In brief: Laser dicing, UV LEDs, ST Systems
JPSA updates laser dicing for 4-inch LED wafers
The Manchester, New Hampshire, laser company, JP Sercel Associates (JPSA), has matched the move to 100mm sapphire wafers by LED producers, increasing the capacity of its Chromadice system accordingly.
Moving to 100mm wafers has increased the capacity of the Chromadice from ten 2-inch wafers per hour to four of the larger wafers, the equivalent of 16 2-inch wafers, per hour.
A spokesman for JPSA told compoundsemiconductor.net that demand for its products from the LED industry was expanding strongly, rapidly increasing this market's importance to the company.
JPSA also confirmed that the new systems are already in production and being sold to its customers.
SET pushes AlGaN LEDs deeper into UV
GaN specialist Sensor Electonic Technology (SET) from Columbia, South Carolina, has developed 247nm UV LEDs using its proprietary migration-enhanced MOCVD growth technology.
President and CEO of SET, Remis Gaska, explained, “We have demonstrated working semiconductor devices with peak emission wavelength shorter than 253.4 nm, which is emitted by conventional UV light sources such as mercury lamps, widely used in fluorescence lamps and wafer/air disinfection systems.”
“We believe that AlGaN technology should allow us to fabricate devices with wavelengths as short as 230 nm.”
He also stated that the company had already made commercial shipments of the 247nm LEDs.
STS feels pinch as customer “timelines soften”
Plasma etching equipment supplier Surface Technology Systems (STS) has issued a profit warning and is taking measures to compensate for weak orders in the year to date.
Speaking to compoundsemiconductor.net, John Saunders, chief executive of the UK company, was confident that the problem is only temporary, seeing this as one poor quarter against a backdrop of strong market growth.
“Lam and Applied Materials have also issued profit warnings,” he added, “so what we are seeing here is a general market softening, and here at STS we have also suffered as specific customers timelines have softened.”
The company is entering into negotiations with majority shareholder Sumitomo Precision Products over ongoing financing requirements, and internal discussions on cost reduction measures were due to start on April 18.
