BinOptics funding to expand laser product line and blue laser development

November 28, 2006, Ithaca, NY--BinOptics Corporation, manufacturer of integrated microphotonic chips produced using a novel etched-facet technology, has closed its Series C round of funding totaling $6 million. BinOptics will use the new funding to support the scaling of its line of telecom and datacom lasers designed for high-speed applications (up to 10 Gbps). It will also be used to accelerate product development of etched-facet blue lasers for optical storage applications.

The funding was led by new investor, STIC International, the Palo Alto-based U.S. arm of STIC Investments, one of South Korea's leading venture capital and financial equity groups. Previous BinOptics investors, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Cayuga Venture Fund, FA Technology Ventures, and ArrowPath Venture Partners, all participated in this round.

"BinOptics has clearly demonstrated the value of its etched-facet technology to meet challenging performance and cost targets for InP-based communications devices, and has recently shown similar capability for GaN-based blue lasers," said Steven Lee, Partner at STIC International.

BinOptics products are manufactured using its proprietary etched-facet technology, which significantly reduces the cost of production, testing, and handling compared to conventional laser processing. The technology also enables monolithic integration of multiple functions on a single chip because of its flexibility and high yield. The company's products include edge-emitting lasers with optional integrated monitoring detectors as well as the industry's first horizontal-cavity surface-emitting laser (HCSEL), a high-power, high-reliability surface-emitting laser operating at the1310 nm and 1550 nm communication wavelengths.

For more information, visit www.binoptics.com.