The last MS achievement NR was dated 4 March after which a 6 weeks of maintenance period including an upgrade of the MBE was planned, this makes the MBE available from approx mid April.

Later athe nnouncement indicated the completion of MS 8 (100nm) at the end of April. To quote the 4 March NR; ‘Although timelines are always subject to review depending on partner needs, the technical team sees no significant technical roadblocks ahead. POET anticipates completion of the 100-nm milestone by the end of April 2014.’

Given the above there is, at least on on paper, only a two week window of opportunity in availability of the MBE for work on MS 8 in April, The same NR also stated there were upgrades planned that would enable; ‘the production of long-wavelength lasers combined with high In-content field-effect transistor (FET) channels for superior high-speed transistor performance.’ If this was the work scheduled for the MBE after the maintenance period was completed, it seems to me there really is not much opportunity to use the MBE work on MS8 (100nm). This leads me to suspect that the work on MS 8 is actually being completed at a separate facility, at a PDA facility even.

I for one have never quite understood what was meant in the announcement by the statement; ‘The 100-nm goal is matched to the state-of-the-art commercial III-V foundry capabilities.’ I am beginning to think for reasons explained above that the quote is ‘smoke and mirrors speak’ for our partner is completing work on MS 8. It all seems to add up to me.

This all leads me to think that the announcement of MS 8 completion will be tied to a PDA announcement at the end of April, which really means early May.

The important part of all this is that we would seem to have a working relationship with a Partner, I suppose it could be BAE, but given the strategic intent to find a PDA its more likely that that this would be a non military IC developer. As Peter Copett said; 'We have a relentless focus on securing our intellectual property and in forging ties to industry'.