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2 November 2010

 

Veeco delivers GEN10 MBE system to University of New Mexico Center for High Technology Materials

Epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA says that it recently delivered a GEN10 automated molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system to the University of New Mexico (UNM) Center for High Technology Materials (CHTM).

The GEN10 was purchased through an instrumentation grant by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research awarded to Dr Sanjay Krishna, UNM CHTM associate director and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Krishna’s group consists of research professors, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduates who are investigating next-generation infrared detectors. The system is also accessible for use by the other researchers at the center, department, school and university, and is available for industry to assembly specialized prototypes.

The system will also benefit small businesses by supplying wafers to them. For example, Krishna has a start-up company that will use the grown samples in an infrared camera that will permit early detection of melanomas on the skin using extremely small temperature variations. Biological sciences, in addition to energy harvesting, is the newest focus for researchers at CHTM since its inception 25 years ago, with an historical concentration in electrical and optical semiconductor research.

The new automated R&D MBE system is the first system of this kind available for use in a university setting in the USA, says Krishna. “We chose the Veeco GEN10 because of its state-of-the-art design that allows researchers to grow complex crystals with better quality control than has been possible in the past,” he adds. “In addition, its flexible footprint design provides for efficient use of multiple growth modules for projects of interest by our various groups.”

With a focus on maximum efficiency and the need for the independent growth of multiple incompatible materials in a single system architecture, Veeco is seeing an increase in interest of its enabling cluster tool systems. The GEN10 for R&D is the most recent introduction to the firm’s cluster tool product line, built upon nine years of cumulative knowledge within various production environments. Veeco says that orders over the last year position the GEN10 into all major applications for MBE, including those related to III-Vs, oxides and nitrides.

See: Veeco Company Profile

Search: Veeco GEN10 MBE Infrared detectors

Visit: www.veeco.com/mbe

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