News Briefs (April 3, 2006)

Holding company Global-Tech Appliances Inc. of Hong Kong announced that, through a subsidiary, it has signed an agreement with Singapore-based Anwell Technologies Ltd., an advanced automation equipment manufacturer for the optical disc industry, to form a joint venture company, Lite Array Holdings Ltd. Lite Array's manufacturing facilities will be in China and it will develop organic light-emitting diode (OLED) systems. Global-Tech will have a 30 percent stake in Lite Array, which it currently wholly owns. Global-Tech invested in Lite Array Inc. in 2001 when it was based in California, and added OLED technology development to complement its existing thin-film electroluminescent display business. Anwell will own the remaining 70 percent. . . . Korea-based compound semiconductor device manufacturer Samsung Electro Mechanics Co. (Semco) has placed an order for a MOCVD (metallorganic chemical vapor disposition) system from Aixtron AG of Germany to expand its LED manufacturing capabilities, the companies said. The new reactor will be installed at Semco's factory in Suwon City, Kyungki-Do, South Korea. The companies said Semco has steadily increased its base of Aixtron MOCVD reactors since its first order in 1997. It uses the reactors for the mass production for a range of semiconductors, such as GaN-based LEDs for consumer optoelectronics. . . . Nano Superlattice Technology Inc. of Taiwan, which coats tools and components with nanostructured PVD coatings for the semiconductor, precision machinery and telecommunications industries, has hired automation systems and engineering design services provider Festo AG & Co. of Germany to manufacture automatic insertion machinery. Nano said the machinery will streamline the nanocoating process by placing client products automatically in specially made containers, improving production speed and reducing labor costs. The application of the coating on industrial products changes their physical properties, improving durability, resistance, chemical and physical characteristics and performance, Nano said.