Kyma Technologies, Inc. announced today the launch of a new UV Grade AlN on Sapphire Template product line that features high transparency, low surface roughness, and industry-leading x-ray diffraction (XRD) rocking curves.

Kyma uses a cost-effective, patented, and proprietary process to manufacture these new templates which are available in 2-inch, 4-inch, and 6-inch diameters. They exhibit (002) and (102) XRD full-width at half maximum (FWHM) linewidths as low as 50 arcsec and 260 arcsec, respectively. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements show a root mean square (RMS) roughness value <2 nm with most wafers supplied so far being ~1 nm.

A wealth of scientific literature has shown that a low defect density AlN starting layer is critical to obtaining a low defect density active region which is required for supporting high UV LED internal quantum efficiency (IQE) especially in the UV-C range. Narrow XRD linewidths are well correlated with low defect density. 

Additionally, high substrate transparency in the UVC spectral region is critical for obtaining high light extraction efficiency, which has been a significant problem for sublimation or physical vapor transport (PVT) grown bulk AlN substrates for UV-C applications. Kyma’s UV AlN Templates show an extremely clean bandgap all the way to the band edge.

Kyma president & CEO commented, “This very new product is already receiving a lot of attention after our initial email reach out to select customers who had previously shared their interest in such a product. Our internal materials characterization data looks really exciting and has already been corroborated and added to by close partners.”

Kyma CTO Jacob Leach added, “We have learned that our UV AlN on Sapphire Template is quite different in its physical properties when compared to our legacy PVDNC™ AlN on Sapphire Templates. Our UV AlN Templates have a highly uniform AlN surface which should be good for AlN nucleation and overgrowth, while our legacy PVDNC™ AlN product features AlN nanocolumns which provides a surface which is excellent for GaN nucleation and overgrowth.”

Kyma is pursuing device level feedback from early adopters on how this new product performs especially for UV-C LED applications.

The market for UV-C LEDs is rapidly growing with applications spanning UV curing, germicidal irradiation, and non-line of sight communications. Progress in improving UV-C LED efficiency has been hampered by several challenges including the lack of high transparency low defect density substrate materials that are cost-effective.

About Kyma Technologies, Inc.

Kyma’s mission is to provide advanced materials solutions that promote energy efficiency. Kyma’s products include a diverse portfolio of advanced crystalline materials (including GaN, AlN, AlGaN, Ga2O3, and graphene), crystal growth tools for fabricating such materials, and GaN-based photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) devices. Kyma's growing service offering includes specialty parts manufacturing, device processing, materials characterization, wafer fabrication, and federal contract consulting services.

To access select scientific publications which feature Kyma's technologies, click here.

For more information about Kyma, visit www.kymatech.com, send an email to info@kymatech.com, or call the company directly at +1 919.789.8880.