AIXTRON SE  has announced  that its Close Coupled Showerhead® MOCVD Platform, a CRIUS® CCS reactor in the 6x2-inch (3x3-inch or 1x6-inch) wafer configuration, has been ordered by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

The Hong Kong based institute placed the order during the third quarter of 2010 and following delivery in the first quarter of 2011, the systems will be used for As/P/Sb based materials grown on Silicon substrates for electronics and photonics research applications. AIXTRON´s local support team will commission the new reactor in a dedicated facility in the University’s Institute of Advanced Study Lab and Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering.

Chair Professor Kei May Lau comments, “We have had a close relationship with AIXTRON for many years. This has helped foster a great understanding of the company’s technology expertise, processes and procedures making it a very easy decision to select one of their reactors for our new projects. The new reactor will be a vital resource for our further development of III/V growth on Silicon wafers research. Its high temperature (>1,000° C) capability will be very important for this exploratory work.”

“Prof. Kei May Lau of HKUST has always been at the forefront of III/V Compound Semiconductor device research and MOCVD technology. We are excited that AIXTRON and its customers will be able to be a small part of this innovative project in the frame of a Demo Laboratory Agreement”, Dr. Christian Geng, AIXTRON Vice President of Greater China, comments. “Professor Lau has been using various AIXTRON MOCVD systems, such as single wafer and multiwafer reactors for Arsenides, Phosphides and Nitrides. This however will be the first time that AIXTRON delivers a Close Coupled Showerhead® system. The strong reputation that this reactor has earned over recent years is once again proving its capability and versatility as a perfect match to the needs of heteroepitaxial research.”

Professor Lau is a Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering at HKUST. She joined the University in year 2000 and established the Photonics Technology Center for R&D with a special emphasis on compound semiconductor materials and devices. Professor Lau is an IEEE Fellow and a Croucher Senior Research Fellow. Her group reported in the 2008 IEDM metamorphic Al0.50In0.50As/Ga0.47In0.53As 1.0-μm-gate-length high electron mobility transistors (mHEMT) grown in an AIXTRON 200/4 system on Silicon substrates with unity current gain cut-off frequency (fT) and maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) of 37 and 55 GHz respectively. High-speed InGaAs photodetectors grown on Si are also being developed.