Plessey wins UK grant for GaN-on-Silicon production
Advanced manufacturing initiative to support transition to 8-inch production
Plessey Semiconductors has announced that it will be leading a £1.3 million UK government funded project in conjunction with Aixtron and Bruker Nano Surfaces Division. This project will accelerate high volume manufacturing of Plessey's innovative LEDs created with GaN-on-Silicon technology at its Devon based manufacturing site.
The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) is a funding competition designed to improve the global competitiveness of UK advanced manufacturing supply chains and encourage major new suppliers to locate in the UK.
In accordance with a press release issued on 26th March 2015 from the UK's department for Business, Innovation and Skills, twenty supply chain projects from across the country will benefit from a total of £67 million of government investment. There is £109 million being invested in the same projects by industry.
Keith Strickland, Plessey CTO, said: "This project supports the work we have ongoing with Aixtron and Bruker to further increase the yield of our GaN-on-Silicon process. These improvements are required as part of our move to 200mm (8-inch) silicon substrates. A 200mm (8-inch) wafer has almost twice the usable area of our existing 150mm (6-inch) wafers and therefore will almost double the number of LEDs produced for the same relative cost."
Plessey's MaGIC (Manufactured on GaN-on-Silicon I/C) High Brightness LED (HBLED) technology has won numerous awards for its innovation and ability to cut the cost of LED lighting by using standard silicon manufacturing techniques.
