rather closer
to $25 or $30 per unit. That includes the
cost of the transceiver, plus packaging and
shipping.
For the purposes of this article, we will
discuss three manufacturers who make at
least more than 1 million of these lasers in
some months: BinOptics (US), CyOptics
(US) and Mitsubishi (Japan). (See table;
the report will have a complete listing, in-
cluding actual production levels both now
and projected for the next seven years.)
Before we get into the details of these
operations, it is important to make three
other points:
First, these vendors make this large
quantity of lasers and detectors directly for
the telecom market. Other optical compo-
nents vendors, such as Finisar and Oclaro,
both based in the US, can make even more
lasers Oclaro has been known to make 1
million in a week but these are vertical-
cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs).
VCSELs are used mainly in data commu-
nications and in consumer applications
and do not have the level of sophistication
of the distributed feedback lasers made in
quantity by the aforementioned vendors.
Second, other vendors have large opera-
tions that work directly with these suppli-
ers. Taiwan-based Delta and US-based
Ligent, for example, compile hundreds of
thousands of transceivers (a laser and de-
tector packaged in the same unit) every
month, largely from the lasers and detec-
tors that Mitsubishi and other vendors
make. Delta provides transceivers for
Gigabit passive optical network (GPON),
Ethernet passive optical network (EPON)
and Active Ethernet (AE) and at wave-
lengths that include 850, the coarse wave-
length division multiplexing slots, and
1310, 1490, 1510 and 1577 nm.
Third, despite the current quantities and
price levels, this is an ongoing growth
market, as is further defined in the report.
One new vendor soon to be part of the
equation is Onechip Photonics, based in
Canada, which formally announced prod-
ucts at OFC/NFOEC 2011 in March. With
a highly experienced team of optical com-
ponent experts, the company will be mak-
ing large quantities of transceivers using
photonic integrated circuit (PIC) tech-
nology.
BinOptics and Mitsubishi have signifi-
28 Photonics Spectra May 2011
TRACK
FAST
A new report by the author, titled
The Market for Optical Components:
A Seven-Year Forecast, will be published
this month by Laurin Publishing.
Vendors Currently Making 1 Million or More Telecom Lasers Monthly
Corporate HQ Primary Compound/ Own Fab? Application
Name Location Wavelength
BinOptics US Indium Phosphide Yes GPON, EPON, AE
1310, 1490, 1550 nm
CyOptics US Indium Phosphide Yes GPON, EPON, AE
1270 to 1600 nm
Mitsubishi Japan Indium Phosphide Yes GPON, EPON, AE
1310, 1490,1550,
600, 800 nm
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cant manufacturing operations in Asia. Cy-
Optics, on the other hand, operates the last
US-based large-scale turnkey commercial
InP fabrication facility in Pennsylvania.
Trend areas: PICs, fabless
Two terms you will hear frequently in
coming years when it comes to these laser
and components manufacturers are PICs
and fabless. These are both trends, how-
ever. Currently, the three manufacturers
cited all have their own fabs (fabrication
facilities) and, as cited below, there are
still important reasons for that control.
PICs allow vendors to make lasers on
wafers, so that literally hundreds can be
produced on one board. This is only one
of numerous examples where advances
from the silicon industry have immeasur-
ably helped the fiber optics industry.
To make PICs, vendors need fabs to
make the wafers. Why, then, do specific
vendors advertise themselves as being fab-
less? The reason is that costs can be held
down if the vendor outsources the wafer
manufacturing to a fabrication facility that
specializes in that work. The vendor, then,
does not incur all of the costs associated
with running its own facility.
The relationship between the vendor
and the fab owner is a critical one if ven-
dors are going this route, LP has found.
Fabs make chips for many types of appli-
cations, including consumer products such
as cell phones, CDs, automobiles and
computers.
We also should point out that some ven-
dors, including BinOptics, CyOptics and
Mitsubishi, do have their own fabs, giving
them greater control over the product and
perhaps reducing problems that may occur
in facilities that have multiple customers.
In fact, one reason the optical compo-
nents industry experienced a slowdown as
it was ramping up in the second half of
2009 and in 2010 was that these fab facili-
ties already were booked with other busi-
ness. There are only a finite number of
chip vendors, and the widespread deploy-
ments in consumer products have caused a
global drain in some instances. The report
observes that some optical transport ven-
dors have designed their own chips and
contracted with fabs to make them to their
specifications and timetables.
What are some of the specifications that
customers require for these popular lasers?
LP found that they require long wave-
lengths, generally in the 1310- to 1550-nm
range. The less expensive devices also
must be able to push signals out to 20 km
without the need for a repeater. Two popu-
lar materials for making the lasers are in-
dium phosphide and gallium arsenide.
Another consideration: Both CyOptics
and Mitsubishi do the epitaxial growth in-
ternally, while other vendors do not. They
again believe that control over this growth
is important for pricing, security and PIC
integration.
FTTx lasers: Three types
There are generally three flavors for
these lower-priced, higher-quantity trans-
ceivers that conform to the architectures
of the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks
they serve: GPON, EPON and AE. These
largely are replacing BPON (broadband
passive optical networking), which was
the first popular PON architecture in some
markets.
f FASTTRACK
511FastTrack.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 3:41 PM Page 30
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32
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Photonics Spectra May 2011
FASTTRACK
Initially, EPON transceivers were the
least expensive of the three to make be-
cause they conformed to the looser Ether-
net standard. In fact, when Verizon de-
cided to adopt the GPON standard for its
FiOS buildout, it was adding cost to its
network at least at that time. However,
GPON is considered to have higher relia-
bility.
AE architectures are very exciting to
some people because they use a laser to
every residence (whereas PON trans-
ceivers are shared with multiple users).
This, of course, will add to the number of
lasers that are now being produced, which
manufacturers view as a positive develop-
ment. AE was seen as being more expen-
sive than GPON or EPON because more
transceivers were being used; it also was
seen as being more problematic because
the introduction of additional active de-
vices was viewed as causing the networks
to be less stable, resulting in higher main-
tenance.
However, the report finds that, as the
laser cost comes down, AE is seen as
being more economical and the cost bar-
rier as disappearing, just as it has between
GPON and EPON. It also finds that, as
laser reliability improves, the need to
maintain AE networks lessens. (Specific
breakouts by technology for the next
seven years are contained in the report.)
LP believes there are two lessons for the
optical components vendor here. First, the
successful vendor will be able to provide
lasers to all three markets: GPON, EPON
and AE. LP believes that not only will all
three continue to thrive as the global
FTTH market continues to explode, but
that a carrier often will require two for
the same job. This probably will be either
GPON or EPON together with AE. To
expand on this point, the US has largely
used BPON and then GPON because that
is what Verizon used as part of its FiOS
buildout, which has accounted for the
large majority of US FTTH connections.
However, cable TV companies are starting
to bring fiber to the home in America and
are committed to an EPON architecture.
The second lesson is that the successful
optical component vendor will know how
to continue to ramp up. AE already is
starting to catch on in Europe, and global
growth will continue unabated. If vendors
could make hundreds of thousands of
lasers every month five years ago, and
millions of lasers monthly now, it is not a
significant stretch to conclude that they
will need to make 5 million or even 10
million per month five years from now.
Not surprisingly, the more sophisticated
that transceivers become, the more they
cost; e.g., transceivers transmitting signals
greater than 20 km cost more, as do trans-
ceivers operating at higher data rates such
as 40 or 100 Gb/s.
As we discuss in another section of the
report, tunable lasers also cost signifi-
cantly more than fixed-wavelength types.
What is the main differentiator between
transceivers that cost more and those that
cost less? LP believes it is how well trans-
ceiver manufacturers can stay ahead of
the China-based manufacturers. Once the
China-based transceiver manufacturers can
make the component in volume, the price
reaches its low point, at least for now. LP
therefore encourages the transceiver man-
ufacturer to be innovative, to continue to
build in the right advances that will pro-
vide a uniqueness that customers will find
necessary.
Just as important, LP believes that it is
critical for optical component vendors to
develop relationships throughout the world
as the market evolves.
FTTH transceivers are kind of like tele-
phones or at least the way telephones
used to be. Someday, every residence will
have one. As we point out in the report,
our industry literally is looking at the
potential for billions of these devices.
Meet the author
C. David Chaffee is the principal author of The
Market for Optical Components: A Seven-Year
Forecast.
L
aurin Publishing will be taking
orders for the report shortly. Please
call +1 (413) 499-0514.
To order:
Attracting top workers is a full-time job in Germany
AHRENSBURG, Germany Machine
vision manufacturer Basler AG is ramping
up its hiring once again, reflecting an
economic rebound being experienced
throughout most of Germany. The com-
pany, which currently has about 250 em-
ployees, added five new people last year
as the recent downturn petered out. It ex-
pects to hire about 15 this year, mostly
software engineers and technicians.
