| Silicon Wafers Solve Blue Laser Diode Problem? |
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Blu-ray and HD-DVD have been suffering a bit recently, as a shortage of the diodes needed to power the optical pickup component has left everyone unable to meet their projected launch numbers. Perhaps the PlayStation 3 has suffered the most, with no units available in Europe at launch and only a measly 480,000 in Japan and the US combined, and even the 400,000 the US is getting seem questionable. Shimei Semiconductor seems to have a possible way out of this mess. It seems there's a way to make the laser diodes using a silicon wafer, as opposed to the current process, which uses sapphire to make the diodes. They estimate that the new laser diodes will be not only cheaper and easier to make in large quantities, but they'll last longer too. Sounds too good to be true, but that's how technology usually goes. The estimate is that these new diodes will be available in April, so they're not going to speed up the launch of PS3 in Europe. Still, we can hope to see cheaper and more reliable Blu-ray and HD-DVD drives in the future. Original article by Engadget.
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