AIXTRON

What they do

AIXTRON builds deposition equipment for the semiconductor industry. Its systems grow extremely thin crystalline layers of compound semiconductors such as silicon carbide, gallium nitride and gallium arsenide on wafers, a process known as metal-organic chemical vapour deposition, or MOCVD.

The company was founded in 1983 by staff of the Institute for Semiconductor Technology at RWTH Aachen University and is headquartered in Herzogenrath, just north of Aachen. It went public in 1997 and its shares are listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Why it matters

Compound semiconductors handle higher voltages, frequencies and temperatures than silicon. Silicon carbide and gallium nitride chips are used in electric vehicle inverters, fast chargers, solar inverters and data centre power supplies, where they cut energy losses. Gallium arsenide and related materials make lasers and LEDs possible.

The layers grown in AIXTRON reactors form the active part of these chips, so the equipment directly influences device performance and manufacturing cost. As power electronics grows with electrification, this niche has become strategically important for Europe's semiconductor ambitions.

Products to know

• G10-SiC: a high-volume system for silicon carbide epitaxy.
• G10-GaN: a system for gallium nitride power and radio-frequency devices.
• G10-AsP: a system for arsenide and phosphide layers used in lasers and LEDs.
• Planetary Reactor: the reactor concept licensed from Philips in 1989 that underpins much of the range.

The German angle

AIXTRON is a spin-off success story from RWTH Aachen, one of Germany's leading technical universities. Its founders, Holger Jürgensen and Meino Heyen, developed their first research system at the university before turning it into a company.

The Aachen region, on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands, has become a hub for engineering research and start-ups. AIXTRON shows how German university research can feed directly into globally competitive equipment manufacturing, though the company also built a UK base by acquiring Thomas Swan's equipment division in 1999.