III-V epitaxy MOCVD MBE substrate & equipment market - I-Micronews

Aixtron 

III-V Epitaxy Equipment 

& Applications Market 

MOCVD & MBE for LED, RF, Power and HCPV Devices 

Veeco 

Growing 

Chemical-mechanical 

→ 

→ 

© 2012• 1 Copyrights © Yole Développement SA. All rights reserved. 

Core Fabrication 

Geometry inspection 

Monocrystal 

Riber Spot Image 

→ 

→ 

Wafer Slicing 

Optical inspection 

→ 

→ 

Apple 

Lapping 

Final cleaning 

→ 

→ 

D 

E


Report Scope 

This report covers the following III-V semiconductor applications: 

Applications Components Materials Main Substrates 

High Brightness LEDs 

High Brightness LEDs 

RF Electronic 

High Concentrated Photo-Voltaic 

Power GaN 

Blue, Green and white 

(with phosphor) LEDs 

GaN, InGaN, 

InAlGaN 

Red-Yellow-Orange LEDs InGaAlP • GaAs 

Power amplifiers 

Antenna switches 

(Technologies: HBT, HEMT, 

FET) 

AlGaAs, 

InGaAs, 

InGaP, 

GaAsInN 

Photovoltaic cells GaAs, AlGaAs, 

GaInAs, GaInP 

AlGaInP, 

AlInAs, 

GaInNAsSb 

Inverters, converters (DC- 

DC, AC-DC, DC-AC), RF 

Transistors. 

(Technologies: HEMT, 

HBT) 

Report Scope 

GaN, InGaN, 

AlGaN 

• Sapphire 

• SiC 

• Silicon (emerging) 

• GaN (Emerging) 

• GaAs 

• Germanium 

• GaAs (Emerging) 

• Silicon 

(mainstream) 

• Sapphire 

• SiC


MBE (2) 

• MBE market is driven by the steady growth in cell phone and wireless devices. 

However, the opportunity will be somehow be limited by advances in MOCVD that 

will be used to manufacture an increasing number of GaAs HBT and HEMT. 

• HCPV will provide a small potential upside for MBE as well. 

March 2012 

Executive Summary

H 2 

N 2 

Purifier 

Purifier 

V-hydride 

precursor V-hydride 

precursor 

Dopant 


System Overview 

III- alkyl MO 

precursor 

III- alkyl MO 

dopant 

precursor 

III-Bubblers 

Injection Manifold – Run/Vent 

Assembly 

Reactor Chamber 

Aixtron 

MOCVD 

Pump 

Valve 

Wafer tray 

transfer 

system 

Exhaust 

Pump 

Load Lock* 

*can also include 

baking/cooling chamber 

Effluent 

processing 

“Scrubbers” 

Exhaust


Cost of Ownership Drivers 

Overview 

The cost of ownership of a MOCVD system is driven by multiple factors: 

Equipment uptime 

(maintenance, 

cleaning…) 

Layer deposition 

speed 

Loading, 

unloading time, 

Automation 

Reactor and wafer 

temperature ramp 

up and cooling 

Labor cost 

Upfront 

equipment 

cost 

THROUGHPUT 

Number and 

size of wafer 

per batch 

Operating and 

depreciation 

costs 

Energy Costs 

MOCVD 

YIELDS 

Uniform gas flow: � 

binning yields 

Precursor 

utilization 

efficiency 

System Footprint 

Uniform substrate 

temperature: � 

binning yields 

Process control, in 

situ metrology


Main Players 

Other / emerging players (2) 

Company Country Overview Status 

Company A FR 

Company B CN 

Company C US 

Company D KR 

Company E TW 

Semiconductor, PV, LED equipment manufacturer 

offering inspection and CVD tools. 

Micro fabrication (RIE) tool supplier to the 

semiconductor industry. 

Leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer (IC, 

PV). Obtained a DOE grant to develop clustered 

layer-specific MOCVD reactors and HVPE/MOCVD 

hybrid reactors. 

Integrated Process system (IPS) acquired by ATTO in 

late 2010. Leading equipment and gas delivery 

systems provider to the semiconductor, PV, and FPD 

industries 

Manufacturer of photoelectric & thin film process 

equipment in TAIWAN 

MOCVD tool currently in development. The 

company was acquired by Soitec in Jan 2012. 

Collaboration with GCL to develop MOCVD 

tools. Shipped some prototypes. 

Small number of systems currently being 

tested at the following customers: TSMC, 

IMEC, Samsung, Silan, Toshiba, Micron. 

Developed first reactor in late 2009. Would be 

collaborating with Samsung. 

Planning to enter the MOCVD market in 2012. 

