Cermet Nets $715,000 For Materials Development

The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) has awarded Cermet Inc. (Atlanta, GA) $715,000 in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts to develop single crystal materials for defense and commercial. Products resulting from this research could be incorporated into early detection missile defense systems, blue lasers for optical data storage, and high power transistors.

The first product produced under the contract will be substrates for the semiconductor blue and ultraviolet laser industry. Researchers have identified a premier material for producing short wavelength semiconductor lasers. However, a continuously working blue laser is difficult to achieve due to the lack of a suitable substrate. Any substrate material that is used to support the device layer must have a chemical makeup compatible with it; otherwise, the laser will burn out prematurely.