Along with most of the rest of the
world, Germany fell hard into recession in
2008. By 2009, the last full year for which
stats are up to date, the country had an un-
employment rate of 7.9 percent, up from
7.2 percent the previous year, according to
the federal statistics office (Statistisches
Bundesamt Deutschland). Compared with
other economies, however, the dip was
shallower and shorter. By September
2010, the unemployment rate had already
fallen to 6.7 percent, much lower than the
9.6 percent average throughout the 27
members of the European Union.
Poised for new growth, companies like
Basler that are part of the German photon-
ics industry are trying to strengthen their
ability to attract and keep workers who are
Germanys employment rate is improving faster than in most other EU nations.
Data courtesy of Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland.
511FastTrack.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 3:41 PM Page 32
well trained and motivated.
Basler strives to keep existing employ-
ees, said Sabine Knppel, director of
human resources and organization, by of-
fering work/life balance and similar pro-
grams. Throughout the country, she added,
there have been both legislated and unleg-
islated efforts to encourage people to stay
in their careers. For example, unmandated
programs encourage young adults to start
families and to help new mothers maintain
their careers. Knppel noted one important
law meant to help workers stay focused on
careers: Men or women can work zero
hours or part time for up to three years,
with a return to their job guaranteed.
Other German photonics companies,
such as laser maker Trumpf, managed
to escape the downturn without laying
off any workers. Instead, the company
adopted the socially accepted model of
reducing hours in lieu of letting people go.
Technical education
The European Commission and other
pan-European organizations have called
on members to have well-trained re-
searchers who are ready and willing to
relocate to where the science and technical
jobs are. Likewise, there are calls for a
robust research infrastructure and first-rate
institutions of higher learning.
According to the 2010 UNESCO
(United Nations Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organization) Science Report,
most European universities run on the
principles of the Humboldt model, which
presumes that academic training must in-
volve a minimum level of involvement in
research. Unlike traditional European uni-
versity systems, this model practically
guarantees that acquiring an advanced
degree can take many years.
Europe spreads its research resources
thinly compared with the US. According
to UNESCO, European nations should
foster greater diversity in many areas,
funding being one of them. This will re-
quire pushing universities to more broadly
define themselves as the equivalent of lib-
eral arts colleges, offering separate bache-
lors and masters degrees. In most of Eu-
rope, however, students, their families and
employers dont consider a bachelors de-
gree to represent a full university educa-
tion, forming a cultural roadblock.
Nonetheless, such a shift is under way,
and the traditional education system in
Germany is changing from masters/bach-
elors equivalent (Dipl.) to more US-like
separate degrees, Baslers Knppel said.
While no national system for evaluating
university research exists in Germany,
there is a concerted effort to foster univer-
sity-level excellence in science and tech-
nology education.
Germanys Exzellenzinitiative (Excel-
lence Initiative) is the result of the coun-
trys federal government working with the
individual states to broaden academic di-
versity. To promote the split degree sys-
tem, the program has identified 39 excel-
lent graduate schools since 2005. Another
component of the initiative creates clusters
(37 thus far), including one centered on
nanosystems based in Munich.
Germany also employs a dual-education
system in which students go to school part
time while serving an apprenticeship for
three to 3.5 years. Companies such as Sill
33
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Photonics Spectra May 2011
FASTTRACK
511FastTrack.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 3:41 PM Page 33
Optics GmbH & Co. KG in Wendelstein
employ one apprentice for every seven
regular staff. By the time they are fin-
ished, Knppel said the students are
primed to stay at the company.
Basler and Sill are generally happy with
the level of education provided their em-
ployees from both the university system
and from Germanys technical schools.
A problem in Germany for technical com-
panies, Knppel said, is finding ways to
engage a greater percentage of young
students (grade-school age) to aim for
science and technology careers.
Basler works closely with local schools,
through sponsorship of technology days,
providing projects and work groups as
well as site visits to the companys facili-
ties. Such school visits often try to engage
young women specifically.
There also is a Germany-wide little in-
ventors competition, designed to engage
young minds. And Basler offers two- to
three-week little internships for 12- to
17-year-old students.
Other projects geared toward attracting
young minds to science and technology
exist outside of industry and government.
CyberMentor is designed to draw more
women into technical careers by getting
girls interested in science at a young age.
Primarily an online community and re-
source geared toward girls aged 12 to 19,
the program provides access to mentors.
Lynn Savage
lynn.savage@photonics.com
through in ship protection. They demonstrated
an injector that can produce the electrons
needed to generate megawatt-class laser
beams for the Navys next-generation weapon
system. They are working to measure the prop-
erties of the continuous electron beams and
hope to set a world record for the average
current of electrons. The FEL is expected to
provide future US Naval forces with a near-
instantaneous laser ship defense. The laser
works by passing a beam of high-energy elec-
trons generated by an injector through a series
of strong magnetic fields, causing an intense
emission of laser light. The Office of Naval
Research hopes to test the FEL in a maritime
environment by 2018.
Companies to Advance Military Lasers Alfa-
light Inc. of Madison, Wis., a manufacturer of
high-power diode laser products and handheld
infrared and visible laser systems, has an-
nounced a strategic investment and technology
development agreement with In-Q-Tel of
Arlington, Va., an investment firm that provides
technology to support the missions of the US
Intelligence Community. The partnership ad-
vances Alfalights development of portable
military laser systems and builds upon its portfo-
lio of semiconductor laser technology, which
includes high efficiency, high brightness and
wavelength stabilization combined with electro-
optics and integrated control methodologies.
The collaboration also will accelerate the devel-
34
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Photonics Spectra May 2011
FASTTRACK
High Demand for Crystal Grower Thermal
Technology of Santa Rosa, Calif., has received
59 orders for its Model K1 sapphire crystal
grower from customers in Taiwan, Korea and
China. In total, the growers will produce 5.2
million two-in-equivalents per year. The Model
K1, weighing 90 kg, outperforms other sapphire
crystal methods, including the HEM and Bridg-
man, and has a short cycle time, the company
said. The sapphire crystals are used as substrate
wafers for high-brightness blue and white LEDs,
which have applications in traffic lights, back-
lighting for flat panel displays, and common
lighting, such as streetlights and household
bulbs.
Laser Ship Defense Milestone At Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico, scientists
in the Office of Naval Researchs Free-Electron
Laser (FEL) program have achieved a break-
511FastTrack.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 3:41 PM Page 34
opment and availability of its products and tech-
nologies in the public and private sectors.
Boston Micromachines Wins Grant Boston
Micromachines Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., has
received a $100,000 Small Business Innovation
Research Program contract from NASA to sup-
port space-based imaging research. The Phase I
project is for the development of a high-resolu-
tion, fault-tolerant microelectromechanical
deformable mirror technology that will fill a gap
in NASAs road map for future coronagraphic
observatories. The company plans to implement
two complementary modifications to the manu-
facturing process: It will develop a drive elec-
tronics approach to limit actuator electrical cur-
rent density generated to prevent permanent
failure when a short-time-frame, single-fault
failure occurs, and it will modify the actuator
design to mitigate failure resulting from adhe-
sion between contacting surfaces of the actuator
flexure and fixed base. The company provides
mirror products for commercial adaptive optics
systems.
Company Rebrands Brush Engineered Materi-
als Inc. of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, has changed
its name to Materion Corp., unifying its busi-
nesses under the Materion brand. The company
has grown through acquisitions and internal
initiatives, which continued to operate under
their original names and brands. It also has
introduced a new logo and launched a new
website. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries,
it supplies advanced enabling materials to
global markets. Its portfolio includes precious
and nonprecious specialty metals, inorganic
chemicals and powders, specialty coatings,
beryllium alloys and composites, and engi-
neered clad and plated metal systems.
CEA-Leti Joins III-V Lab In France, in a move
to strengthen the industrial research capabilities
of the III-V Lab in Marcoussis, CEA-Leti of
Grenoble, a research and technology organiza-
tion, will join the center. Established by Alcatel-
Lucent of Paris and Thales of Neuilly-sur-Seine
in 2004, the center, a public-private partner-
ship, will combine III-V semiconductor and
silicon technologies, opening up research
perspectives and dynamics. The enlarged lab
will include more than 130 researchers, techni-
cians and doctoral candidates, leveraging the
silicon, microelectronics and heterogeneous
integration of the three companies. These
include the III-V components on silicon CMOS
integrated circuits and the development of
smarter, smaller components heterogeneously
integrating active III-V components with silicon
circuits and microsystems.
