Swedish-American glō Orders G5+ MOCVD System for Micro-LED Production

This summer Google announced that it has invested 15 million USD for a 13 percent stake in Glo, a Swedish Lund University spin-out focused on creating nanowire-based LED-displays for mobile phones and smart watches as well as AR- and VR-applications (LINK). 

Now Aixtron Reports: AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA), a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that it has received an order for an AIX G5+ platform from Swedish-American company glō-USA, Inc. The group focuses on the commercialization of micro-LED (mLED) products based on their proprietary defect-free GaN nanowires technology. Such 3D structures enable the growth of mLEDs while maintaining the reliability of an inorganic material system. AIXTRON’s AIX G5+ Planetary Reactor® system was selected in the scope of glō’s strategic expansion and will be delivered with an 8x150 mm configuration in the course of Q4/2017.

Micro-LED technology is on the roadmap of all tier one display manufacturers as a challenger to the existing display technology for next gen consumer products. Micro-LED displays consist of micron-sized LED arrays forming individual sub-pixel elements. Compared to the existing LCD and OLED technologies, mLED displays offer lowest power consumption while exhibiting superior pixel density, contrast ratio and brightness and therefore, opening new horizons for consumer mobile products as well as premium TV displays.

Fariba Danesh, CEO of glō, comments: “Based on more than 10 years of experience and know-how in the area of nanotechnology, we have developed a game-changing three color micro-LED display technology. Our three color pixels are made solely with GaN semiconductor material. We are now focused on taking this exciting technology to a volume production stage. Beyond the epitaxial structure, the manufacturing of mLEDs require scalable processes, very tight uniformity and particle control of the epitaxial wafers to enable the highest yield and therewith cost-efficient transfer to our mLED partners. AIXTRON’s AIX G5+ MOCVD system provides all these requirements while maintaining low fab economics due to a batch reactor configuration. Therefore, we look forward to a close collaboration with AIXTRON on these promising applications.”

“We are proud of the trust given by glō and are confident our technology will support their needs in the best way possible. Our AIX G5+ is being recognized as the tool of record for mLED related applications as it is the sole technology on the market providing on-wafer uniformity control, low particle levels, and unique advanced features such as wafer-level temperature control with Auto-Feed Forward (AFF) and therefore supporting the demanding micro LED requirements.”, says Dr. Bernd Schulte, President of AIXTRON SE.