ALHAMBRA, Calif., Sept. 27, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EMCORE Corporation (NASDAQ:EMKR), a leading provider of Indium Phosphide (InP) optical chips, components, subsystems and systems for the broadband and specialty fiber optics market, announced today that it has expanded its offerings of laser diode and Avalanche Photodiode (APD) optical chips for the high-speed telecom Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) market and uncooled digital datacom applications. EMCORE's latest chip series supports 2.5 Gbps to 12.5 Gbps data rate transmission at 1310 and 1550 nanometer (nm) wavelengths.

EMCORE's laser and APD chips are designed and manufactured at the Company's InP wafer fabrication facility in Alhambra, California. The plant features MOCVD reactors for 3x3" or 6x2" wafers, plus stepper, wafer track, RIE (Reactive Ion Etching), diffusion, metal and dielectric deposition, and cleaving and dicing equipment in a class 1,000 clean room space. The facility also functions as EMCORE's anchor for its vertically-integrated manufacturing, supporting laser module, transmitter and receiver products.

The latest G1033 series laser chips include GPON 2.5 Gbps DFB (Distributed Feedback) devices with 1310 and 1550 nm operating wavelength options. Each model features advanced digital chip design with a wide operating temperature range and high optical output power. The chips are Telcordia Technologies^® 468 and RoHS compliant. They are specifically designed to perform as the laser source for uncooled digital applications. In addition, EMCORE's chip offering includes high power gain chips ideally suited for tunable lasers and narrow linewidth optical sensing applications.

EMCORE's APD chips include 2.5 Gbps Avalanche Photodiode, as well as 10 Gbps top and bottom illuminated APDs. The 2.5 Gbps APD is specifically designed to target GPON OLT (Optical Line Terminal) and ONU (Optical Networking Unit) applications. The 10 Gbps APD is designed for next-generation PON, as well as other 10 Gbps digital applications. These APDs have high responsivity, very low capacitance and are optimized for high-speed performance.

"This is the first announcement of EMCORE's expanded chip product line that addresses the worldwide demand, particularly in China, for high-data-rate transmission semiconductors for GPON FTTH networks," commented Jeffrey Rittichier, President and CEO of EMCORE. "Our core competency is in optical semiconductors and we are returning to our roots with expanded chip offerings across a large range of applications in the Telecom market. With last year's divestiture of our tunable telecom laser module products, we are poised to become a merchant supplier of high-performance chips," added Rittichier.