GT Advanced Technologies Inc fka GTAT

[Netsurfer]

You are correct in that Hyperion is not ready for prime time....for any application....well maybe watch crystals as long as it is flat which the Apple watch is not.

The largest exfoliation that I could find mentioned was of a 2" diameter coring typically used for LED substrates....nowhere large enough for an iPhone screen.

The power required to get an exfoliation large enough for a screen would require some major engineering work to scale up the machine.... and alot of time and $. Also after each exfoliation the surface needs to be re-polished prior to the next exfoliation process....that is the case with Silicon and I suspect the same for Sapphire.You cannot have a "frosted " surface for a phone screen.

The single crystal brick needs to be polished in the machine or removed, polished and replaced and realligned in the machine for the next cut. This all goes back to economic viability vs technical feability.

Another minor detail is that the entire surface exposed to the beam must be single crystal Sapphire. I do not believe that GT ever could make a boule with that much "good " area. It worked for LED's because they could core 2" , 3" and sometimes 4" cores around the crystal plane defects. Even with LED applications yields were typically 50%.

They may have gotten more later but recall that GT paid "only" $10M +/- for it back in 2012.