BinOptics Reaches 12,000 Hour Reliability Milestone

ITHACA, NY - BinOptics Corporation, a leader in the development of integrated microphotonic devices, recently passed two important milestones that demonstrate the robustness and reliability of its etched facet laser products.

Accelerated testing of an early set of Fabry-Perot lasers initiated over a year ago continues to show stable behavior after over 12,000 hours of continuous operation. The lasers are being tested at 90ºC in a non-hermetic environment with a constant operating current of 50mA. The change in output power is constantly monitored and has shown minimal change. This performance predicts an operating lifetime of greater than 135 years at room temperature.

Another test of Fabry-Perot lasers at even higher temperature is also showing excellent results. The lasers have been under test at 150ºC in a non-hermetic environment with constant applied current for over 8,800 hours. The lasers are periodically cooled to 40ºC for measurements. Once again, performance has been very stable with minimal change in threshold current over this time period. The results predict an operating lifetime of more than 27 years at 85ºC.

“We are gratified to have achieved this exceptional level of performance for even our earliest etched facet laser products”, said Alex Behfar, CEO of BinOptics. “Demonstrated reliability under extreme operating conditions contributes to the overall value and performance of our customers’ optical systems.”

These tests provide evidence that BinOptics lasers with etched facets are at least as robust as lasers with conventional cleaved facets.

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About BinOptics Corporation

BinOptics manufactures monolithically integrated laser chips based on its proprietary Etched Facet Technology. This unique platform allows the company to meet commercial requirements with higher reproducibility, more flexibility for product design and integration, significantly lower cost, and higher performance than alternative processes. The company's products address high growth datacom applications, such as 10G Ethernet, parallel optical interconnects, PON and CWDM, as well as advanced non-telecom applications. Founded in November 2000, BinOptics is privately held and funded by renowned Silicon Valley venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the Cayuga Venture Fund II and Stanford University. The company is located in the Cornell Business & Technology Park in Ithaca, New York.