General

SemiNex Corporation unveils a new sales and application engineering office in Liaoyang, China to support customers with product selection, system integration, pricing and supply across the entirety of the Asian continent. SemiNex now directly supports new business in Asia for high power laser diodes spanning various industries including consumer devices, professional medical, industrial, military and telecommunications markets. Specifically, the fast-emerging LiDAR applications, including those used in autonomous vehicles, will now benefit from this direct support and the introduction of the new SemiNex Multi-Junction Laser with 300% the power of prior best-in-class lasers. The new multi-junction laser diode produces 80 watts at 1550nm with a 95um aperture width yielding more than 3X the power of current single junction laser diodes at this wavelength.

The Asia office will better support new applications and existing business in China, Korea, Japan, and across Asia. This allows SemiNex to showcase these products directly with the Asian consumer, whereas before, it was only possible to do so remotely, especially with limited travel due to COVID-19 restrictions. An increase in sales, customer satisfaction, and further expansion are already being experienced due to the opening of this new office. SemiNex recently presented its products at the CIOE trade show in Shenzen, China, which in normal years attracts over 89,000 professionals. During the show SemiNex supported dozens of applications and a myriad of customers with in-person meetings.

With the inauguration of this new workspace, SemiNex better responds to customer questions, such as product pricing, specifications, product selection assistance and supply inquires. This comes in a year of pandemic challenges, uncertainty and ever changing variables. Despite these circumstances, SemiNex continues conducting successful business throughout the Far East with increasing sales and support of its laser diodes.

The building, in which the new office is located, is a state of the art structure which recently finished construction. Its central location in Liaoyang allows for easy customer access and convenience, making it effortless to directly schedule in-person meetings, remote calls and web conferences during convenient Asia daily work times. Visitors to the new office will find it contains all the modern amenities one would expect in our present age, providing guests with a comfortable and pleasant experience during their visit. It will serve as a central hub for SemiNex China in the years to come.   

Applications Engineer Hanyu Yang is managing the new Chinese location. Her background includes a master’s degree in engineering from Northeastern University, USA and prior experience at leading medical device companies such as Becton Dickinson Medical. Ms. Yang’s cultural background, international experience and extensive language skills provide our Asian customers with exceptional service.

Ed McIntyre, Vice President of Sales, works closely with Ms. Yang and noted, “I’m very excited about having Hanyu in China to support our customers in real time to bridge the communications gap with direct and timely customer support. That can be very challenging when working on a new engineering project.”

The new office in the Far East has regular business hours from 9am to 5pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) and can be reached at +86 15641953339 / +86 (0419) 5850799,  WeChat 15641953339 or email at hyang@seminex.com.

SemiNex Corporation announces the introduction of a patent-pending, multi-junction, semiconductor laser diode at eye-safe wavelengths between 1310nm and 1550nm with more than 20 times the photons/second and more than 3X the range compared to 905nm LiDAR systems which will enable mass-market auto-driving cars to finally become a reality. The multi-junction laser diode is a drop-in replacement for most compact laser drivers used for existing 9XXnm diode systems. The new SemiNex multi-junction laser diode makes use of 3 monolithic solid-state laser junctions that produce 80 watts at 1550nm with 95µm aperture width and yield more than 3X the power of current laser diodes at this wavelength. Product samples are available immediately and the multi-junction is ready for immediate high volume production.

Typical time-of-flight LiDAR systems using multi-junction 905nm lasers are limited to a range of 100 meters due to eye-safety acceptable emission limits (AEL) of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) regulations, thus limiting their use to niche applications such as private security systems, warehouse automation, and limited-use public driving functionality. The new SemiNex multi-junction laser enables high-power, longer-range, lower cost, eye-safe LiDAR solutions for autonomous trains, planes and automobiles.

“SemiNex invested 3 years in research & development to create a long-range and cost-effective solution to overcome the short-range limitations of existing technologies. We see this as a major game changer and believe it will revolutionize the way major LiDAR companies approach this challenge,” said David Bean, CEO of SemiNex Corporation.

