Monocrystal Inc of Stavropol, Russia, which manufactures large-diameter synthetic sapphire substrates and cores for LED, optical product and RFIC applications, has launched Ultra-Clean sapphire wafers, after applying its cleaning technology to achieve the wafer surface quality required by high-precision optoelectronic applications (including microLEDs).
Currently being developed by all leading LED makers as a next-generation light source, the microLED has significant advantages over conventional LEDs in terms of brightness and power consumption, says Monocrystal. The firm’s new Ultra-Clean (UC) sapphire wafers have only 20-50 particles of no more than 1 micron in size on their surface, so they are designated specifically for microLED production.
“MicroLED is a very promising technology which requires a new approach in many aspects, including sapphire wafer surface preparation,” says CEO Oleg Kachalov. “Our UC-wafers with a very low particle count will allow our customers to achieve their target epitaxial yields, which is crucial for microLED successful development and further commercialization,” he adds.
“Our new UC-wafers are also compatible with the conventional PSS [patterned sapphire substrate] process,” notes VP sales Mikhail Berest. “It is an advanced cost-saving solution, which eliminates the pre-cleaning step and allows PSS makers to increase their yields up to 95-99% after the first pass,” he reckons. “We have already received a very positive feedback on the UC-wafers from several long-term customers.”
