Changelight Co Ltd of Xiamen, China has selected epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA as its primary equipment provider as it enters the market to produce gallium nitride (GaN)-based blue/green high-brightness LEDs for display and general lighting applications.
During second-quarter 2014, Changelight ordered multiple TurboDisc MaxBright M GaN metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems. In addition, it purchased a TurboDisc K475 MOCVD system to expand its production of red, orange and yellow (ROY) LEDs. Changelight was established in February 2006, specializing in quaternary alloy aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP) red, orange and yellow LED wafers and chips as well as gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells.
"In the past we have used competitive MOCVD equipment for the majority of our production of ROY LEDs," says Changelight's general manager professor Wang Xiangwu. "As we make this important move into the GaN-based lighting market, we decided to switch to Veeco's MaxBright M MOCVD system, which we believe will offer the best throughput and cost of ownership to help enable our success and growth in the general illumination market," he adds.
The MaxBright M offers a modular, compact design for improved serviceability and up to 15% improved footprint efficiency compared to the standard MaxBright MOCVD system. It features more layout configuration options to fit various fab spacing requirements, including sub-floor storage, enabling more wafer starts per square foot, which translates into a lower cost of ownership, says Veeco.
"We have seen Changelight dominate the ROY market in China for some time and believe that, with our technology and its knowledge of the industry, Changelight is well positioned to successfully expand into the backlighting and general illumination market," says Jim Jenson, senior VP & general manager of Veeco MOCVD.
