HexaTech Inc. based in Morrisville, North Carolina USA, introduced its 2-inch diameter aluminum nitride (AlN) substrate products. The commercial supplier of single crystal AlN substrates is introducing this new product line in connection with the International Conference on UV LED Technologies & Applications (ICULTA‐2018) in Berlin, Germany this week.
Hexatech notes that silicon carbide and sapphire wafers have a significant lattice mismatch to nitrides. Furthermore, the company says LEDs that use such substrates much compensate for this lattice mismatch, ultimately giving the resulting devices more defects and making them less reliable. In fact, the company claims that its process demonstrates 10,000 to 1,000,000 times fewer defects (in dislocation density) compared to AlN thick films grown with HVPE, AlN overgrowth, and AlN on Sapphire or SiC.
AlN Substrates Come with M-plane and C-plane Orientations
The company produces both c-plane and m-plane orientation AlN crystal substrates. The C-plane AlN substrates are available in UV transparent and semitransparent versions. The m-plane AlN substrates also come in UV-semitransparent versions.
According to John Goehrke, HexaTech CEO, the new aluminum nitride substrates are the result of focused research and development that made breakthroughs in AlN crystal growth performance. He added, “Together with strong support from our strategic partners, including OSRAM as announced last year, we have again raised the bar for AlN substrate technology, enabling world‐leading value for world‐leading device performance.”
“By challenging perceived constraints and aggressively pursuing solutions at each step of the crystal growth process, we have developed a significant shift in capability which breaks previously observed limitations. An outstanding team effort is responsible for this milestone, and sets the stage for both continued diameter expansion and increased process yields, ultimately rivaling the price:performance ratio of other mature compound semiconductor technologies, such as SiC and GaAs,” stated Dr. Raoul Schlesser, HexaTech co‐founder and VP of Crystal and Wafer Development.
HexaTech’s 2″ diameter substrates are available with standard lead times.