Companies Extend LED Deal LED lighting
company Cree Inc. of Durham, N.C., and Zum-
tobel Lighting GmbH of Dornbirn, Austria, will
continue to provide LED lighting technology in
Europe. Cree announced a two-year extension
of the agreement it signed in 2008 with Zumto-
bel. The latter provides its customers with LED
lighting based on Crees TrueWhite technology.
Molding Technology Developed A high-
speed molding technology that can form optical
components from glass taken directly from a
furnace without polishing or grinding has
been developed by Docter Optics of Neustadt
an der Orla, Germany. With funding in part by
the European Union, the company said this ini-
tial process will be further enhanced to demon-
strate that sophisticated optical components
can be economically produced using an in-line
molding process. High-volume applications also
include light pipes, which are required in mod-
ern concentrated photovoltaic systems, LED illu-
mination technology and wherever secondary
optical elements of glass are called for.
Fiber Lasers for Oil Industry NKT Photonics
A/S of Birkerd, Denmark, has been awarded a
volume contract to supply its low-noise Koheras
Basik fiber laser modules to an undisclosed
party for use in a seismic application within the
oil industry. The Koheras fiber laser is charac-
terized by a very low frequency and noise inten-
sity, and inherent single-frequency operation. It
has been used in the oil industry for exploration
and for monitoring the structural integrity of
pipelines, in the defense sector for acoustic
detection, and in the wind turbine industry for
Doppler sensing.
35
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Photonics Spectra May 2011
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511_ILXLightwave_Pg36.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 11:21 AM Page 36
GreenLight
Ultrafast laser scribes solar cells
A
new manufacturing method using
an ultrafast pulsing laser could
make thin-film solar cell arrays a
more efficient and less expensive means
of power generation.
The current method of connecting solar
panels into arrays that generate usable
electricity involves mechanically scribing
with a stylus, but this technique is less
than ideal: Not only is it slow and
expensive, but it also produces
imperfect channels.
The efficiency of solar cells depends
largely on how accurate your scribing
of microchannels is, said Yung Shin, a
professor of mechanical engineering and
director of Purdue Universitys Center
for Laser-Based Manufacturing. If
they are made as accurately as possible,
efficiency goes up.
Shin and his team are working to in-
crease solar cell efficiency using an ultra-
short-pulse laser on thin-film solar cells
to produce the microchannels, he said.
Production costs of solar cells have
been greatly reduced by making them
out of thin films instead of wafers,
but it is difficult to create high-quality
microchannels in these thin films, Shin
said. The mechanical scribing methods
in commercial use do not create high-
quality, well-defined channels.
Although laser scribing has been
studied extensively, until now we havent
been able to precisely control lasers to
accurately create the microchannels to the
exacting specifications required.
The groups research shows that the
ultrafast laser pulses formed microchan-
nels with sharp boundaries and precisely
specified depths. The laser pulses last
only a matter of picoseconds, so the
laser does not cause heat damage to the
thin film. It removes material precisely
through cold ablation.
It creates very clean microchannels
on the surface of each layer, Shin said.
You can do this at very high speed
meters per second which is not possible
with a mechanical scribe.
This is very tricky because the laser
must be precisely controlled so that it
penetrates only one layer of the thin film
at a time, and the layers are extremely
thin. You can do that with this kind of
laser because you have a very precise
control of the depth, to about 10 to 20
nanometers.
Approximately 20 percent of the global
photovoltaic market in terms of watts
generated is made up of thin-film solar
cells, and experts predict that this will rise
to 31 percent by 2013.
The research is led by Shin and Gary
Cheng, an associate professor of industrial
engineering. The work is funded through
a three-year, $425,000 grant from the
National Science Foundation.
A paper demonstrating the methods
feasibility was published in Proceedings
of the 2011 NSF Engineering Research
and Innovation Conference. The paper
was written by Shin, Cheng and
graduate students Wenqian Hu,
Martin Yi Zhang and Seunghyun Lee.
laura.marshall@photonics.com
37
BY LAURA S. MARSHALL
MANAGING EDITOR
Photonics Spectra May 2011
A scanning electron microscope image shows a microchannel that was created using an ultrafast-pulsing laser.
Courtesy of Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering. Image/Yung Shin.
The groups research shows
that the ultrafast laser pulses
formed microchannels with
sharp boundaries and
precisely specified depths.
511_Greenlight.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 5:25 PM Page 37
38 Photonics Spectra May 2011
Imaging in the
Ultrafast Lane
BY HANK HOGAN
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Observing what happens when atoms interact or proteins fold requires
picosecond or faster imaging. Recent innovations promise to allow
researchers to capture previously invisible events. That capability could
have industrial and medical uses, as can be seen with examples of
imaging below and above the visible spectrum.
511_UltrafastImaging.qxd:Layout 1 4/21/11 10:42 AM Page 38
39 Photonics Spectra May 2011
(Opposite) An ultrafast laser frequency upshifted into
a rainbow of laserlike x-rays spans the entire soft x-ray
region of the spectrum. This enables any element in a
sample to be identified chemically, or a movie of any
reaction to be made in real time. Courtesy of Tenio
Popmintchev, JILA.
(Above) An x-ray converter developed at JILA takes
an ultrafast laser and converts it into laserlike beams
at much shorter wavelengths and pulse duration. The
laser accelerates electrons within an atom that then
radiate a rainbow of laserlike x-rays. Reprinted from
Nature Photonics. Courtesy of Tenio Popmintchev
and Brad Baxley, JILA.
(Left) Combined laser and x-ray beams can
excite and probe a molecule to follow how the
electron density and atoms move during chemical
reactions. Courtesy of Greg Kuebler, JILA.
For ultrafast imaging at wavelengths well below the
visible, consider the work being done by a team led by
professors Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane. The
married couple holds appointments in physics at the Uni-
versity of Colorado at Boulder and JILA, a physical sci-
ence research institute jointly operated by the university
and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Their research focuses on generating and using coherent
laserlike x-rays.
As described in the December 2010 issue of Nature
Photonics, they start with a femtosecond laser pulse and
send it into a gas cloud inside a hollow waveguide. The
resulting high harmonic generation produces an output
that can be thousands of times shorter in wavelength.
The laser and gas determine the output wavelength and
its brightness. For instance, a Ti:sapphire beam at 800 nm
and argon yield a 29-nm wavelength output, while the use
of helium leads to a 13-nm output. Recently, the group has
511_UltrafastImaging.qxd:Layout 1 4/21/11 10:42 AM Page 39
figured out how to produce light of nano-
meter wavelengths, which somewhat para-
doxically will need mid-IR lasers operating
at 1.3 m and longer, Murnane said.
With shorter wavelengths, the investiga-
tors will improve imaging resolution, since
the classical diffraction limit is about half
the wavelength. The push down from
extreme-ultraviolet, at 13 nm, into x-rays
as short as 1 nm should allow an equivalent
enhancement in resolving object details.
Theres another effect of this approach,
Kapteyn said. If you do it under the right
conditions, you generate an attosecond
pulse.
Like the wavelength, the pulse duration
is thousands of times smaller than the ori -
ginal. Results indicate that pulses of about
5 as can be generated. At 10
18
seconds, an
attosecond is so short that light travels only
one-third of a nanometer. These brief bursts
of light should allow the capture of electron
dynamics in materials and molecules.
For imaging, the researchers illuminate
an object with a coherent beam and collect
the scattered light. Visually, this looks like
a mess, but it contains information from
which spatial data can be extracted.
Whats more, light below 4 nm is
absorbed by elements such as carbon
and nitrogen and so can provide elemen -
tal information. In particular, water is
relatively transparent in this region, but
carbon is strongly absorbing, leading to
an interesting possibility.
You can image carbon content in an
x-ray image with 10-nm resolution for a
field of view thats about the size of a
single cell, Kapteyn said.
Nonbiological uses of the technique
could include tracking the dynamics of
semiconductors by following transistor heat
dissipation. For hard disks, changes in data
bit magnetization could be measured, an
important topic as the industry strives to
make higher-capacity disks.
Imaging is done by having the energetic
photons directly strike a CCD sensor,
which causes some chip damage. The tech-
nique is also limited to imaging depths of
only a few microns, and the beam itself has
to travel in vacuum. The sample being
imaged can sit in atmosphere, pressed up
against a transparent window.
The key to the latest advance has been a
better understanding of the nonlinear optics
Photonics Spectra May 2011
Although researchers have been focusing on sources, detectors have also
been improving. One example comes from Teledyne Dalsa, the Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada-based camera maker. In December 2010, the company
announced a CMOS line-scan camera with 1146-megapixel-per-second
throughput. The data rate is high enough that the camera requires a new
interface. Dubbed HSLink, it forms the foundation for Camera Link HS,
a proposed successor to the interface standard Camera Link.
