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Lattice semiconductor bethlehem pa1/23/2024 ![]() ![]() For example, 75 mm substrates are used for making epiwafers for InGaAs photodetectors. Like that for GaAs products, production incorporates statistical process control, but with growth typically on smaller substrates. Volumes for IQE’s photonic products are smaller than those for GaAs wireless, but still significant. Liu described growth on a 7 x 150 mm platform, where 6300 runs yielded 44,000 epiwafers. With volume production at IQE dating back decades, it’s no surprise that engineers have established very mature processes on well-used tools. While pHEMTs are no longer deployed in handsets in the volumes of yesteryear, HBTs are still widely used in mobile devices for amplifying RF signals, maintaining this sector’s position as the killer RF application. The two types of epiwafer that have been manufactured in the largest volume for the wireless sector are those for making pHEMTs and HBTs. Following growth, epiwafers are scrutinised by what Liu refers to as a “full suite of material characterisation tools”. These growth tools can house as many as 23 wafers with a 75 mm diameter, or 9 with a 100 mm diameter. To drive down costs and boost productivity, IQE employs MBE reactors that can accommodate multiple wafers. However, she expects that over the coming years this market will become more diverse. Liu remarked that initially shipments for making GaAs-based wireless devices, such as pHEMTs, dominated the market for MBE epiwafers. Consolidation is in the pipeline, involving the relocation of MBE tools at Bethlehem that are used to make a variety of infrared and III-V-on-silicon structures to the Greensboro facility, which produces GaAs wireless and photonics epiwafers. There’s the facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where Quantum Epitaxial Design was born and the former RFMD facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. IQE currently has two sites in the US with MBE capability. Launched in 1988, this trailblazing firm merged with UK-based Epitaxial Products International in 1999 to form IQE, today’s multinational powerhouse for the production of epiwafers. ![]() The US is also the birthplace of the world’s first MBE epi-foundry, Quantum Epitaxial Design. This narrow Georgian three-storeyedīuilding is home to a collection of knives made from steel, an Morris dancers provided entertainment at the ICMBE conference dinner, ![]() Early successes include the fabrication of a GaAs laser at Bell Labs in 1972. Liu, Vice President of IQE’s US R&D Programmes, kicked off her talk by pointing out that MBE has a strong track record in producing devices, dating back many decades. Speaking at this conference – the latest in a series that dates back as far as 1978, when the inaugural meeting was held in Paris – IQE’s Amy Liu championed the diverse use of MBE for producing a variety of compound semiconductor epiwafers. This point was well made by two of the plenary speakers at the most recent International Conference in MBE, held in Sheffield, UK, from 5-9 September. But the reality is that MBE is also a tool for volume production. Many of us may view MOCVD as the technique for high-volume production, and see MBE as the epitaxial technology for making samples for research, such as novel quaternaries and variety of electron and hole gases. It’s probably for this reason that some of us will categorise the growth techniques in our industry in an overly simplistic way. After all, when trying to make plans and draw conclusions, spending too much time considering the cases that don’t fit in makes it nigh-on impossible to construct a line of reasoning. ![]() But despite this admonishment, we will soon revert to our old ways. At times we’ll get pulled up on this, with those around us pointing out examples of outliers and picking holes in our arguments. ![]()
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