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31 March 2009

 

Fraunhofer HHI orders Aixtron MOCVD system for InP photonics

Aixtron AG of Aachen of Germany says that in fourth-quarter 2008 the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut (HHI) in Berlin, Germany ordered an AIX 2600G3 IC MOCVD system in 8x4 inch wafer configuration for the multi-wafer growth of indium phosphide (InP) based optoelectronic devices.

The system will be shipped in third-quarter 2009, and will contribute to further developing the capabilities of the institute’s Photonic Components department.

At HHI, research on photonic components covers both telecom & datacom applications and optical sensors and instrumentation, e.g. for medical and environmental monitoring. This involves MOCVD growth of laser diode, detector and modulator structures in the 1200-1900nm spectral range. The new reactor will be used for bulk-InGaAsP-, QW-InGaAsP-, QW-InGaAlAs-, and also self-assembled InAs quantum dot based structures.

“The strong growth of phase-dependent information transmission, together with the demand for WDM optochip solutions at reasonable costs, creates a huge need for photonic integrated circuits,” says Photonic Components department head Norbert Grote. “Soon more than 50% of HHI’s wafer area will be some kind of integrated solution,” he adds. The AIX 2600G3 IC system should upgrade HHI’s MOCVD capabilities to a level sufficient for many years to come, Grote believes.

“We have been doing InP photonics development for more than two decades,” says Harald Kuenzel, leader of HHI’s epitaxy group. “Our primary research tools have been the AIX 200 and AIX 200/4 horizontal MOVPE reactors, which so far have fulfilled our requirements. Now our program has reached the point where we need to expand our epi capacity and upgrade to the latest technology in terms of area uniformity and multi-wafer capability,” he adds. “Our industrial customers are more and more keen on seeing R&D device developments to be compliant with state-of-the art production tools... It has been our experience that these systems provide excellent reproducibility and uniformity plus a flexibility of configuration that will allow us to rapidly achieve high device quality.”

See related item:

Tonghui entering LED market with Aixtron MOCVD reactors

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