Another example comes from Fairchild Imaging, a Milpitas, Calif.-based
company currently being acquired by British defense contractor BAE Sys-
tems that makes both CMOS- and CCD-based imaging systems. The com-
pany realized a few years ago, said Colin Earle, vice president of sales and
marketing for Fairchild Imaging, that the scientific community could use
a faster, higher sensitivity sensor with more dynamic range than CCDs
offer. The company therefore developed its scientific CMOS sensors.
Fairchild Imaging partnered with both Andor Technology plc of Belfast, UK,
and Kelheim, Germany-based PCO in bringing to market systems that are
based on the technology.
Earle said that the sensors and imaging systems based on them have been
well received. They offer capture rates of up to 100 fps, about five times
faster than comparable CCD sensors, but do so without sacrificing whats
important to the target market.
In particular, researchers want a low-noise sensor, Earle said. A scientist
cares about low noise because he wants to be able to measure faint signals,
and hes got to ensure that his noise floor is below what hes trying to
measure without resorting to multiplicative gain techniques that introduce
further uncertainty.
Not ultrafast,
but faster
ULTRAFAST IMAGING
40
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511_LambdaResOptics_Pg41.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 11:22 AM Page 41
that transform an infrared beam into x-rays.
Decades ago, the first x-ray lasers were
powered by stadium-size sources, but
with this breakthrough, that situation has
changed.
We can generate very useful amounts of
x-ray light, and its on a tabletop, Kapteyn
said.
So far, the group has done extreme-ultra-
violet imaging in three dimensions in space
and in one dimension with time resolution.
The investigators plan to combine these
and lower the wavelength, thereby enabling
nanoscale imaging with subfemtosecond
resolution. Kapteyn and Murnane formed
a company more than a decade ago to com-
mercialize their research and innovations.
In addition to ultrafast imaging below
the visible, theres work under way to do
the same at wavelengths that are much
longer. Take, for example, research being
done at Imperial College London by
physics professor Chris Phillips. His group
demonstrated ultrafast infrared chemical
imaging of live cells, reporting on the
work in the January 2011 issue of
Chemical Science.
They were able to capture an image in
about 100 ps, roughly 100 billion times
faster than current mid-IR spectroscopic
imaging techniques can. They achieved
this through two innovations. The first
was a new source, and the second was a
new detector.
Of the two, the source was the more
important, Phillips said. Other than large
scientific installations like synchrotrons and
free-electron lasers, theres really nothing in
that part of the spectrum that tunes across
the wavelength range of interest and gives
Photonics Spectra May 2011
A mid-infrared image of a single live SK-OV-3 human ovarian cancer cell undergoing mitosis. Visible image
(a) and IR transmission image (b) at 4.1 m, along with false-color IR image (c). Dividing nuclei of the cell are
clearly visible. The image was acquired in 100 ps at a 1.9-m pixel size. Reprinted from Chemical Science.
Courtesy of Chris Phillips, Imperial College London.
ULTRAFAST IMAGING
511_UltrafastImaging.qxd:Layout 1 4/21/11 10:43 AM Page 42
anything like the time resolution we can
manage.
Using a custom-built optical parametric
amplifier, the source can deliver peak
power of 100 W to the sample, starting
with a 2.78-m beam generated from a
doped yttrium scandium gallium garnet
rod. This pulsed beam passes through a
zinc germanium phosphide crystal, shifting
the wavelength of the pulse. By altering the
crystal angle, the output can be tuned over
the range from 3 to more than 10 m.
The detector is a commercial mercury-
cadmium-telluride focal plane, modified by
removing thermal background-suppressing
filters. That allows the system to image
across the entire biologically important
2- to 9.7-m range. Those wavelengths are
sensitive to chemical bonds and so high-
light the dynamic chemistry of a sample.
The researchers have started to use the
setup to study cancer biopsy specimens,
with the hope that the chemical maps thus
produced will allow rapid differentiation
of diseased from healthy tissue.
Aside from possible diagnostic applica-
tions, Phillips noted that other uses will
include tracking the way chemicals move
around in a cell. Of particular interest will
be how cells respond to external triggers,
such as necrosis factors and drugs.
Recent source advances also promise
to make ultrafast imaging a reality at even
longer wavelengths, said Daniel Mittleman,
a professor of electrical and computer engi-
neering at Rice University in Houston.
He is involved in terahertz imaging, which
covers wavelengths from 100 m to 1 mm.
Ironically, although femtosecond lasers
have long been a preferred method for
generating and detecting terahertz radia-
tion, the field has not employed ultrafast
imaging. In fact, there has been virtually
no time-resolved imaging at all, Mittle -
man said.
The issue has been a lack of high-inten-
sity ultrafast terahertz pulses. The situation
has changed in the past year or so, and
Mittleman expects that terahertz ultrafast
imaging is on the horizon. When it does
arrive, the long wavelengths will allow the
tracking of phonons, the quantized vibra-
tions found in a crystal lattice, or the fold-
ing of a protein.
However, those long wavelengths also
pose a challenge. Theyre much bigger
than a cell or other items of interest, which
renders conventional imaging impossible.
Researchers are working to overcome this
limitation, turning to near-field imaging and
other techniques to resolve small objects.
Theyve had some success, and that
could bode well for future ultrafast tera-
hertz imaging. As Mittleman said, People
have been able to image hundred-nanome-
ter objects with terahertz radiation that is
hundreds of microns in wavelength.
hank.hogan@photonics.com
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Photonics Spectra May 2011
Fluorescent-labeled BPAE cells, captured with a Fairchild Imaging SciMOS camera.
Courtesy of Fairchild Imaging.
511_UltrafastImaging.qxd:Layout 1 4/21/11 10:43 AM Page 43
Feetures
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511_CookeCorp_Pg44.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 11:03 AM Page 44
Preserving Moores Law
Pushes Lithography to its Limits
Optical lithography equipment
It is time to consider some of the other
optical elements in a lithographic system.
In the quest to create smaller chips, manu-
facturers have developed phase shift
masks, improved the chemistry of photo-
resists and fabricated lenses with very
high numerical apertures (NAs) and near-
diffraction-limited performance.
The technique employed by most mod-
ern optical lithography equipment is
known as projec-
tion printing. In
the setup, laser
light shines
through a mask,
which contains
the pattern to be
imaged onto the
wafer. But the
large gap be-
tween the mask
and the wafer re-
sults in diffrac-
tion, effectively
spreading out the
laser light.
A well-de-
signed objective
lens is used to
gather the dif-
fracted light from
the mask before
it is projected onto the wafer, whereby the
ability of the lens to collect diffracted light
is measured by its NA.
Although using a lens with a higher NA
results in better resolution of the image,
there is a price: As the NA increases, the
depth of focus decreases. Poor depth of
focus could cause some points of the
wafer to be out of focus; increased NA
also requires the wafer to be positioned
extremely precisely.
Optical lithography is the art of print-
ing as close to the Rayleigh limit as possi-
ble while maintaining a high level of uni-
formity and stability for high-volume
manufacturing. Maintaining fidelity of
the pattern to be printed is also extremely
difficult, and it deteriorates the closer one
prints to the Rayleigh limit, said Sam
Sivakumar, Intel fellow and director of the
lithography technology and manufacturing
group there.
One of the ways Intel tackled the
dilemma involved the introduction of
phase shift masks, which began with its
45-nm node to increase the effective con-
trast. Intel pioneered
the use of alternating
phase shift masks
(starting at 90 nm)
and attenuating phase
shift masks (starting
at 130 nm). The com-
pany also introduced
extensive optical tai-
loring of substrate
materials to deliver
specific optical per-
formance in aid of
the patterning
needed.
Todays lithogra-
phy process is a
highly optimized and
fine-tuned mixture of
techniques to enable
Moores Law scal-
ing, Sivakumar said.
Phase shift masks have become ubiqui-
tous. Source optimization has become
highly sophisticated with the advent
of diffractive optical element sources.
Finally, photoresist chemistry has become
increasingly sophisticated, enabling much
higher resolution and fidelity.
Another trick of the trade makes use of
the refraction caused by water. The
process, known as immersion lithography,
is used by the industry today for state-of-
the-art processes. It effectively reduces
the wavelength by about 30 percent. Intel
started using this technique at 32 nm, and
others followed at 45 nm.
45 Photonics Spectra May 2011
A scanning electron micrograph image of a 56-nm
pitch pattern in resist, exposed on an EUV Alpha
Demo Tool using a Globalfoundries mask.
C
r
e
d
i
t
:
H
a
r
r
y
L
e
v
i
n
s
o
n
,
G
l
o
b
a
l
f
o
u
n
d
r
i
e
s
.
