Veeco’s bookings for the quarter totaled $231 million, of which $198 million was in LED & Solar. John Peeler, Veeco’s CEO, said: “We continued to experience strong demand for MOCVD systems and, while China remained the majority of our bookings, we also received orders from key customers in Taiwan, Korea and the US.”
In February 2011, Veeco announced its newest-generation MOCVD system, the TurboDisc MaxBright. Peeler said that Veeco shipped three MaxBright four-chamber systems during the first quarter of 2011.
“Orders have been received from three of the top-tier Taiwanese LED makers, as well as from key customers in Korea and China,” said Peeler. “Customers are clearly recognizing that we are helping to enable the industry’s transition to LED lighting with a unique value position and the most productive MOCVD systems on the market.”
Looking forward, Peeler said that Veeco expects MOCVD order patterns to “remain lumpy from quarter to quarter depending upon the timing of customer deposits. We see order strength continuing in China as it builds its LED infrastructure for solid-state lighting, and quoting activity in Korea and Taiwan is also picking up with improved utilization rates being reported at key customers.”
Further Aixtron systems
In related news, Aixtron SE announced that its latest Close Coupled Showerhead MOCVD platform system, the CRIUS II, has been successfully qualified for mass production by Chi Mei Group.
The 55x2-inch wafer configuration CCS CRIUS II was installed and commissioned by the local Aixtron service team at facilities near the Southern Taiwan Science Park.
Also, Aixtron has received repeat orders from Taiwan-based LED chip maker Epistar for multiple AIX G5 HT reactors in a 14x4-inch configuration. The systems are delivered in the first and second quarter of 2011.
Aixtron described the repeat order as “a further endorsement of G5’s very rapid time-to-production and excellent system-to-system reproducibility, both of which are key factors in a highly competitive market and a considerable driver of cost reduction.”
Ming-Jiunn Jou, president of Epistar, said: “The new reactors will form the backbone of our planned capacity expansion for our high-brightness LED production program. In particular, we have been impressed by the run-to-run and system-to-system reproducibility the G5 has shown. This makes the G5 the leading MOCVD system in terms of throughput and yield, allowing us to quickly ramp up our capacities and expand our product portfolio even further in the direction of solid-state lighting products.”
