Kyma Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of crystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) and gallium nitride (GaN) materials and related products and services, is pleased to announce the improvement of and successful application of their proprietary and exclusively-licensed, patent-pending K-Slice™ diamond wire technology to the slicing of high quality sapphire boules for LED substrate manufacturing.

Pictured are the first slices from a 2” LED quality sapphire boule using Kyma’s K-Slice™ super-abrasive diamond wire technology in a commercial multi-wire saw configuration.

Kyma’s K-Slice™ diamond wire utilizes a steel core and metal matrix approach which has several advantages over competing diamond wire technologies. K-Slice™ diamond wire is more durable than that produced using steel plus epoxy approaches, is less costly than that produced using electroplating techniques, and it features high thermal conductivity and long wire lifetime.

While Kyma has routinely used K-Slice™ diamond wire to slice such hard materials as GaN and silicon carbide (SiC), initial attempts to slice sapphire (Al2O3) boules indicated there was opportunity to further improve the K-Slice™ manufacturing process. Dr. Eugene Shishkin, Kyma’s Senior Wafering Engineer, investigated how the K-Slice™ manufacturing process could be modified to create a more sapphire-friendly wire. His efforts were successful and have helped Kyma to greatly improve the quality and speed of slicing 2” diameter sapphire boules while maintaining low kerf loss and long wire lifetime.

Kyma’s K-Slice™ diamond wire is available on spools with wire length between 1km and 3km. It is available with an outer diameter of 220-225µm and diamond size 20-30µm. Other wire diameters and diamond sizes are available upon request.

About Kyma Technologies, Inc.

Kyma is a leading supplier of crystalline nitride semiconductor materials including gallium nitride (GaN), aluminum nitride (AlN), and aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) and related products and services.

The market for nitride semiconductor devices was ~$9B in 2011 and is expected to surpass $60B over the long term, including $30B in visible lighting applications and $30B in power electronics applications.

Kyma’s materials products enable higher electrical efficiency in all of their customers’ applications, in support of a greener tomorrow.

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

Kyma is a registered trademark of Kyma Technologies, Inc.