Interview with Professor Bao Yuan Lv, Vice President, Marketing & Sales Department Manager at Jiangsu Nata Optoelectronic Material Co., Ltd.
Nata – the only independent supplier of MO Source in China which benefits the most from the shortage in upstream LED materials
In 2010, the LED industry is driven by demand from LED-backlit TV, and many of LED chip makers expanded MOCVD production capacity significantly. The production expansion led to a shortage in upstream LED materials, such as sapphire substrate and MO Source.
Recently, LEDinside had the opportunity to visit Jiangsu Nata Optoelectronic Material, the sole MO Source supplier in China, specializing in the production of MO Source, and interviewed Professor Bao Yuan Lv, Vice President, Marketing & Sales Department Manager.
Professor Lv shared his insights onthe current development of MO Source industry, as well as supply and demand status in 2011.
Nata, a MO Source supplier with its own patented technology
Established in December 2000, Nata Opto-electronic material is the only professional manufacturer of High Purity Metal Organic Compounds (also known as MO Source) in China. The company's technologies come from Nanjing University’s “National 863 Program New Material MO Precursors R&D Center”, and naturally, the project is listed in China’s “National 863 Program.”
After a decade of hard work and dedication, the project has become a success. Not only has Nata become China’s sole and independent supplier of MO Source for China’s LED industry, it has entered the markets in East Asia (including Taiwan, South Korea and Japan), Europe, the United States and several other international markets.
MO Source manufacturing process flow and entry barrier
During the interview, Professor Lvgave a detailed introduction of the company's main product-MO Source (or metal organic source) and its manufacturing process. MO Sources are supportive materials used to grow super thin compound semiconductor film by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) technology, which are often referred to simply as “MO Source”.
The manufacturing process flow of MO Source can be categorized into five main stages: 1. Synthesis (such as TMGa and TMIn etc). 2. Purification (improving the purity of the compound). 3.Analysis, to test the purity and impurity content of the whole batch of product. 4.Filling – filling products into bubblers after they pass the analysis. 5. ‘Analysis after filling’ – Nata conducts rigorous analysis and testing of each bubbler of product to ensure quality excellence of its MO Sources, and to reduce the possibility of contamination in the filling process which may exist.
Purity of MO Source of is the key to its quality excellence; if the purity is not high enough, such as high levels of oxygen mixed in the bubbler, it wouldlead to weakened luminous efficacy of the epi wafer, or even illumination failure. Some impurities may even lead to conditions of electricity leakage. Therefore, advanced purification technology has become the major entry barrier for many MO Source manufacturers.
After long-term efforts and continuous improvement, Nata has the capability of industrialized production of high-purity MO Sources used in LED, such as trimethylgallium (TMGa), trimethylindium (TMIn), trimethylaluminum (TMAl), triethylgallium (TEGa ) and mix-in MO Source, such as Bis(cyclopentadieyl) Magnesium （CP2Mg）, dimethylzinc (DMZn), diethylzinc (DEZn), trimethylantimony (TMSb), triethylantimony (TESb), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and carbon tetrabromide (CBr4) etc, with purity reaching 6N~6.5N (99.9999% 99.99995%) and above. MO Source volume production requires higher degree of specialization, hence, at this stage, thereare very few MO Source manufacturers in the world.
MO Source Production process flow
Supply of MO Source may remain tight in 2011
Professor Lvindicated that the existing MO Source supply chain is largely monopolized by in several international giants. At this stage, global MO Source manufacturers are mostly centered in Europe, the United States, and Japan, such as Akzo Nobel in Europe, Dow Chemical (Rohm Haas) in the U.S., SAFC in UK, and Sumitomo in Japan. For these large conglomerates, MO Source typically accounts for only a small part of the product line. Stimulated bysevere MO Source shortage in 2010, Nata launched a significant expansion plan, and further expanded its market share in Taiwan and Korea. Nata has the capacity of approximately 3-5 tons/year; with continued expansion plans in the future, the company aims to expand production capacity to 30 tons/yearwithin the next few years.
As to whether there may be a drastic shortage of upstream LED materials in 2011, Professor Lv believes that the supply in the Taiwan market is still short; this is mainly due to Taiwan manufacturers’continued expansion of production capacity. The significant increase in MOCVD equipment purchase resulted in substantial growth in demand of upstream materials, leading to the short supply of MO Source in the Taiwan market.
Although demand for MO Source from Korean customers has slowedcompared to the period of shortage, but smaller manufacturers are still unable to obtain MO Source required. However, as LED-backlit TV market recovers in 2011,demand for LED will likely see a substantial increase; after March/April 2011, a second wave of MO Source tight supply may occur.
The next phase of Nata’s future plans
In terms of future plansof the company, Nata will cooperate with China's National Development goal of promoting the expansion and enhancement of the LED industry in order to secure higher market share in the global LED market. Professor Lv added that with LED as an emerging technology, the future of its applications will become increasingly widespread, and will consequently bring about opportunities and challenges in LED-related industries. In the long term, enterprises with independent intellectual property rights will have advantages among aggressive competition in the future, and promote the healthy development of the industry.
As for developments in new applications, the company plans to conduct independent research and development in the semiconductor, and solar photovoltaic industry; currently, Nata has produced severalinnovative products in the field. Nata has also begun to research products applied in Phase Change Memory (PCM), and has produced and shipped some volume of the product;its product applications is expected to reach maturity in 3-5 years.
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