SemiSouth orders world’s largest commercial capacity SiC Planetary Reactor system from AIXTRON

AIXTRON SE today announced a new order for a CVD reactor from existing customer SemiSouth Laboratories of Starkville, MS, USA. The order is for an AIX 2800G4 WW deposition system in the 10x100 mm and the 6x150 mm configuration which will be used for the production of power silicon carbide (SiC) Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) and Schottky Barrier Diode microelectronic devices.

SemiSouth placed the order in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the system will be delivered in the second quarter of 2011. The local AIXTRON support team will commission the new reactor at the company’s state of the art clean-room facility housed in its Starkville, MS, USA headquarters.

“AIXTRON technology is what we are familiar with after nearly seven years experience with AIXTRON SiC reactors,” says Dr. Jeffrey B. Casady, CTO and Vice President Business Development SemiSouth Laboratories. “We now have an urgent need to move up to larger wafer diameters and increase our capacity for power device production. Therefore, it was an easy selection process for us because this machine provides the world’s largest commercial CVD reactor capacity. Moreover, we will achieve optimum time to market because the AIX 2800G4 WW system is the production-qualified SiC Planetary Reactor platform. We are assured of the best epitaxial layer quality with excellent homogeneity and the lowest epitaxial defect density giving us maximized device yield.”

Founded in 2000, SemiSouth Laboratories is a privately held semiconductor company with notable strategic investors including Power Integrations (NASDAQ: POWI) and the venture arm of Schneider Electric (PINK:SBGSF). It holds nearly 30 patents in the emerging field of high-efficiency silicon carbide power devices. Company products include 1200 V and 1700 V transistors as well as high-voltage diodes and power modules. These enable ultra-efficient power conversion and power management in applications ranging from 3- to 100-kW, with products in development to serve applications up to 1 MW.

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