Ambitious EpiLEDs speeds epitaxy ramp
Recently-formed Taiwanese LED producer EpiLEDs has ordered two Thomas Swan “Close Coupled Showerhead” reactors from the German MOCVD equipment maker Aixtron for large scale production of GaN chips.
EpiLEDs confirmed that the existing MOCVD tools from Aixtron at its facility in Tainan were already operating at full capacity.
President Steve Ku said “Aixtron provides us with speedy qualification and comprehensive support, so installation and ramp-up will be on schedule to meeting the market's needs.”
EpiLEDs' vice-president Mingsen Hsu told compoundsemiconductor.net that the new reactors, which support 30x2-inch wafer production, would be used to make chips for mainstream lighting and backlighting.
Set up as a joint-venture between two Taiwanese companies, a DRAM maker and chip processing equipment seller, in August 2006, EpiLEDs has already brought a number of blue and green high-brightness LEDs to market.
Its existing products are all based on InGaN/GaN technology grown on sapphire substrates, spanning the full range of backlighting, general illumination and outdoor display applications.
Ku said of the latest move, “It is our strategic plan to secure a strong share of the solid-state lighting market.”
“With these new Thomas Swan MOCVD tools we will have the means to achieve this promptly and efficiently.”
In its announcement of the order, Aixtron describes the company as “very ambitious" and cite the support provided by EpiLEDs parents, ProMOS and Hermes-Epitek, as reason why it can be “justifiably confident” in its ambitions.
