News

3 November 2010

 

Arradiance ships first benchtop GEMStar ALD system to Oregon State University

Arradiance Inc of Sudbury, MA, USA has shipped its first GEMStar atomic layer deposition (ALD) system to the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State University (OSU).

Founded in 2003 with expertise in charged particle detection and amplification, Arradiance uses its proprietary ALD materials and equipment to produce high-gain, low-noise micro-channel amplifiers, offering electron amplification devices that can replace the legacy traditional lead-glass/hydrogen firing process (developed in the 1960s) that is used for all micro-channel plate (MCP) applications.

“From our work with sensitive, high-aspect-ratio microchannel structures, we became acutely aware of the need for a system which could repeatably and uniformly deposit complex nanolaminate films efficiently,” explains chief operating officer David Beaulieu. “We also realized that, in order to meet the needs of the research community, the tool needed to be small but powerful and to be flexible enough to handle the wide range of applications, substrates and materials commonly found in lab environments,” he adds.

With its capability to process wafers of up to 6” diameter using up to eight precursors, Arradiance says that GEMStar has the flexibility to deposit atomically thin layers of material on virtually any substrate and was designed with the most challenging high-aspect-ratio and through-pore deposition applications in mind.

“The GEMStar has everything our lab environment should need in an ALD tool,” believes OSU professor Dr John F. Conley. “It is small, flexible and can handle up to six inch wafers. We also like the 1” height of the chamber that accommodates small, three-dimensional objects and the port we can use for in-situ metrology. The design appears to be rugged and easy to service,” he adds.

“Our unique experience in materials science, charged-particle physics and systems design have been combined to make a truly robust research system,” says Arradiance’s CEO Ken Stenton. “Because of the importance of materials research in emerging growth industries such as biomedical, solar, space science, environmental and semiconductor, we saw the need for a research tool with production performance and reliability,” he adds.

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