This project seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative control technology for improved within-wafer temperature uniformity in the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process that is most commonly used to produce commercial multi-quantum-well (MQW) LEDs. The proposed control technology promises to substantially reduce the need for “binning” in LED manufacturing, a common production challenge thought to represent additional cost and complexity, including reduced wafer yield and less-than-ideal emission properties of phosphor-converted LEDs (pcLEDs). These challenges are believed to hinder more-widespread acceptance of LED products for energy-efficient building-illumination applications.SC Solutions will address this challenge by employing radiant heating from the top of the wafer with a heat flux profile shaped using a specially designed mask. The heater will be located beyond the susceptor edge within the MOCVD or tool. It will be controlled in conjunction with the susceptor heaters, using an integrated control architecture. PROJECT IMPACT The proposed approach is expected to reduce within-wafer non-uniformity by 90% or more.
