SOMERSET, N.J., July 31 -- EMCORE Corp., a provider of compound semiconductor technologies for global communications, announced it has received a patent for a semiconductor device separation technique for gallium nitride-based and other materials grown on sapphire substrates. The new technique uses a patterned laser projection to separate the processed wafer into several thousand individual devices. EMCORE said the new method -- which has been employed in a high-volume LED manufacturing production facility for over a year -- will expedite manufacturing of GaN-based blue and green LEDs and improve GaN materials device yields, and it will have a significant impact on the cost and manufacturability of all devices on sapphire substrate. Reuben F. Richards Jr., president and CEO of EMCORE, said, "We are currently discussing licensing the technique with a number of major LED manufacturuers who are very enthusiastic about the prospect of improving the economics of LED production."