3SPGroup, which manufactures optical and optoelectronic components for telecom networks, and fiber-optic communications component and subsystem maker Finisar Corp of Sunnyvale, CA, USA have formally agreed to partner on the development of a new packaging platform for 980nm cooled laser pump modules.?
3SPGroup will be the exclusive supplier of the 980nm laser chips used for the platform, and Finisar will implement a manufacturing line based on the platform in its newly expanded facilities in Wuxi, China. Finisar will use the 980nm pump modules in its erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and line-card products for the telecom market. 3SPGroup will use the packaging platform to serve its own customers.?
The agreement will give 3SPGroup access to an alternative competitive packaging platform that will improve the fixed-cost absorption of its wafer fab, says 3SPGroup's CEO Alexandre Krivine. "We are proud to be selected as the sole supplier by Finisar for these high-power applications, which is recognition of the leading performance and reliability of our 980nm chips," he adds.
"This partnership provides Finisar with strategic access to high-performance and highly reliable 980nm chips while leveraging our own expertise in high-volume, cost-effective manufacturing," says Finisar's CEO Eitan Gertel. "This combination allows us to quickly provide the products that our customers are demanding to support growing telecom networks."?
The 980nm lasers supplied by 3SPGroup are already fully qualified with what is claimed to be outstanding field reliability. Availability of modules resulting from the new packaging platform is expected by mid-2013.
