On May 8^th, Oxford Instrument Plasma Technology held a seminar in the latest of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing. If you have ever been to Beijing, you will know how intense and fast pace the city is. With 3000 years of history, Beijing can boast of having a fantastic array of monuments to visit which attracts travelers from all around the world. I particularly enjoy the Chinese gardens and the long walk you can take whilst admiring the minutiae of the artwork.

Beijing is also a place where modernity compliments history. The city has become a pole of development and is considered as one of the top tech hub in the world. Beijing’s Zhongguancun tech community supports rapid business development though excellent climate for early stage funding and high startup output. Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology is at heart of the Compound Semiconductor Community. From Lab to Fab, we enable advanced solutions in nanofabrication and Zhongguancun was therefore an exciting location for us to hold our seminar on wide bang gap material and Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL).

Since 1977 when first created, VCSELs were mainly used in DataComms and computer laser mice. However, this technology now has other opportunities with applications in 3D sensing for smartphones or LIDAR for autonomous driving. A Great Wall saying goes 秦始皇修长城，功过后人评, translated as “Time is the test of greatness!” Over the years, the many benefit of the VCSEL technology have allowed it to expand to a wider range of applications. When looking at challenges today, there is a particular focus on how to achieve high quality VCSELs with control over the modes and bandwidth of the laser beam.

Wide band gap material RF and power devices are also showing great prospects. Driven by the need to reduce power consumption and simplify circuit configuration, manufacturers are currently developing normally off HEMTs also called E-mode HEMTs for Enhancement mode, compared to traditional normally on device also called D-mode for depletion mode. On wide bandgap based transistors, phenomenon such as current collapse or hysteresis processes are still an area of focus for a large part of the Semiconductor community.

We would be delighted to talk further regarding any of these solutions so please get in touch with us at plasma-experts@oxinst.com 

Author: Stephanie Baclet