A Chinese crystal-growth company has produced a very large sapphire crystal using equipment from Thermal Technology. Hefei Crystalbridge Optoelectronic Materials Co. Ltd., a China-based sapphire crystal manufacturer, has grown a commercial-grade sapphire crystal weighing nearly 100 kg. The crystal took 14 days to grow using a Model K1 sapphire-crystal grower from Santa Rosa, California-based Thermal Technology. Crystalbridge says that the K1 cycle time is 25 to 30 percent faster than other alternatives. A crystal of this size is expected to yield around 4,000 mm of two-inch equivalent (TIE) rods, or about 5,700 high quality 2-inch substrates. Crystalbridge says it expects to be producing LED substrates at a rate of greater than 1 million pieces annually by the end of 2011, and will expand to more than 5 million pieces annually by the end of 2012. Source: LEDs Magazine
Source:
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/news/8/6/14
