Arbor Photonics Awarded SBIR Phase 1-B Funding

Ann Arbor-based Arbor Photonics Inc. has received a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant for its work on high-powered lasers that will eventually be used in semiconductor production.

This supplemental award will support production of a revolutionary type of optical fiber that allow more power to be pumped through a laser.

This award is an extension of a Phase I design effort focused on developing high power, single-emitter fiber laser modules with exceptional beam quality and narrow linewidth. These features will permit spectral combining of closely spaced laser channels to produce a single beam of nanosecond pulses with an average power of several kilowatts.

The resulting laser system is intended for use in next generation Laser Produced Plasma Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (LPP EUV). According to the 2009 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, EUV Lithography will be needed for patterning high performance semiconductor integrated circuits by 2016.

Arbor Photonics is developing high-power optical lasers with improved beam quality for materials processing and defense applications. These lasers can enable dramatic improvements in throughput and processing speed in microelectronics manufacturing, solar cell processing and industrial materials processing applications.

More at www.arborphotonics.com.

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