News: Suppliers
7 January 2025
Almae orders Riber GSMBE production system
Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system maker Riber S.A. of Bezons, France has received an order for a production MBE system from Almae Technologies SAS of Marcoussis, France — which was spun off in 2016 from III-V Lab of Palaiseau, France (the joint laboratory between Nokia, Thales and France’s micro/nanotechnology R&D center CEA-Leti in Grenoble) — in order to enhance its production of photonic components addressing the growing demand in telecoms and datacoms markets for ultra-high-speed optical data transmission, driven by the surge in artificial intelligence (AI) applications requiring increasingly higher data volumes.
The new order continues a long-standing partnership, initiated with Riber’s delivery of a gas-source MBE (GSMBE) system to Almae in 2019. Riber says that this underscores the reliability and relevance of its MBE solutions for manufacturing ultra-high-speed indium phosphide (InP) photonic chips, vital for next-generation datacom infrastructures and broader future connectivity solutions.
GSMBE is particularly well suited for the rigorous requirements of multi-epitaxy processes typical in photonic applications, which demand high machine stability, reproducibility and uniformity. Collaboration between Almae and Riber has driven significant productivity optimizations for GSMBE systems. By combining Almae’s process expertise with Riber’s technical know-how, advances have been achieved in system design, integrated instrumentation, and process control.
“Almae’s ambition is to become a global leader in advanced photonic solutions for ultra-high-speed fiber-optic networks,” says Almae’s CEO Jean Louis Gentner. “Almae’s development relies on innovative processes using GSMBE, providing our products with a differentiated competitive advantage in performance. Acquiring this new system marks an important milestone in developing our industrial platform and will significantly boost our productivity in a highly competitive market,” he adds.
“This new order from Almae Technologies strengthens our strategic partnership established in 2017 and reflects the renewed confidence in our MBE solutions,” comments Riber’s chairwoman & CEO Annie Geoffroy.
Almae orders Riber production MBE system to expand photonic component manufacturing capacity
