LaserMessing Project Underway; LIGENTEC Forms Subsidiary: Week in Brief: 04/29/22

Laser Zentrum Hannover eV and LMB Automation GmbH partnered to develop a laser-based production system for the automated production of brass components. Under the LaserMessing project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the partners are designing a welding process that combines laser-based deep welding and cored wire processes. According to the collaborators, laser beam welding places a low thermal load on the workpiece and achieves very narrow and deep seams. It is also easy to automate, fast, and precise. However, processes specifically for joining brass alloys are often still affected by process instabilities; the alloyed zinc already evaporates below the melting temperature of copper. For this reason, pore formation and a high hot cracking tendency of the seams occur. Brass demonstrates strong electrical conductivity and high corrosion resistance, as well as an attractive appearance, and it is used in many applications ranging from fittings, machinery, and apparatus engineering to power plants, vehicles, and shipbuilding. The goal of the project is to establish a stable, automatable process with weld seams free of pores, weld spatters, and underfill for components with high aesthetic demands.

LZH scientists and LMB Automation are developing a laser-based manufacturing system for the automated production of brass components. As part of the solution, the collaborators will establish a welding process that combines laser-based deep welding and cored wire processes. Courtesy of LZH.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Chip-to-chip optical connectivity company Ayar Labs secured $130 million in financing to support commercialization of its in-package optical I/O products. Boardman Bay Capital led the round, with investment from Hewlett Packard, NVIDIA, GlobalFoundries, Intel Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures. The investment enables Ayar Labs to ramp up production and secure supply chain partners. Ayar Labs maintains collaborations with Lumentum, Macom, and GlobalFoundries. The company also announced it made its first volume commercial shipments under contract and expects to ship thousands of units of its in-package optical interconnect by the end of the year.

CORBEIL-ESSONNES, France — Swiss silicon nitride PIC supplier LIGENTEC established an R&D center near Paris, where it will base its newly formed subsidiary LIGENTEC France SAS. The subsidiary will act primarily as an R&D center to advance the parent company’s base technology and expand it with new functionalities. LIGENTEC France SAS has formed a core team and plans to expand in the upcoming months.

OCEAN SPRING, Miss. — Ferson Technologies entered into an exclusive agreement with the Army Research Laboratory for a license to develop a novel optical beamsplitter design; the spherical design will allow for a smaller form factor and laser interferometry features, such as tuning at the angle of incidence. Ferson Technologies plans to fully develop the spherical beamsplitter for military, commercial, and scientific uses including fiber optics components, medical devices, and lidar-enabled terrain surveying systems.

JERUSALEM — InZiv, a high-resolution inspection and microLED, QLED, and OLED display repair company, raised $10 million in Series A funding to accelerate product development of electroluminescence and photoluminescence automated solutions, among other company advancements. The company’s nano-optical technology for display inspection enhances the manufacturing process for products including AR smart glasses, foldable screens, and wearables. The company also announced two additions to its board of directors, including Itzhak Edrei, president emeritus of Tower Semiconductor.

DURHAM, N.C. — Wolfspeed Inc., formerly CREE Inc., opened its Mohawk Valley silicon carbide fabrication facility in Marcy, N.Y. The 200-mm wafer fab, announced over two years ago, will help lead a transition from silicon-only to silicon carbide-based semiconductors. The first silicon carbide lot was run at the facility earlier this month. Wolfspeed is also creating a materials factory in Durham, N.C., scheduled to be completed this year.

LONDON — Telecommunications and network provider BT, professional services provider EY, and Toshiba launched a trial of a commercial quantum-secured metro network, which is reportedly a world first. The infrastructure will connect customers across London, helping them to secure the transmission of valuable data and information between multiple physical locations over standard fiber optic links using quantum key distribution (QKD). Toshiba will provide quantum key distribution hardware and key management software. In the network, QKD keys will be combined with Ethernet security, based on public-key based encryption, which will enable the resultant keys to be used to encrypt data. EY will use the network to connect two of its sites in London.

SHERBROOKE, Quebec — The University of Sherbrooke and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) will create the Quantum Frontiers Laboratory as part of the next step of a collaboration formalized in 2017. The laboratory and combination of the two scientific communities will support continued consolidation of research with a focus on quantum materials and circuits and devices.