Technical Insight
Accent buys I-V measurement technology (Materials and Equipment)
Accent Optical Technologies (Bend, OR) has acquired the intellectual property relating to GaAsCode Ltd s pulsed current-voltage (I-V) measurement instrument. GaAsCode s system measures conditions that exist in practical RF, microwave and millimeter wave circuits. The system is designed for FETs, HEMTs, HBTs and BJTs as well as lasers and photodetectors. Accent will incorporate this technology into its product line and officially launch new products early in the third quarter of this year. Finalized in April for an undisclosed sum, the GaAsCode acquisition extends Accent s products from materials process control to device and IC process control. Accent passes mapper milestone In more news, Accent has sold its 100th RPM 4000 rapid photoluminescence mapper system (see ) to laser and LED manufacturer Nova Crystals. Accent s system generates photoluminescence wafer maps to provide information on epitaxial wafers and devices structures, including alloy composition and film uniformity, material quality and the presence of defects. The first RPM system was launched just over two years ago and was followed last year by the RPM 4000 model, which is a fully-automated room temperature PL mapping system complete with wafer handler. "The demand for the rapid photoluminescence mapper has paralleled the growth of both our customers and the market segments including LED, tele-com and datacom lasers, VCSELs and detectors," said Raj Mundhe, vice-president of sales, marketing and business development in Accent s Optoelectronics Division. "Our RPM4000 customers are finding that they no longer have to use a random sample measurement approach, but can afford to test every wafer. In an average manufacturing environment, this costs only 16 cents per wafer."
