Nichia, Sony Jointly Develop 405-nm Diodes

Nichia Corp. of Anan, Japan, and Sony Corp. of Tokyo have announced a cooperative agreement under which they will develop 405-nm laser diodes for use in optical video recording applications. The companies hope to offer the lasers in mass quantities by spring.

They will share their patents, process technology and expertise to produce the lasers for incorporation into systems employing the next-generation Blu-ray Disc format. Blu-ray media cartridges will feature a capacity of up to 27 GB on a 12-cm, single-layer disc, enabling users to record more than 13 hours of standard or more than two hours of high-definition video.