Veeco Instruments announced today that a leading Taiwanese semiconductor foundry has placed a repeat order for multiple Apex™ Gas Mixing Systems.  The systems are expected to reduce germane (GeH4) purchase costs by up to 40% and increase yield for the foundry’s most advanced processes by delivering repeatable mixtures of GeH4 in hydrogen for silicon germanium epitaxy. 

“Our Apex Gas Mixing System enables our customer to achieve significant cost savings in high volume production with a level of precision and control that is unmatched by any other gas mixing system on the market,” said Christopher Morath, Senior Director, Veeco Flow Technologies Group. “The Apex system improves realtime process control by up to a factor of ten as compared to mixed gas cylinders.  This improvement will also enable the user to increase both yield and throughput.”   

Veeco's Apex Gas Mixing System. (Veeco/LEDinside)

The Apex system recently received a 2015 Golden Gas Award from Gases & Instrumentation International Magazine. The system was ranked the highest in the Gas Delivery Systems category for its technological innovation, superior specifications and cost effectiveness.  “We are excited that the Apex system won the 2015 Golden Gas Award, proving our system is a differentiated platform that provides significant production and costsavings benefits,” added Morath.  

The Apex Gas Mixing System, powered by Veeco’s production-proven Piezocon® Gas Concentration Sensor, improves concentration control versus existing methods, providing tighter process management, increased tool uptime and reduced manufacturing costs.  It is optimized for advanced silicon epitaxy applications and other processes requiring low concentration, high precision and cost sensitive gas mixtures.  

2015 Golden Gas Award from Gases & Instrumentation International Magazine.

“Veeco Flow Technologies Group has been an outstanding partner and their service support has exceeded our customer’s expectations,” said the president and CEO of Zillion Tek Taiwan, distributor of Apex and Piezocon products. “Their capability in the precision gas mixing business is unrivaled.”