Picosun strengthens its position in the semiconductor market

ESPOO, Finland, 31st of August 2021 – Picosun Group strengthens its position in the 300 mm semiconductor market with its new generation ALD tool PICOSUN® Sprinter.

PICOSUN® Sprinter was first launched in December 2020 as a stand-alone module. Now also customer deliveries and installations of PICOSUN® Sprinter clusters have started.

“A Sprinter cluster consist of two Sprinter modules and a central vacuum wafer-handling robot utilizing 5-wafer handling. The set-up enables a throughput of more than 100 wafers an hour with 10 nm aluminium oxide target film thickness”, explains Juhana Kostamo, VP, Industrial Business Area of Picosun Group.

“The throughput capability combined with the unique design of the tool’s reaction chamber, the record-breaking batch film quality and the fact that the tool can be fully integrated with the customers’ production line, makes PICOSUN® Sprinter the tool of choice for semiconductor, display and IoT component industries who need a future-proof tool with single wafer film quality and uniformity in fast batch processing”, Kostamo concludes.

Picosun delivers ALD Morpher 200 mm Batch Cluster tool to ams OSRAM

ESPOO, Finland, 28th of July 2021 – Picosun Group delivers cutting-edge Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology to ams OSRAM for volume manufacturing of optical semiconductor devices.

ams OSRAM has invested in a fully automated PICOSUN® Morpher production cluster, which can deposit multiple materials on a batch of wafers even during the same process run. The flexibility and process variety of the PICOSUN® Morpher system is a key advantage, which enables volume production as well as the testing of new processes for R&D of future products.

Picosun Group and ams OSRAM have collaborated in a public funded project FLINGO (m-era.net project) to develop new ALD materials and processes to improve the characteristics of LEDs, such as efficiency and durability. The collaboration between the parties will continue after the ALD system delivery with activities to further expand the use of ALD in optoelectronic semiconductor processing.

“We have been working with Picosun since 2010 and now with this investment we can bring our collaboration to the next level. We are very excited to have the PICOSUN™ Morpher F cluster platform installed in our cleanroom”, states Dr. Sebastian Taeger, at ams OSRAM.

“The optical semiconductor market is one focus area of Picosun today. It is a fast-growing market where we have a strong presence with our tailored solutions for compound semiconductor-based devices. We have had excellent collaboration with the ams OSRAM technical team during project FLINGO and during the system specification stage. The expertise from both companies has resulted in optimized ALD solutions to boost the performance of the customer’s products.”, continues Dr. Christoph Hossbach, General Manager of Picosun Europe GmbH.

Picosun’s PicoArmour(TM) reduces semiconductor manufacturing costs

ESPOO, Finland, 2nd of June 2021 – Picosun Group has pending patent rights for an ALD enabled corrosion protection solution against plasma etch that will bring benefits in semiconductor fabrication processes in terms of throughput, film uniformity and conformality. With PicoArmourTM the corrosion protection can be achieved more efficiently compared with the industry solutions commonly used today.

Wafer fabrication process flows include several steps where plasma etching is necessary. An inevitable consequence of using etching chemicals is that the tool itself will be etched. A common industrial solution for reducing the tool damage is applying a corrosion-resistant coating to the etch tool using for example PVD or spray coating​ with Y2O3. Compared to only using Y2O3, PicoArmour(TM) enables an up to five times faster and a more cost-effective way of producing the coating. Compared to Al2O3, the coating can be five times more durable.* Also, the maintenance interval of etch tools can be increased which also translates to significant reduction of manufacturing costs.

“Picosun’s approach with PicoArmour(TM) is to combine the highly-etch-resistant Y2O3 ALD process with more robust ALD processes. A high performance ALD corrosion barrier combining the speed and convenience of Al2O3 process with the durability of Y2O3 can be achieved by carefully controlling the film composition. With ALD, the protective effect can be achieved with thinner films, which in turn leads to material savings and a more environmentally friendly process”, states Juhana Kostamo, VP, Industrial Business Area of Picosun Group.

