!!! Press Release !!!

Times Square Zipper displaying brighter News with UHB-LEDs 

The Times Square News "Zipper" in New York City was re-inaugurated end of July. Perhaps one of the most famous electronic signs in the world, the zipper displays - now with better resolution and illumination - news headlines that run around the building at 1 Times Square. Apparently, Dow Jones & Company, which operates the sign, got tired of

replacing the 12,048 light bulbs.

Instead, the new "state of the art" sign incorporates

now 227,200 amber UHB-LEDs

like those AlInGaP LEDs manufactured in large quantity by Hewlett Packard, San José, using many AIXTRON MOCVD reactors AIX 2400/2000. The Zipper measures 1.8 meters in height and 110 meters in length. According to the sign’s manufacturer the reason for using only amber LEDs was "to maintain a particular look" with the display.

The Zipper is almost as much of a tradition in Times Square as the New Year’s Eve ball drop, and displays since 1928 news that shake the world. The new installation has a value of approximately 1 Mio. US $, with

LED lifetimes longer than 10 years

and only

one tenth of the electric energy consumption

compared to the old light bulb version.

AIXTRON supplies the MOCVD Planetary Reactor^® for LED-material production, like the AIX 2400 or AIX 2400/2600G3 to the major manufacturing companies of UHB-LEDs. The AIXTRON equipment provides proven advantages with respect to

• Performance of LED material
• Yield of LED material
• Process efficiency
• 2^nd source compatibility
• and resulting Cost of Ownership.

The company has installed over 230 systems worldwide, provides an extensive service and support network for maintenance and upgrading and is represented in 18 countries. Among AIXTRON's list of industrial clients are names such as Alcatel, EPI, Epitronics, Hewlett Packard, Honeywell, IBM, ITT, Kopin, Lucent, Motorola, NEC, Philips, Rockwell, Samsung, Siemens, Thomson, UEC and numerous Japanese corporations. AIXTRON systems have also been installed in many of the world's most renowned research institutes including NASA-JPL-CALTEC, Sandia Nat. Lab., Fraunhofer Institute, CNET and CNRS. AIXTRON is very active in advancing MOCVD technology through collaborations and joint R & D projects with major partners worldwide.

For further information please contact:

© AIXTRON AG, October 07, 1997

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