David Savastano, Editor01.15.14
Having top-quality equipment is a critical need in any virtually any business, and high-tech industries such as printed and flexible electronics, displays, transistors and solar cells require the highest levels of quality as well as constant research into the newest technology to help customers grow,
As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, AIXTRON SE can look back on playing a key role in shaping microelectronic and optoelectronic production technologies, and with its innovative deposition systems, the company is looking forward to further technology gains in the future.
The History of AIXTRON
Thirty years ago, AIXTRON was spun out of RWTH Aachen University by physicist Dr. Holger Jürgensen (who serves as the company’s honorary chairman), Dr. Meino Heyen and Heinrich Schumann in December 1983. Dr. Jürgensen’s vision was simply stated as “Optoelectronics is the way ahead.”
“In the 1970s, extensive research was done at the Institute of Semiconductor Technology at the RWTH Aachen University in the field of metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE),” said Prof. Dr. Michael Heuken, vice president corporate research and development at AIXTRON. “The researchers needed to develop the MOCVD technology for research to enable new devices. In the early 1980s, the new technology was mainly used for the manufacturing of transistors for high-speed computers and HF electronics as well as lasers for the telecommunication industry.
“While working at the Institute and based on that research, the founders of AIXTRON refined the methods and developed the first R&D MOCVD system, which has built the foundation of what is now AIXTRON,” Heuken added. “In 1983, the company became one of the first commercial MOCVD vendors worldwide.”
AIXTRON sold its first research system to AEG in 1985, and its first commercial Planetary Reactor system, its scalable deposition systems for semiconductors, in 1990; all told, it has sold approximately 3,000 deposition systems worldwide. Worldwide, the company has grown to more than 800 employees, including 250 scientists and engineers.
Apart from its key MOCVD technology, AIXTRON also serves promising future markets in the areas of OLEDs (for displays, lighting, organic flexible electronics or organic photovoltaics) and carbon materials (graphene, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanowires for transistors, interconnects, flexible electronics, energy storage, sensors).
Semiconductors are another growth area for AIXTRON, including compound semiconductors (power management on the basis of GaN and SiC, main applications are RF transistors, AC-DC converters, DC-DC converters, solar inverters, motor drives in industrial applications, automotive and consumer electronics) and silicon semiconductors [metal nitride and Hi-k for memory and logic, specialty films for alternate, non-volatile memories like PCRAM and ReRAM] semiconductors).
Through the years, AIXTRON has made a number of key advances in the deposition field. The company commissioned the first MOCVD system in 1985, and followed that up with delivering its first production MOCVD multi-wafer system in 1990. By 1994, AIXTRON sold its first deposition system for producing blue LEDs, and extended its portfolio with the Close Coupled Showerhead in 1999.
AIXTRON has since added ALD Deposition Technology (2005) and PECVD Deposition Technology (2007), as well as new generations of its other systems as well in recent years. Further key developments have been rotating substrates for multi-wafer MOCVD, In Situ monitoring, GaN MOCVD, Oxide CVD, ALD and OLED technology.
The markets for LED, displays and solar cells are worldwide. Guido Pickert, director of investor relations at AIXTRON, said that AIXTRON’s most important markets are in Asia, and within Asia, China, Taiwan Korea and Japan. In terms of financial contributions, AIXTRON most recently (third quarter 2013) generated 78% to the company’s total revenues in Asia.
Pickert added that with regard to industry sectors, AIXTRON’s key markets are LED applications, memory applications, power electronic applications, OLED applications and carbon nanostructure applications.
“Our equipment helps our customers to secure leading positions in rapidly growing markets,” said AIXTRON CEO Martin Goetzeler. “We are investing extensively in research and development to create promising new processes and materials. Relevant examples include silicon applications, high-performance electronics and OLED technology, in which organic materials emit light.”
The Future for AIXTRON
With the markets it serves on the rise, AIXTRON is well positioned to grow in the coming years. The LED market is one example. Pickert noted that Yole Développement, a market research institute, reported in September 2013 that the market for packaged LEDs is expected to grow from USD $13.9 billion in 2013 to USD $16.0 billion in 2018. That, of course, leads to a need for more equipment.
“The main driving force behind this development is seen in general lighting applications, whose share in the total LED market is forecast to grow from 45% to 65%,” Pickert said. “In the meantime, the intense price competition in the market for LED lamps is continuing at undiminished strength. Against this background, the underlying market demand for general LED lighting applications continues to grow, while LED backlighting usually experiences seasonal up and downs. Accordingly, we do expect growing demand for AIXTRON MOCVD production equipment for LEDs.”
On a short-term basis, Pickert said that AIXTRON expects further increasing adoption of LEDs for exterior, public infrastructure and commercial lighting as well as for consumer and residential general lighting applications. The company also sees increased usage of GaN-based devices for energy efficient power electronics, the development of next generation NAND, DRAM and PRAM memory devices and an increased emergence of high volume silicon carbide (SiC) production applications and emerging hybrid and electrical automotive and photovoltaic transistor applications.
In a mid- to long-term scenario, AIXTRON expects further progress in research activities leading to technologies for OLED displays and lighting as well as organic material large area deposition; further progress in the development of GaN-on silicon-based devices for LEDs; an increased emergence and further development of plastic electronics/flexible organic TFT backplanes; and an increased development activity for specialized compound solar cell applications.
The company also anticipates increasing requirements for Hi-k and interconnect components; progress in the convergence of compound semiconductor material applications for further miniaturization, e.g. substituting materials in the silicon semiconductor industry; and the development of applications using carbon nanostructures (carbon nanotubes, carbon nanowires and graphene).
