Inventive ideas are born every day and often follow the path of trial and error, backed in large part by the determination and steely resolve of the inventor or team to bring it to fruition. Turning an idea into reality or a product is, however, far from simple. Numerous small business entities have ideas for innovative semiconductor devices, but fall short on capital and infrastructure needed to follow through on implementation. Engaging the big manufacturers will not yield the desired results as they normally don’t pay heed when a huge profit is not on the horizon.

With a vision to propel innovation, Kyma Technologies acts as a launch pad for small businesses, providing wings to their novel ideas. “We are a team that is versatile and capable of swiftly turning an idea into a prototype at an attractive cost,” says Jacob Leach, CTO of Kyma Technologies.

Recognized as a leading gallium nitride substrate supplier and capable of working with III-nitride epitaxy design and various fabrication schemes, Kyma has introduced a custom device fabrication service for small scale business entities and university researchers. Kyma utilizes a state of the art device processing facility that enables them to fabricate all types of semiconductor devices. Kyma works extensively in the sphere of field-effect transistors (FETs), Schottky barrier diodes, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photocathodes and novel sensors using various materials including GaN, InGaN and AIGaN.

The Kyma team is experienced in device design and modeling, which helps in the conversion of ideas into CAD to simulate and fabricate.

We are a team that is versatile and capable of swiftly turning an idea into a prototype at an attractive cost

Explaining how Kyma functions, Heather Splawn, CEO of Kyma says, “We analyze the design and work with the customer to make any necessary changes and develop fabrication procedures to create a functioning prototype. Once a prototype has been fabricated, it’s tested by Kyma or the customer, and the design or processing steps can be fine-tuned to get the result as desired by the innovator.” The business entities get the opportunity to take the prototypes to big manufacturers for production on a larger scale.

The journey with Kyma proves to be gratifying for clients as they can have a face-to-face conversation with the technical team that critically evaluates the design and explains the next steps required to complete the process. The team breaks the project into different parts depending on the substrate, the epilayer, or the fabrication steps necessary. In case a specialized epilayer is needed, Kyma outsources the job to its trusted partners. Leach adds, “We have a team that is always excited to see the next big idea and ready to work to make it better in every possible aspect.” Moreover, Kyma’s clients can undertake a tour of the facility, and the company does not hold back intellectual property related to the project.

Kyma has several successful projects to its credit in the field of power electronics with numerous small and large commercial device manufacturers and prime defense contractors in their esteemed client roster.

On the drawing board are plans to produce novel sensors for particle and X-Ray detectors. Also, Kyma is eyeing enhancing their epi capabilities for power electronics customers and providing more custom epi capabilities. On the geographic expansion front, as per Heather, the plan is to be strategically located within the U.S shores to cater to their defense customers.