To learn more about PicoArmour(TM) and a study Picosun has done related to protective coatings against plasma damage, join Picosun talk at the virtual ALD 2021 conference on June 29 at 10:25 am EDT.

Register here.

Picosun strengthens its presence in Southeast Asia

ESPOO, Finland, 24th June 2021 – Picosun Group extends its global sales and service partner network further by signing a partner agreement with Hermes-Epitek Corporation Pte. Ltd. Hermes-Epitek Corporation, headquartered in Taiwan, is one of the world’s largest high-tech equipment distributors. The company provides equipment for semiconductor and optoelectronic manufacturing, as well as tech services and parts sales.

“We look forward to cooperate as Picosun’s sales representative and external field service provider targeting both 8-inch and 12-inch ALD markets in all Southeast Asia countries”, states Teo Kim Leong, Director, Hermes-Epitek Corporation.

“Southeast Asia is one of Picosun’s important market areas, where the demand for industrial ALD solutions is constantly increasing. For almost ten years now, Picosun has successfully provided world leading ALD solutions to numerous customers and partners in both academies and industries in Southeast Asia. I’m happy that with the partnership with Hermes-Epitek Corporation we are able to serve our customers in the region even better”, says Edwin Wu, CEO, Picosun Asia Pte. Ltd.

Picosun provides the most advanced AGILE ALD® (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating solutions for global industries. Picosun’s ALD solutions enable technological leap into the future, with turn-key production processes and unmatched, pioneering expertise in the field – dating back to the invention of the technology itself. Today, PICOSUN® ALD equipment are in daily manufacturing use in numerous leading industries around the world. Picosun is based in Finland, with subsidiaries in Germany, USA, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, China mainland and Taiwan, offices in India and France, and a world-wide sales and support network. Visit www.picosun.com.

More information:

Edwin Wu

CEO

Picosun Asia Pte. Ltd.

Tel. +358 40 480 3449

Email: info@picosun.com

www.picosun.com

Picosun is part of world's first wooden satellite coated by ALD

Picosun is part of world's first wooden satellite, Wisa Woodsat, launched to space during this year. The wood used in the satellite is ALD coated with Picosun tools to make the wood impermeable and meet the requirements of the most demanding environment.

WISA WOODSAT is a nanosatellite based on the popular CubeSat standard. The satellite measures roughly 10 x 10 x 10 cm, which is equivalent of 1U CubeSat. The satellite is designed and built in Finland and it will be launched to space during the fall of 2021 with a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the Mahia Peninsula launch complex in New Zealand.

The mission of the satellite is to test the applicability of wooden materials, especially WISA-Birch plywood in spacecraft structures and expose it to extreme space conditions, such as heat, cold, vacuum and radiation, for an extended period of time.

Source: WISA WOODSAT (LINK)

Picosun’s PicoArmour(TM) reduces semiconductor manufacturing costs

ESPOO, Finland, 2nd of June 2021 – Picosun Group has pending patent rights for an ALD enabled corrosion protection solution against plasma etch that will bring benefits in semiconductor fabrication processes in terms of throughput, film uniformity and conformality. With PicoArmourTM the corrosion protection can be achieved more efficiently compared with the industry solutions commonly used today.

Wafer fabrication process flows include several steps where plasma etching is necessary. An inevitable consequence of using etching chemicals is that the tool itself will be etched. A common industrial solution for reducing the tool damage is applying a corrosion-resistant coating to the etch tool using for example PVD or spray coating​ with Y2O3. Compared to only using Y2O3, PicoArmourTM enables an up to five times faster and a more cost-effective way of producing the coating. Compared to Al2O3, the coating can be five times more durable.* Also, the maintenance interval of etch tools can be increased which also translates to significant reduction of manufacturing costs.

“Picosun’s approach with PicoArmourTM is to combine the highly-etch-resistant Y2O3 ALD process with more robust ALD processes. A high performance ALD corrosion barrier combining the speed and convenience of Al2O3 process with the durability of Y2O3 can be achieved by carefully controlling the film composition. With ALD, the protective effect can be achieved with thinner films, which in turn leads to material savings and a more environmentally friendly process”, states Juhana Kostamo, VP, Industrial Business Area of Picosun Group.

