!!! Press Release !!!

SOUTH EPITAXY CORPORATION EXPANDS EXISTING MOCVD BASE
with additional AIXTRON GaN Planetary Reactor

Aachen/Tainan, Taiwan, November 5th, 2002 - AIXTRON AG, the worldwide leading provider of semiconductor epitaxy equipment, is pleased to announce that South Epitaxy Corporation (SEC), a company specializing in the production of ultra-high-brightness LED wafers and chips, will increase its already existing installed base of AIXTRON systems with a new high throughput AIX 2600G3 HT MOCVD Planetary Reactor in 24x2" configuration, to ramp up their production capacity for high-end GaN based UV, blue and green LED wafers.

The AIX 2600G3 HT is the latest version of AIXTRON's renowned Planetary Reactors for GaN based materials. It is recognized and accepted as being the world's largest available mass production Reactor for GaN-based HB-LED, providing a capacity of up to 24x2" combined with an extremely high throughput. The nature of the reactor design guarantees a highly efficient utilization of all precursors, such as Ammonia and Alkyls and an extremely low consumption of Hydrogen and Nitrogen carrier gas, allowing for an efficient operation of the system at an extremely low cost of ownership. Particularly for high In-content GaInN technology (as is the case for green GaN-based LEDs), the AIXTRON Planetary Reactor provides its users with a superior and proven leading-edge technology.

Charles Cheng, CEO of South Epitaxy explains: "The new AIXTRON large scale production system, which is an improved upscaling of the existing 6x2" AIXTRON system, provides remarkable benefits with respect to product quality and manufacturing costs. This large scale production reactor will enable us to cope successfully with future market demands." Dr. Bernd Schulte, Executive Vice President and COO of AIXTRON adds: "AIXTRON is dedicated to CVD engineering and the highly innovative technology of AIXTRON's CVD Planetary Reactors provides many advantages over competing technologies, such as excellent and uniform device results and at the same time, lowest production costs. This is due to the extremely high precursor utilization and lowest gas consumption, guaranteeing highest device quality."

With an installed base of well over 700 systems world-wide, AIXTRON is, as verified by VLSI Research Inc., the world leading supplier of equipment for semiconductor epitaxy and has been rated once more amongst the 2002 10 BEST in its category in the most recent VLSI Customer Satisfaction Survey. Its equipment is used by a diverse range of customers worldwide to manufacture critical, advanced components such as HBTs, PHEMTs, MESFETs, Lasers, LEDs, Detectors and VCSELs used in fiber optic communications systems, wireless and mobile telephony applications, optical storage devices, illumination, signaling and lighting, as well as a range of other leading edge technologies. The company has an extensive service and support network in over 15 countries. AIXTRON's many customers include Agere, Alcatel, Anritsu, ATMI, Avalon, AXT, Epson, Honeywell, Infineon, IQE, IQE Silicon Compounds, ITT, JDS-Uniphase, Kopin, LumiLeds, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nortel, Optospeed, Osram, Procomp, Samsung, Showa Denko, Siemens, ST Microelectronics, Sumitomo, Thales, UEC, VPEC as well as numerous Japanese corporations. AIXTRON systems have also been installed in the most renowned research institutes worldwide, including CNRS, Fraunhofer Institute, ITRI-OES, JPL, Meijo University, NDL Taiwan, Research Center Jülich, RIKEN, Sandia Nat Lab, Tsinghua University and the University of Tokyo. AIXTRON is very active in advancing MOCVD technology through collaborations and joint R&D projects with major partners worldwide. AIXTRON AG (FSE: AIX ISIN DE0005066203) is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World and the MSCI World Index.

For further information please contact:

© AIXTRON AG, November 05, 2002

Homepage | Contact | About Aixtron | Products & Services | Customer Support | R & D | Production Results | What's new | Events

© 1996 - 2003 by AIXTRON AG