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Technology Stocks : Kopin Corp. (KOPN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Finley who wrote (969)	11/19/1999 2:28:00 PM
From: kinkblot	Respond to of 1820

For CLEFT, they grew the epitaxial Si on an amorphous mask. They left linear gaps in this 'growth mask' so that the underlying crystalline Si was exposed at the gaps. In the patent #4,727,047 from a few posts back, the mask consisted of carbonized photoresist in the preferred embodiment. A Zone Melt Recrystallization (ZMR) technique was used to crystallize the epitaxial Si layer, moving laterally from the exposed 'seed' regions. In ISE, the basic technique was further refined for the purpose of eliminating defects in the crystal. They used silicon dioxide and also added a patterned capping layer of insulator on top of the epitaxial Si to entrain boundaries during the ZMR step. Yes, I believe you're right about etching from the backside: U.S. #5,206,749, issued 04/27/93 to Zavracky et al., Liquid crystal display having essentially single crystal transistors pixels and driving circuits patents.ibm.com Excerpt from SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION: SOI technology generally involves the formation of a silicon layer whose crystal lattice does not match that of the underlying substrate. A particular preferred embodiment uses Isolated Silicon Epitaxy (ISE) to produce a thin film of high quality Si on a release layer. This process can include the deposition of a non-single crystal material such as amorphous or polycrystalline silicon on the release layer which is than heated to crystallize the material to form an essentially single crystal silicon. The use of a release layer enables the film and circuit release using oxides beneath the active layer that can be etched without harm to the circuits. That's the best I can piece together. Kopin is always moving from one concept to the next, and some of it goes back more than fifteen years. The old patents are a good historical reference; I'm glad they put them online. After reviewing this stuff, I'd say Smart Cut looks like an excellent idea! <g> WT

To: John Finley who wrote (969)	11/22/1999 11:39:00 AM
From: kinkblot	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1820

Smart Cut License SOITEC just completed construction of a new $50 million manufacturing facility in April. They have licensed the technology to a Japanese wafer supplier, Shin-Etsu Handotai. That was to take advantage of SEH's market presence, to increase total production capacity, and to provide a "reliable second source of Smart Cut SOI wafers." Rather than license, it looks like their business plan is simply to supply wafers to their customers. They specifically mention LCDs "of small dimension and high resolution" as a potential application for their proprietary process technologies. With or without a license, I don't believe Kopin has the expertise or the equipment to produce wafers by this technique; implantation is out of their bailiwick. In Kopin's SEC filings, there is no mention of a license from SOITEC. I don't see how they could leave that out. WT - S, B, B