AIXTRON starts construction of new innovation centre
AIXTRON SE has officially started the construction of the new innovation centre at its headquarters in Herzogenrath, Germany. The leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry is investing around €100M in 1000m2 of clean room with additional space for the required metrology equipment. This research facility will feature the latest technologies available in the industry. The first systems are scheduled to move into the new building during the second half of 2024. The official handover is planned for early 2025.
This milestone in the company's successful history was marked with a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony attended by representatives from politics, science and research as well as key suppliers of the company. The framework for this significant step was a celebration in honour of the company’s 40th year since its founding: They started in December 1983 as a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University. Since that time, AIXTRON has always been at the forefront of innovation and new, groundbreaking semiconductor technologies. The new innovation centre is expected to be a sign of continuation on this path and forms an important foundation for the company's continued growth.
"We have just completely renewed our portfolio with our successful G10 product family. The demand from our customers is already very high, so we are in the middle of a volume ramp. And we are now also starting to work on the next generation of innovative technical solutions. With this, we will successfully drive forward the electrification of the world with the megatrends of digitalisation, electromobility, and energy efficiency. The new innovation centre provides us with essential capacities for all of this," says Dr Felix Grawert, CEO of AIXTRON SE.
The cleanroom area of the innovation centre will be of class ISO 6, expandable up to ISO 4. The new complex, known in the industry as "fab", will be one of the most compact and complex semiconductor fabs in the world: the area has two sub-levels. The first sub-level accommodates, e.g., the pump filter cabinets of the systems while the facility level houses all supporting processes and systems for the entire infrastructure.
This type of space utilisation increases cleanroom efficiency by a factor of up to three compared to the previously used cleanroom areas.
Caption: The leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry is investing around €100M at its headquarters in Herzogenrath, Germany. With this, AIXTRON is laying an important foundation for further growth (photo: Aixtron SE)