News Article
TU Eindhoven selects Aixtron MOCVD system for advanced nanowires
The 3x2-inch reactor which will be used for the growth of GaAs- and InP-based nanowire structures as well as for nitrides and silicon compounds.
Aixtron SE has a new MOCVD reactor order from existing customer, the University of Technology (TU) Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
The contract is for one Close Coupled Showerhead (CCS) system in a 3x2-inch wafer configuration which will be used for the growth of GaAs- and InP-based nanowire structures as well as for nitrides and silicon compounds.
TU Eindhoven placed the order in the fourth quarter of 2010. After delivery of the system in the third quarter of 2011, the local Aixtron SE support team will install and commission the new reactor in the state-of-the-art clean-room facility within the COBRA Research Institute at TU Eindhoven.
Erik Bakkers of TU Eindhoven’s Photonics of Semiconductor Nanostructures Department, comments, “The new reactor will be used for fundamental research purposes and in particular to synthesize complex semiconducting nanowire heterostructures to be used as active elements in solar cells, (bio)chemical sensors, thermoelectrics and in quantum information devices. For these applications, the electronic (mobility) and optical quality (linewidth and intensity) of the wires must be excellent. I believe that all requirements will be perfectly met within the capabilities of the Aixtron CCS MOCVD system.”
“This versatile MOCVD system will be the workhorse of our group providing Dutch research institutes with nanowires and other relevant materials. The CCS system will enable us to achieve control of nanowire properties and enable the manufacture of nanowires from new combinations of materials,” he concluded.
TU Eindhoven’s nanowire group began operations back in January of 2010 and since then has been setting up a national nanowire growth facility. The COBRA Research Institute at Eindhoven University of Technology is the National Centre of the Netherlands for Research on III-V semiconductors and optoelectronic devices and systems. COBRA employs more than 100 scientists and technicians.
