News: Optoelectronics
10 January 2023
III-V Lab chooses Riber MBE 412 to expand opto and microelectronic manufacturing platform
Under France’s economic stimulus package ‘Plan France Relance’ (administered by the nation’s Ministry of the Economy and Finance), III-V Lab of Palaiseau, France (the joint Alcatel-Lucent, Thales and CEA-Leti industrial research laboratory) is being supported by the Government to adapt and modernize its R&D and production tool. III-V Lab has hence chosen to rely on epitaxy equipment from Riber S.A. of Bezons, France – which manufactures molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems as well as evaporation sources – whose set up realized during first-half 2023 will expand III-V Lab’s optoelectronic and microelectronic semiconductors manufacturing platform.
“InPERIUM (InP for optoelectronic with Molecular Beam Epitaxy) is a project implemented in the framework of the French recovery plan that allows us to increase our manufacturing capacity of wafers, components and optoelectronic and microelectronic modules for our strategic sectors,” says III-V Lab’s president Jean-Pierre Hamaide.
“The MBE 412 convinced us thanks to its reliability and its great modularity,” comments Olivier Delorme, researcher in epitaxy at III-V Lab. ‘’Thanks to our understanding of physics of materials, combined with the versatility of the epitaxy reactor, we explore many combinations of III-V semiconductors in order to develop high-performance components.”
Operating under ultra-vacuum, the cluster robot automatically transports wafers between different modules connected to the eight available ports of the system. In particular, a preparation module, equipped with a hydrogen plasma source, has been installed, improving the performance of components by providing optimum surface morphology.
Finally, the in-situ characterization instrument EZ-CURVE from Riber will be integrated and adapted for precise and continuous control of the growth process, contributing to better control of the epitaxy processes, allowing improvement in the electronic or photonic performance and ultimately increasing component manufacturing efficiency.
“Our MBE system cluster allows both product development and production,” notes Riber’s chairman Michel Picault. “Our deposition reactor easily integrates various control instruments needed for the development of new materials. The modularity of the cluster design offers the opportunity to add additional reactors for pre/post process and analysis steps, or multiplying reactors to optimize product development and/or increase production efficiency,” he adds. “Our platform is fully automated and is driven by our software Crystal XE.”