The new SemiNex multi-junction laser diode enables eye-safe, autonomous LiDAR systems to reach greater than 250 meters without compromise. Present solutions limit visibility to 100 meters, requiring a vehicles speed to be at 25 mph or less. For the past ten years LiDAR manufacturers have taken two laser approaches for time-of-flight LiDAR systems: 905nm laser diodes or 1550nm fiber lasers. The 905nm laser diodes suffer from limited range due to eye-safety regulations and the 1550nm fiber lasers are impractical for mass market deployment because of their size and cost. Until now, there was no solution that offered the low-cost, small size, and efficiency of 905nm laser diodes with the eye-safety and extended range of 1550nm fiber lasers.

Neither of these past approaches meet the automotive industry goals to enable LIDAR commercialization. The lack of efficient and inexpensive 200 meter eye-safe LiDAR has held back the industry from commercializing autonomous vehicles and seeing any meaningful mass-market deployment at speeds greater than 25 mph. “The SemiNex multi-junction laser diode changes everything,” states Ed McIntyre, SemiNex Director of Sales & Marketing. “Now there is a low-cost, long-range, eye-safe alternative to 9XXnm diodes and 1550nm fiber lasers.”

Today, the LiDAR market for automotive and industrial applications is expected to be $981 million and limited to short range applications. However, with improvements in technology and broader acceptance, the market is expected to grow to $2.8 billion by 2025. A major challenge with the existing LiDAR technology for autonomous vehicles has been to find a cost-effective semi-conductor laser diode that can provide high peak power at eye-safe wavelengths for long range applications. Operating at 1550nm, the SemiNex triple junction device provides 3X the peak power of a single emitter thus improving the resolution and penetration effectiveness in bad weather while remaining eye-safe. It can be operated at pulse widths between 2ns and 100ns at 200kHz to 400kHz pulse repetition rate. SemiNex offers multi-junction devices between 1310nm and 1550nm at various aperture widths and cavity lengths to meet specific customer requirements.

“The SemiNex multi-junction laser diodes will allow vehicles to autonomously navigate at higher speeds that can’t be achieved with the existing technology; this could finally enable driverless cars to be a reality within the next 5 years,” suggests McIntyre.

The multi-junction device is available in double and triple junction configurations in various packaging and submount configurations. Samples in either TO-9 or bare die configuration at 1550nm are available for immediate delivery.

For more information visit www.seminex.com or visit us at CIOE trade show in Shenzhen, China, September 11^th– 13^th Booth #2D80. To schedule a meeting with Hanyu Yang, our Applications Engineer, click here.

Sample pieces will be on display at Booth B3-511 June 24 through June 27 at Laser World of Photonics in Munich, Germany.

SemiNex Corporation now offers high performance, low-cost TO-56 “Mini” submounts targeted toward pulsed laser applications, such as OTDR, long distance range-finding, and LiDAR. This breakthrough design has the same 5.6mm diameter of the standard SemiNex 1.50 mm laser diode packaged in a TO-56 to enable convenient drop-in replacement with existing TO-56 systems with a body length of only 4.3mm.

“Our customers anticipate market demands of 100k units and beyond. At those volumes cost savings are critical and this product is designed to meet both performance and cost targets,” says Ed McIntyre, VP of Business Development. “With the Mini, we provide best-in-class optical and electrical performance in a standard TO-56 radial form factor while passing on the benefit of reduced costs.”

SemiNex offers industry-leading 5 mrad fast-axis laser collimation lensing as a product option for all laser apertures. Alternatively, SemiNex provides collimation-matching of the fast- and slow-axes for systems designed to make use of this collimation parity to focus the light with bulk optics outside of the TO-56 package. These options are included for the new TO-56 Mini. Aperture widths of 50µm, 95µm, 180µm and 350µm are available with peak powers from 10 to 30 Watts.

