News

14 April 2009

 

Rubicon grows largest manmade sapphire crystal

Rubicon Technology Inc of Franklin Park, IL, USA, which makes monocrystalline sapphire substrates and products for the LED, RFIC, semiconductor and optical industries, has grown what it believes is the world’s largest sapphire crystal.

On display at this week’s SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, FL, USA (14–16 April), the super boule weighs 200kg (441lb) and will enable Rubicon to offer high-quality large-size optical windows and next-generation wafer products with dimensions of more than 12 inches.

Currently, Rubicon grows bulk sapphire crystals up to 85kg in production volumes and provides sapphire wafers with a diameter of up to 8 inch and optical windows with dimensions of up to 10 inch. Rubicon says that key differentiators are its ability to provide large-size windows and wafers in c-plane orientation as well as all other orientations and to provide robust, high-quality optical parts in thicknesses that meet any requirements. The firm adds that its proprietary ES2 crystal growth technology and sapphire processing capabilities can continue to be scaled to produce even larger-size sapphire products in the future.

“This growth capability now opens the door for Rubicon to provide customers with even larger-size, very high-quality, sapphire products,” says CEO Raja Parvez. “The ‘super boule’ growth process will soon be operationalized into production volumes, which will enable new applications for sapphire windows and wafers,” he adds.

See related item:

Sapphire substrate market to grow at 21% to $400m by 2012

Search: Rubicon Sapphire substrates

Visit: www.rubicon-es2.com