GT Advanced Technologies Inc fka GTAT

[Netsurfer]

I would assume that Merlin would take the form of a licensing agreement vs equipment sales. I believe that GT was working with a Chinese company that had a pilot plant in California. Primarily to get real yield data vs R & D lab numbers that re typically on the high side.

Hyperion was developed to make thin silicon wafers and reduce material loss du to saw kerf which at the proposed thickness could exceed 75 % of starting material. The cutting wire could be 3X+ the end wafer thickness.

The sapphire application was an after thought and has its own set of issue. Silicon is an element with a very regular crystal structure so the physics is well understood. Sapphire ...Al2O3...is a compound so the energy levels required differ depending on the crystal plane required. Not sure that the numbers have been worked out for all planes and have not seen anything in the literature addressing this issue.

The medical application is way out in my estimation......just getting FDA approval could take a couple of years. There are already similar technologies in clinical trials.....one in a St. Louis, MO cancer research center I believe.

Maybe a big medical electronics firm....GE....would pick it up.
This also might be a licensing play. I would hope that GT would not stray too far from their core competencies after the Apple materials foray.