To learn more about PicoArmourTM and a study Picosun has done related to protective coatings against plasma damage, join Picosun talk at the virtual ALD 2021 conference on June 29 at 10:25 am EDT.

Register here.

Kenneth Hörhammer joins Picosun as Vice President, Sales

ESPOO, Finland, 29th of April 2021 – Picosun Group has appointed Kenneth Hörhammer as Vice President, Sales, and a member of Picosun Group’s Leadership Team as of May 1, 2021.

"The potential for ALD is almost limitless, and Picosun is spearheading this technology globally." 

Kenneth Hörhammer has strong international business experience as well as passion and proven results in sales development and execution. Before joining Picosun, Kenneth Hörhammer has held multiple global business and sales leadership positions at Vaisala both in Finland and abroad in the past 17 years.

“I am excited to join this fantastic team and company. The potential for ALD is almost limitless, and Picosun is spearheading this technology globally. Picosun is a bright example of Finnish high-tech innovativeness, and I am thrilled to become an integral part of this international growth story,” states Kenneth Hörhammer.

“I warmly welcome Kenneth Hörhammer to join our team. The professional background and global experience he brings to our team enable us to significantly strengthen our global sales management, build a stronger sales organization and enforce customer satisfaction,” concludes Jussi Rautee, CEO of Picosun Group.

Picosun increases efficiency for LED and OLED production

ESPOO, Finland, 13th of April 2021 – Picosun Group has proved to significantly increase the production efficiency of its LED and OLED customers with the PICOSUN® P-300BV ALD system. Recent tests show that a reduced ALD process cycle time and an increased number of wafers deposited with the same film thickness resulted in almost 100% better throughput. A throughput of over 20 000 wafers per month can be reached with a wafer batch of 100 wafers*. At the same time, the process quality in terms of film thickness uniformity has remained on an excellent level (<1% 1sigma) when measured within wafer, wafer to wafer as well as batch to batch.

“Picosun ALD solutions have become the standard in high volume ALD manufacturing. PICOSUN® P-300BV ALD system is designed especially for production of LEDs and OLEDs. With our experience and deep know-how in ALD we are continuously striving to minimize the total cost of ownership and ensure future-proofness for our customers”, states Juhana Kostamo, Vice President, Industrial Business Area of Picosun Group.

Global LED and OLED manufacturers trust in ALD in their production to achieve better device performance and longer product lifetimes. This is a result of thin, conformal, uniform and pinhole-free material layers deposited by ALD for passivation and moisture protection as well as for creating buffer and interface layers.

* 4” 100 wafers, >20000 WPM, <1% 1sigma WiW, <1% 1sigma WtW, <1% 1sigma BtB (120 nm TMA + H2O @ 200 oC)

Read more about PICOSUN® P-300BV at picosun.com/product/p-300bv/

Picosun Group demonstrates strong growth in 2020 - Turnover grew by 38,6%

ESPOO, Finland, 30th of March 2021 – Picosun Group reports strong growth and a positive operating profit from its fiscal year 1.1.2020-31.12.2020 (LINK)

Fiscal year 2020 in short*

• Order intake grew by 48,4% and was €40,9M (€27,5M)

• Turnover grew by 38,6% and was €37,6M (€27,1M)

• Operating profit was €0,9M (€-0,3M), which is 2,5% (-1,1%) of the turnover

A bigger portion of the new order intake and turnover, compared to previous years, consisted of sales of machines meant for production in the industry and medical sector. The growth was especially strong in Asia and Europe. Service business represented 16% (12%) of 2020 order intake.

“Despite the COVID-19 challenges we were able to continue on our growth path as planned. The pandemic led to increased investments in the medical sector. Also, remote work and the increased interest in entertainment applications grew the demand of production machines in electronics and semiconductor industries”, states Jussi Rautee, CEO of Picosun Group.

New investments in medical industry

Picosun has been involved in product development for the medical sector for some time. Protecting for example medical implants with ALD from the corrosive environment of the human body, and vice versa, is of utmost importance considering the safety, correct operation, and lifetime of the implant.

