Epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA has shipped the 50th TurboDisc EPIK 700 gallium nitride (GaN) metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor since the system's introduction ten months ago.
Since its launch in September 2014, the EPIK 700 MOCVD system has now been installed, qualified and accepted at multiple LED manufacturers in several key regions around the world. According to recent customer feedback, the TurboDisc EPIK 700 MOCVD system has delivered increased LED wafer production with best-in-class uniformity and easy process transfer between systems, saving both time and money, says Veeco.
"Veeco's EPIK 700 system was designed to facilitate the acceleration of general lighting by combining the LED industry's lowest cost of ownership with its most technologically advanced reactor," says chairman & CEO John Peeler. "These innovations have allowed EPIK 700 customers to better satisfy the demand for solid-state lighting in existing and emerging applications, particularly in the area of general lighting," he adds.
The EPIK 700 is Veeco's latest system in a line of MOCVD reactors. Since the introduction of the TurboDisc K465i GaN MOCVD system in 2010, Veeco has steadily increased its market share, becoming the global leader in MOCVD thin-film process equipment, it is reckoned. In 2011, Veeco introduced what was said to be the industry's first multi-reactor MOCVD system, the TurboDisc MaxBright GaN multi-reactor MOCVD system.
"The EPIK 700 system features the advanced TurboDisc reactor design with more than twice the capacity of Veeco's K465i reactor, which translates to higher throughput efficiency to conserve expensive fab floor space," says Jim Jenson, senior VP & general manager, Veeco MOCVD. "Fifty EPIK 700 reactors are the equivalent to more than 100 Veeco K465i MOCVD reactors," he notes. "This increased capacity, improved wafer uniformity and reduced operating expenses enable LED customers to achieve a cost per wafer savings of 20-40% over previous MOCVD systems."
