Freiberger installs VGF for InP
The modular VGF system is called Kronos. It produces compound semiconductor crystals such as indium phosphide (InP) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) as well as germanium crystals. The VGF process solidifies crystals from the bottom to the top of a melt by precisely controlling temperature gradients in a pressure chamber. The German Ministry of Economics helped fund development of the VGF system.
VGF is seen as a replacement for the traditional liquid encapsulated Czochralsky (LEC) process. VGF produces better quality compound semiconductors. InP finds application as the most suitable material for broadband high frequency products. InP transistors enable fibre optic data transmission up to 40GByte per second. Such speeds are needed for internet backbones, video on demand and mobile wireless base stations.
