Plessey Chooses AIX G5+ C MOCVD Tool for GaN-on-Silicon Monolithic MicroLEDs Display Innovation

News provided by

Sep 19, 2018, 10:00 ET

PLYMOUTH, England, September 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Plessey, a leading developer of award-winning optoelectronic technology solutions, announces it has placed an order for its next reactor from AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA), a leading global provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. The AIX G5+ C metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) reactor will boost Plessey's manufacturing capability of gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) wafers targeting next-generation microLED applications.

AIX G5+ C MOCVD tool (PRNewsfoto/Plessey and AIXTRON)

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/746387/AIXTRON_SE.jpg )

With an automatic cassette-to-cassette (C2C) wafer transfer module, the new AIXTRON reactor will be installed and operational during Q1 of 2019 at Plessey's 270,000 sq ft fabrication facility located in Plymouth, UK. The AIX G5+ C MOCVD system has two separate chamber set-up options, which enables configurations of 8 x 6in or 5 x 8in GaN-on-Si wafers to be automatically loaded and removed from the system in an enclosed cassette environment. The system will be an addition to the company's existing metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) reactors, also supplied by AIXTRON, which provide configurations of 7 x 6in or 3 x 8in with manual loading.

Productivity is further enhanced by the new reactor’s automated self-cleaning technology, which helps to deliver a very low level of wafer defects by ensuring the reactor is clean on every run, significantly reducing downtime for maintenance. The new equipment also provides faster ramp and cool down along with a high susceptor unload temperature to reduce the recipe time.

The AIX G5+ C reactor will support Plessey's extensive production roadmap to increase R&D capacity of its monolithic microLEDs based on its proprietary GaN-on-Si technology. Plessey's microLEDs offer extremely low power, high brightness and very high pixel density to create the potential for disruption in many existing application areas that use conventional display technologies such as LCD and OLED.

Plessey's mission is to become the world's leading company developing innovative illuminators for display engines and full-field emissive microLED displays. The complex devices combine very high-density RGB pixel arrays with high-performance CMOS backplanes to produce very high-brightness, low-power, and high-frame-rate image sources for head-mounted displays, and wearable electronics devices for augmented reality and virtual reality systems.

Dr. Frank Schulte, Vice President of AIXTRON Europe, said: "We are confident that the AIX G5+ C will support Plessey's requirements in the best way possible to address the most stringent requirements for microLED production. While offering more productive configurations, the tool meets the toughest requirements from the silicon industry in terms of uniformity and particles."

Mike Snaith, Chief Operating Officer at Plessey, explained: "Our continued and valuable relationship with AIXTRON allows Plessey to rapidly bring to market its monolithic microLEDs. To help us achieve this, our latest acquisition of AIX G5+ C planetary system combines outstanding on-wafer uniformity and run-to-run performance at the lowest cost of ownership - aspects that are critical for efficient high-volume GaN-on-Silicon microLED displays."

Addressing all of the challenges involved in manufacturing microLEDs, including high-volume and cost-effective production capability, Plessey is actively engaging with potential customers to use its cutting-edge production-ready microLED technology platform.

About Plessey
Plessey is a UK-based leading developer of advanced optoelectronic technology solutions. The company provides volume processing of its unique and proprietary GaN-on-Silicon platform for a wide range of optoelectronic devices and systems.

With headquarters located in Plymouth, England, Plessey operates leading-edge 150mm and 200mm wafer processing facilities to undertake design, test and assembly of products, and a comprehensive suite of photonic characterisation and applications laboratories.

Plessey is an award-winning provider of innovative illuminators for display engines (DMD and LCOS) and full-field emissive microLED displays that combine very high-density RGB pixel arrays with high-performance CMOS backplanes to produce very high-brightness, low-power and high-frame-rate image sources for head-mounted displays (HMDs), and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) systems.

For further information and datasheets, please visit http://www.plesseysemiconductors.com or email [email protected]. You can also follow Plessey on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About AIXTRON

AIXTRON SE is a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. The Company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Herzogenrath (near Aachen), Germany, with subsidiaries and sales offices in Asia, United States and in Europe. AIXTRON´s technology solutions are used by a diverse range of customers worldwide to build advanced components for electronic and opto-electronic applications based on compound or organic semiconductor materials. Such components are used in a broad range of innovative applications, technologies and industries. These include Laser and LED applications, display technologies, data transmission, SiC and GaN power management and conversion, communication, signaling and lighting as well as a range of other leading-edge technologies.

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