Deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany says that subsidiary Aixtron Ltd will deliver a deposition system from their Close Coupled Showerhead metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (CCS MOCVD) product range for compound semiconductor materials to the Boise State University. The CCS 3x2 is an essential part of an infrastructure expansion awarded to Boise State University, Idaho.

With a capacity of 3x2” wafers, the CCS 3x2 system being delivered to Boise’s Micron Center for Materials Research will have a maximum operating temperature of 1400°C, which will enable the deposition of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) on sapphire as well as novel structures for gallium nitride (GaN)-based ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs). Equipped with a wide variety of metal-organic and gas channels, the system will enable Boise State University to deposit the most advanced 2D materials. In addition, the system includes Aixtron’s proprietary ARGUS and EPISON in-situ metrology technologies, which are proven key enablers for the uniform, repeatable wafer-scale growth of 2D materials.

With help of the CCS 3x2, Boise State aims to enable up-to-date manufacturing of advanced flexible hybrid electronics using 2D-3D heterostructures. The goal is to use the Aixtron system to research and overcome the challenges of large-scale synthesis and integration of 2D materials into full semiconductor device process flows.

“The Aixtron system is a major part of our research infrastructure expansion,” says David Estrada, Boise State’s associate director for the Center for Advanced Energy Studies and associate professor in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering. “The Aixtron Close Coupled Showerhead metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy system is capable of wafer-scale growth of atomically thin semiconductor materials as well as more traditional semiconductor films.”

The CCS 3x2 tool is expected to be the only system at a US university dedicated and configured for wafer-scale 2D and nitride-based compound semiconductor growth. It will prepare the future semiconductor workforce at the undergraduate and graduate levels for the US-based semiconductor industry.

In close cooperation with Aixtron, the Boise State research team will leverage unique material properties, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and what are described as trailblazing microfabrication techniques for the creation of novel technologies that will drive future applications.

“We are happy to tighten our bonds with the Unites States and the academic world by providing an industrial-grade R&D reactor to Boise State University,” says professor Michael Heuken, VP Advanced Technologies at Aixtron. “Our CCS 3x2 equipment delivers best-in-class results for 2D materials at wafer scale in multiple applications,” he adds. “It is also the only system technology that can be configured for combined 2D and GaN research while also allowing the growth of van der Waals heterostructures.”