LayTec and Partners Awarded €20,000 for Creating Jobs
LayTec and its Geman research partners Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg and Ferdinand-Braun-Institute (Berlin) have won Germany‘s renowned award “Science Creates Jobs 2010” that honors the most successful technology transfer from academia to small & medium-sized enterprises. The €20,000 prize was nominated for the third time by the Technical University of Chemitz and Deutsche Postbank AG under the patronage of the German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology. Of the 35 German applicants, the LayTec‘s EpiCurveTT development project was recognized by the jury as the most relevant technological breakthrough and as an economic success. In 2005, in a prototype tool developed by Alois Krost and co-workers at the University of Magdeburg, LayTec recognized a method having the potential to revolutionize the production of light emitting diodes (LEDs). LayTec‘s president and founder Thomas Zettler remembers, “Despite some skepticism in the LED industry at that time, we further developed the method of in-situ wafer curvature measurement to make it suitable for industrial applications. Just 2 years later, in cooperation with the Ferdinand-Braun-Institute, we successfully conducted field tests to adapt our new in-situ metrology system to industrial requirements. Since its market launch, EpiCurveTT generated revenues of more than €10 million. The number of jobs at LayTec has increased from 20 in 2005 to more than 60 in 2010. The firm’s research partners benefit from the development too. Thanks to a patent license agreement, the University of Magdeburg annually gains 2.5% of all EpiCurveTT sales. At the award ceremony, the jury member Urs Fueglistaller, Director of the Swiss Research Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship in St.Gallen, commented, “In particular, the jury was convinced by the fact that the partners were not discouraged by the initial skepticism of the LED industry and continued intensive and goal-oriented development of the sensor that fulfills industrial demands and meets numerous challenges occurring during the growth of compound semiconductors.” In a few years, thanks to their energy efficiency, LEDs will completely replace the now still modern low energy light bulbs. The brilliant picture quality of the newest LED backlight flat-panel displays is based on LEDs, too. Lytec says the EpiCurveTT helps to produce affordable bright LEDs with a precise color spectrum. LayTec is a worldwide operating enterprise and the market-leading supplier of process integrated metrology. Its products are used in the compound semiconductor industry, in the photovoltaics industry and for R&D applications related to advanced nano-scale thin-film processes.