T
he race is on to develop the next
technology that will enable manu-
facturers to continue scaling down
their chip sizes. Will optics provide
the answer everyone is looking for?
The brisk march of optical lithography
has set the pace for the shrinking size
of semiconductor devices and integrated
circuits (ICs) that we see today. Optical
lithography the technology of pattern-
ing enables intricate circuits to be cre-
ated in wafers at dimensions smaller than
the light wavelength used in the process.
As ever shorter wavelength sources are
developed, the resolution of patterning
continues to improve, and circuit features
can shrink. But some believe this progress
is starting to slow, threatening the perpetu-
ation of Moores Law.
Moores Law was formulated by the co-
founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, in 1965,
when he predicted that the number of tran-
sistors that can be placed on an IC would
double every year. He later revised this to
approximately every two years.
Keeping up with Moores Law over the
past four decades has seen lithography
wavelengths drop from the 436 and
365 nm produced by mercury arc lamps
to 248 nm by the krypton fluoride excimer
laser. In 1998, a group at MITs Lincoln
Laboratory developed a 193-nm source
with the argon fluoride laser, which is
used to produce todays 45- and 32-nm
IC technologies.
Despite the trend in reducing exposure
wavelengths, todays aggressive feature
sizes are still falling farther and farther
below the available exposure sources,
complicating the imaging challenges.
But the biggest question in the field
today is this: What imaging method will
be used to pattern features that are 22 nm
and below? Will shorter wavelengths
such as the long-awaited extreme-ultra-
violet (EUV) be the answer, or can
Moores Law be extended by other
means?
BY MARIE FREEBODY, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
511_Lithography Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:56 PM Page 45
Progression, but not at any price
But Moores Law isnt just about get-
ting more transistors on each chip; its also
about bringing down the cost of transis-
tors. Optical lithography equipment has so
far met industry demands, but to preserve
the law, a new advance is needed soon.
EUV lithography has been the much
anticipated solution; however, its develop-
ment has proved to be far from smooth,
causing some in the industry to lose faith.
Developing a source in this regime that is
powerful, robust and stable enough for a
modern semiconductor fab is a huge chal-
lenge, and there has been disappoint-
ment over its progress.
According to Dr. Michael
Fritze, director of Disruptive
Electronics at the Univer-
sity of Southern California
Information Sciences
Institute in Marina del
Rey, a process known as
double patterning is now
being considered as a
candidate for feature
sizes below 32 nm. The
technique is a compli-
cated and expensive
method of doubling up the
layers of printing, but Fritze
believes that this will be the
most likely solution until EUV is finally
ready.
The problem with both EUV and double
patterning lithography solutions is the
cost, and the semiconductor industry
has not been keen to implement the tech-
niques. For most fabrication facilities, it
takes billions of dollars to create the fab
and then substantial amounts of money to
maintain the capability.
This is where DARPA believes it can fit
in with its three-year GRATE (Gratings of
Photonics Spectra May 2011
Optical lithography enables Intel to build state-of-the art chips with feature sizes as small as 32 nm and below.
As lithography systems progress, integrated circuits can be made with more performance and more features,
better power efficiency and lower cost per transistor. Images courtesy of Intel Corp.
Lithography
511_Lithography Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:56 PM Page 46
Despite its problems, EUV lithography
is still being pursued and heavily invested
in by many R&D departments, including
Globalfoundries of Milpitas, Calif., which
was the first company to produce working
memory cells using EUV lithography.
We were leaders in the initial develop-
ment phases of EUV, and we plan to ex-
tend this leadership position as the tech-
nology approaches maturity, including
being one of the first customers for a
production-level EUV tool, said Harry
Levinson, senior fellow and manager of
strategic lithography technology there.
Lithography systems maker ASML of
Veldhoven, the Netherlands, continues to
ship its preproduction EUV machine,
NXE:3100, with the aim of refining the
technology in time for high-volume chip
production starting in 2013.
Meanwhile, Intel is hedging its bets,
working on a variety of techniques to ex-
tend 193-nm lithography and to develop
EUV lithography.
marie.freebody@photonics.com
Regular Arrays and Trim Exposures) pro-
gram, which kicked off at the end of 2010.
The goal of GRATE is to develop method-
ologies enabling simplified circuit designs
using high-resolution grating patterns that
can be fabricated using either mask-based
or maskless interference lithography.
Previously headed up by Fritze while
he was program manager at DARPA, the
program is now led by Dr. Carl McCants,
who explained that the vision is to make
low-volume fabrication at advanced nodes
affordable for the US Department of
Defense (DoD).
If it becomes cost-ineffective to imple-
ment in a given technology, people will
stop, McCants said. Large companies can
absorb the cost of development, but the
DoD is looking for advanced technology
access for low-volume manufacturing.
While this program is set to benefit
low-volume fabrication, specifically of
custom silicon-based application-specific
integrated circuits, high-volume manufac-
turers must look elsewhere.
Photonics Spectra May 2011
Lithography
511_Lithography Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:56 PM Page 47
Expert Q&A:
Trends in Laser Alignment
BY LAURA S. MARSHALL
MANAGING EDITOR
L
aser alignment affords manufacturers
great precision and efficiency in as-
sessment of their equipment, allowing
them to take minute measurements and
correct tiny errors that otherwise could
mean big problems down the line, includ-
ing materials wasted or time lost.
To get a picture of current activity in
laser alignment, Photonics Spectra turned
to experts from two companies in the thick
of things: Opto-Alignment Technology
Inc. in Indian Trail, N.C., and Pinpoint
Laser Systems Inc. in Peabody, Mass.
Steve Bohuczky is the executive direc-
tor of business development for Opto-
Alignment Technology, also known as
OAT. Opto-Alignment produces alignment
and assembly equipment for ultraprecision
and precision optical systems. It special-
izes in narrow confocal laser reflection-
based measurements of lens centration and
lens tilt to submicron level, Bohuczky
said. One new OAT product is the Laser
Alignment Station (LAS), which enables
Photonics Spectra May 2011 48
Opto-Alignment assembly cleanroom
with alignment stations.
Courtesy of Opto-Alignment.
511_Laser Alignment Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:55 PM Page 48
measurement and correction of even a
tiny 2-arc-second tilt. Additional modules
also allow it to measure lens thickness and
air space in lens systems.
Mory Creighton is the general manager
at Pinpoint Laser Systems. Pinpoint pro-
vides laser measuring and machinery
alignment equipment for manufacturing.
The company is introducing two laser re-
ceivers based on customer feedback, the
4D Microgage and the Microgage 2D
Transparent. These will allow precision
measurements on machine tools and as-
sembly equipment.
Q: What do you see as the next big
thing in laser alignment in general?
Are you seeing any new and exciting
laser alignment advances coming
out of R&D and/or university labs?
Creighton: Fixturing, software and manu-
facturers taking on their own alignment.
As machinery configurations change,
the fixturing for alignment systems and
techniques needs to change as well. Rails
and slides become longer, CNC [computer
numerical control] machine tools have dif-
ferent work enclosures driven by safety,
and working considerations and alignment
fixturing has to adapt to these changing
needs. Many of our customers come to us
looking for adapters and new fixtures for
their alignment systems as they take on
new tasks that they were not considering
two or three years ago but that have be-
come important now.
Software what do the measuring and
alignment numbers mean and how do they
relate to corrective action taken on the
production line? Software that allows peo-
ple to quickly see the alignment condition
of their production machinery is a great
asset in reducing their downtime and pro-
ducing better finished products.
We see a steady trend in manufacturers
bringing their alignment capabilities inside
their organization. Companies need to re-
main competitive in the global environ-
ment thinner materials, faster throughput
and more complex manufacturing
processes require precise machinery oper-
ation. For years, there has been a strong
reliance on outside, third-party alignment
vendors, and these services have become
very costly, and often there are long wait-
ing periods in scheduling, which has a sig-
nificant manufacturing impact on machin-
ery downtime, rising production costs and
scheduling.
Our observations show that produc-
tion workers and plant engineers are
very familiar with their own production
equipment and given a good, precise
measuring and alignment tool they do
a much better job in maintaining align-
ment on their production equipment, re-
ducing downtime and ultimately improv-
ing their own manufacturing profits.
The development of new laser
technology, detectors and optics moves
steadily along in both industrial R&D
as well as government and university
research settings. Pinpoint is actively in-
volved with this process as well and reg-
ularly introducing new products such as
the Microgage 4 Axis Receiver and the
2D Transparent Receiver both unique
products driven by requests from
our large customer base. Methods to
apply alignment data and findings to
automated equipment is a growing area,
particularly as CNC machinery runs
faster and faster under automated
control, and manufacturing tolerances
become tighter.
