For those who may be interested I pulled 2 recent posts from AOL's Motley Fool BB. If anyone finds these interesting I'll be happy to
cut and paste some others:Subj: 10K
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 18:55:46 EST
From: Wesley0428
Message-ID: <19970402235500.SAA10550@ladder01.news.aol.com>
Here's a few tidbits from the 10K, which is up on EDGAR today:
Al Free
<<With the benefit of the Northwestern License, the Company is aggressively
completing plans for the manufacture and sale of aluminum free HPDLs.
The significant advantage over existing HPDLs is the ability of
aluminum free HPDLs to generate five times greater power while evidencing
substantially longer life and greater reliability. The Company has
received substantial interest in the aluminum free HPDLs and believes it
will offer major competitive advantages to the aluminum based products
of its competitors.>>
<<The Company
currently has a number of aluminum-free wafers in processing and expects
to have preliminary results on this new product line within the next
several months.>>
<<The Company believes the aluminum free technology will
give the Company both a significant technological advantage over the
competition as well as a significantly broader market base within which
the Company can sell its products. It is believed that it will take six
to nine months to commercialize and market this technology, although no
assurance can be provided that the Company can achieve these goals.>>
Patents
<< The Company has been advised by another company that
it believes that the Northwestern License does not cover the production of
aluminum free HDPLs under manufacturing methods other than MOCVD.
Northwestern University and the Company believe that the patent rights and
the Northwestern License cover a broader range of production methods and
plan to take all steps necessary to protect their interests. The Company
believes that attempts by others to develop equivalent aluminum free
technology will infringe on its exclusive rights, which the Company, in
coordination with Northwestern University, plans to strongly enforce.>>
Production
<<The Company intends (based on its current expectations that a second
MBE machine and production line will be required to meet anticipated
product demand during 1997, of which there can be no assurance) to
install a multi-wafer DMS controlled MBE machine, with the capability
of producing five three-inch HPDL wafers or three four-inch wafers at
one time, in 1997. >>
DMS/MBE vs MOCVD
<<The two principal growth methods which have been developed to manufacture
HPDLs are MOCVD, the process that the Company believes is used by most of
its competitors (including SDL, Inc.), and MBE, the process which
the Company is using. MOCVD has been the prevailing manufacturing process,
to date, even though the yields of acceptable or usable wafers
associated with this process (when compared with the total number of
wafers grown) are believed to be as low as 10%. The MBE process has
historically had even lower useable wafer yields. However, by monitoring
and controlling the MBE production process with its licensed DMS
technology, the Company has developed what it believes to be a process
capable of producing significantly higher yields of acceptable or usable
wafers (which meet the quality standards of existing MOCVD
produced HPDLs) and, thus, of producing such wafers at a significantly
reduced cost per wafer.>>
Outsourcing
<<To date, the Company has purchased approximately 175 AlGaInAs
wafers from a variety of sources including those grown
by MBE, MOCVD, and DMS/MBE and the Company expects to continue to do so
for the forseeable future.>>
Yields
<<Because of the higher uniformity of the wafers grown using the DMS
controlled MBE process, the Company expects to be able to produce as many
as 400 laser bars from each three-inch wafer produced on a single-wafer
MBE machine. Thus, from a single wafer, the Company anticipates that it
could produce up to 4,000 single laser emitters or chips, based on one
industry processing standard of approximately 10 chips per bar. However,
due to the increased handling involved with the manufacture of single
chips, the yields of commercially acceptable products are substantially
lower with such production. In addition, while certain HPDL customers do
buy single chips, such chips generally must each be individually packaged
into user ready format. In addition to packaged chips and bars, the
Company intends to market a portion of its output to customers wishing to
purchase unpackaged laser chips or bars (at lower prices than packaged
products). These unpackaged HPDL products are not currently offered for
sale by most of the Company's principal competitors.>>
Customer Satisfaction
<<The Company believes that the credibility of its products has
been established as its customers' expectations are continually being met.
Orders of Prototype and test units are being replaced with production units.>>
Precision Laser Machining Consortium(yes it does exist)
<<Precision Laser Machining Consortium (the "Consortium") consists of 20
major U.S. laser companies, brought together by the Defense Advanced
Research Project Agency's (DARPA) dual-use technology program. Major
objectives of the Consortium are to develop a new generation of laser
machine tools, advanced laser systems, and laser-assisted manufacturing
processes, provide high performance, affordable systems for the U.S.
military, and produce commercial products for a fiercely competitive global
marketplace. The Company became an associate member of the Consortium in
April, 1996. The major function of the Company in the Consortium is to
develop and manufacture high power, low-cost and reliable semiconductor
laser diodes for pumping solid state lasers.>>
R & D
<<The Company is conducting several internal research and development
programs associated with high power semiconductor laser technology in
different departments of the Company. The Company works closely with
scientists and researchers at Northwestern University to optimize the
aluminum free laser structure and develop a complete manufacturing
procedure for low-cost, high power aluminum free semiconductor lasers.
Some special processing and packaging techniques developed for aluminum
free lasers will reduce the manufacturing cost dramatically. Computer
simulation and theoretical modeling of thermal distribution and heat
dissipation scheme for high power semiconductor laser array (laser bar)
are used to optimize stripe geometry and device structure of the laser
array in order to obtain maximum laser power output and small temperature
variation under certain operating conditions. By further improving the
laser design and using high-precision processing, single-mode HPDLs
deliver stable single-mode output, which is essential for the application
of optical data storage. For the applications of medical, optical data
storage, diode pumped solid state lasers, and military, the Company plans
to extend the laser operating wavelength range to the visible light
(less than 700 nm) by using phosphide-based semiconductor material.>>
Legal Proceedings
<<The Company is currently engaged in a dispute with Theodore Konopelski
("Konopelski"), a director and a former employee and officer of the Company.
The dispute involves the termination of Konopelski's employment for cause.
An arbitration proceeding was instituted by Konopelski in Syracuse, New
York challenging his termination under his employment contract.
Konopelski is seeking damages in the aggregate of $500,000. The
arbitration is currently proceeding and the Company believes that the
termination was proper and that no amount should be awarded to
Konopelski. Subsequent to the commencement of the arbitration, the
Company brought an action against Konopelski in the New York Supreme
Court (Broome County) alleging violation by Konopelski of his obligations
under the terms of a non-disclosure agreement. The Court issued a
temporary restraining order barring Konopelski from making any
disclosures or using confidential information or trade secrets, which
remains in effect. The Company believes that it will
prevail in the arbitration as well as all matters with respect to the
enforcement of Konopelski's non-disclosure obligations. Konopelski
alleges that he ceased to be a director on August 4, 1996 by virute
of his removal by the Company. The Company maintains that Konopelski
was removed as an officer and employee and that if he chooses not to
consider himself as a director, it is his choice alone.>>
Backlog
<<The Company has a sales order
backlog of approximately $ 1,800,000 as of March 20, 1997. >> Note: That's up $500K since 2/12 |