AltaCVD reactor Concept of a hybrid - cluster MOCVD Tool 

MOCVD


GaN Epitaxy with MBE (1) 

• MBE growth of As/P compound are well established and routinely used for the 

mass production of various devices (Lasers, HEMT, HBT, MESFET…). However, 

the growth of nitride compounds poses significant challenges: 

Challenge Description Solutions 

Growth 

temperature 

Narrow 

process 

window 

Nitrogen 

sources 

Ga-face 

growth* 

• Nitride growth by MBE require temperatures in the 750-800˚C 

range, significantly higher than for As/P materials (450-500˚C). 

• Obtaining homogenous temperature at the surface of the wafer is 

difficult at such temperatures due to the UHV conditions that limit 

thermal exchanges to conductive and radioactive mechanisms. The 

problem is complicated by the use of sapphire or SiC substrate that 

are mostly transparent. 

• The ratio of Ga/N flux must be precisely controlled within a very 

small range in order to achieve good layer quality and homogeneity 

without Ga droplets. 

• Unlike MOCVD, MBE process temperature does not allow the 

pyrolysis of NH 3. 

• MBE layers tend to grow on the N-face which exhibit rough 

surfaces due to the formation of columnar poly-crystals with 

pyramidal tops. The better quality Ga-face (c-axis) that is obtained 

by MOCVD is difficult to obtain at MBE lower temperature. 

• Specially designed susceptors. 

• Absorbing coating (eg: Ti) at the back of the 

wafers. 

• Precise source control, homogeneity and 

temperature control of the wafers. 

• NH 3 (ammonia) gas injectors with high 

operating temperature (1000°C) for molecule 

cracking. 

• RF plasma sources to crack molecular 

nitrogen (N 2): difficult ensure stable flux. 

• Increasing temperature allows to switch to the 

Ga-face with smoother morphology 

• Start from A face GaN templates grown by 

MOCVD. 

* for certain type for devices like HEMT, the N-face offers improved electrical performance. Research is therefore active to improve the quality of Nface 

grown GaN. 

Molecular Beam Epitaxy


MBE Main Players 

Overview 

Name Country Systems Sources Crucibles 

Company A CN X 

Company B GE X X 

Company C GE X 

Company D FI X X X 

Company E JP X X 

Company F UK X 

Company G GE X X X 

Company H GE X X 

Ribber / Addon / VG Semicon FR X X X 

Company I GE X 

Company J US X X 

Company K GE X X 

Veeco US X X 

Various other instrumentation and UHV company design and offer custom MBE systems: Henniger Scientific, AJA International… 

Molecular Beam Epitaxy


Plasma Assisted MOCVD 

Key Players 

Company A Company B Company C Company D 

Country US AU CA US - FR 

Technology NA 

Comments 

•Patent application 

WO 2011/XXX46A2 

Describes a cluster 

tool in which a plasma 

source can be used 

either for cleaning 

purpose or to 

generate the nitrogen 

active species for 

deposition. 

“Remote Plasma CVD” 

(RPCVD) 

•Bluglass was the first proponent of 

Plasma Assisted MOCVD. It initially 

promoted the use of alternative 

substrates (glass) but now focuses on 

demonstrating the benefit of low T p- 

GaN growth for LEDs and the ability to 

tune the indium content over a wide 

range of composition for CPV. 

•In 2010, the company created EpiBlu, a 

JV with plasma source and cluster tools 

expert SPTS to develop RPCVD LED 

process and equipment. Initially, the 

RPCVD is to be used as a complement 

to standard MOCVD to grow the p-GaN 

layer. Ultimately, the goal is to move to a 

100% RPCVD process. 

•Bluglass solar subsidiary BluSolar” is 

developing InGaN CPV cells. 

Other Epitaxy Techniques 

“Migration Enhanced 

Afterglow Epitaxy” 

(Meaglow) 

Founded by Scott Butcher, 

previously co-founder of 

Bluglass. 

The company is targeting the 

LED and CPV industries. 

The company offers a 

research reactor in which the 

precursors are pulsed in order 

to improve crystal quality. 

“Plasma Assisted 

MOCVD” 

(PA-MOCVD) 

Table top system: 

NMC-4000: 1x 6” 

or 5x 4” for R&D 

purpose. Can be 

clustered for 

production.

© 2012• 10 

Copyrights © Yole Développement SA. All rights reserved. 

LED Wafer Starts 

• The type of III-V alloy (GaN or InGaAlP) used in the active layers dictates the type of 

MOCVD reactors to be used for manufacturing. 

• The growth of the LED market translates into significant increase in term of wafer 

starts. However as LED applications mature and epitaxy yields improve, the growth 

is expected to slow down significantly toward the end of the decade. 

March 2012 

HB LED: Market

© 2012• 11 


LED Epitaxy Cycle Time 

Overview 

• Due to the thickness of the structure and requirements to adjust temperature multiple 

times, LED manufacturing MOCVD cycles vary from X to X hours depending on the 

structure (number of QW, thickness of the n-type layer and undoped GaN layers). 

