ELEMENT 3—5 [Element three to five] is a technology source for the semiconductor industry. The Baesweiler (Germany) based company has unveiled its ACCELERATOR 3500K for mass production of Aluminum nitride (AlN) epitaxial thin films as starting layer on Silicon, Sapphire or SiC.
The ACCELERATOR 3500K represents a paradigm shift in the production of wide-bandgap semiconductors. The epitaxy system follows a modular design and is for the first time in-line ready - it includes the carrier loading, substrate cleaning and single-crystal AlN layer growth.
The NLE is a novel and patented deposition technology combining ELEMENT 3-5’s plasma sources and ion guns. The new configuration has a capacity of 70 x 200mm wafers, 135 x150mm or 300 x 100mm wafers at one time. 99.999% pure aluminum element is used as the source material for Al, and a homemade ion gun to introduce nitrogen gas in the process. To achieve single crystal quality a process temperature below 300°C is sufficient which allows to save 90% of the energy consumption for AlN thin film production.
“The ACCELERATOR 3500K lives up to its’ name. The system accelerates the production on customer side significantly. The ACCELERATOR 3500K epitaxy system offers a ten times bigger capacity compared to a MOCVD reactor. In comparison to the MOCVD process the incorporation efficiency of the molecules is distinctly higher (from 35% to > 80%), which leads to significantly reduced consumable costs. In addition, toxic gases are avoided completely. All in all an advantageous solution for the user to enter new markets like microLEDs for displays or in mature markets like the classical high-brightness LED and HEMT.“explains Dr. Sinhoff, Managing Director at ELEMENT 3-5 “The mini- and microLED boom is just getting started”, he continues, „And we expect in the future a steep rise in the HEMT market, supported by our Next Level Epitaxy. The customer expects even greater performance while also guaranteeing cost effectiveness. We give customers the ability to leap to the pole position with the help of our cutting-edge technology. “
ELEMENT 3—5 sets a new epitaxy standard, and it enables the customer to have a completely new option: single crystal layer qualities, superior layer homogeneity, and stable thickness repeatability paired with over 70% reduced productions costs, reduced CO2 footprint and MOCVD capacity increase is included for free!