Bohuczky: There are too many R&D
projects out there with very promising
results. I read about around-the-corner
3-D imaging of objects that are out of the
straight line of sight, by measuring the
time of multiple reflections, almost like
laser echo. OAT is preparing to build
mid- and long-IR LAS devices as soon
as a specific need and budget are there.
49 Photonics Spectra May 2011
One of Opto-Alignments newer products is the Laser Alignment Station. Courtesy of Opto-Alignment.
511_Laser Alignment Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/20/11 5:31 PM Page 49
Q: Which application areas would you
say are currently thriving and why?
Creighton: We see a lot of growth and
business activity in the continuous process
side of the manufacturing industry. For ex-
ample, paper mills, converting lines, steel
and metal production, electronic compo-
nent manufacturing and others cannot af-
ford unexpected downtime. Competition
is tight, and profit margins are small and,
consequently, manufacturing planning and
maintenance need to be right on track. We
are seeing a lot of customer needs in this
area now, particularly for equipment that
supports preventive maintenance.
New technology manufacturing is also
a driving force in our industry. Helicop-
ters, aircraft, ships and automobiles are
made out of new materials, such as ad-
vanced composites that influence the
manufacturing and assembly process.
In the past, large dedicated tooling was
created for single product fabrication and
assembly. Over the past five to 10 years,
the move has been toward flexible tool-
ing, and measuring and alignment
equipment that can adapt to many
different products being produced. We
see strong growth potential for companies
that can work in this arena.
Bohuczky: I noticed that there is a fast
growing arsenal of medical laser instru-
ments on the market, and I think more will
be widely available to the noncash patient
base soon. Obviously, the aging popula-
tion in the Western world is a major
driver. Some of the scientific applications
are a little harder to pinpoint, partly be-
cause there are too many.
As far as military applications, I hope
that the global powers will or already have
agreed not to integrate laser-based small
arms into their military arsenals. Eventu-
ally, these would become available to
anyone and establish an invisible, unde-
tectable threat.
Q: How would you say the market
has been in the past few years
for laser alignment?
Bohuczky: Laser alignment and measure-
ment is now in every corner of technology
and industry. The expansion was fast and
logical, and it will continue.
Creighton: The economic climate over
the past couple of years has been challeng-
ing, particularly for manufacturing indus-
tries. Reductions in production activity,
50 Photonics Spectra May 2011
Laser alignment offers a quick, efficient way for manufacturing companies to run preventive mainte-
nance checks and make sure that equipment is properly set up. Courtesy of Pinpoint Laser Systems.
Checking the angular orientation and deflection of the arm on an inspection robot.
Courtesy of Pinpoint Laser Systems.
Laser Alignment
511_Laser Alignment Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:55 PM Page 50
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cost-cutting measures and turnover in the
workforce have influenced the market for
all machinery alignment, including laser
alignment equipment.
However, we have recently seen a sig-
nificant increase in manufacturing activity
in certain industrial sectors and an aggres-
sive approach to bringing machinery back
on line and performing the needed align-
ments to keep this equipment running
smoothly and efficiently. Our business
activity is increasing steadily, and we
hope that this progress will continue.
Q: Where do you think the market
for laser alignment is going?
Bohuczky: Measuring the presence and
distance of objects relating to safety in
industry and everyday life will be one of
the most important new markets.
Creighton: One trend, mentioned earlier,
is the movement toward companies taking
care of their own machinery and equip-
ment alignment. A lot of customers are
replacing traditional methods with laser
alignment products. This is often seen now
as a necessity rather than a luxury. The
measuring and alignment products avail-
able today have become so easy to learn
and use that manufacturing companies are
equipping their workforce with these
tools. Their motivation is to reduce outside
alignment costs and delays and to better
tap into the knowledge and expertise of
their own workforce.
Stronger focus on preventive mainte-
nance is pulling the laser alignment mar-
ket in new directions. Manufacturing is
embracing preventive maintenance with
new techniques, data and scheduling
tools, and other resources in an effort
to improve profitability. Here at Pinpoint,
we have seen a stronger focus on manu-
facturers using precision equipment to
take quick snapshots of their machinery
alignment and condition monitoring for
more organized equipment maintenance
and improvements. Tight manufacturing
schedules, JIT [just in time] production
and growing foreign competition leave
little room for unexpected production
downtime events.
A slow and steady movement away
from optical alignment scopes toward
laser equipment that is easier to use, more
precise and repeatable from user to user.
As seasoned manufacturing people leave
the workforce, the knowledge base for
using optical alignment equipment is leav-
ing with them. Employees, more than
ever, move from job to job, and the laser
alignment equipment available on the
market today is easier and faster to learn,
while at the same time it improves the
speed and precision for routine and com-
plex machinery alignment.
Q: What are the biggest challenges
to new advances in laser alignment?
Bohuczky: One of the challenges is
increasing sensor resolution to increase
measurement accuracy.
Creighton: The growing variety of man-
ufacturing needs and production systems
poses a challenge for manufacturers of
machinery alignment equipment. Cus-
tomers want turnkey products that are
right out of the case, ready to go on their
specific production equipment. Align-
ment needs for manufacturing companies
are becoming more demanding and di-
verse. Companies that sell standard
alignment products and are unwilling
to deviate from their particular product
offerings are facing pressure from their
customers for new alignment needs and
opportunities. We have had strong suc-
cess over the years working with individ-
ual customers, understanding their partic-
ular needs and adapting products to meet
these needs and requirements.
Workforce turnover and short-term
thinking. As employees change their jobs
and roles within industry, manufacturing
companies often feel the pressure of los-
ing manufacturing continuity and their
long-term perspective. New people are
trying to learn new jobs, and while on this
learning curve, it is easy to lose sight of
long-term objectives and planning. We
sometimes see that, when this long-term
planning and viewpoint are set aside, pro-
duction efficiency suffers through more
downtime events and slower recovery
from addressing unexpected problems.
The adage Rome was not built in a day
holds very true for manufacturing knowl-
edge and technology.
The complexity of an efficient and
profitable manufacturing operation can
make it difficult to change people,
processes, techniques and equipment on a
rapid basis and still remain efficient and
profitable. Better production tools, such as
laser alignment equipment, are a great
asset for the manufacturing industry, but
the long-term thinking and planning need
to be in place in addition to the ability to
react and fix equipment rapidly.
laura.marshall@photonics.com
Photonics Spectra May 2011
Laser Alignment
511_Laser Alignment Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:55 PM Page 53
Set to Permeate the
Next Generation of Displays
A
veritable explosion of display-cen-
tric devices new cell phones,
handheld games, tablet computers
and televisions in a multitude of sizes and
dimensionality (2-D, 3-D n-D!) is com-
ing. Spurred on by eco logically minded
consumers and those wanting long lives
from their batteries manufacturers are
looking to replace power-hungry displays
with less ravenous new tech nologies.
Now, displays enhanced by quantum dots
are getting an opportunity to grab their
share of the limelight.
Not long ago, quantum dots were a
rarely seen and very expensive means of
enhancing biological imaging. A painstak-
ing blending of the right semiconducting
materials resulted in a small handful of
very bright, regularly emitting particles
that could help track cell components or
chemicals under the microscope. After a
few years of experimentation and develop-
ment, quantum dot costs have come down
enough that their use is now growing.
Cost was a hurdle, but no one would be
trying to incorporate them into display
technology if it werent for the benefits.
Quantum dots, when excited by electrons
or photons, emit bright, steady light at a
narrow wavelength band and do so while
drawing very little power. In comparison,
organic LEDs are even brighter and more
efficient, but more expensive than quan-
tum dot-based displays project to be,
especially at large sizes. Quantum dot
displays promise to have longer lifetimes
as well.
Visionaries create future
One of the first private companies to
dive into the field of quantum dots was
Watertown, Mass.-based QD Vision Inc.
Over the past several years, the company
has been developing quantum dot tech-
nologies for use in novel low-power-con-
sumption displays. Achievements in this
area resulted late last year in an agreement
to help LG Display of Seoul, South Korea,
create direct-view active-matrix displays
in which quantum dots will help improve
color brightness and saturation as well as
energy usage.
High-end LCD displays with integrated
quantum dots will deliver a 100 percent
color gamut (versus the more typical
70 percent available today), while main-
taining lifetime, efficiency and other de-
sired specifications of LCDs, said Seth
Coe-Sullivan, co-founder and chief tech-
nology officer of QD Vision (See Q&A
on page 58).
It is a little too early to put a specifica-
tion on quantum dot LED when it
launches, but I expect the value proposi-
tion will be similar, he said. The ultimate
goal is to blow competing technologies
away in terms of color, make a marked
improvement in power consumption and
meet or exceed every other spec.