The company brought a number of significant new products to the semiconductor market. Here the PICOSUN® Sprinter, a high throughput ALD production module for 300 mm wafers, was launched late 2020.

The company established a new business area, PicoMedical, in response to the increased interest and needs of the medical and healthcare ALD segments. PicoMedical’s order intake in 2020 constituted 10% of the company’s new order intake.

”We in Picosun believe that ALD will disrupt the medical industry the same way it did in the semiconductor industry. Our aim is to be the forerunner in this development”, says Jussi Rautee.

Almost a fifth of company’s turnover to research and development

During 2020 Picosun Group continued investing in its R&D functions. The company invested 18% of its turnover to various research and development activities. During 2020 Picosun filed 16 new patent applications at the European Patent Office, and 34 patent applications in various countries were granted to Picosun.

In 2020, Picosun made the top 10 list of paten applications in Finland, with Nokia as number 1.

The company brought a number of significant new products to the semiconductor market. PICOSUN® Sprinter, a high throughput ALD production module for 300 mm wafers, was launched late 2020. PICOSUN® Morpher product family, designed for 200 mm wafers, grew with Morpher P (PE-ALD). For easy, intuitive and user-friendly operations of the whole PICOSUN® ALD cluster, the company launched its unified control software PicoOS™.

“Our commitment to meet our customers’ needs proactively and ensuring their future success resulted in the development work and launches that took place in 2020. This is part of ongoing work that we are continuing this year. We are also further developing ways to be in contact with our customers. Last year we took into use the leading remote support tools, taking advantage of e.g. augmented reality, that allow safe and on-time service delivery no matter the physical location of the customer”, says Jussi Rautee.

*Numbers in the brackets are 2019 non-audited consolidated numbers based on management reports.

Picosun Group is among the 10 biggest patent applicants in Finland

Impressive! Besides having the most famous ALD patent from 1974 by Dr. Tuomo Suntola. In 2020 the number of Finnish patent applications done for the European Patent Office increased by over 11% compared to the previous year. Picosun Group is among the 10 biggest patent applicants in Finland. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is No.5 and obviously Nokia No.1

Right now Picosun is steaming ahead with its brand new Sprinter 300 mm cluster batch ALD platform and I am convinced they will travel further up on the top 10 list as well as the Tier 1 ALD equipment supplier ranking in the years to come.

WEBINAR - Longer-lasting implants with hermetic ALD coatings by Picosun

Register for free for Picosun Group 's webinar "Longer-lasting implants with hermetic ALD coatings" where we present our latest results and ALD solutions for medical implant manufacturers. 27 April at 3PM London/10AM New York time.

Registration and information: LINK

Improved reliability and functionality for electronic and orthopedic implants with Picosun’s ALD solutions

With the boom of digital and remote healthcare and the increasing life expectancy of people, there is a rapidly growing need for more and more advanced medical devices, both implanted and external. At the same time, recent advances in microelectronics and the constantly miniaturizing size of the components enable the design of highly sophisticated implanted devices that can be placed in the most sensitive areas of the body such as the brain, spine, heart, and eyes.

Picosun’s Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) thin film coating technology offers a disruptive solution for implant manufacturers. Hermetic ALD encapsulation improves the reliability, functionality, and lifetime of electronic and orthopedic implants, potentially reducing the need for corrective or replacement surgeries. Also, cost savings can be achieved when the base materials of the implant can be e.g. stainless steels instead of noble or specialty metals.

Safer medical devices with Picosun’s antimicrobial ALD coatings

ESPOO, Finland, 12th February 2021 – Picosun Group, the leading provider of AGILE ALD® (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating technology and solutions, reports excellent aseptic properties measured from its ALD materials.

“The aseptic properties of our ALD films are so excellent that they surpass even the strictest requirements of the medical implant industry."

Numerous ALD oxide coatings deposited with Picosun’s processes showed remarkable reduction of microbial growth and had low values of bacterial endotoxin contamination(*). The coatings were characterized by an independent third party laboratory according to ISO 22196:2011 antimicrobial standard and ANSI/AAMI ST72:2019 bacterial endotoxin standards. These results, along with the earlier tests validating the non-cytotoxicity of Picosun’s ALD films, prove the safety and aseptic benefits of these materials in medical devices, both implanted and external ones.

