Martini Tech has started to offer its customers a new GaN deposition service on sapphire substrates by MOCVD (metalorganic chemical vapour deposition) for LED (light emitting diode) applications.

Light emitting diodes are becoming increasingly popular in various fields of the electronics industry: they can be used inside digital clocks, for street illumination applications, to send information and in large-size television screens and computer monitors.

LEDs are similar to incandescent light bulbs but they differ from them as they do not have a filament and therefore they do not get particularly hot and do not become unusable after a certain period of time due to filament burn out.

Differently from incandescent light bulbs, LEDs are illuminated uniquely by the movement of the electrons in a semiconductor material

Such important characteristics, coupled with electricity consumption which is lower than that of incandescent light bulbs make them viable as their potential replacement.

Widespread adoption of LEDs has so far being hindered by a series of factors, the main ones being the relatively high price and lower light output compared with traditional incandescent light bulbs.

GaN deposition is one of the most promising techniques to improve the light output of LEDs and involves the deposition of a thin GaN epitaxial layer on a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS).

The service offered includes the deposition by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition of undoped GaN and of n- or p- doped GaN for high-quality highly-ordered crystalline layers up to 5ƒÊm of thickness.