12 May 2003 Aachen, Germany and Hong Kong Lightwave--Aixtron AG is announcing the receipt of a purchase order for an AIX 200/4 system from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The system is for developing epitaxial AlGaInSb/P/As and dilute nitride layer structures, which are used in devices such as hetero bipolar transistors and vertical-cavity service-emitting lasers. The metallic organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system, with its capacity of 3x2 or 1x4 in. wafers will be installed in the Photonics Technology Center at the university.
"Our purchase decision was driven by the well designed flexibility of the system and our long term partnership with Aixtron, beginning from the time at my former institution, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst," says Professor Kei May Lau, director of the Photonics Technology Center. "We are confident that this Aixtron tool will accelerate our research and development efforts and support future technology transfer into industry."
Customized MOCVD systems are the key technology enabling development and manufacture of compound semiconductors and other multi-component materials. The Aixtron Planetary Reactors offer user-friendly operation, excellent process stability as well as very high precursor efficiencies and uniformities. Together with excellent reliability and high throughput, all these properties lead to a valuable device yield and high uptime.
Worldwide demand for data transmission bandwidth continues to grow by 60%, according to a report recently published by Goldman Sachs and McKinsey. Furthermore, since China is in the course of preparing the country's infrastructure for the Olympic games and supporting the economic boom, fast, high quality fiber-optic and wireless data communications networks will be needed. Many critical devices for these networks will be made from compound semiconductors.