Based in Aachen, Germany, AIXTRON, the world’s leading manufacturer of MOCVD equipment for compound semiconductor materials, marked 1998 another year of significant growth. Sales increase by 39 % finishing of at 107.9 million DM while consolidated earnings – DVFA group profits – were up 79 %, closing the year at 11.4 million DM. The value of an AIXTRON share nearly tripled in the company‘s first full year on the stock market, with market capitalization rising to over DM 1.5 billion by the end of 1998. At the first annual shareholder meeting the decision had been taken to increase common stock by 12.5 million DM to 25 million DM, the related stock split and the doubling in the number of our shares achieved by issuing bonus stock. This had the effect of increasing the share‘s liquidity and facilitated the initial or supplementary purchase of AIXTRON shares.

Impressive order backlog
Due to the increasing use of end products, from LEDs, cellular phones and laser technology all the way through to solar cells, there is a rapidly growing worldwide market for AIXTRON equipment and a steadily increasing demand among compound semiconductor manufacturers. The inflow of orders and the order backlog have risen correspondingly. In 1998 orders for MOCVD equipment with a value of 115.8 million DM were received in Aachen, 69 percent more than in the previous year.

Capacity expansion with higher efficiency
In order to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for ordered equipment, and to ensure delivery to customers even faster, AIXTRON is currently expanding its manufacturing capacity. In the spring of 1998 work got under way on a 2,800-square-meter expansion of company headquarters in Aachen. The facility houses primarily the R&D department, additional service units, a modern training center and enlarged infrastructure areas.
In a parallel development, the groundwork was laid for the expansion of production capacity.
In February 1998, AIXTRON acquired a plot of land in Herzogenrath, just a short drive from the company‘s head-quarters.
There, on 10,000 square meters of land, an additional plant for the final assembly of AIXTRON equipment will be constructed in three phases. When finished it will increase present production capacity tenfold. The first phase is scheduled for completion in the 3rd quarter of 1999.

Pure play MOCVD equipment company
In all the euphoria, AIXTRON emphasizes its firm commitment to be focused on its core business, i.e. equipment manufacturer, and not to enter its customers’ markets in the wafer chip or device businesses.

Know-how edge and service: technology transfer . . .
Every equipment is developed and tailor-made to the customer‘s requirements and is always state-of-the-art. Before an equipment is brought on stream, specialists from AIXTRON‘s Technology Transfer Division start it up to ensure that it will function in the customer‘s specific production processes. The goal is to afford the customer the quickest possible productive use of his tool. Our personnel then ensure the efficient operation of the tool by providing targeted training in its use. With over 300 tools already brought on stream, AIXTRON’s technology transfer engineers make up the most experienced team in this business anywhere in the world. These employees are top specialists in the MOCVD technology and, at the same time, technical generalists – in all areas of plant engineering.

. . . and Service
Parallel to this, AIXTRON has improved the service at the customer end by increasing the number of service technicians and by expanding spare part warehouses at international locations.
By the end of ‘98, the expansion of the service centers and spare parts ware-houses in China (Beijing), Japan (Tokyo), Korea (Seoul), Taiwan (Hsinchu) and the US (Chicago and Los Angeles) had been completed. In the course of the past business year the following was also accomplished:
- German staff is now permanently based in Tokyo to manage the projects and additional Japanese specialists employed to strengthen the site;
- in Hsinchu further staff was hired for local Taiwan service and additional German managers are permanently located in Taiwan.
This constitutes a major expansion of the existing service support network. The customer can now be supplied with spare parts in reduced time and can count on round-the-clock assistance in dealing with problems and questions seven days a week.

The AIXTRON "Customer Satisfaction Program" (CSP)
In the summer of 1998 the "Customer Satisfaction Program" (CSP) was set up. Its goal is one of optimizing communication with the customer in the various regions. Questions and problems are continually recorded, evaluated and processed and what is learned is incorporated into the day-to-day work procedures. The local user meetings held on a regular basis and visits to the customer provide the basis for this.

Competence centers as virtual networks
Since August 1998 AIXTRON has been linked up with two of six interdisciplinary competence centers for nanotechnology, both of them virtual network offshoots of research institutes and industrial companies with different nanotechnological research and development goals.
For years now a leader in the key technology required for the industrial production of ultrathin monocrystalline compound semiconductor layers, AIXTRON will contribute its core competence to these endeavors – developing customized equipment for the production of special nano layers from compound semiconductors and assisting in the market launching of this equipment.

Continuous product improvement
A separate division – Systems Development – concentrates on continuously improving the systems and advancing new developments. The aim of AIXTRON‘s development activities is to increase the technological edge with even more efficient, more productive and more flexible equipment. This development will benefit the customer, leading to lower operating costs. Initial steps were taken last year in the direction of fully automated production and success was already achieved in increasing the productivity of the equipment. For example: Better control of growth in nitride semiconductors.
Specifically in the case of nitride semiconductors (for blue, green and white LEDs), the layers can be monitored even while the monocrystalline compound semiconductor is growing. In this way less time is lost in studying and mastering growth behavior and the systems can be optimized with respect to time and cost.
It proved possible to further expand the modular conception of the G3 equipment – the multipurpose machines designed for the full range of applications, from LEDs, lasers and transistors all the way through to solar cells. The equipment’s modularity guarantees the customer the processing of different material systems on just one tool, with only minor, easily affordable retrofitting of the machine required.
The first robots performed only with four-inch wafers. In the meantime, however, they are capable of dealing with all wafer sizes from two to six inches. This represents a significant technological advance and a decisive added value for the customer.