!!! Press Release !!!

Violet Laser Diode developed by National Central University
on AIXTRON MOCVD system

Aachen/Chung-Li Taiwan – February 20 2003 – National Central University (NCU) located in Chung-Li, Taiwan has reported the successful operation of electrically pumped violet laser diodes, developed on their AIX 200/4 RF system.

The operation of violet laser diodes in next generation DVD drives will enable reading and writing functions on Digital Versatile Discs that can store up to 27GB to date (e.g. 13 hours of TV broadcasting). This will represent a quantum leap from today’s DVDs drives that employ 640nm laser diodes and which have a maximum storage capacity of 4.7GB.

NCU’s laser diode emits at 410 nm and shows lasing above threshold currents of 10kA/cm². The device consists of a 5µm x 1000µm index guided ridge wave-guide laser structure, which is grown directly on a sapphire substrate. The buffer layer consists of 2µm GaN and 1.5µm AlGaN (xAl ~ 8%). Fig. 1 shows a picture of the UV Laser in operation; Fig. 2 shows the 300K emission spectra at a wavelength of 410nm as a function of the injection current. NCU is already the second R&D group in Taiwan to develop a GaN blue laser, after OES who achieved 415nm/ 7.2kA/cm² also on an AIXTRON Planetary System (AIX 2000 HT).

Professor J.I. Chyi, Director of the Optical Sciences Center at NCU and responsible for the development of the laser devices explains: "The results that we recently achieved with this horizontal flow reactor, our AIX 200/4 RF, are groundbreaking. The MOCVD process on the AIXTRON system is exceptionally stable. This is mandatory for the development of sophisticated opto-electronic devices such as violet laser diodes and the related reproducible production process. This fruitful co-operation with AIXTRON, which has continued over the last three years, combined with AIXTRON’s excellent service and support are essential for continuing our story of success."

Dr. Bernd Schulte, Executive Vice President and COO of AIXTRON adds: "We are delighted that NCU has achieved such impressive results on our MOCVD system. This is another demonstration of the superior capability of AIXTRON’s horizontal two flow concept with respect to the realization of GaN Laser technology."

AIXTRON is, as verified by VLSI Research Inc., the world leading supplier of equipment for semiconductor epitaxy. 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. AIXTRON AG (FSE: AIX ISIN DE0005066203) is listed in the Prime Standard of the German stock exchange (Deutsche Börse AG) and is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World and the MSCI World Index.

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© AIXTRON AG, February 20, 2003

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