All of these products require high-end deposition systems, and Pickert said that bodes well for AIXTRON’s future. “As one of the main suppliers for the respective industries, we expect AIXTRON to benefit from the end-market trends mentioned above,” Pickert concluded
The History of AIXTRON
Thirty years ago, AIXTRON was spun out of RWTH Aachen University by physicist Dr. Holger Jürgensen (who serves as the company’s honorary chairman), Dr. Meino Heyen and Heinrich Schumann in December 1983. Dr. Jürgensen’s vision was simply stated as “Optoelectronics is the way ahead.”
“In the 1970s, extensive research was done at the Institute of Semiconductor Technology at the RWTH Aachen University in the field of metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE),” said Prof. Dr. Michael Heuken, vice president corporate research and development at AIXTRON. “The researchers needed to develop the MOCVD technology for research to enable new devices. In the early 1980s, the new technology was mainly used for the manufacturing of transistors for high-speed computers and HF electronics as well as lasers for the telecommunication industry.
“While working at the Institute and based on that research, the founders of AIXTRON refined the methods and developed the first R&D MOCVD system, which has built the foundation of what is now AIXTRON,” Heuken added. “In 1983, the company became one of the first commercial MOCVD vendors worldwide.”
AIXTRON sold its first research system to AEG in 1985, and its first commercial Planetary Reactor system, its scalable deposition systems for semiconductors, in 1990; all told, it has sold approximately 3,000 deposition systems worldwide. Worldwide, the company has grown to more than 800 employees, including 250 scientists and engineers.
Apart from its key MOCVD technology, AIXTRON also serves promising future markets in the areas of OLEDs (for displays, lighting, organic flexible electronics or organic photovoltaics) and carbon materials (graphene, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanowires for transistors, interconnects, flexible electronics, energy storage, sensors).
Semiconductors are another growth area for AIXTRON, including compound semiconductors (power management on the basis of GaN and SiC, main applications are RF transistors, AC-DC converters, DC-DC converters, solar inverters, motor drives in industrial applications, automotive and consumer electronics) and silicon semiconductors [metal nitride and Hi-k for memory and logic, specialty films for alternate, non-volatile memories like PCRAM and ReRAM] semiconductors).
Through the years, AIXTRON has made a number of key advances in the deposition field. The company commissioned the first MOCVD system in 1985, and followed that up with delivering its first production MOCVD multi-wafer system in 1990. By 1994, AIXTRON sold its first deposition system for producing blue LEDs, and extended its portfolio with the Close Coupled Showerhead in 1999.
AIXTRON has since added ALD Deposition Technology (2005) and PECVD Deposition Technology (2007), as well as new generations of its other systems as well in recent years. Further key developments have been rotating substrates for multi-wafer MOCVD, In Situ monitoring, GaN MOCVD, Oxide CVD, ALD and OLED technology.
The markets for LED, displays and solar cells are worldwide. Guido Pickert, director of investor relations at AIXTRON, said that AIXTRON’s most important markets are in Asia, and within Asia, China, Taiwan Korea and Japan. In terms of financial contributions, AIXTRON most recently (third quarter 2013) generated 78% to the company’s total revenues in Asia.
“Our equipment helps our customers to secure leading positions in rapidly growing markets,” said AIXTRON CEO Martin Goetzeler. “We are investing extensively in research and development to create promising new processes and materials. Relevant examples include silicon applications, high-performance electronics and OLED technology, in which organic materials emit light.”
The Future for AIXTRON
With the markets it serves on the rise, AIXTRON is well positioned to grow in the coming years. The LED market is one example. Pickert noted that Yole Développement, a market research institute, reported in September 2013 that the market for packaged LEDs is expected to grow from USD $13.9 billion in 2013 to USD $16.0 billion in 2018. That, of course, leads to a need for more equipment.
“The main driving force behind this development is seen in general lighting applications, whose share in the total LED market is forecast to grow from 45% to 65%,” Pickert said. “In the meantime, the intense price competition in the market for LED lamps is continuing at undiminished strength. Against this background, the underlying market demand for general LED lighting applications continues to grow, while LED backlighting usually experiences seasonal up and downs. Accordingly, we do expect growing demand for AIXTRON MOCVD production equipment for LEDs.”
On a short-term basis, Pickert said that AIXTRON expects further increasing adoption of LEDs for exterior, public infrastructure and commercial lighting as well as for consumer and residential general lighting applications. The company also sees increased usage of GaN-based devices for energy efficient power electronics, the development of next generation NAND, DRAM and PRAM memory devices and an increased emergence of high volume silicon carbide (SiC) production applications and emerging hybrid and electrical automotive and photovoltaic transistor applications.
In a mid- to long-term scenario, AIXTRON expects further progress in research activities leading to technologies for OLED displays and lighting as well as organic material large area deposition; further progress in the development of GaN-on silicon-based devices for LEDs; an increased emergence and further development of plastic electronics/flexible organic TFT backplanes; and an increased development activity for specialized compound solar cell applications.
The company also anticipates increasing requirements for Hi-k and interconnect components; progress in the convergence of compound semiconductor material applications for further miniaturization, e.g. substituting materials in the silicon semiconductor industry; and the development of applications using carbon nanostructures (carbon nanotubes, carbon nanowires and graphene).
All of these products require high-end deposition systems, and Pickert said that bodes well for AIXTRON’s future. “As one of the main suppliers for the respective industries, we expect AIXTRON to benefit from the end-market trends mentioned above,” Pickert concluded