Durham, North Carolina-based Cree Research Inc and the Philips Laboratories-Briarcliff division of Philips Electronics North America Corp are to work together to develop blue laser diodes based on Gallium Nitride materials grown on Silicon Carbide wafers for use in optical recording and playback systems. Cree has received a $4m grant from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency to help with the two-year effort and Philips and Cree will jointly contribute the necessary matching funds. The shorter wavelength of the blue laser diode enables the recording spots to be smaller and therefore able to be packed more densely on the disk.