Millions of people worldwide live with medical implants and the trend is towards even more complex solutions that combine highly advanced microelectronics with miniaturized devices embedded into sensitive areas of the body such as brain, spine, eyes, and heart. Protecting these devices from the corrosive environment of the human body, and vice versa, is of utmost importance considering the safety, correct operation, and lifetime of the implant.

Picosun is the trailblazer in providing medical ALD solutions to device manufacturers. Picosun’s ultra-thin, biocompatible ALD coatings guarantee hermetic encapsulation of the implanted device, with a fraction of film thickness compared to other coating methods and with superior film uniformity and conformality, ensuring pinhole-free coverage over even the smallest details of the device. Extended lifetime and operational reliability of the implant reduces the need for corrective or replacement surgeries, thus saving expensive hospital stays and improving the patient’s quality of life. For manufacturers, hermetic protective coating enables use of more common base materials, e.g. stainless steels instead of precious metals, which in turn makes the manufacturing process easier and saves costs.

“The aseptic properties of our ALD films are so excellent that they surpass even the strictest requirements of the medical implant industry. We are excited to bring our new, advanced medical ALD solutions to the market and help our customers keep spearheading their industries with safer, longer-lasting and user-friendly products,” states Juhani Taskinen, Head of Medical Business Area of Picosun Group.

Picosun ALD reactors installed in Africa's first ALD-Lab at University of Johannesburg RSA

BALD Engineering has earlier reported on the first ALD-Lab in South Africa (LINK). The University of Johannesburg started a laboratory construction implementing the strategy to establish national nanotechnology in South Africa and ordering ALD Equipment from Picosun in Finland. The ALD cleanroom facility is providing an ultra-low number of particle (ISO-7) and nearly vibration- free environment for the two state-of-the-art ALD reactors (Picosun R-200 and R-200 advance), which allow the engineering squad to study numerous states and properties of various unique new nanomaterials at the atomic scale. It will be a unique building in Africa and seeks to lead the world in state-of-the-art research on nanotechnology.

According to reports (LINK) the Picosun reactors have now been delivered and installed in Johannesburg.

Rigardt Coetzee, Researcher and Coordinator at University of Johannesburg in LinkedIn: "Africa's first Atomic Layer Deposition Laboratory. The first 5nm thin film grown at atomic level. Honoured to have been the first to produce this thin film in RSA. I know these reactors will serve South Africa Well in the Industry 4.0 revolution."

Photos from the installation of the new Picosun ALD reactors in the clean rool at University of Johannesburg. Photos from LinkedIn post by Rigardt Coetzee (LINK)

PICOSUN® Sprinter launch disrupting fast batch ALD on 300 mm wafers at EFDS ALD for Industry 2020

ESPOO, Finland, 2nd December 2020 – Picosun Group, the leading supplier of AGILE ALD® (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating solutions for global industries, has launched Sprinter, a brand new, fully automated high throughput ALD production module for 300 mm wafers. Barrier, high-k and other films are deposited in Sprinter with perfect ALD for semiconductor (e.g. emerging memory, transistor, capacitor), display, and IoT component applications.

In Sprinter, single wafer film quality and uniformity are upscaled to fast batch processing with the highest reliability and repeatability(*).

Compared to vertical furnace reactors typically used for batch ALD processing, Sprinter provides higher film quality with lower thermal budget, so it is suitable also for temperature-sensitive devices.

Sprinter combines very fast process times with smaller batch sizes than in vertical furnaces, which allows greater production flexibility and minimized risk without sacrificing throughput.

The core of the Sprinter is its disruptively designed reaction chamber, where fully laminar precursor flows ensure perfect ALD deposition with no parasitic CVD growth. This minimizes the need for system maintenance.

“PICOSUN® Sprinter meets directly the challenges in high volume ALD manufacturing on 300 mm wafers. We are happy to unveil this product to our new and existing customers in 300 mm semiconductor markets, and offer them a truly disruptive, modern alternative to old technologies in batch ALD manufacturing,” says Mr. Jussi Rautee, CEO of Picosun Group.

