Technical Insight
Aixtron celebrates its 20th anniversary
During 2003, Aixtron celebrates its 20th year as a leading equipment supplier to the compound semiconductor industry.
Aixtron was founded in 1983 as a spin-off from the RWTH technical university in Aachen, Germany, with a team of 10 scientists, including Holger Jürgensen (who was eventually to become the chairman of Aixtron). The company quickly developed advanced technology for MOCVD, and sold the first AIX 200 system in the summer of 1984. This system has since changed ownership but is still in service with the MOCVD group at Prague University. To support the rapidly developing US market for MOCVD equipment, Aixtron opened its first subsidiary in the US in 1987 and today is located in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Planetary reactors and HB-LEDsIn the period from 1987 to 1991, Aixtron was proactive in the development of the first commercially available multiwafer production system. Working in parallel, the R&D division at Philips had successfully developed and patent-protected the Planetary Reactor concept, which, combined with Aixtron s developments, became a key enabling technology for MOCVD growth. In 1988 Aixtron acquired an exclusive technology transfer and license package from Philips for the Planetary Reactor concept and since then has further developed the concept, registering a raft of intellectual property rights around the original Philips patents.
The first AIX 2000 Planetary Reactors for industrial production of compound semiconductors were delivered to Philips Eindhoven in 1990 and to Hewlett Packard in 1991. In 1989 the first red 670 nm AlInGaP device was produced as a result of a joint development with Philips. This technology was the foundation for the subsequent successful development of the first AlInGaP red (and subsequently amber and yellow) LEDs by Hewlett Packard, the first to do so on the AIX 2000 system. In 1991, a Japanese customer produced what was claimed as the first ultra-high-brightness (UHB) LED using an Aixtron system. Also in this period, Aixtron started to develop relationships with customers in Taiwan, which today is the largest single market for Aixtron MOCVD systems and where some of Aixtron s longest-established customer partnerships reside.
New materialsAixtron s involvement in silicon germanium, strained silicon, high-k dielectrics and organic vapor-phase deposition (OVPD) can be traced back to collaboration and research work being conducted by Aixtron and its partners that began as early as 1991. Only now are some of these areas emerging as viable and exciting material technologies for the semiconductor industry.
As part of Aixtron’s strategy of continuously qualifying the technology for new materials, but still based around its core knowledge of vapor-phase deposition technology, the company worked with Philips in 1991 to investigate the potential of depositing high-k materials as part of an oxide development program. This paved the way for today s ongoing interest from the silicon industry in depositing such materials. Aixtron was also involved again with RWTH during this period, working on high-temperature superconductor research work funded by the German Ministry of Research and Technology.
Larger systemsIn 1992 Aixtron shipped its first AIX 2400 system, with an enlarged capacity of 5 x 4 inch wafers, to Bandgap Corporation. In the same year, the company started to develop the world s largest MOCVD reactor, the AIX 3000, which has a capacity of 95 x 2 inch wafers (or equivalents in larger sizes) and is widely used by solar cell manufacturers. 1994 saw the start of the AIX 2600 system development and the eventual emergence of the first Aixtron integrated automated wafer handling module available to the compound market.
In 1996, Aixtron shipped its 200th system and also doubled the size of its assembly facility in Aachen. Around this time the first blue LEDs were developed, promoting intense worldwide activity in this new field. In-house and collaborative R&D programs enabled Aixtron to play a pivotal role during the growth of this new market, which is now one of the most important segments of the compound semiconductor industry. Aixtron developed GaN growth technology and in 1996 shipped its first GaN MOCVD systems to Northwestern University and to the Fraunhofer Institute (IAF) in Freiburg, Germany.
Planetary reactors and HB-LEDsIn the period from 1987 to 1991, Aixtron was proactive in the development of the first commercially available multiwafer production system. Working in parallel, the R&D division at Philips had successfully developed and patent-protected the Planetary Reactor concept, which, combined with Aixtron s developments, became a key enabling technology for MOCVD growth. In 1988 Aixtron acquired an exclusive technology transfer and license package from Philips for the Planetary Reactor concept and since then has further developed the concept, registering a raft of intellectual property rights around the original Philips patents.
The first AIX 2000 Planetary Reactors for industrial production of compound semiconductors were delivered to Philips Eindhoven in 1990 and to Hewlett Packard in 1991. In 1989 the first red 670 nm AlInGaP device was produced as a result of a joint development with Philips. This technology was the foundation for the subsequent successful development of the first AlInGaP red (and subsequently amber and yellow) LEDs by Hewlett Packard, the first to do so on the AIX 2000 system. In 1991, a Japanese customer produced what was claimed as the first ultra-high-brightness (UHB) LED using an Aixtron system. Also in this period, Aixtron started to develop relationships with customers in Taiwan, which today is the largest single market for Aixtron MOCVD systems and where some of Aixtron s longest-established customer partnerships reside.
New materialsAixtron s involvement in silicon germanium, strained silicon, high-k dielectrics and organic vapor-phase deposition (OVPD) can be traced back to collaboration and research work being conducted by Aixtron and its partners that began as early as 1991. Only now are some of these areas emerging as viable and exciting material technologies for the semiconductor industry.
As part of Aixtron’s strategy of continuously qualifying the technology for new materials, but still based around its core knowledge of vapor-phase deposition technology, the company worked with Philips in 1991 to investigate the potential of depositing high-k materials as part of an oxide development program. This paved the way for today s ongoing interest from the silicon industry in depositing such materials. Aixtron was also involved again with RWTH during this period, working on high-temperature superconductor research work funded by the German Ministry of Research and Technology.
Larger systemsIn 1992 Aixtron shipped its first AIX 2400 system, with an enlarged capacity of 5 x 4 inch wafers, to Bandgap Corporation. In the same year, the company started to develop the world s largest MOCVD reactor, the AIX 3000, which has a capacity of 95 x 2 inch wafers (or equivalents in larger sizes) and is widely used by solar cell manufacturers. 1994 saw the start of the AIX 2600 system development and the eventual emergence of the first Aixtron integrated automated wafer handling module available to the compound market.
In 1996, Aixtron shipped its 200th system and also doubled the size of its assembly facility in Aachen. Around this time the first blue LEDs were developed, promoting intense worldwide activity in this new field. In-house and collaborative R&D programs enabled Aixtron to play a pivotal role during the growth of this new market, which is now one of the most important segments of the compound semiconductor industry. Aixtron developed GaN growth technology and in 1996 shipped its first GaN MOCVD systems to Northwestern University and to the Fraunhofer Institute (IAF) in Freiburg, Germany.