• In order to reduce the total cycle time, MOCVD vendors are exploring the concept of 

using cluster reactors in which each chamber would be dedicated to a specific type of 

layer. In the example below, the use of a 3 chamber cluster tool could reduce cycle time 

from X to Xhrs: 

~ X h 

~ X h 

Reactor Cleaning: 

X hour 

MQW ~ X h 

MQW 

Cycle Time: X hrs 

Typical GaN LED cycle time in a standard reactor (Yole) 

HB LED: Epitaxy 

~ X h Idle 

~ X h 

~ X h 

Reactor 

Cleaning: 

X hour 

Cycle Time: x hrs 

Concept of a cluster reactor with layer specific chambers 

(source: AMAT, Yole) 

Idle 

MOCVD3 

MOCVD2 

MOCVD1

Example of HEMT Epitaxial Structure 

• HEMTs are usually much thinner (< 1 um) than HBT. However they remain complex 

structures with up to 50 individual layers. 

• HEMT are often grown by MBE with a typical cycle time of about an hour. However, 

we estimate than more than XX% of pHEMT are now produced by MOCVD. More 

recently encouraging results indicate that mHEMTs could also be produced by 

MOCVD (next slide). 

© 2012• 12 


n doped GaAs cap 

AlGaAs etch Stop / Schottky 

Si doped AlGaAs 

Undoped AlGaAs Spacer 

InGaAs channel 

Undoped AlGaAs Spacer 

Si doped AlGaAs 

GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice 

GaAs Buffer 

Semi Insulating GaAs 

substrate 

Example of HEMT structure 

RF GaAs: Epitaxy 

400-500 Å 

50-200 Å 

< 50 Å 

< 50 Å 

120 Å 

< 50 Å 

< 50 Å 

0.1 µm 

0.5 - 1 µm 

Typically: 

< 1 µm

Captive and Merchant Capacity 

• MOCVD capacity is essentially merchant while MBE capacity is split almost 

equally between merchant and captive: 

XX% 

Total MBE: XXX k TIE per month 

© 2012• 13 


Total: XXXk TIE per month 

RF GaAs: Epitaxy 

XX% 

Total MOCVD: XXXk TIE per month

Power GaN Epitaxial Structures (2) 

• No standard has emerged yet and each manufacturer and 

research team is developing its own structure. All include 

a thick buffer layer (XX to XX um) in order to reduce the 

dislocation density arising from the lattice mismatch as 

well as various strain management layers in order to 

compensate for the TEC mismatch. 

• All commercial Power GaN devices are grown by MOCVD. 

• While the process is similar to the growth of LED 

structures, surface contaminations by particles is much 

more critical: LED die are typically less than 1 mm 2 in size 

while transistors are several mm 2 and often > 10 mm 2 . As 

a result, special care must be taken in order to reduce the 

formation of particles stemming from parasitic reactions 

near the wafer surface as well as reducing the impact of 

contamination stemming from the deposits on the reactor 

wall. Growth conditions (e.g.: pressure) and cleaning 

procedures therefore differ from LED manufacturing. 

• As a result, GaN power device manufacturing yields are 

still fairly low and must be increased to at least >XX% in 

order to enable mass commercialization. 

© 2012• 14 


Power GaN: Epitaxy 

Double HBT structures 

(Georgia Institute of Technology) 

Cross section SEM image of 0.5/m NRF1 field 

plated AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology (Nitronex)

Number of reactors 

LED Reactors 

2009-2020 Volume Forecast GaN vs. InGaAlP 

Large LCD Display + 

China Subsidies 

© 2012• 15 


March 2012 

Capacity 

Digestion 

Excess capacity to 

be used for lighting 

applications 

General Lighting Investment 

Cycle 

Reactor Forecast 

Replacement driven

TMG and TMI 2011 Volume Breakdown 

per Application 

• LED represent more than XX% of TMG and TMI use for the applications surveyed 

in this report. 

• We estimate that other applications (GaN lasers, Other GaAs based 

optoelectronic devices) represent about X tons of TMG and X tons of TMI) 

Over a total of XX tons Over a total of XX tons 

© 2012• 16 


MOCVD Precursors

Media business 

Website / Magazines / Webcasts 

© 2012 © 2012• 17 

17 


Yole Activities 

Technology & Market 

Reports 

Report/Database/Reverse Costing/Tools 

Custom Studies 

Market Research 

Technology & Strategy 

www.yole.fr 

Yole Finance 

M&A / Due Diligence / 

Fund raising services 

www.yolefinance.com

UV LED MARKET 

New! 

LED Packaging 

2011 

LED CoSim+ 

© 2012 © 2012• 18 18 


LED reports from YOLE 

III-V Epitaxy Substrates 

& Equipment Market 

New! 

Status of the LED 

Industry 

SiC Market SAPPHIRE MARKET 

LED Manufacturing 

Technologies 2011 

LED Fab Database

III-V epitaxy MOCVD MBE substrate & equipment market - I-Micronews

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?