SEMI S2/S8 certified PICOSUN® Sprinter module can be integrated to customer’s manufacturing line or cluster. It is suitable also for single wafer manufacturing lines as it does not disturb the process flow. Sprinter is run with Picosun’s new, proprietary PicoOS™ operating system and process control software.

“Together with Sprinter, we are launching also our PicoOS™ operating system. Own operating system and process control software, developed by our in-house software team, means the highest control precision and accuracy, the fastest service times, and the best reliability and quality for our customers,” continues Rautee.

Full stack PicoOS™ software allows control, operation and configuration of PICOSUN® ALD equipment – either standalone systems or full production clusters – via one unified, intuitive, and user-friendly graphical HMI and ensures smooth connection between the system and the customer’s factory automation via SECS/GEM protocol.

Sprinter is available for process demos at Picosun facilities. Sprinter module sales starts in January 2021 and full Sprinter cluster with several ALD modules, central vacuum wafer handling unit and EFEM is available later in spring 2021.

Picosun launches PicoOS™, a unified control software for PICOSUN® ALD modules and clusters

ESPOO, Finland, 2nd December 2020 – Picosun Group, leading provider of AGILE ALD® (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating solutions for industrial manufacturing, presents PicoOS™, the new, full stack operating system and process control software for PICOSUN® ALD equipment.

“PicoOS™ brings PICOSUN® ALD equipment control to the modern era. It is designed for wafer fabs and industrial environments where transition to Industry 4.0 is ongoing. Data-driven PicoOS™ enables future production solutions where machine learning, artificial intelligence, internet-of-things, and other new digital inventions are utilized for optimum industrial efficiency,” says Dr. Jani Kivioja, CTO of Picosun Group.

Picosun’s proprietary PicoOS™ software combines individual ALD module, wafer handling and transfer system, and instrumentation control under one common graphical HMI (human-machine interface). This ensures easy, intuitive and user-friendly operation, maintenance, and configuration of the whole PICOSUN® ALD cluster.

PicoOS™ enables full factory integration via SECS/GEM protocol, process and system data logging down to 20 ms rate, and real-time export of all data for continuous monitoring and further analysis.

PicoOS™ operating system is specifically developed by Picosun’s own in-house software team for the company’s fully automated production ALD systems Morpher and Sprinter, and it will be implemented in all future PICOSUN® ALD tool platforms.

“PicoOS™ is designed to ensure the highest control precision and accuracy, the fastest service times, and the best user experience for our customers. Having in-house control over all features and sub-components of our PICOSUN® ALD solutions is a key part of our holistic service model,” continues Kivioja.

PicoOS™ has freely configurable and scalable editor for ALD process recipe and processing job creation and storage, and recipes can be edited or new ones created any time during the ALD system operation. Configurable user levels and safety logic, instrumentation and interlocks guarantee safe use in day-to-day operations, and allow full access for tool management in maintenance situations. Maintenance procedures are sped up by specific clean-up and maintenance sequences inbuilt in the software.

Picosun’s ALD technology boosts UVC LED performance

• In order to reach maximum light output and long operating lifetime, LED chips require surface passivation to eliminate parasitic currents caused by traps and defects
  
• ALD passivation layer could potentially replace the expensive hermetic seal package of the LEDs and thus lower the costs of the final device.
• Short-wavelength UVC radiation destroys bacteria and viruses so UVC LED technology is particularly topical now during the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 
  

ESPOO, Finland, 24^th September 2020 – Picosun Group, the leading supplier of AGILE ALD^® (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating technology, reports excellent results in UVC (ultraviolet-C) LED performance, achieved with the company’s ALD solutions.

Excellent reliability and lifetime improvements of UVC LEDs have been obtained at Picosun’s customer and collaboration partner site, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan, using passivation and barrier films deposited with PICOSUN^® ALD equipment(*). ALD passivation layer could potentially replace the expensive hermetic seal package of the LEDs and thus lower the costs of the final device.

