It is reported that AIXTRON SE received the 2013 LEDinside Aurora Award in the category "Most efficient MOCVD Equipment" on June 11 for its AIX G5+ technology for Gallium-Nitride-on-Silicon (GaN-on-Si). AIXTRON's system was chosen due to its production efficiency and technological advancement and was already awarded with the CS Industry Award in this March.

"Producing gallium nitride based LEDs on 200 mm silicon substrates is a promising route towards a much lower chip manufacturing cost," Andreas Tönnis stated, who is the chief technology officer of AIXTRON. "This second award within a short period confirms the high degree of innovation of AIXTRON's R&D work in close cooperation with our customers."

With the AIX G5+, AIXTRON has created a novel 5 x 200 mm technology package for the existing AIX G5 HT for production of GaN-on-Si devices, offering the largest multi 200 mm MOCVD reactor around the whole industry. Manufacturers like the US Company Transphorm will build on AIXTRON's advanced GaN-on-Si expertise, expanding productivity from 150 to 200 mm diameter wafers, with the goal of fully exploiting economies of scale from the AIX G5+.

The well-known challenges of GaN-on-Si MOCVD processes are met by the novel features of the G5+ reactor, including modified temperature management, a new gas inlet and a chamber reset procedure. These results in minimization of wafer bow and elimination of so-called melt back effects, maximum process stability and highest uniformity due to a specifically designed rotational symmetry pattern.