Jenoptik is expanding its laser production at Berlin Adlershof

10 million EUR investment

Jenoptik is expanding its laser production at the Berlin site as a result of high customer demand and is positioning as one of the market and technology leaders. The Group is to invest around 10 million euros as the existing production facility has reached the limits of its capacity. From 2013 production capacities will be more than doubled.

The Jenoptik Group is to invest around 10 million euros to expand the manufacture of optoelectronic semiconductor components (so-called laser bars) at its site in the Berlin-Adlershof technology park. The existing production facility has reached the limits of its capacity and is being expanded due to the high level of customer satisfaction and the rapidly increasing demand, particularly from Asia, for future projects, as well as for the progressing process of the internationalization of the Lasers & Material Processing division. The production will be equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology for automated production and is designed to process 4-inch wafers. In a typical semiconductor manufacturing process gallium arsenide wafers are structured and further processed to create high-power laser bars. The new production facility is expected to go into operation at the beginning of 2013.

“With this investment we are expanding our position as a global leader in this market segment. We will also be reaching unit volumes that will enable us to not only achieve economies of scale but also a highly automated and state-of-the-art production process” said Jenoptik Chairman Dr. Michael Mertin.

There has been a significant rise in demand for high-power diode lasers over recent years, primarily as a result of new laser applications. High-power diode lasers are increasingly conquering mass volume markets, for example direct laser material processing in the industrial environment and in the field of medicine/aesthetics. As an excitation source they are also needed for modern laser technologies such as thin-disk and fiber lasers as well as diode direct. These types of lasers are already achieving high growth rates and will continue to do so in the future. “We believe that our diodes do not only follow major trends on the laser market but are setting these” adds Dr. Michael Mertin. The main advantages of the high-power diode lasers are their high efficiency, compact design and low operating voltage. The capacity range of the lasers can be variably adapted to the requirements of the respective field of application.

Jenoptik is one of the leading suppliers of high-power diode lasers and acknowledged worldwide as a leader in quality. For the development and production of the lasers Jenoptik’s primary focus is on a long lifetime, excellent beam quality, high output power and simultaneously efficient mass production. The laser bars from Berlin form the basis for the high-power diode lasers which are developed and manufactured by Jenoptik in Jena. The laser bars are also sold to customers worldwide. The Group has control of the entire technology chain to manufacture these lasers, the most energy efficient of any kind. The service range also includes the so-called epitaxial process, i.e. applying the optically active layers to the GaAs substrate.

Jenoptik has had its own production facilities in Berlin-Adlershof since 2006. The optoelectronic base material and the efficient production of this material are being developed by Jenoptik in close collaboration with the Ferdinand-Braun-Institute, Leibniz Institute for High Frequency Technology (FBH) in Berlin-Adlershof. JENOPTIK Diode Lab, created in February 2002 as a spin-off from the FBH, is an example for successful know-how and technology transfer. Therewith, Jenoptik is incorporated within a comprehensive network of research institutions at the Science and Technology Park Adlershof and benefits from being located in direct proximity to the technology partner.

Currently Jenoptik employs 70 people at Berlin, mainly in the Lasers & Material Processing and Optical Systems divisions. As a result of the investment, the number of employees will increase by 2013 according to the expected further growth.

About the Jenoptik Group

The Group was created out of the former Kombinat VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in 1991, as a result of the German reunification. The Jenoptik Group headquarters are in Jena (Thuringia). In addition to several major sites in Germany Jenoptik is represented in nearly 70 countries. JENOPTIK AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and included in the TecDax index. Jenoptik employs around 3,000 people and generated sales of approx. 510 mio euros in 2010.

In the Lasers & Material Processing division Jenoptik is one of the leading providers and has control of the entire value-added chain of laser material processing – from component through to complete system. In the area of laser, Jenoptik has specialized in high-quality semiconductor materials and reliable diode lasers as well as innovative solid-state lasers, for example thin-disk and fiber lasers. In the area of high-power diode lasers Jenoptik is acknowledged worldwide as a leader in quality. These laser sources are used, among other things, in the areas of laser material processing, medical technology and show & entertainment. In the area of laser processing systems Jenoptik develops laser systems and machines that are integrated into production facilities for our customers as part of their process optimization and automation. These systems enable our customers to work with plastics, metals, semiconductor materials and solar cells, both in thin-film as well as wafer technology, with maximum efficiency, precision and safety.

Contact:
JENOPTIK AG
Public Relations

Katrin Lauterbach
Phone: +49 3641 652255
Mail: katrin.lauterbach(at)jenoptik.com JENOPTIK  l  Lasers & Material Processing
Marketing

Denise Thim
Phone: +49 3641 65-4366
Mail: denise.thim(at)jenoptik.com

As an integrated optoelectronics group Jenoptik operates in the five divisions Lasers & Material Processing, Optical Systems, Industrial Metrology, Traffic Solutions and Defense & Civil Systems. Its customers around the world mainly include companies in the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry, automotive and automotive supplier industry, medical technology, the security and defense technology industry as well as the aviation industry.