AIXTRON partners with Institut Lafayette on further advancement of organic deposition technology OVPD

AIXTRON and Institut Lafayette sign Memorandum of Understanding: Thierry Mandon (left, frz. Minister für Bildung und Forschung), Martin Goetzeler (right, CEO AIXTRON SE)

AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA; NASDAQ: AIXG), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of deposition systems for the semiconductor industry, announces that a new organic vapor phase deposition (OVPD) system of the company which is capable of handling 200x200 mm substrates has been installed and successfully tested at Institut Lafayette. The installation of this custom built system marks a key milestone and moves Institut Lafayette, which is part of the Georgia Institute of Technology international campus in Metz (France), one step closer to its fully operational phase.

The newly tested OVPD cluster tool and the previously installed metal oxide chemical vapor phase deposition (MOCVD) tool constitute the two flagship semiconductor growth capabilities at Institut Lafayette. They complete the existing full set of tools covering all key enabling technologies necessary to the fabrication, testing, and pre-production prototyping of optoelectronic devices that are housed in a 500 sqm clean room.

AIXTRON’s OEC-200 OVPD system is currently comprised of eight STExS (Short Thermal Exposure Source) that transform solid organic electronic materials into the gas phase through a rapid and efficient process, minimizing overall heat exposure that can be damaging for certain materials. Materials in the gas phase are transferred by a controlled hot-carrier gas onto cooled substrates using AIXTRON’s showerhead technology in a chamber at low-vacuum levels (mbar range). The rate of the materials deposited by this technique (up to 5 nm/s) can be adjusted by controlling the flux and material concentration of hot gases mixing in the showerhead, allowing for great control of film thickness and precise composition. The deposition chamber is connected to a vacuum deposition chamber allowing for the deposition of metal electrodes for the demonstration and testing of operating devices.

With its unique features, OVPD has the potential to alleviate the current limitations and concerns existing with conventional vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE). It could become the next-generation deposition technology for the large-scale, low-cost production of emerging organic electronic devices including organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for displays and solid state lighting, and organic photovoltaic devices for renewable power generation.

AIXTRON's showerhead technology used within the OVPD process has the advantage of being easily scalable as illustrated by the recent deposition results using the new Gen8 OVPD demonstrator that has been put into operation at AIXTRON’s headquarters in Herzogenrath, Germany.

With its own team of engineers in organic-electronic technology and unique R&D fabrication and testing facilities, Institut Lafayette is ready for tests with potential customers and committed to further validate OVPD as the next generation deposition technology of choice.

Recognizing their complementary strength and long history in the development of semiconductor materials and devices, and in providing deposition equipment for the semiconductor industry, Institut Lafayette and AIXTRON, respectively, have agreed to enter into a partnership. Therefore, both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding during a high-level visit to Metz on April 8, 2016 in the presence of Thierry Mandon, French Minister of Higher Education and Research, and Marianne Therre-Mano, German Consul in Strasbourg as well as Stefan Kern, premier advisor for scientific and technological affairs to the German Embassy.

Abdallah Ougazzaden, Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Co-President of Institut Lafayette, said: “We have been very pleased with AIXTRON’s extensive support while commissioning, testing, and installing both our MOCVD and OVPD tools. Based on this trustful relationship, we are confident that we will achieve our common objectives.”

“We are delighted to co-operate with an international research institution like Georgia Tech and its Institut Lafayette to support innovations in optoelectronics and advanced semiconductor materials research by providing our leading OVPD and MOCVD manufacturing equipment. We are looking forward to a vibrant partnership for further developing future-oriented and groundbreaking semiconductor technologies", said Martin Goetzeler, CEO of AIXTRON SE.

Bernard Kippelen, Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Co-President of Institut Lafayette, commented: “Reaching the operational phase with our OPVD tool is an important milestone for our newly-created innovation platform. Our teams and partners on both sides of the Atlantic have been working relentlessly to reach this point. It is another illustration of the strength of the long partnership between Georgia Tech, Metz, and Lorraine.”

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Our registered trademarks: AIXACT®, AIXTRON®, Atomic Level Solutions®, Close Coupled Showerhead®, CRIUS®, EXP®, EPISON®, Gas Foil Rotation®, Optacap™, OVPD®, Planetary Reactor®, PVPD®, STExS®, Trijet®