News Article
Meijo University Orders Aixtron MOCVD Tool for GaN LED Development
The Close Coupled Showerhead system along with in-situ monitoring tools, EpiCurveTT and Aixtron’s ARGUS will be used to grow Gallium Nitride (GaN) based UV and white LEDs for lighting and bactericidal light sources.
Aixtron has received a new order for one Close Coupled Showerhead (CCS) GaN based LED MOCVD system from Meijo University, in Nagoya, an established Aixtron customer in Japan. The order was received earlier this year and the system will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2010 in a 3x2-inch wafer configuration. The local Aixtron support team will commission the new reactor at Meijo University.
The Meijo University Department of Materials Science and Engineering is one of Japan’s longest established faculties. Today its research targets include nanotechnology as well as semiconductor materials and it has been awarded many competitive grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), METI and NEDO. Amongst its top researchers is Professor Akasaki, who played a key role in the development of blue LEDs and blue violet semiconductor lasers.
The order includes both the EpiCurveTT and Aixtron ARGUS in-situ tool. The latter is a new multi-channel pyrometer that allows real-time surface temperature measurement and analysis and is claimed to be the only thermal profiling device available for a complete susceptor temperature mapping.
Associate Professor Motoaki Iwaya comments, “Meijo University plans to establish the LED Cooperative Research Center to develop white LEDs and UV-LEDs for lighting and bactericidal light sources with super energy-saving, high color rendering properties, long life-time and low-cost. This center has been selected as an advanced research institute, and funded by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).”
He continued, “The center will be shared with partner companies for collaboration. One of the collaborating companies, EL-SEED Corp., a start-up venture company from Meijo University, will conduct the research project of next-generation white LED supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) at the center. We have been very happy with our current system, an AIX 200/4 RF-S. Furthermore, Aixtron´s proven R&D showerhead systems have demonstrated in the past their great scalability and easy process transfer to showerhead production systems. The 3x2-inch system enables us to easily switch between 2-, 3- and 4-inch wafers, without any major adaption of the process conditions. Altogether, we are confident that the Aixtron MOCVD system is the best for the challenging task of GaN based LED development
