| Cranbury, N.J., June 3, 2008
Princeton
Lightwave, Inc. (PLI), the leader in short wave infrared (SWIR)
sensors and lasers for the defense industry, and Nextreme
Thermal Solutions, Inc., the leader in microscale thermal and
power management products for the electronics industry, have
entered into an agreement to jointly develop a SWIR focal plane
sensor using extremely efficient thermoelectric cooling. The
solution is based on Princeton Lightwave's Indium Gallium
Arsenide (InGaAs) focal plane arrays and Nextreme’s unique
thermal bump technology, and will dramatically reduce power
consumption and weight, and improve overall performance. These
features will allow wide deployment of SWIR sensors for night
vision systems.
Shortwave infrared sensors for night vision systems use efficient cooling with low power consumption
Infrared sensors are widely used by the U.S. military and homeland security organizations. They are incorporated into night vision goggles, weapon-sights and laser based ranging and tracking devices. InGaAs shortwave infrared sensors are of significant interest to the military as they are digital devices that can be networked. They are sensitive to the nightglow radiation at 1.6 um wavelengths, enabling operation in total darkness. Additionally, this part of the spectrum is eye-safe, allowing use of laser illuminators invisible to current night vision devices.
Detector performance is usually limited by thermally-generated noise, which can be reduced by cooling. The two companies are actively working on integrating thin-film thermoelectric coolers with focal plane arrays in order to provide innovative night vision imaging solutions.
“Nextreme’s technology and assembly platforms for thermoelectric devices together with PLI’s low dark current, high performance 2 D focal plane arrays have great potential for achieving significant efficiency improvements over conventional techniques,” said Sabbir Rangwala, V.P. Product Development at PLI. “Their technology offers a path for innovative integration within PLI sensors in order to provide superior performance with power efficient cooling.”
“We are looking forward to developing a cooling solution with Princeton Lightwave that removes the barriers associated with the widespread use of SWIR sensing technology in next generation products,” said Dr. Paul A. Magill, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Nextreme.
For more information, contact Princeton Lightwave at 2555 Route 130 South, Cranbury, NJ 08512; call +1-609-495-2600; e-mail Sales@Princetonlightwave.com; or go to www.princetonlightwave.com.
Contact Nextreme at 3908 Patriot Dr., Suite 140, Durham, NC 27703-8031; call (919)-597-7300; e-mail info@nextreme.com; or go to www.nextreme.com.
About Princeton Lightwave:
Headquartered in Cranbury, NJ, Princeton Lightwave provides leading-edge semiconductor
detectors and lasers for defense, industrial, and communications applications. PLI's rich product
capability is based upon unique InP and GaAs optical chip design, optoelectronic packaging,
and integration technology. For more information, visit www.princetonlightwave.com.
Nextreme Thermal Solutions™, Inc:
Nextreme Thermal Solutions designs and manufactures microscale thermal and power management products for the semiconductor, photonics, consumer, automotive and defense/aerospace industries. The company has embedded cooling, temperature control and power generation capabilities into the widely accepted copper pillar bumping process used in high-volume electronic packaging. Nextreme’s breakthrough addresses the most challenging thermal and power management constraints in electronics today, and delivers the only fully-scalable technology solution by leveraging the existing, high-volume flip chip manufacturing infrastructure. By minimizing the need for manufacturing changes and focusing on developing a seamless design-in solution, Nextreme will change the future of thermal and power management for the entire electronics industry. Nextreme is managed by an experienced start-up team and world-renowned experts in electronic packaging, thermal management and pillar bump technology. The company has 38 employees and is based near Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Visit www.nextreme.com.
For more information, contact:
Sabbir Rangwala
Princeton Lightwave, Inc.
+1-609-495-2554
srangwala@princetonlightwave.com
Karl von Gunten
Nextreme Thermal Solutions, Inc.
+1-919-597-7348
kvongunten@nextreme.com
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