The Sophia Antipolis start-up markets a new semiconductor compound:

Sophia Antipolis start-up LUMILOG has begun manufacturing and marketing gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor substrates for a variety of opto-electronics and micro-electronics applications. “We are helping to develop an emerging semiconductor field with a high quality technology which will almost certainly have a considerable impact during the next twenty years,” said Dr. Jean-Pierre Faurie, LUMILOG’s CEO. “Our substrates are already being sold to international clients in Europe, the US and Japan and we hope to become a key player.”

GaN is expected to have a considerable impact on future products due to high-output power and increased efficiency that improve the performance of laser diodes, light-emitting diodes, high-power transistors and other devices. LUMILOG’s substrates, which are being sold to the R&D divisions of leading multinational manufacturers and university laboratories, could be used for next-generation DVDs, general lighting, cellular phone base stations and other products.

LUMILOG was founded in 2001 by Faurie and two other research scientists -- Bernard Beaumont and Pierre Gibart -- who had been working at the National Scientific Research Center’s (CNRS) Center of Hetero-Epitaxie Research and Applications (CHREA) in Sophia Antipolis.

The company, whose height employees include a recently hired commercial engineer, has obtained three million euros of venture capital funding from Banexi Ventures, Emertec and Sophia Euro Lab. Since January 22nd, 2002, the company has been supported by the Incubator for PACA-EST. Due to a transfer of intellectual property, the CNRS also has shares in the firm. LUMILOG won a 450,000 euro innovation award from the French Ministry of Industry earlier this year. It has invested 2.6 million euros in state-of-the-art R&D and production equipment in its 1,200-square meter facility in Vallauris and expects to seek additional venture capital in 2004.

Sources : Côte d'Azur Développement