“The TO-56 Mini package is half of the height of our standard SemiNex TO-56 package,” says Seth Pappas, lead Product Engineer, “and powerful enough to generate 25W pulsed at 1550nm. For manufacturers of handheld OTDR devices, portable LIDAR systems, and range-finders, this is a winning combination.”

The TO-56 mini is available for immediate delivery at the following eye-safe wavelengths: 1310nm, 1550nm, 1625nm and 1650nm. Other wavelengths can be provided upon request.

As of March 2019, SemiNex Corporation begins manufacturing their laser engines on a newly implemented assembly line at their headquarters in Peabody, Massachusetts.

Over the past couple years SemiNex engineers have optimized trial production processes to lower cost, improve performance and increase capacity. Now with production in full swing, SemiNex will continue to monitor and improve key performance metrics such as cycle time, on-time delivery, yield, and throughput. These steps will be crucial to successfully transfer the process over to contract manufacturing – a technique that SemiNex typically uses to stay lean.

“The new production line uses custom fixtures to automate critical steps and requires minimal input from a technician,” says Mechanical Engineer and project lead, Matt Hamerstrom. “We’ve reduced assembly time 10 fold from the old design, and we were able to halve the cost while maintaining optimal performance.”

While there has been considerable interest in home laser treatments, few companies have been able to produce laser devices at a price and safety standard appealing to consumers. Every component of SemiNex’s new production line, from the custom fixtures to the software on the final test station, has been engineered to meet these requirements for the consumer beauty market.

“It’s been invaluable to have the insider knowledge and experience SemiNex brings to the production process,” says Kayla Govoni, spokesperson for NIRA, a manufacturer of handheld home skincare laser devices. “We’re expecting 2019 to be the year we really start seeing lasers for aesthetic use inside people’s homes.”

SemiNex Corporation is pleased to announce that it will feature a new design at Photonics West, Feb 5 through 7 at Booth # 5286.

SemiNex Corporation is pleased to announce we will be featuring our new 19 laser module at the sold out SPIE Photonics West Conference in San Francisco, California.

“In contrast to the other products in the existing SemiNex MCM family which utilize fiber bundles to achieve high power emission, this module couples our existing InP laser chips with fusion spliced fiber technology and is packaged to maximize efficiency and power requirements,” explains Ed McIntyre, VP of Business Development. “We’re anticipating this product will appeal to hospitals and research institutions; the versatility of wavelength mixing in a single unit provides enormous value.”

Designed to be 2U rack mountable, this high powered unit can produce up to 100W of CW power through the single 600um/0.22NA main output fiber, and allows the consumer to individually control and combine up to 19 lasers at wavelengths from 1250 to 1940nm. Internally mounted TECs are available for each laser diode source allowing for wavelength tuning via temperature. For overall thermal management the device comes with a water cooled chiller plate with inlet and outlet ports for coolant.

Click here to arrange an appointment at the conference with Ed McIntyre, head of Business Development or here to meet with Patrick Dinneen, Lead Applications Engineer.  See you there!

Share our excitement for the show but can’t make it out to San Francisco? You can still participate in our giveaway as seen on Photonics.com – mention “SPIE2019” to receive a unique gift with your next order!

SemiNex Corporation has acquired an adjoining suite to their current headquarters in Peabody, Massachusetts effectively doubling production area and increasing office space. This move complements several rounds of hiring and paves the way for several product releases anticipated in 2019.

“For more than 10 years, SemiNex has kept costs down for customers by operating with a streamlined fabless business model,” explains David Bean, SemiNex President. “In the coming year, we’re predicting a substantial increase in demand for our wavelengths within the consumer market. Our expansion will enable us to seamlessly accommodate these new high volume orders without impacting our existing customer base.”

The new clean room facilities are designed to meet ISO Class 7 standards and ESD best practices, and are expected to be fully outfitted with upgraded test stations and equipment by January of 2019. The suite also includes office space for SemiNex engineers and process technicians.

“We’ve designed additional automation into our manufacturing processes and expanded our testing capabilities, freeing up lab space for R&D and specialty fabrication projects,” says Product Engineer Seth Pappas.