Driving Down HB-LED Costs. Implementation of Process Simulation Tools and Temperature Control Methods of High Yield MOCVD Growth

The overall objective of this multi-faceted program is to develop epitaxial growth systems that meet a goal of 75% (4X) cost reduction in the epitaxy phase of HB-LED manufacture. A 75% reduction in yielded epitaxy cost is necessary in order to achieve the cost goals for widespread penetration of HB-LED’s into back-lighting units (BLU) for LCD panels and ultimately for solid-state lighting (SSL). To do this, the program will address significant improvements in overall equipment Cost of Ownership, or CoO. CoO is a model that includes all costs associated with the epitaxy portion of production. These aspects include cost of yield, capital cost, operational costs, and maintenance costs. We divide the program into three phases where later phases will incorporate the gains of prior phases. Phase one activities are enabling technologies. In collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories we develop a Fluent-compatible chemistry predictive model and a set of mid-infrared and near-ultraviolet pyrometer monitoring tools. Where previously the modeling of the reactor dynamics were studied within FLUENT alone, here, FLUENT and Chemkin are integrated into a comprehensive model of fluid dynamics and the most advanced transport equations developed for Chemkin. Specifically, the Chemkin model offered the key reaction terms for gas-phase nucleation, a key consideration in the optimization of the MOCVD process. This new predictive model is used to design new MOCVD reactors with optimized growth conditions and the newly developed pyrometers are used monitor and control the MOCVD process temperature to within 0.5°C run-to-run and within each wafer. This portion of the grant is in collaboration with partners at Sandia National Laboratories. Phase two activities are continuous improvement projects which extend the current reactor platform along the lines of improved operational efficiency, improved systems control for throughput, and carrier modifications for increased yield. Programmatically, improvements made in Phase I are applied to developments of Phase II when applicable. Phase three is the culmination of the individual tasks from both phases one and two applied to proposed production platforms. We selectively combine previously demonstrated tasks and other options to develop a high-volume production-worthy MOCVD system demonstrating >3x throughput, 1.3x capital efficiency, and 0.7x cost of ownership. In a parallel demonstration we validate the concept of an improved, larger deposition system which utilizes the predictive modeling of chemistry-based flow analysis and extensions of the improvements demonstrated on the current platforms. This validation includes the build and testing of a prototype version of the hardware and demonstration of 69% reduction in the cost of ownership. Also, in this phase we present a stand-alone project to develop a high-temperature system which improves source efficiency by 30% while concurrently increasing growth rate by 1.3x. The material quality is held to the same material quality specifications of our existing baseline processes. The merits of other line item tasks in phase three are discussed for inclusion on next-generation platforms