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Electricnews.net, February 11, 2003

Eblana raises USD4.5m in new cash

by Matthew Clark

Irish semiconductor company Eblana Photonics has secured USD4.5 million in fresh venture capital, which the company will use to boost headcount.

The new funding round, which was led by London-based TLCom Capital Partners, brings the Dublin-based firm's total funding to USD7.75 million. Existing investors include ACT Venture Capital and Enterprise Ireland, which also participated in the latest round.

Chief Executive Officer James O'Gorman told ElectricNews.Net that with the new cash, the company hopes to ramp up its sales and marketing efforts, which means that Eblana will need to bring new people on board. O'Gorman declined to put an exact figure on how many new workers will be needed, saying only that recruitment will be in line with market needs. Currently the firm employs 10.

O'Gorman admitted that the market for selling semiconductors was challenging at present, but insisted that firm is in a unique position within the laser semiconductor field. Laser semiconductors, or laser diodes, are devices that produce visible or infra-red light that can be used in optical fibre networks.

Lasers used in optical communication systems are capable of delivering data faster and over longer distances than can be done with copper wire-based systems. O'Gorman said that Eblana's laser components are targeted at OEMs that manufacture networking equipment of all types, including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) and metropolitan area networks (MANs). The increasing provision of broadband on a global basis is expected to result in an increase in demand for the types of products Eblana builds, he said.

The company, which spun out of a research project between Trinity College Dublin and the National Microelectronics Research Centre in 2000, has developed technology that allows for the construction of these chips in an easier and a more cost-effective manner. One important advance that Eblana has pioneered is the elimination of a process in laser semiconductor manufacturing called re-growth, a complicated procedure that involves growing perfect crystals on a III-5 materials.

With this process removed, Eblana can have its chips constructed in microelectronic fabs, or semiconductor manufacturing plants, which tend to use superior tools than in optical chip fabs, O'Gorman explained. Microelectronic fabs also tend to be far more scaleable, an important feature in an industry where demand and price fluctuate.

Recent industry figures have shown that the market for photonics technology in the communication sector will grow by 47 percent per annum over the next couple of years and will be worth USD14 billion by 2004.

last updated Friday, 27, August, 2010   |   copyright © 2005 Eblana Photonics Ltd.