University of Stuttgart has made a repeat order for AIXTRON’s CCS (Close Coupled Showerhead) system that is capable of handling three 2-inch (3x2”) substrates at a time. The system will be used by 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 AIXTRON system will be used to expand IHFG’s work in gallium arsenide (GaAs) based optoelectronics, in particular, producing material for solid state lasers. Delivery is to be made in the third quarter of 2012. The purchase was booked in the first quarter of 2012.

Dr. Michael Jetter of IHFG comments: “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. 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, the researchers plan to grow III-V materials on silicon (Si) substrates using AIXTRON’s metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) technology. Dr. Jetter comments: “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. These can then be used for the optical data interconnects either on-chip, chip-to-chip or as board-to-board connectors.”

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.