LED
MicroTech (MT Systems) has developed a high temperature system for sapphire removal in LED processing. This process helps produce high brightness LEDs at a lower cost than existing methods. MTS has delivered a number of wet process stations with specialized solutions to major LED manufacturers.
HTSE-1000 Sapphire Etch System
MicroTech’s HTSE-1000 system has been specifically designed to meet the latest requirements for sapphire LED etching. New applications for LED lighting are pushing the brightness, lifetime and stability requirements. Quantum efficiency improvements are driving new vertical structures requiring additional etching requirements. MicroTech’s new HTSE-1000 system has been specifically designed to support the uniquely high temperature requirements for etching these structures and achieving a 10x throughput improvement over conventional methodologies.
Historically, there has been a 190°C limitation for standard process baths. Sapphire etching rates increase geometrically with temperature, so MicroTech (MT Systems) has developed a system that will achieve a 300-degree process temperature.
Designed to Take the Heat
The liquid in the specialized tank comes in contact with nothing but high purity quartz. No Teflon connections, sensors, or any other parts are used in the process area. Even the built-in condensing coils and automated lid are quartz.
For reliability, a special seal was developed to prevent a failure of the critical seal material that isolates the heater components from the environment.
Even the housing is special, utilizing Halar for its superior temperature and chemical compatibility, as well as special construction techniques to isolate the heat inside.
Auxiliary Modules Make it Complete
No drain valve works at these temperatures so a quartz aspirator was designed and built in our quartz fabrication facility to remove the chemistry without having to wait for it to cool.
The aspirator drains the tank to a cool-down module below the tank. This module has quartz cooling coils to assist in lowering the chemistry temperature quickly.
Also available is the quartz secondary containment module that can hold the entire contents of the tank in case of a tank breach.
The modules working together, creating a system that addresses all of the challenges of extreme temperature chemistries, allows you the freedom to experiment with processes previously not possible.
Automation and safety
Operating at these elevated temperatures requires extreme care in the design and manufacture of these systems. MicroTech (MT Systems) has incorporated a number of safety considerations in its proprietary system design as well as full automation control to minimize operator interface to the process.
The HTSE-1000 represents the next step in LED equipment design, device cost reduction, and practical LED efficiency improvement.