 

“We have used Picosun’s ALD technology already for years with great success. Our PICOSUN^® ALD equipment yields superior quality films which has helped us to achieve several breakthroughs in our LED research. Picosun has local presence in Taiwan and we appreciate the prompt response of their customer support if we ever have any issues. At the phase when R&D results are to be ramped up to industrial-level production, the scalability of Picosun’s ALD technology is a huge benefit,” comments Professor Hao-Chung Kuo from NCTU.

In order to reach maximum light output and long operating lifetime, LED chips require surface passivation to eliminate parasitic currents caused by traps and defects. Also barrier coating is typically needed as LED materials are sensitive to moisture. ALD is an ideal technique to manufacture both the passivation and barrier films – and when the LED size diminishes to micrometer dimensions, the only coating method capable of producing high enough quality films on the required minuscule scale. Ultra-thin, pinhole-free ALD films do not suppress the LED light intensity and they provide reliable protection against ambient conditions, whereas their superior conformality ensures no thickness variations between the facets of the LED chip. Thickness variations, typical side effect of other coating methods, can potentially lead to uneven distribution of film stress or thermal expansion behavior and risk physical damage of the chip.

Short-wavelength UVC radiation destroys bacteria and viruses so UVC LED technology is particularly topical now during the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Small, lightweight LEDs enable versatile design of portable, compact disinfecting equipment, they consume less power than other UVC sources, they are durable, and they pose no risk of hazardous material leaks such as e.g. mercury lamps.

“We are happy of the achievements of Professor Kuo’s group at NCTU, and how Picosun’s ALD technology has helped them to achieve their goals in UVC LED development. Our long-term collaboration and networking with both the academia and prominent industries in this field gives us the perfect synergy advantage to facilitate implementation of these solutions in industrial manufacturing,” says Mr. Edwin Wu, CEO of Picosun Asia Pte. Ltd.

(*) UVC LED with 50 nm ALD Al₂O₃ passivation and normal LED packaging (no hermetic seal) maintained 80% of its original efficiency even after 500 hours environmental test at 85% humidity and 85 ^oC temperature.

Picosun has new representative in Australia and New Zealand: Australian Vacuum Services

Picosun has new representative in Australia and New Zealand: Australian Vacuum Services

Australian Vacuum Services Pty Ltd     

Email info@australianvacuumservices.com

Phone: +61 (0) 2 8626 6495 / Mobile +61 (0) 4 2361 3086

Web: https://www.australianvacuumservices.com

3/25 Jenner Street | Baulkham Hills | NSW 2153 | Australia                  

ABN 38640001921

Picosun Group’s Strong Growth Continues In 2020 +18,4 % in order intake and accelerating further in 1Q/2020

Picosun Group, the supplier of AGILE ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating technology for global industries, reports strong growth during fiscal year 2018-2019, as a result of Group's strategy to focus on industrial customers. The growth has continued in the first quarter of 2020.

During the fiscal year 1st October 2018 - 31st December 2019, Picosun Group's order intake was 35,9 M€ and turnover 34,2 M€. EBIT was 377 k€. The growth from the previous corresponding 15 months period was +18,4 % in order intake, and +5,5 % in turnover.

Picosun invested over 19 % of the turnover in R&D activities during the last fiscal year. The main R&D activities related to new product developments in line with the new Group strategy. During the period Picosun Group launched many improvements to existing products and services. The most important product launch was PICOSUN Morpher ALD production platform for e.g. MEMS, LED, 5G and power electronics markets, which was launched in July 2019 with positive response from the customers.

Picosun Morpher

Picosun Group has continued its strong growth in the first quarter of 2020, resulting in 10,7 M€ order intake, growth of +64,1% compared to Q1/2019. Turnover grew +36,3 % in the same period. EBIT was 1,2 M€. Despite uncertainty caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic Picosun Group expects the growth to continue in the fiscal year 2020, compared to the corresponding period in 2019.

Picosun held its Annual General Meeting on 26th May 2020. Mr. Kustaa Poutiainen continues as the Chairman of the Board. Other Board members nominated by the Annual General Meeting are Dr. Tuomo Suntola, Mr. Juha Mikkola and Mr. Hannu Turunen.

