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To: unclewest who wrote (16973)	2/2/2000 6:32:00 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

the advantage cree has is SiC is considerably less expensive than sapphire and is technically superior. West, I think we are having a tough time accepting the fact that cree has no competitors. Not one? No one else has the same product on the market? No one else is building a plant to make the same product?

To: unclewest who wrote (16973)	2/2/2000 9:25:00 AM
From: 100cfm	Respond to of 54805

<<i believe we will see some major partnering and/or licensing very soon.>> companies know their business's and the markets they're in. When they see that the demand for their product will be greater then their most ambitious capacity expansions they will move to bring in a partner or licensee. They will not let the business go to the competition. JDSU is responding to what they see as insatiable demand for their products by buying or merging with someone every few months in addition to incresing their own capacity. When cree takes on a major partner or licensee as you say then that will be the signal to me that their tornado has started. I agree we should be hearing that real soon(I need to free up some cash!). 100

To: unclewest who wrote (16973)	2/3/2000 11:50:00 AM
From: semi_infinite	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

the demand for LEDs is growing so fast that other companies are rushing to fill the void using sapphire. the advantage cree has is SiC is considerably less expensive than sapphire and is technically superior. what in fact is happening is that cree is producing superior products at lower cost with higher margins (53%) than their competition. the demand is there...cree is capturing it. I would agree with the lower cost and small form-factor advantage of the non-sapphire process. However, how about brightness? Will SiC overcome that disadvantage?

To: unclewest who wrote (16973)	2/6/2000 10:30:00 AM
From: Guy Gordon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

RE unclewest: "the advantage cree has is SiC is considerably less expensive than sapphire and is technically superior. " One of the articles I read this week stated that SiC is "two orders of magnitude more expensive than sapphire". They were speaking of the price of wafers. I will try to go back and find which article this was, and make sure it is not woefully out of date. I agree with you about SiC being technically superior to sapphire as a base for growing blue LED's. It has a better latice match to GaN, conducts heat far better, and can be made electrically conductive allowing one of the two contacts to be put on the bottom. But are you sure it's less expensive?