This GaN Laser Developer Announces 2 Major New Projects, Acquires A Wafer Foundry

A few days ago, Australian semiconductor and GaN laser developer BluGlass announced two major projects, respectively, dedicated to advancing its work in laser development, GaN wafer processing equipment and processes.
Developing multiple types of lasers
BluGlass has announced that it has signed a $1.8 million contract with North Carolina State University (NCSU) for the development of multiple specific types of lasers as part of a commercially critical development of the Center for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors (CLAWS). The initial contract will perform development work in FY 2024 and support the Microelectronics Commons program.
The Microelectronics Commons was established by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as a collaborative capacity building program for defense and dual-use technologies. The NCSU-led CLAWS Center is one of eight innovation centers under the Microelectronics Commons program and has been awarded a $39.4 million base year performance award.
The CLAWS Center is comprised of seven members: BluGlass, Coherent, Wolfspeed, General Electric, Adroit Materials, Kyma and North Carolina A&T State University. As a member of the CLAWS Center, BluGlass is an approved commercial manufacturing supplier of photonic gallium nitride (GaN) lasers.
Under the fiscal 2024 contract, BluGlass will develop single-frequency distributed feedback lasers and advance its violet (405 and 420 nm) and blue (450 nm) single-mode lasers. If BluGlass is successful in securing additional core development contracts in the CLAWS program, its collaborative roles may also include the development of UV-to-green single-mode lasers, single-frequency DFB lasers, and photonic integrated chips (PICs).
Acquisition of a new facility for $800,000
In a separate development, Bluglass said it acquired its commercial contract manufacturing partner GaNWorks Foundry for $800,000.BluGlass will acquire the latter's core gallium nitride wafer processing equipment and processes from GaNWorks Foundry and complete the vertical integration of its Silicon Valley laser fabrication facility.
The equipment, which is expected to be installed and process transferred by December 30, 2023, will be used primarily for dedicated GaN wafer processing for n-side wafer thinning and laser bar dicing capabilities - both key processes in BluGlass' laser manufacturing supply chain, with related processes previously outsourced to Silicon Valley-based GaNWorks.
The in-sourcing of the n-side wafer thinning and laser bar dicing process equipment will accelerate the development and production cycle for the steps involved by more than 30 percent and result in annual savings of more than $400,000 (approximately $2.87 million).
In addition to the equipment and installation, there will be a work handover from experienced GaN engineers to ensure complete knowledge and process transfer to BluGlass.