"Perspectives in Optoelectronics" Series' Successful Conclusion

OIDA News - April 2008

 

On April 16 and 17th, OIDA concluded its DARPA-sponsored Perspectives in Optoelectronics series with two day-long forums. The first forum in the series, last September, provided a broad overview of the state of the industry in several segments, including consumer electronics, communications, defense, industrial, and transportation/ aerospace. The series continued this April with two closer focuses on manufacturing for the 21st century and innovation in optoelectronics.

 

Manufacturing for the 21st Century

 

Organized by Bill Ring of WSR Optical Device Solutions, the first day focused on manufacturing in North America and the impact of global trends and competitiveness on the industry. This has been a hot topic in the last few years because of (1) significant growth in high tech goods traded from Asia at the expense of North America, and (2) the increasing GDP growth of China since its entry into the world trade organization.

Several topics were discussed, including the impact of market segment on manufacturing requirements, automation, and integration in photonics. Gerry Fine, President and CEO of SCHOTT, N.A., addressed several key aspects related to the market opportunities for investing in manufacturing in North America. This included a controversial analysis on the labor rates as a function of the dollar (highlighting that wages are rising in South East Asia), which will make Mexico a lower labor cost area than China in the next few years. State incentives for facility expansion are key closers on deals to move manufacturing on-shore. Additional factors included the government, raw materials, and the ability to serve the customer with other key talking points. For SCHOTT, proprietary manufacturing processes were highlighted as a key decision point for a company to outsource or maintain in-house manufacturing. The importance of on-shore manufacturing for the U.S. defense market was highlighted by Alex Rosiewicz, CTO of EM4, and Keith Kennedy, Product Line Manager of nLight, both companies supplying optical components into U.S. defense contracts.

Other companies, including contract manufacturers Celestica and Fabrinet, gave alternative views for both supply chain and the value aspects of contract manufacturing. Harpal Gill, Executive Vice President of Fabrinet, discussed several of the challenges in contract manufacturing and highlighted the efficient use of six-sigma and kaizen enabled CMs to reduce cycle time and ship to request times. The role of automation and the impact of integration in optical components came under review during one session. Torsten Vahrenkamp, CEO of ficonTEC, discussed several advantages of automation in production for high power industrial laser assembly and other aspects of component manufacture. This was contrasted by Erika Fuchs of Carnegie Mellon by both the financial aspects of costing and the optoelectronic semiconductor integration direction of companies. Two leaders in the field of optoelectronics integration, Fred Kish, Vice President, PIC Development and Manufacturing at Infinera and Cary Gunn, CTO of Luxtera, discussed integration aspects and how it is impacting their markets. When looking at the differences in manufacturing of Silicon photonics and InP integration technologies, Silicon photonics would more likely move off-shore with volume due to the entrenched foundry supply base in Taiwan and South East Asia. As no real foundry model exists in the United States, InP OEICs are more likely to stay on-shore.

During the breakout session, there were lively discussions on the economic impacts and the role of innovation due to manufacturing co-location. One of the key points drawn from the meeting for the semiconductor industry is that it may be time for a III-V Semitech organization. The role of the U.S. government in manufacturing and maintaining the economic innovation environment were also discussed. The forum was a success for OIDA and provided valuable input for the meeting sponsor DARPA.

 

Innovation in Optoelectronics

 

Organized by Fred Leonberger, of EOvation Technologies, the second day of the forum focused on innovation and its role in the United States. This forum discussed aspects of innovation for commercialization and the role of university and government for the optical industry in the U.S.

The two keynote speakers from industry, Rod Alferness, Research Senior Vice President of Alcatel-Lucent and Bernie Meyerson, Telcommunications Technology Director for IBM, discussed several key aspects of innovation. Rod Alferness discussed several of the current innovation issues in communications. The inverted triangle of the communications industry is impacting component and device technology development. When reviewing the bubble years and production output, more components are made today than in the peak of 2000 and 2001. The difference in market is that costs have come down by a factor of six or more. This reduction in pricing of components has dramatically impacted new R&D in the devices that run the Internet we know today. After the breakout of component development and production from Lucent in the 1990s, basic research on components still occurs today. Licensing and collaboration are key ingredients for Alcatel-Lucent to maintain its leadership in innovation of optical devices.

Bernie Meyerson provided an overview of innovation from a semiconductor electronics viewpoint. Several historical facts concerning development of the devices and thermal generation were discussed. One key discussion point concerned Moore’s Law and how scaling problems have led to more innovation in the electronics sector. When viewing the ‘pre-competitive’ and competitive nature of the business, it was fascinating to understand the partnerships on basic research that occur at IBM in New York. A center of excellence for semiconductor research, collaboration had been a key element in recent years. The budget for electronic R&D for IBM is around $33 billion, compared to the lone player Intel at $19 billion. The two approaches are at opposite ends of the playing field. The idea of collaboration in the industry to achieve new technology does not occur in optoelectronics. Is it a model for the future in optoelectronics? Time will tell. Other key speakers from industry included Waguih Ishak, Vice President and Director, West Coast Research at Corning, who discussed the different aspects of innovation. The examples he highlighted concerned the development of VCSEL technology at HP and several key items on process and practice. An entertaining discussion by Greg Olsen, entrepreneur and former owner of Epitax/Sensors Unlimited and now President of GHO Ventures, provided the idea that goals can be achieved, even if they entail going to the international space station!

From the university perspective, several well-known professors and innovators discussed the topic, including John Bowers of UCSB, Tom Baer of Stanford University, Derek Cheung of UCLA, Steven DenBaars of UCSB, Richard Osgood of Columbia University, Rajeev Ram of MIT, and M. J. Soileau of UCF-CREOL. The transfer of knowledge, the creation of new products, and the role of research at universities were highlighted. Discussions on IP and the role of government and industry provided insights on innovation. Universities were incubators for enterprising students to start their own business. How the government and DARPA played a role in this were extremely well vocalized during the breakout sessions. Innovation occurs in the U.S. and naturally in Silicon Valley. How both innovation and manufacturing tie together will be discussed in the OIDA reports from these forums which will be released later this year.

 

• Presentations from these forums are available to OIDA members here.