Polish GaN firm Ammono to continue pilot line
Institute of High Pressure Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences acquires Ammono in bankruptcy
On January 8th, 2019 the Institute of High Pressure Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IHPP PAS) acquired GaN company Ammono in bankruptcy and the company became part of the Institute. The commercial activity will be kept as a pilot line at IHPP PAS.
Ammono, a maker of bulk GaN manufacturing, was created in 1999 by four Polish scientists, Robert Dwiliński, Roman Doradziński, Jerzy Garczyński, Leszek Sierzputowski, and a Japanese concern Nichia Chemical (today Nichia Corporation).
In 2010 Ammono had 60 employees. 70 percent of shares belonged to the four scientists (the founders) and 30 percent to Nichia. In 2011 status of Ammono was changed from limited liability company to joint stock company. Glencross Company Limited (GHL) became an investor of Ammono in 2012. The shares were then changed to: 59.9 percent belonging to 3 of the founders (Dwiliński, Doradziński, and Sierzputowski), 23 percent to Nichia, and 17.1 percent to GHL.
In 2014 rehabilitation proceedings of Ammono were commenced and ended in 2015 with declaring insolvency of the company. Since then Ammono was run by a court-appointed liquidator (Wiesław Ostrowski’s Barrister Office). The first leasing period of Ammono lasted from August 2015 till end of September 2016 and the leasing party was Grupa Azoty Folie (GAF). After that Ammono was under the administration of Wiesław Ostrowski’s Barrister Office (October 2016 – end of June 2017).
The Institute of High Pressure Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IHPP PAS) has been the leaseholder of Ammono (a company with 30 employees) since the beginning of July 2017. During leasing by IHPP PAS many successful events took place in Ammono. Most of all, a record-breaking sale of GaN wafers was achieved. Both the value of sales as well as number of sold wafers have increased.
Development of ammonothermal GaN crystallisation technology was also observed. Crystals are grown with a twice higher rate without deteriorating their amazing structural quality. They are reaching a bigger lateral size. A significantly larger number of GaN seeds used for multiplication of crystals as well as preparing GaN substrates is currently present at Ammono. The seeds are of bigger size than in the past.
A decrease in fixed as well as production costs was also noted. Since the Polish Industrial Development Agency granted a loan for the amount of around $4m (PLN 14.72 million) to the IHPP PAS, the Institute acquired Ammono S.A. in bankruptcy and the company became part of the Institute. The commercial activity is kept as a pilot line.
