28 August 2012

University of Stuttgart orders Aixtron CCS system for III-V-on-Si lasers

Deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, Germany says that in first-quarter 2012 the University of Stuttgart placed a repeat order for a CCS (Close Coupled Showerhead) metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system that is capable of handling three 2-inch (3x2”) substrates at a time. For delivery in third-quarter 2012, the system will be used by the University of Stuttgart’s Institute of Semiconductor Optics and Functional Interfaces (Institut für Halbleiteroptik und Funktionelle Grenzflächen, IHFG) research group.

IHFG researchers specialize in semiconductor optics and epitaxy. The new system will be used to expand their work in gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based optoelectronics, in particular producing material for solid-state lasers.

“We want to use the CCS 3x2” in two ways: on the one hand we want to produce our GaAs-based laser structures on GaAs, but we also want to transfer them to Si substrates,” says Dr Michael Jetter. “As a specialist in semiconductor optics, the Institute’s main research areas are semiconductor lasers and low-dimensional structures such as quantum wells (QWs) and quantum dots (QDs).”

One focus of the work will be quantum cryptography and single-photon emitters. However, the researchers also foresee opportunities arising from their efforts in automotive electronics. In particular, they plan to grow III-V materials on silicon (Si) substrates using Aixtron’s MOCVD technology. “We would like to give Si electronics an optic touch, which means that we want to monolithically integrate III/V optoelectronic devices (lasers and LEDs, either QW- or QD-based) into CMOS-compatible Si substrates,” says Jetter. “These can then be used for the optical data interconnects either on-chip, chip-to-chip or as board-to-board connectors,” he adds.  

The Aixtron equipment will be also used by the Stuttgart Research Center of Photonic Engineering (SCoPE), which aims to improve interdisciplinary collaborations between scientists and engineers at the Universität Stuttgart. IHFG and Aixtron further plan to work together on joint research and to co-operate on other scientific programs in the Stuttgart region, focusing on III-V growth on silicon.

See: Aixtron Company Profile

Tags: Aixtron MOCVD GaAs lasers

Visit: www.ihfg.uni-stuttgart.de

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