“Despite of the challenges caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, Picosun's business is continuing strong. Our strategy implementation continues well and has led to positive growth especially in new product sales in the first quarter of this year. We have also hired new personnel and hiring will continue when the corona situation eases off. To support our growth, we are planning to accelerate our investments in product and business development as well as in our facilities and factories. Picosun's success is made of the hard work, dedication and team spirit of our personnel with unmatched expertise in ALD and solid commitment to our customers,” states Mr. Jussi Rautee, CEO of Picosun Group.

Picosun patents counterfeiting use for ALD coating tech

[Securing Industry, LINK] Finland’s Picosun Oy has been awarded a US patent on a coating technology that it says could become a potent tool in the anti-counterfeit armamentarium.

The company is a pioneer of a coating technique known as atomic layer deposition (ALD) that was invented by Finnish scientist Dr Tuomo Suntola, a board member and one of the owners of Picosun, back in the 1970s. ALD involves depositing alternating monolayers of two or more elements such as metal oxides onto surface, forming a crystal structure, and allows the thickness of the resulting film to be precisely controlled.

It’s already widely used in applications like producing transistors in silicon chips, manufacturing LEDs, and protective layers on high-value goods like luxury watches, but until recently hadn’t been explored extensively for its anti-counterfeit potential.

The new patent (No. 10,600,058) covers the use of ALD to introduce an identifiable signature or code on the film coating a product, such as an integrated circuit, using layers of different predetermined thicknesses that can be detected using a suitable reader device.

The abstract of the patent appears below:

Anti-counterfeit signature

Abstract: A method for applying an anti-counterfeit signature on a product, and an anti-counterfeit signature. The method includes selecting a substrate and a type of signature and forming a signature of the selected type on the substrate with atomic layer deposition, ALD, wherein forming the signature includes applying at least one layer having a predetermined property configured to be detected with an analysis method on the substrate by atomic layer deposition, ALD.

US Patent No. 10,600,058 (LINK)

Photonics for optical data transmission with Picosun’s Erbium ALD solutions

ESPOO, Finland, 30th March 2020 – Picosun Group reports excellent results in development of state-of-the-art photonics with its ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) equipment and solutions.

Photonic devices such as waveguide amplifiers and lasers are central components in optical data transmission, a key technology realizing our modern, connected, information-driven society.

Silicon-integrated photonics take the technology one step further, enabling a whole new generation of microelectronics where optical solutions overcome some of the key challenges of conventional technologies.

Erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers and lasers are the most potential candidates for signal generation and amplification for telecommunication wavelengths. To reach the maximum performance of these devices, the amount and spatial distribution of dopant erbium atoms in the host material must be carefully optimized and controlled. This is where ALD shows its unique strength and beauty.

At Aalto University, Finland, Picosun’s customer Prof. Zhipei Sun’s group at the Finnish national infrastructure Micronova, and his international collaborators, have now used Picosun’s ALD technology to manufacture erbium-based silicon-integrated waveguide amplifiers with world-record performance(*).

“Silicon-integrated photonics, already employed by the leading companies in the field, are the future of microelectronics. We are very pleased of the performance of our PICOSUN® ALD equipment and the excellent quality of the Er:Al2O3 waveguide amplifiers manufactured with it. Customer support and consultancy from Picosun have always been there when we need it. ALD process is CMOS-compatible, further facilitating the integration of our waveguides into commercial chip production,” states Dr. John Rönn, the leading author of the results, from the Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering at Aalto University.

”ALD has been enabling disruptive future technologies since its invention. Picosun is happy to work with the leading experts in the field, such as our esteemed customers at the Aalto University. Our ALD solutions provide them the means to realize their groundbreaking work to develop yet more advanced communications and data transmission technologies for more connected, open, and integrated global society,” continues Mr. Edwin Wu, CEO of Picosun Asia Pte. Ltd

(*) The results were published in the journals ACS Photonics 3, 2040-2048 (2016) and Nature Communications 10, 432 (2019).