In January, QD Vision revealed that it
had demonstrated a quantum dot-based ac-
tive matrix display that has an array of
800 600 pixels on a 15.6-mm-diagonal
screen. Designed under contract for the
US Army, the tiny display will be
a component of video headsets, helmet-
mounted devices and other instruments
where the display will be mounted near
the eye. The demonstration model was an
amber monochrome version, but the com-
pany also is developing a full-color
version.
A month later, in February, Samsung
Electronics Advanced Institute of
Technology in Yongin, South Korea,
Photonics Spectra May 2011 54
Quantum Dots
BY LYNN SAVAGE, FEATURES EDITOR
Using quantum dots (QDs) in conjunction with LCDs produces more favorable color than unenhanced
white LEDs, while using about one-third less energy. BLU = backlight unit. Courtesy of QD Vision.
511_Display Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:54 PM Page 54
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featuring top industry experts.
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announced that it had developed a large-
area full-color display that incorporates
quantum dots. The display measures 4 in.
diagonally and comprises a 320 240-
pixel array.
In a paper published in the Feb. 20,
2011, issue of Nature Photonics, Tae-Ho
Kim and his colleagues first note that,
although the availability of quantum dots
no longer is an issue, efficiently depositing
them onto a glass or plastic substrate has
remained problematic.
A new spin on deposition
Typically, quantum dots of various sizes
and thus colors are sprayed onto the
waiting surface in a process known as spin
coating. Its a good technique for putting a
lot of particles down fast and speed is an
important factor for keeping product costs
down at the factory. Unfortunately, spin
coating is a random deposition technique,
leading to cross-contamination of red,
green and blue particles, to reduction of
their quantum efficiencies, and to overall
degradation of the resulting images, espe-
cially at larger display sizes.
To reduce these problems, more regular
distribution is required, leading Kims
group to develop a transfer process quite
like using an ink stamp.
First, a substrate made of silicon, glass
or other material is coated with a mono-
layer of ODTS (octadecyltrichlorosilane)
and then with a layer of one color of quan-
tum dot. This donor substrate is analo-
gous to an ink pad; the ODTS facilitates
quick removal of the quantum dot ink.
Next, a stamp made of PDMS (poly-
dimethylsiloxane), molded with raised
structures conforming to the desired final
pattern, is brought into contact with the
Researchers at Samsung have developed the largest QD-based
display yet, a 4-in.-diagonal screen with 320 240 pixels.
Courtesy of Samsung Electronics.
Quantum Dots
511_Display Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:54 PM Page 56
quantum dots on the donor substrate, gen-
tly lifting them away. Separate PDMS
stamps then deliver the red, green and
blue quantum dots to the waiting receptor
substrate. The stamp delivers each set of
quantum dots with even pressure onto the
receptor, leaving the particles to rearrange
themselves into a densely packed layer,
according to the researchers.
Kim and his colleagues reported that
their transfer process resulted in an all-red
quantum dot LED that was 71 percent
more power efficient than a spin-coated
device. It also exhibited higher maximum
brightness and luminous efficiency, and
had fewer cracks after cross-linking and
lower current leakage.
Besides a rigid silicon substrate, the
team demonstrated that the transfer tech-
nique could deliver a well-structured array
of quantum dots onto a flexible substrate
composed of indium tin oxide and poly-
ethylene naphthalate.
Creating QDs in place
In Boulder, Colo., Verun B. Verma isnt
really thinking about displays, but he does
think a lot about quantum dots. A National
Research Council postdoc working at the
57 Photonics Spectra May 2011
Using electron-beam lithography and wet etching techniques, scientists at NIST
carve quantum dots directly out of a semiconductor substrate.
Courtesy of Verun B. Verma, NIST.
Quantum Dots
511_Display Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:54 PM Page 57
National Institute of Standards and Tech-
nology (NIST), Verma is developing quan-
tum dots for use in edge-emitting lasers
and as single-photon emitters. But in a
pair of recently published papers, he and
his colleagues have described a new
method of creating quantum dots exactly
where they are needed a technique that
may simplify display manufacturing.
Typically, quantum dots such as the
ones used in industry today are grown in a
bottom-up approach in which the core and
shell materials are combined to form crys-
tals within a solution. This process can be
fast enough for production volumes, but it
results in particles of varying shapes and
sizes, necessitating a sorting step.
Verma and his colleagues at NIST and
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign looked at the problem a little
differently from the top down.
Using a combination of electron-beam
lithography and wet etching, they carve
quantum dots from layers of semiconduc-
tor material. The result is a finely aligned
array of quantum dots set at a pitch of 500
nm to 5 m. They have formed quantum
dots with diameters ranging from about 10
to 80 nm.
Being able to change the size and pitch
of these quantum dots might be useful for
displays because the emission wavelength
produced by the particles is tunable by
size, Verma said. With the etching tech-
nique, this can be done in a deterministic
way, with different regions of the same
semiconductor chip producing different
colors of light.
Currently, the NIST researchers are
working with infrared outputs, but Verma
said that visible light might be possible.
Vermas team reported its findings in
the December 2010 issue of IEEE Journal
of Quantum Electronics and in the Feb.
28, 2011, issue of Optics Express.
lynn.savage@photonics.com
58 Photonics Spectra May 2011
Interview with Seth Coe-Sullivan, QD Vision Inc.
What are the latest advances in
quantum dot displays?
Id say that weve been pleasantly
surprised at the markets reaction to
quantum dot display demonstrators
that weve made, from handhelds to
tablets to TVs which, if anything, has
accelerated our anticipated pace of
product adoption. This is for quantum
dots as down-converters in LED-based
LCD backlight units.
What are the short- and long-term
goals for QD display technology in
general and at QD Vision in particular?
We want to put QDs as down-converters
into displays in 2012. The quantum dot
LED (QLED) electroluminescent displays
will follow a couple of years after that,
and I think that having QDs in display
applications already will be a big credibil-
ity boost to the technology.
Are deposition techniques a hurdle,
something to refine, or is it solved?
I wouldnt call it solved. We have been
getting very nice results with our patented
contact printing method, and we believe
this will scale well to large areas. How-
ever, we have yet to demonstrate it at
sizes truly relevant for TV manufacturing,
so that remains a milestone.
Is QD-as-LED the only path to
success?
No, we believe that the QDs in lighting
applications, and QDs in display as appli-
cations, both in simple down-conversion
mode, can be an independent path to
success for the company and the tech-
nology. QLED still has greater promise
for power efficiency and design freedom.
A couple of years ago, quantum
dot-based displays were expected to
reach efficiency levels 10 times that
of LCDs. Has that happened?
Id say 10 LCD is still within reach.
Weve pushed the efficiency of our
devices up to the point that they are
competitive with all other light-emitting
technologies, but we still feel that we
can reach even higher for example,
trying to reach that 10 milestone.
What stability or lifetime issues
remain? Do you expect further
tweaking of core/shell materials?
Yes, further refinement of core/shell
materials will continue and is key to our
progress in stability and lifetime. In
down-conversion applications, lifetime
is already sufficient, even for solid-state
lighting specifications, but more
improvement is necessary for QLED
to be commercial.
What do you expect the market
for quantum dot displays to be
this year and beyond?
This year it will be quite small, but I
expect that, in 2012, there will be multiple
product launches, with explosive growth
continuing in 2013.
Quantum Dots
511_Display Feat.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:54 PM Page 58
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healthy company over time should do,
Brimrose has weaned itself to the point
where 80 percent of its revenues now
come from commercial and other non-
SBIR funding sources.
Broad range of applications
Brimroses near-IR acousto-optic tun-
able filters came out of SBIRs, but the
company recognized that the technologys
ability to precisely and instantaneously
characterize the ingredients in a substance
would have enormous consequences in
various fields, from pharmaceuticals to
agriculture and more. This is a good
replacement for standard spectroscopy,
where they have mechanical grating,
Using SBIRs
as a Platform for Success
P
erseverance is the most important
factor in garnering a Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) award,
according to Brimrose Corp.s founder
and CEO. And he should know.
In 1984, Dr. Ron Rosemeier found
himself at the end of his postdoc with the
University of Maryland and nothing to
show for it. His SBIR applications had
been rejected 20 times. He had maxed
out his credit cards, piling up $100,000 in
debt. He had been unemployed for three
months. The dream of this self-described
technology geek to start his own photonics
company appeared to be over before it
had begun.
But then his willingness to stick it out
began paying dividends: He and the little
company he had started, Baltimore-based
Brimrose Corp., scored four SBIRs in six
months. Three of those went on to become
Phase II SBIRs, a conversion percentage
much higher than the norm. From less
BY C. DAVID CHAFFEE
CONTRIBUTOR
A Baltimore company shares lessons learned
in growing its business with help from
Small Business Innovation Research funding.
than zero, he now had $2 million in the
bank. And he never looked back.
