Nitride Solutions Inc of Wichita, KS, USA, which manufactures bulk and template nitride materials for LEDs, lasers and power electronics, has achieved the first commercial sales of its new AT-50 aluminium nitride (AlN) template product to a large Asian LED maker. Founded in 2009 and with key staff and advisors stemming from Kansas State University as well as University of California Santa Barbara, Nitride is producing the 2-inch templates in quantity at its manufacturing facility in Wichita, using its proprietary hydride vapor-phase epitaxy (HVPE) process.
At the 10th International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors (ICNS 2013) in Washington DC, USA (26-28 August), R&D director Troy Baker Ph.D. presented data showing commercial template properties that are claimed to be far superior to any presented before. The data accelerated requests for sampling by major manufacturers of LEDs and power-switching devices, the firm adds.
“Our manufacturing processes are designed for volume production and tight statistical process control,” says CEO Jeremy Jones. “We offer customers the best commercially available XRD specs (average (002): 135 arc sec and (102): 513 arc sec), low defect densities and high wafer uniformity,” he claims. “Our recent sales and growing sample requests validate the quality and value of our products and technology,” he believes.
“Customers make decisions on substrates based on performance, quality, consistency, value delivered and supply assurance,” continues Jones, citing the firm’s growing global distribution and technical support channel. “The planned introduction of 4-inch aluminium nitride templates and the expansion of our template product line to gallium nitride will bring additional value to device markets.”
“The aluminium nitride on sapphire templates offered by Nitride Solutions are a much lower-cost alternative of high-quality material compared to bulk aluminium nitride substrates,” comments James H. Edgar, department head of chemical engineering and distinguished professor at Kansas State University. “That these substrates are available in 2-inch diameter size greatly facilitates their use by standard device fabrication tools,” he adds. “The availability of these aluminium nitride templates creates exciting new opportunities for improved short-wavelength optoelectronic and high-power electronic devices.”
