Diodes Incorporated (Nasdaq: DIOD), a leading manufacturer and supplier of high-quality discrete semiconductors, primarily to the telecommunications, computing, electronics and automotive industries, today announced that it has expanded its sales force into Europe.

To support the development of Diodes’ European sales network, the company has hired Oliver Woyke as European Sales Manager. Woyke is an engineer who brings extensive experience in semiconductor sales to Diodes, including sales and marketing posts with Motorola and Infineon, as well as with CS2, a Belgium-based semiconductor assembly and test service company.
Woyke’s responsibilities will include the development and management of Diodes’ manufacturers’ representative network, as well as expanding Diodes’ relationship with Future Electronics as a primary distributor in the European marketplace.

Mark King, Diodes’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing said, “We are excited about the potential of the European marketplace for Diodes’ advanced surface mount devices. And we are pleased to bring aboard Oliver Woyke, an experienced engineer with a track record of sales and marketing success, to oversee our sales team in Europe.

“We believe that Europe remains a relatively under-serviced market for discrete devices, and Diodes has experienced early wins for our performance Schottky and subminiature array product lines. Our initial target will be the communications and automotive industries, sectors in which Oliver brings solid customer knowledge and relationships.”
Woyke comes to Diodes from CS2, which is an advanced semiconductor assembly and test service based in Belgium, where he was Sales Director. Prior to that he served as Director of Marketing, Industrial Electronics-Home Appliances for Infineon Technologies in Munich, Germany. He began his career in the semiconductor industry with Motorola Semiconductor, where he rose from sales engineer to Marketing Manager, Automotive Accounts over a five-year period.

Woyke holds a degree in Telecommunication Engineering from the Technical University of Munich.

About Diodes Incorporated

Diodes Inc. (Nasdaq: DIOD) is a leading manufacturer and supplier of high-quality discrete semiconductor products, serving the communications, computer, electronics and automotive markets.

The company operates two Far East subsidiaries, Diodes-China (QS-9000 and ISO-14001 certified) in Shanghai and Diodes-Taiwan (ISO-9000 certified) in Taipei. Diodes-China’s manufacturing focus is on surface-mount devices destined for wireless devices, notebook computers, pagers, PCMCIA cards and modems, among others. Diodes-Taiwan is the company’s Asia-Pacific sales, logistics and distribution center. Diodes’ newly acquired 5″ wafer foundry, Diodes-FabTech (QS-9000 certified), specializes in Schottky products and is located just outside Kansas City, Mo.

Opnext, Inc., an Eastontown, New Jersey, provider of high-performance optical components, announced the development of three new laser diodes designed for information and industrial applications. The new product line-up offers a wide range of variations, including low driving current and low aspect ratio models for collimator applications, suitable for levelers, bar-code scanners, measuring instruments, medical equipment, and similar systems that require high-performance capabilities. A low driving current enables a longer operating time by battery, and low astigmatism makes the laser diodes optics less complex.

“Opnext products are constantly being developed to meet the latest market needs, such as low power consumption with high output,” said Masaharu Umezawa, senior vice president, Device Business Unit, Opnext. “We are happy to be able to offer our customers these high quality laser diodes to meet all of their needs.”

“We are looking forward to evaluating the newly developed products,” said Tony Pope, managing director of Photonic Products Ltd., European distributor for Opnext. “If the quality of the new laser diodes is as consistently good as we have come to expect from Opnext, this will be a very exciting development for us.”

Tapered Amplifier Laser Diodes feature wavelengths from 735-1,080 nm with output powers from 500-1,500 mW. Units are suited for spectroscopy, frequency conversion, and precision measurement. Standard package is C-mount.

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In addition to its existing selection of DFB, DBR, broad area, single mode, and multimode laser diodes with wavelengths across the spectrum, Power Technology, Inc. now offers a variety of tapered amplifier diodes. These unique laser diodes feature wavelengths from 735 to 1080nm with output powers from 500 to 1500mW. Tapered amplifier diodes incorporate all the benefits of standard laser diodes - reliability, tunability, and ease of maintenance - and combine them with high power and exceptionally bright output. These specialized diodes are ideal for such applications as spectroscopy, frequency conversion, and precision measurement.

I just bought a new stock motor and an electronic speed control for my HPI RS^sub 4^ Pro. I got rid of the reversing speed control so I could go racing and got a high-performance one that only has forward and brakes. After I had installed everything, one of the guys at my track suggested I remove the motor and break in the bushings because they were too tight and would slow down my car. He told me to attach a Dremel tool to the motor shaft and use it to spin the motor instead of running it. I borrowed my friend’s Dremel tool and hooked it up, but as soon as it got the motor spinning really fast, I heard a loud pop and smelled something burning. Did I ruin my brand-new motor?
Here’s the problem: when you bought your speed control, it came with a Schottky diode. This isn’t something that you would recognize from your reversing speed control because they can’t use them. These diodes are installed on the motor to improve the function of the regenerating circuitry and to reduce brake fade and radio interference on forward-only racing speed controls. This diode, which is installed on the motor tabs, is polarized and that means that current can only flow through it in one direction. The “pop” you heard was caused by current flowing through the diode backwards. But if the motor wasn’t connected to any power source, where did the current come from?
Here’s the answer: any motor has the potential to act as a generator. just spin the motor shaft and all the parts that use current to make the motor operate will actually generate current. The current generated, however, is the reverse of the current that would be used to normally power the motor when spinning in the same direction.

When you hooked up your motor to the Dremel tool and spun it in the same direction it spins in use, the motor generated reverse current and that popped the diode. To avoid this, you could spin the armature in reverse, or remove the diode, but the easiest thing to do is simply remove the brushes from the hoods. Without the brushes in place, your motor won’t generate any juice.

Dornier Surgical Products, part of the Dornier MedTech Group, has launched its 940-nm Diode Laser featuring [PowerBar.sup.TM] Diode Technology, especially designed for vascular tumors and lesions. Dornier is currently awaiting FDA clearance for use of this laser in epilation.
Obagi Medical Products, Inc., will serve as the exclusive sales agent for Dornier’s s Cosmetic Laser Products in the United States. OMP’s sales team will represent Dornier’s products in the direct-to-physician Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery markets.