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TDI Expands GaN Manufacturing to New 32,000 Sq. Ft. Facility in Silver Spring, Maryland |
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July 19, 2002... Technologies and Devices International, Inc. (TDI) headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland USA since its inception in 1997, is moving the entire TDI operation to their new state-of-the-art facility in Silver Spring, Maryland. TDI is noted for its remarkable work in Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) materials. The new facility encompasses 32,000 square feet and includes expanded manufacturing and R&D space for crystal growth, epitaxial deposition, and material characterization. The facility will be geared initially for the mass production of TDI’s popular, leading edge GaN and AlGaN epitaxial wafers. Follow-on product lines will include TDI’s innovative True Bulk GaN substrates, which were introduced to the compound semiconductor industry last summer. This new facility will allow TDI to take a leadership position in substrate material manufacturing for one of the fastest growing technological markets – blue/green/ultra violet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) which enjoy a tremendous opportunity in white lighting, indoor/outdoor displays and a new generation of DVD/CD and optical drives. The move is especially significant given the rapidly increasing demand for low defect substrate materials for GaN-based optoelectronic and electronic devices. The volume availability of TDI’s silicon-doped, GaN-on-sapphire templates, the substrates of choice for GaN-based LEDs, reduces LED growth time, significantly simplifies LED growth technology and increases LED production throughput without increased capital expenditure. “The new facility is critical for us to serve our growing customer base, and provides the opportunity for TDI to enter volume production of low defect GaN, AlN, and AlGaN epitaxial wafers,” stated Vladimir Dmitriev, President and CEO of TDI. “These wafers have been under development at TDI for almost five years and the move to the new facility is the next step toward their commercialization. By the end of this year we expect to reach a production capacity of thousands of GaN epi wafers per month. Our respected customers around the world will greatly benefit as we drive down manufacturing costs through rapid implementation of cost effective breakthrough epi technology developed at TDI.” In addition to rapid commercialization of GaN epi wafers, the new space will allow TDI to speed up development of bulk GaN substrates. GaN is one of the few compound semiconductor materials not yet available as a commercial substrate. Consequently, all currently available GaN-based devices are necessarily grown epitaxially on non-native substrates such as SiC or sapphire, which are, by definition, lattice mismatches to GaN. TDI’s True Bulk GaN is considered the leading material for filling that substrate void. The proprietary technology involves bulk GaN crystal growth, crystal slicing, polishing, and final surface preparation. As it becomes commercially available, low defect bulk GaN will be the material of choice for a number of key advanced semiconductor devices. Included are blue spectrum high brightness light emitting diodes (HB-LEDs, which include green, blue, violet, ultraviolet and white), blue and UV laser diodes (which will replace products such as current DVD lasers with significantly increased capacity), and advanced microwave electronic devices. TDI was founded in Gaithersburg, MD in 1997 as a new and independent business. The company is a privately owned developer and manufacturer of novel compound semiconductor materials (GaN, aluminum nitride (AlN) and silicon carbide (SiC)). In addition to bulk and epitaxial GaN projects, TDI is developing various compound semiconductor materials and devices, primarily for applications in short wavelength optoelectronics and RF power electronics. Contact for more information:
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Copyright © 2002 TDI, Inc. |