Taking Technology to the Marketplace Aram Mooradian Founder & CTO Sunnyvale, CA, USA aram@novalux.com
Requirements Market Technology Product Price Timing Good Investors Good People
Path to Success Absolutely required Large market with little or no competition Manufacturable technology at the price point Strong patent base Adequate financing with capable investors A world-class management/technical team with strong personal integrity Incentive for employees What can go wrong Market timing Unexpected competition Running out of money Loss of key people
Bay Area Dominates Venture Investment in the US Texas 3.6% Potomac 4% Research Triangle 0.5% All Other US 23% Bay Area 34% Washington State 5% New York Metro 6% New England 12% Southern California 12%
Equity Valuation vs. Investment Round A-Round B-Round C-Round Liquidity % ownership $ value Pre-bubble: ~51/49 equity split Post-bubble: ~75/25 equity split Pre-bubble: liquidity value > $1 B Post-bubble: liquidity value ~ $70M
Good scenario Investment rounds % ownership $ value Liquidity: Average M&A value today is ~ $70 million for a 5-year startup Return to key employees should be > a few to several million dollars each
Is the return worth it? Bad scenario % ownership Investment rounds Flat rounds without anti-dilution is bad. If preferences are greater than 1x walk away $ value
Novalux Major Investors/Partners Seiko-Epson
Funding & Business Strategy $ 2.5 million, May, 1998 Original business plan was for laser display Demonstrated NECSEL concept $14.5 million, September, 1999 Made first operating NECSEL $109 million, September, 2000: $500 million post money Built world-class facility - $40M CAPEX Telcordia qualification of NECSELs New market direction after bubble Restructured in July, 2003 with ~$38 million to date Display & lighting markets for big win Multi-billion $/Year total available markets Demonstrated projection displays at CES, January, 2006 Seiko-Epson JDA; Mitsubishi laser TV announcement
Who is Novalux? Brief History 1998 --------------- 2002 2003 ---- 2004 ------- 2005 ---------------------- 2007 Legacy Infra-Red Telcordia-qualified 980-nm lasers for EDFAs Vertically integrated 4 Fab Core patents developed technology manufacturing application (including display) Visible Migration to visible light (building block from IR) Developed and manufactured visible products for bioinstrumentation Display market matured quickly Solely focused on DISPLAY >$1B market Timelines well defined Delivered first prototypes that look spectacular in RPTV
Display Market: Microdisplay Growth Units (Millions) 20 15 10 5 0 Lasers will benefit both rear and front projection Commercial display market will grow and approach TV market size Signage Market Microdisplay Shipments RPTV FP 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 $ Billions 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2005 2009 Year Sources: DisplaySearch & InSight Media
NECSEL Technology: What is it? Novalux Extended Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Power scalable, highly manufacturable, low-cost surface emitting semiconductor lasers that behave like solid state lasers Many large markets are possible using optical/laser technology that is manufacturable at low cost
Types of Semiconductor Laser Technology NECSEL Advantages Single-mode power 1W 100mW 10mW 1mW Edge Emitters NECSELs VCSELs High brightness; CW & pulsed wit no optical damage Low manufacturing cost TEM 00 beam quality Known good die: on-wafer testing Efficient nonlinear conversion Telcordia reliability of one million hours demonstrated for 980-nm devices Manufacturability
Diagram of NECSEL structure with intra-cavity frequency doubling Volume Bragg grating Periodically poled lithium niobate GaAs substrate n-bragg mirror Quantum well gain region Proton implant in p-bragg mirror
NECSEL Devices Demonstrated World Record Brightness (1999) CW Multi-mode Power in mw 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Multi-mode 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Current in ma Single mode TEM 00 at 980 nm; > 0.5 W cw Nonlinear conversion demonstrated at >50% of IR power (2003) 150-µm gain diameter M 2 ~ 1.05
Technology NECSEL Array Manufacturing Array chip Output Coupler Frequency Doubler (PPLN) Infra-Red NECSEL Array Assembly 4-inch wafer Mounted array 100mW / emitter P total = n x (100mW)
Visible NECSEL Arrays ~2cm 24 inches NECSEL chip 465-nm array PPLN VBG Near field
Average Output Power vs. Peak Current to 1-D Array 2W @465 nm device LI 2.5 SH p ower, W 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 9 11 13 15 Pulsed current, A 15 emitters in 5 mm, 465-nm 2-W average Red NECSELs demonstrated: arrays soon Display Requirements and present performance o 3 W polarized per color for liquid crystal; 8 W/color for 30% time for DLP oexpected efficiency: ~ 10% at > 6-W/cm for linear single row array o Achieved average power: > 4W/cm 1-D linear array in blue at 6% efficiency; > 3W/cm at 5% efficiency in green
LCD (HTPS)-Based Projection System The polarized RGB laser replaces the UHP lamp, the UV/IR filter, yellow notch filter, the fly eye integrator, the polarization recovery/recapture optics, and color separation dichroics RGB NECSEL Arrays
Status: Why Lasers in Display? Lasers are a unique Lasers are an enabler New form factors New types of modulators light source Lasers increase performance More efficient Ultimate viewing experience: bright, colorful Reliability: lifetime, color stability Laser Color Space Lasers lower cost Reduce system cost (less components) Laser follows semiconductor cost learning curves 4 I 24
Comparison between NECSELs & LEDs for Projection Display Comparison Brightness Polarized output Spectral width Visible efficiency Scanning display with high-speed modulation System optical efficiency Lifetime Light engine cost NECSEL >>> LED Yes < 1 nm ~ 10% Yes 70-80% > 20,000 hours Single RGB source with simple efficient optics LED Requires improvement to étendue No 10-20 nm ~ 25% No ~ 20-30% >?? hours Requires more complex & costly optical train
Major Advantages of NECSELs for Projection display Low manufacturing cost: < $40 for 3 colors/3 W per color at 10 million units/year Simpler light engine with higher throughput efficiency. Polarized output High brightness with low screen gain No wavelength shift with time Operating lifetime with no power degradation or wavelength shift > 20,000 hours Scanning beam displays Better color gamut viewing experience
NECSEL Laser RPTV 62-inch Diagonal Fiber-coupled 460-nm 532-nm NECSEL arrays and 635-nm edgeemitting arrays
Trends: Laser TV is a Thin Panel Mitsubishi Laser TV Demo: Thin form factor ½weight of PDP 52 inch using DLP Full HD (1920 x 1080) 500 nits 4000:1 contrast Exceeds xvycc color Proof of concept demo at CES 06 Featured at April Dealer Line Show 7 I 24
Trends: Head-Up Display (HUD) HUD is made practical by lasers Existing solution is backlit LCD panel Expensive, hard to see, doesn t shape to curved windshields, difficult to install NECSEL currently being tested by major auto companies Much brighter (for daylight driving) Higher contrast (no ghosting at night) Much easier to install (2D MEMS scanner) Market ready for mass production in 2009
Will Novalux be a winner?????? Stay tuned in