The power of the SBIR had taken
Brimrose from early near-bankruptcy to,
27 years later, employing 60 full-time
employees and supplying staple products
for the largest pharmaceutical companies
in the world, including AstraZeneca and
Bristol-Myers Squibb. A small company,
it now finds itself competing with huge
conglomerates Foss and Bruker.
In all, Brimrose has been granted 65
Phase I and 28 Phase II SBIR awards to-
taling more than $60 million. Yet Rose-
meier is confident enough to say that if
the SBIR program went away tomorrow,
Brimrose would be fine. In fact, as any
Photonics Spectra May 2011 60
Brimrose Corp. founder and CEO Ron Rosemeier
would be the first to say that SBIRs have been
critical to the companys success. Images courtesy
of Brimrose Corp.
One of Brimroses most
successful deliverables is
its infrared acousto-optic
tunable filter.
511Brimrose.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:54 PM Page 60
Lessons learned
Rosemeier said. The acousto-optic tun-
able filter was the perfect device to be
able to introduce all of these mechanical
technologies in optical spectroscopy.
And now pharmaceutical companies
can measure elements to the parts-per-tril-
lion level. Agriculturalists can measure the
amount of oil in a seed of corn. Tobacco
companies can measure nicotine, tar or
whatever they want almost instanta-
neously. The Munich Airport uses the
devices to analyze jet fuel. Acousto-optic
tunable filters have been selected for use
on Mars by NASA to measure the poten-
tial for water content in soil and rocks.
They are used in university labs and geo-
logical labs. They are used by robots in
toxic environments.
Another winning characteristic of suc-
cessful SBIR bidders is the ability to learn
from mistakes. Dr. Sudhir Trivedi, who di-
rects R&D, says the company learns from
the constructive criticism provided after
every unsuccessful effort. After every
rejection, you fine-tune your proposal
you learn from your mistakes, he said.
Most recently, the company has linked
up with Rutgers University to win an STTR
to study the potential applications of cou-
pling acousto-optics with diffraction grat-
ings. It is an effort to combine the powers
of acousto-optics and electro-optics.
The critical relationship between SBIRs
and Brimrose has not escaped the attention
of federal policy makers. The US Con-
gress has sought Rosemeiers advice as
it tries to make SBIR relevant to the 21st
century. Becoming the voice of the SBIR
61 Photonics Spectra May 2011
Rosemeier and Sudhir Trivedi, director of research,
evaluate just-manufactured crystals with the help
of another staff member.
The Brimrose executive team, including CEO Ron
Rosemeier, chief technology officer Jolanta Soos,
and director of research Sudhir Trivedi, evaluate
an SBIR with other staff.
Rosemeier and the concept-to-utilization team evaluate a new product idea. The team was designed
to take concepts used for SBIRs and translate them into workable commercial products.
A
long the way, Rosemeier and
his colleagues at Brimrose have
learned some tricks for getting SBIRs
as well as the accompanying Small
Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
awards and for converting Phase I
SBIRs to Phase IIs.
There is, of course, the perseverance
that Rosemeier puts first. I wanted
this to be an old-fashioned company,
not supported by venture capital,
he said. He also was adamant that his
company be a technology company.
This thinking led inevitably to the
pursuit of SBIRs, allowing him to
receive funds and develop technology
at the same time.
Rosemeier has designed his company
around innovation the I in
SBIR. The company has various
units: production, software, mechan-
ical and so on, all ready to take a
concept and turn it into something
tangible.
He learned this model during his PhD
days at Johns Hopkins University,
where he saw the workings of profes-
sor Robert Greens materials science
division. He had a machine shop; he
had mechanical guys; he had electri-
cal guys. I basically built Brimrose
on the same model, Rosemeier said.
Collaboration also is a critical
element of the companys success,
particularly as it takes ideas and
converts them into tangible products.
Brimroses concept-to-utilization
team, which has representatives from
all elements of the company, includ-
ing manufacturing, software and
mechanical engineering, meets
weekly to guide projects.
Many SBIRs have nothing to show
but paper at the end of Phase I, but
Rosemeier believes it is vital that at
the end of Phase I we have deliver-
ables we actually build hardware.
This philosophy has had dividends
with large federal contractors. They
see it, and they want a few, he said.
When they want more than a few,
we know we are on to something.
Rosemeier recognizes that a number
of these federally funded products
have to lead to products that can sur-
vive on their own in the commercial
world. The company also has had
success introducing its products to
customers at trade shows such as
CLEO and SPIE Photonics West.
1
2
3
4
5
511Brimrose.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:54 PM Page 61
awardee, Rosemeier seeks to have more businesspeople on
the federal teams and wants to see the same standards used for
each of the 11 agencies that implement them. He also advocates
for longer Phase I and Phase II time periods to make for better
responses.
SBIRs were not made so that companies would become
SBIR mills, existing solely on that one source of funding.
In fact, companies that choose that route generally end up
dying out quickly or being sold when they cannot make the
predictable stream of payroll with the at times unpredictable
SBIR awards. One company had terrific optical cryptography
technology but could not transfer it to commercial product
and was purchased by a larger company that only does federal
contracts.
Companies that find ways to take the technologies developed
from SBIRs and make them into commercial products are the
companies that become and remain viable.
Meet the author
C. David Chaffee is a writer based in Ellicott City, Md., and
is the former Washington editor of Photonics Spectra; e-mail:
davidchaffee@verizon.net.
62 Photonics Spectra May 2011
F
or more information on the US governments Small
Business Innovation Research program and Small Business
Technology Transfer program, visit http://www.sbir.gov/
federal_links.htm.
About SBIRs
511Brimrose.qxd:Layout 1 4/19/11 3:54 PM Page 62
s
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PHOTOVOLTAI C
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CALL FOR ENTRIES
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(517) 580-4075
info@biophotonicsolutions.com
www.biophotonicsolutions.com
Laboratory Work Environments for Lasers,
Optics, Imaging, Electro Optics
Laser barrier curtains, custom-designed for completely dark or light-controlled
areas in any lab without building walls. We have more than 30 years of
experience, and our curtains are installed in colleges and universities, and
in medical, industrial and government laboratories coast to coast.
Visit our website for installation list, photos and specifications.
(800) 422-0101
sales@plsys.net
www.plsys.net
FL and SemiChill Recirculating Coolers
Julabos recirculating cooler FL and SemiChill product series offer 27 models
with cooling capacities from 300 W to 20 kW. Customize a SemiChill model to
your application with cooling to 20 C, heating capacities to 12 kW (up to
130 C), control electronics, pump and filtration options. Contact Julabo today
to choose the unit for your laser/photonics application.
(800) 458-5226
info@julabo.com
www.julabo.com
New Nanosecond Time-Resolved ICCD Cameras
Andor announces the launch of its new iStar platform for nanosecond
time-resolved spectroscopy and imaging. The new iStar provides a unique
combination of USB 2.0 interface, high spectral or imaging rates greater than
3400 fps or 15 full fps, respectively, ultrafast gating speeds <2 ns and high
sensitivity through 40 C TE cooling and high-QE UV-VIS-NIR photocathodes
with sustained gating rates up to 500 kHz. Complemented by the latest
generation of ultralow-jitter, fully software controlled digital delay generator,
the USB platform versatility serves a wide scope of applications from LIBS
to combustion/PLIF studies and advanced plasma research, and allows
comprehensive setups integration thanks to a triple trigger output with
picosecond parametring accuracy.
+44 28 9023 7126
marketing@andor.com
www.andor.com/istar
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66 Photonics Spectra May 2011
Lasers, Laser Accessories & Light Sources
Spatial Light Modulators for Ultrafast Pulse Shaping
New, smaller SLM-128 enclosure with the same mask size. CRi developed
the modern liquid crystal linear-array SLM and is the exclusive provider
of technology for bonded masks providing simultaneous phase and
amplitude control. 128- and 640-pixel masks available in VIS or NIR
ranges. Transmissive or reflective.
(774) 278-2820
ross.nakatsuji@caliperls.com
www.cri-inc.com/slm
High-Resolution Spectrum Analyzer for IR Lasers
The 721B-MIR laser spectrum analyzer provides the most complete spectral
characterization of lasers that operate at mid-infrared wavelengths. Absolute
wavelength is measured to an accuracy of 1 part per million, and spectral
properties are determined to a resolution as high as 2 GHz. Now, researchers
working with quantum cascade lasers for high-resolution spectroscopy,
photochemistry or optical sensing applications can achieve more meaningful
experimental results with accurate spectral information.
(585) 924-2620
info@bristol-inst.com
www.bristol-inst.com
Hybrid LaserTable-Base
Vibration Cancellation
The latest addition to TMCs STACIS
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