iLED iLED, October issue : 7
ISSUE N°1 N°2 OCT OBER 2011 There also remain a lot of companies that are having trouble fi nding the right technical and R&D resources to get these tools into production at high yield and with the desired brightness. So this will evolve for several quarters to the point where you can say that these companies in China are at par with what the players in Taiwan, Europe, Japan, Korea and the US are capable of doing today. The big global players are still leaps ahead from most companies in China.” With the LED market now comprising such a diversity of companies, MOCVD equipment producers have to ensure that they meet all manufacturing needs. “The best thing we can do is actually provide fl exibility in how they operate,” explains Rainer Beccard vice president of marketing at German MOCVD tool producer Aixtron. “If we limit our customers to certain process regimes, that wouldn't be helpful because they need to develop their own process. What we can provide is a platform that allows them to adjust parameters over a wide range to go for the maximum brightness or maximum ef fi ciency.” “We must anticipate a broad spectrum from people who have less of the process know-how using the tools, to the people who have the deepest know-how,” added Guido Pickert, Aixtron’s director of investor relations. “We must accommodate both.” As well as ensuring that their customers have equipment able to produce LEDs in a variety of ways, MOCVD companies are increasingly providing advice to 2010 Veeco MOCVD Shipments >330 Backlighting & Lighting 23% Others 6% 2010 1H Veeco MOCVD Shipments >190 Backlighting & Lighting 28% 14% 10% Others 43% 28% Backlighting 48% Backlighting Lighting Lighting Lighting up: In the fi rst half of 2011, Veeco's MOCVD tool orders for solid-state lighting grew to almost half the overall number. (Courtesy of Veeco) help optimise their output. For example Aixtron is establishing a training centre in Suzhou, China, to help customers to develop and improve their process knowledge. “If you look at China, there is perhaps less experience in some companies,” Beccard said. “The industry there is on a steep learning curve. We've just set up our fi rst Chinese training centre, simply in order to train people. That will, I think be very bene fi cial for the entire industry in China.” pointed out Jim Jenson, Veeco's vice president of marketing. “We have plans for additional centres,” Jenson added. “One the key plans is our Korea development centre, which is in the process of being completed. That's going to be an area where we can work more closely with customers in customizing equipment and developing new engineering solutions to needs that they have.” Whatever an LED manufacturer's location, they face similar basic challenges – namely, how to produce the brightest LEDs at the lowest cost. Calculating how to reduce those costs involves considering a remarkable number of factors. “We look at a number of different metrics,” Jenson told iLED. “Number one, we look at capital ef fi ciency, which is the number of wafers out per unit time per capital dollar. Basically, you're taking the throughput of the tool and dividing it by the cost. The second one that we look at is footprint ef fi ciency, which is the output per unit time per square metre. That's being able to get the highest output of each precious square metre of fab space. Obviously the more tools you can fi t under one roof of a given area, the lower facilities and operating costs are going to be -and it's going to help pro fi tability. The other factors are the throughput, as well as the capacity, of the tool. You combine all of those mathematically, along with the yield capability, and what you're really driving towards is the cost of ownership, the dollars-per-wafer, the dollars-per-square-centimetre that you're able to achieve on a particular tool.” Slower LED demand growth and economic malaise in many parts of the world make delivering cost-of-ownership even more important. This has been recognised by the MOCVD tool producers in turn, with Aixtron's largest-ever reactor, its 69 x 2-inch wafer capacity Crius II-L, being a response to that Collaborate to innovate US-headquartered MOCVD tool producer Veeco is likewise increasing its efforts to interact with customers. It opened a technical centre on the Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park, Taiwan, in late August, and a training centre in Shanghai, China, in May. The China training centre has already trained over 100 engineers, Greater capacity: Aixtron's latest, largest MOCVD reactor can accommodate 56 2-inch wafers or 16 4-inch wafers. (Courtesy of Aixtron) i LED 7
Publication List
Using a screen reader? Click Here
