Veeco`s MOCVD system `delivers highest productivity for HB LEDs`
Veeco Instruments recently announced its TurboDisc K465i gallium nitride (GaN) metal organic chemical vapour deposition system (MOCVD) to enable the production of high-brightness light-emitting diodes (HB LEDs).
The TurboDisc K465i combines the industry s highest productivity with the ability to deliver best-in-class LED yields which approach 90 per cent, a development which Veeco believes further extends its lead in capital efficiency.
Jim Jenson, vice-president of the MOCVD/LED business unit at Veeco, explained that high-performance HB LEDs have more than 100 separate layers which need to be at the right thickness, purity, composition and crystalline quality.
The layers are grown in an epitaxial deposition process which uses MOCVD equipment. Gaseous compounds flow over heated substrates where they decompose and the constituent elements recombine to form the thin epitaxial layers.
Capital efficiency is defined as the number of good wafers produced by the MOCVD system for each capital dollar invested. Mr Jenson stated: "Veeco Instruments is systematically developing and introducing new MOCVD technologies with a goal to ultimately quadruple capital efficiency."
As HB LED efficiency increases, the number of the devices required to produce a target total lumens of output decreases.
At the centre of the GaN MOCVD system is the Uniform FlowFlange, a patent pending technology which delivers superior alkyl and hydride flow pattern uniformity.
Fast process optimisation on wafer sizes of up to eight inches, as well as a fast tool recovery time after maintenance, are two of the features of FlowFlange which allow for the LED industry s highest productivity.
High productivity of HB LEDs is currently at the centre of debate within the industry. Managing director of the Organic LED Association Barry Young stated that demand for HB LEDs will grow by 61 per cent in 2010 and suggested that current supply will not be able to keep up.
Mr Jenson said: "We are ramping capacity of MOCVD tool manufacturing, but also ramping our field service and support. And, we continue to invest in research and development to drive next-generation MOCVD tools."
However, the suggestion has been raised that should current suppliers be unable to keep up with HB LED demand then this could open up doors for other MOCVD tool makers to break the monopoly of Aixtron and Veeco.
Indeed, Applied Materials is set to use funding granted by the US Department of Energy (DoE) to advance epi tools for GaN LED devices.
An advanced multichamber hybrid epitaxial growth system will also be used by Applied Materials for MOCVD.
Despite claims of a bottleneck of MOCVD tools, Mr Jenson said Veeco does not believe the availability of MOCVD systems will hold back the development of the LED industry.
Veeco has previously reported that it would ramp the manufacture of MOCVD tools to a minimum of 45 in the first quarter of 2010, although should the market demand it this capacity can be increased.
But rather than Veeco increasing manufacture to meet market demand, will other companies simply not take its share of the MOCVD sector?
"While there is certainly the possibility that new entrants will come into the LED equipment space, MOCVD is an extremely complex process and Veeco believes there are significant barriers to entry in a market where technology know-how, customer relationships and proven production success are paramount," Mr Jenson asserted.
With Veeco also recently being awarded money from the DoE to advance its MOCVD technology to deliver a four-time reduction in the cost of epitaxial growth for LED devices, competition could be set to increase in the sector - or Veeco could take the lead.
