Paris, France--Sagem (part of the Safran group), Thales (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France), and Sofradir (Chatenay-Malabry, France) have signed an agreement for Sofradir to acquire Sagem and Thales’ infrared (IR) detector technology-development and manufacturing facilities. Sagem and Thales bring to Sofradir IR technologies originally developed for their internal purposes.
Sagem will transfer to Sofradir, indium antimonide (InSb) technology, while quantum well-infrared photodetector (QWIP) and indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) technologies will be transferred to Sofradir from the GIE III-V Lab, an economic interest group with partners Alcatel Lucent, Thales, and research institute CEA (the French nuclear energy and alternate energies commission).
As a result, Sofradir joins a very small circle of IR detector manufacturers with expertise in all the cooled and uncooled IR technologies.
Sagem develops optronics, avionics, electronics and safety-critical software for both civil and military markets. Thales develops technology -- electro-optics, displays, lasers, space-related photonics, nanotechnology and others, and complete systems -- for the defense, security, aerospace, and transport markets.
Sofradir's headquarters are located near Paris. Its manufacturing facilities and those of ULIS, its subsidiary, manufacturing mass volume uncooled IR detectors, are located in Veurey-Voroize, near Grenoble, France. Sofradir EC, the company’s US subsidiary, operates in Fairfield, NJ.