AIXTRON chronology

• 1983 // Company founded by employees of the Institute for Semiconductor Technology at RWTH Aachen. The name "AIXTRON" is formed from the French name for Aachen, which is Aix-la-Chapelle and “electronics.”
• 1985 // Commissioning of the first AIXTRON MOCVD system.
• 1988 // Received German Industry Innovation Award.
• 1989 // Exclusive license from Philips for Planetary Reactor technology.
• 1990 // Delivery of the first MOCVD multi-wafer system.
• 1994 // First deposition system for producing blue LEDs.
• 1997 // Initial public offering (IPO): Shares are traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TecDAX^®) for the first time.
• 1999 // Took over Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment Division, UK (known today as AIXTRON Ltd.), and thereby the company’s entire MOCVD systems and service business, based on ‘Close Coupled Showerhead’ technology.
• 1999 // Took over Sweden-based EPIGRESS AB (known today as AIXTRON AB), and expanded the portfolio by adding SiC CVD technology.
• 2005 // Acquired Genus, Inc. (USA) in March and integrated into the portfolio another type of deposition technology (ALD) for the silicon and data storage industry; currently known as AIXTRON Inc., based in Sunnyvale/CA.
• 2007 // Took over Nanoinstruments Ltd. (UK) and expanded the product range in the area of nanotechnology (PE)CVD; integrated the unit into AIXTRON Ltd., UK.
• 2010 // Inaugurated the 16,000-square meter, high-tech R&D center in Herzogenrath.
• 2010 // The G5 and CRIUS II systems were rolled out onto market.
• 2011 // Delivery of the 2,000th AIXTRON MOCVD system to Changelight Co., Ltd. 
• 2011 // AIXTRON offers the CRIUS II-XL as a production system with the highest wafer capacity.
• 2012 // Opening of a Training Center & Lab in Suzhou, China in March.
• 2013 // The G5+ Planetary Reactor for GaN-on-Si wins the CS Industry Award and the Aurora Award.
• 2013 // 30 years of future-oriented technology: AIXTRON celebrates its 30th anniversary.
• 2014 // AIXTRON launched the new Showerhead reactor AIX R6 for LED mass production.
• 2017 // Sale of ALD/CVD product line for memory chips
• 2017 // Winning the Energy Efficiency Award of the German Energy Agencie (dena)
• 2017 // AIXTRON focuses product portfolio
• 2018 // AIXTRON reports strong demand for systems for 3D sensing laser production in smartphones
• 2019 // AIXTRON switches its power supply completely to renewable energies