Arradiance acquires Lotus Applied Technology
Arradiance, a Massachusetts-based maker of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Molecular Layer Deposition (MLD) solutions, has acquired Lotus Applied Technology, a US company specialising in ALD material research.
Lotus AT, based in Oregon, has developed patented IP in rapid spatial and roll-to-roll ALD, which addresses the problem of deposition speed, that has kept ALD largely inside the research lab.
Films that are straightforward to grow on a benchtop tool become impractical at volume when each cycle is measured in seconds. Spatial ALD changes that arithmetic, and roll-to-roll processing extends it to continuous webs rather than discrete substrates.
In addition, because a spatial tool doses precursor continuously into a fixed zone rather than flooding a chamber and pumping most of it away, Lotus AT has demonstrated better than 95 percent precursor utilisation. For the expensive metal-organic chemistries much of ALD depends on, that can impact the economics of a process as much as the deposition rate does, according to the company.
Arradiance anticipates that the Lotus AT acquisition will accelerate bringing novel ALD product solutions to market, so that a process proven on an Arradiance GEMStar or PRIME system has a route toward production-scale deposition.
“This strategic combination enables Arradiance to continue the journey with our customers from the research and development laboratory to the production floor with proven high-speed spatial ALD solutions,” said Michael Trotter, Arradiance CEO.
The Lotus AT team will continue to operate from its brand-new premises in Hillsboro, Oregon.
