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11 October 2007

 

Kopin starts shipping 6-inch HBT wafers produced in IC MOCVD systems

Kopin Corp of Taunton, MA, USA claims that its three Aixtron integrated concept metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (IC MOCVD) systems have been qualified by multiple customers. The firm hails this as a milestone in its plan (announced in April 2006, on completion of the multi-year purchase and supply agreement for Aixtron’s MOCVD systems) to increase its manufacturing capacity for GaAs-based heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) wafers by 50%. This plan combines internal expansion in Taunton and the addition of capacity at KTC, Kopin’s licensed original equipment manufacturer of HBT products in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Kopin claims that it is now producing the industry’s highest-performing 6-inch HBT wafers, with exceptionally good uniformity and reproducibility, and is the only company producing technologically demanding HBT structures on these systems in volume.

“We have begun shipment of 6-inch HBT wafers produced in our IC MOCVD systems, and customer response to the quality of these wafers has been extremely favorable,” says Daily Hill, senior VP and general manager of HBT business. “By combining Kopin’s proprietary manufacturing processes with the inherent advantages of these advanced IC MOCVD systems, we have improved our ‘on-wafer’ uniformity by a factor of at least two, achieved excellent run-to-run reproducibility, and demonstrated reduced maintenance and higher system uptime.”

The IC MOCVD reactors are the highest-throughput systems on the market, capable of growing seven 6-inch wafers per run, 40% more than the next largest system, Kopin reckons. Because of the significant savings in processing costs compared with 4-inch wafers, the demand for 6-inch HBT wafers among power amplifier circuit manufacturers is expected to grow rapidly over the next two years.

Most recently, to support the growing demand for HBTs, in mid-August Kopin announced plans for a further expansion of its Taunton production facility (for completion later this year), following receipt of a $3m development grant from Massachusetts State.

See related item:

Kopin expects strong III-V revenues to end 2007

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