CEO Interview: Dr. Zeynep Bayram of 35ELEMENTS

Zeynep is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of 35ELEMENTS Corp., the GaN solutions company, which spun off from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She worked in small and large semiconductor companies, and managed operations of an equipment manufacturing business. She completed her B.S. and M.S. in EE, from Cornell and Colombia Universities, respectively.

Why did you start 35ELEMENTS?

To help us reach carbon neutrality, we (Zeynep, CEO/CFO, B.S. in EE, Cornell University, M.S. in EE, Columbia University, & Can, CTO, Ph.D. in EECS, Northwestern University) spun off 35ELEMENTS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We discovered that the best semiconductor material for assisting us in achieving carbon neutrality is cubic gallium nitride – a III-V compound semiconductor material which Can has been leading as a faculty member at ECE Illinois for the past eleven years. The purpose of 35ELEMENTS is to expand this novel semiconductor materials technology platform.

Why did you join Silicon Catalyst?

One of our goals is to form strategic alliances with foundries to scale our novel gallium nitride material solutions on CMOS-compatible Si (100) substrates by our target of two years. We plan to accomplish this by working with Silicon Catalyst’s in-kind and strategic partners. The tremendous experience and wide knowledge that the Silicon Catalyst team has is also what drew us to working with them.

What differentiates your company?

The foundation of 35ELEMENTS is the exclusive portfolio of cubic gallium nitride patents covering materials synthesis as well as photonic and electronic devices. We are the only company that can epitaxially hetero-integrate gallium nitride materials on Si (100) substrates that are compatible with CMOS processes and foundries. We make use of an industrious epitaxy tool called metalorganic chemical vapor deposition.

What is 35ELEMENTS’ goal?

35ELEMENTS will offer the fastest and the highest efficiency light emitters in the world, while still on the largest substrate platforms. To facilitate the rapid adoption of solid-state lighting and contribute to the development of the ideal light sources, which will result in even greater energy and environmental savings sooner, our first product will be a technological advancement in solid-state lighting: direct-emitting innovative green light emitting diodes. A ~ $1 trillion in energy savings, in addition to other health advantages like improved mood regulation and eye safety, will be an immediate advantage of our solution.

What new features/technology are you working on?

We see direct applications in augmented and virtual reality displays, digital lighting, optical interconnects, wide bandgap complementary logic functions, and power electronics. The strategic partnerships with CMOS-centric companies will enable our gallium nitride and their silicon solutions on one platform.

What keeps your customers up at night?

In the process of creating human-centered lighting solutions, our customers currently sacrifice form factor, cost, efficiency, and light quality. Consider any lighting application such as headlights, flashlights, displays, signage, lamps, etc. These days, such devices’ efficiency is cut in half, their color spectrum alters, and thermal issues arise when further light output is needed. The existing photonic solutions are not customer-centric.

Also Read:

CEO Interview: Subi Krishnamurthy of PIMIC

CEO Interview: Dr Josep Montanyà of Nanusens

CEO Interview: Marc Engel of Agileo Automation

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