Nanometrics Incorporated, a leading supplier of advanced metrology equipment to the semiconductor industry, today announced that AIXTRON AG, a leading provider of deposition tools used in the worldwide production of advanced components for electronic and opto-electronic applications, has purchased the Nanometrics VerteX photoluminescence (PL) mapping system to determine material composition, measure layer thickness and improve the wafer uniformity performance of its equipment.
AIXTRON manufactures metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment, a key processing tool used to produce high-brightness light-emitting diodes (HBLEDs). The Nanometrics VerteX is expected to be installed during the fourth quarter of 2007 at AIXTRON’s Aachen, Germany demonstration facility.
"The VerteX system will be a tremendous asset to our demonstration facility," said Professor Dr. Michael Heuken, Vice President Corporate Research and Development at AIXTRON. "Not only will we be able to monitor the performance and accuracy of our equipment, but our customers will get quantifiable data from our tool as well. Our installation of the VerteX system will give our facility the most advanced production PL mapping capability on the market today, which is required to demonstrate the advantages of our recently-introduced reactors with larger production capacity."
AIXTRON will replace its current PL mapping tool, Nanometrics’ RPM2000, with the VerteX in order to obtain greater execution for its deposition systems and processes.
“This purchase of our VerteX system marks another milestone in our long-term relationship with AIXTRON,” said Tom Ryan, Nanometrics’ Business Unit Manager, Materials Characterization. “Our collaboration with a market leader such as AIXTRON will give us greater insight into current and future technology, which will help in our commitment to the advancement of Nanometrics’ PL mapping technology.”