AMEC ships 100th Prismo A7 MOCVD tool chamber

Marking a milestone for its metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) business, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc (AMEC) of Shanghai, China has now shipped 100 Prismo A7 MOCVD tool chambers since the product’s introduction last year. It is AMEC’s second-generation MOCVD tool, and is used to manufacture gallium nitride (GaN)-based light-emitting diodes for solid-state lighting products and other applications. With up to four chambers contained in each Prismo A7 system (enabling it to process 136 x 4” wafers simultaneously), production throughput is more than twice as high as AMEC’s first-generation MOCVD tool, the Prismo D-BLUE.

The systems are installed at customer facilities in China, including LED makers San’an Optoelectronics and HC SemiTek Corp. Since its introduction, AMEC has received multi-tool orders, as well as repeat orders for the system. By the end of 2017, the firm expects to record shipments of about 120 chambers.

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“With AMEC, we have a partner that can meet our advanced technical requirements with a tool that’s engineered to deliver superior performance and very high throughput, at lower-than-average capital costs,” comments San’an Optoelectronics’ vice chairman & general manager Kechuang Lin. “We benefit from close proximity to AMEC’s rich process expertise, as well as fast response times from the company’s field support teams,” he adds.

The technology embedded in the Prismo A7 system is protected by 155 patents (issued and pending), including filings in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the USA (as part of AMEC’s intellectual property portfolio of more than 1000 patents issued and pending).