Arima scales up again for automotive LEDs
Arima Optoelectronics is to scale up high-brightness AlGaInP LED manufacturing with a new TurboDisc MOCVD reactor from Veeco Instruments.
According to the Taiwanese form, the chips that it produces will be used in automotive applications of red, orange and yellow LEDs such as stop and turn lamps.
Veeco s TurboDisc E450 As/P tool is said to offer industry-leading process control and productivity, and it includes an integrated system that allows direct wafer temperature control.
Fast gas switching also delivers good control over epilayer interfaces, while the E450 machine can also be applied to the production of multi-junction solar cells PHEMTs and HBT structures.
Following recent consolidation among Taiwanese LED manufacturers, Arima is now a key player in the global LED business, while the firm also makes laser diodes.
Like its main domestic rival Epistar, Arima has been scaling up production capacity in recent months and in September it ordered three MOCVD machines from Aixtron, also destined for AlGaInP production at its Houko and Dashi facilities.
In its most recent sales report, for October 2006, Arima noted that it had seen a decrease in demand, with revenue down 6 per cent year-on-year at NT$252 million ($7.7 million). The company explained the drop by saying that October was typically a period of lower demand, and that sales of both laser diodes and LEDs had been affected.
