Kyma Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of gallium nitride (GaN) substrates, announced today that compound semiconductor industry veteran Dr. Keith Evans has joined as the company's new president and chief executive officer.

 

Evans spent the first 13 years of his career as a research scientist for the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) where he co-authored over 200 scientific publications on the growth and characterization of advanced compound semiconductor materials and devices. Since then he has held a number of executive positions in the compound semiconductor industry spanning the supply chain of substrates, epitaxial wafers, epitaxial growth equipment, and semiconductor diode lasers. Most recently he was vice president, business development and chief marketing officer for Crystal IS, Inc.

"Kyma has made impressive advances in the race to bring affordable yet high quality GaN substrates to market," said Evans. "I am very excited at the opportunity to work with such a fine team and believe that Kyma is well positioned to support a number of important commercial and military device applications."

About Kyma Technologies

Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Kyma Technologies Inc. was co-founded in 1998 by the company's chief operating officer Mark Williams and chief technical officer Drew Hanser.As graduate students, Williams and Hanser both performed research developing III-nitride materials manufacturing processes at North Carolina State University (NCSU) under the direction of internationally renowned professors Jerry Cuomo and Bob Davis, respectively. Kyma has developed a strong IP portfolio through exclusive license to certain NCSU patents for III-nitride materials manufacturing technology and continuing development of patented technology. Kyma has secured three rounds of venture capital funding and has benefited from strong support by US DoD agencies and DoE, beginning in 1998 with an STTR program funded by BMDO (now called MDA) and monitored by Dr. Colin Wood of the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The company's business focus is to deliver GaN substrates to device manufacturers in the optoelectronic and microelectronic market spaces.

The market for GaN-based devices is forecast to exceed $10 billion by 2010. Examples of device applications that will benefit from the use of GaN substrates include: short wavelength semiconductor lasers for high density optical storage, high brightness blue and ultraviolet LEDs for solid-state lighting, advanced high frequency communication components for wireless applications, and high power semiconductor devices for wireless infrastructure and radar applications.

For more information about Kyma Technologies, please visit our website www.kymatech.com, send us e-mail at info@kymatech.com, or call the company directly at 919.789.8880.

Kyma is a registered trademark of Kyma Technologies, Inc.