epiray

About

epiray, a spin-off of the Max Planck Society, introduces Thermal Laser Epitaxy (TLE), a revolutionary technology for the deposition of high-purity thin films. TLE is a physical vapor deposition technique that exclusively uses laser beams for heating, enabling the synthesis of superior quality films from virtually any element in the periodic table and in any background atmosphere. This versatile and high-throughput method is poised to significantly impact thin film research and production.

Key features

Unmatched versatility
Unlimited temperature range
Exceptional purity
High throughput and reproducibility
Proven performance

Applications

Superconducting Sr₂RuO₄
Epitaxial superconducting nitrides on sapphire, e.g., TiN and NbN
Nitrides for electronics and magnetics, e.g., GdN and YN
Fully coherent epitaxial nitride stacks on sapphire
Ultra-pure oxides and perfect crystals, e .g., perfect sapphire homoepitaxy
Refractory metal films

Technologies

Revolutionary thin-film deposition

Laser heating

TLE uses lasers for all heating within the process, making it ideal for creating next-generation materials for applications like quantum computing, advanced integrated circuits and high-performance electronics. Virtually unlimited source temperatures directly address the needs of future semiconductor scaling, which requires materials with higher binding energies. The capability to use and combine any element from the periodic table, including challenging refractory metals, provides the diversity needed for "More than Moore" that requires new materials for computing and memory.

All lasers in a TLE system are located externally. This is key as it eliminates contamination from internal heaters, creating ultra-pure deposition. This is critical for the ultimate quality seen in applications like sapphire homoepitaxy, where deposited films can be purer even than the substrate itself. Such perfection is essential for quantum devices and high-performance electronics. External laser location also serves to safeguard valuable equipment from extreme deposition environments. Laser maintenance does not affect vacuum, vacuum failures cannot affect the lasers.

Any atmosphere

TLE's unmatched versatility includes compatibility with any background atmosphere, e.g., oxygen or ammonia. Combined with precise stoichiometric control enabled by laser heating, this allows the successful synthesis of complex, challenging materials such as superconducting Sr₂RuO₄ and high-quality epitaxial nitrides with properties near record literature values.

Products

STRATOLAS

STRATOLAS is a complete epitaxy system that is specifically designed and optimized for TLE. This allows for a small chamber design with a minimum number of parts inside the vacuum space. The system is equipped with the epiray CO₂ laser substrate heater (THERMALAS — see below) and can handle up to 5 different elemental sources. Tools can be configured for a variety of different substrate sizes, currently up to 4”/100 mm diameter.

Key features:

Universal compatibility across the entire periodic table on every source position
Local source heating for ultrapure epitaxy
Substrate heating up to >2800 ℃
Broad compatibility with process gasses (O₃, O₂, N₂, NH₃) up to 10^-2 mbar
Rapid source material exchange without breaking vacuum
Real time process monitoring, including RHEED, cameras and quartz crystal sensors
Small and fast loadlock; UHV storage
Class 1 laser safety

THERMALAS

THERMALAS is a laser-heated substrate stage, currently available for diameters up to 4”/100 mm. With this technology, substrate heating takes minutes instead of hours. It also provides higher temperatures and faster ramp up/down rates. Adaptive optics are also available that allow for controlled beam profiles — bringing the highest levels of temperature uniformity.

For low temperatures, THERMALAS is better than other methods. For high temperatures, it’s the only choice.

THERMALAS substrate heaters can be used to upgrade existing PLD or PVD vacuum chambers. They are also a core component of the STRATOLAS tools.