Laser and optical systems manufacturer Jenoptik is doubling its semiconductor laser capacity with a €10 million (approximately $13.2 million) expansion of its Berlin-Adlershof site. The larger facility is expected to be available for production in 2013.

Jenoptik said its existing production facility has reached the limits of its capacity and is being expanded as a result of increasing demand — particularly from Asia.

The new building will be automated and equipped with state-of-the-art production technology. Gallium-arsenide wafers (GaAs) will be structured and processed to create high-power laser bars in a typical semiconductor manufacturing process, and various work areas will be fitted out with cleanroom facilities. The complete process line from epitaxy, wafer processing and facet coating through to the manufacture of GaAs components will be installed in the cleanrooms.

The financing of the building will be provided by the Hoesch Dortmund pension fund; the internal fittings (including cleanrooms) as well as the production equipment will come from Jenoptik. Including the existing production facility, the total investment in the Jenoptik Berlin-Adlershof site will come to approximately €24 million ($31.6 million).

The laser bars from the production facility at Berlin-Adlershof will be sent to customers all over the world and will be processed to create high-power diode lasers at Jenoptik in Jena.

For more information, visit: www.jenoptik.de