Rubicon Technology

Last updated
Rubicon Technology Inc.
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  RBCN
IndustryMaterial, sapphire substrates
Founded2001
Website rubicontechnology.com

Rubicon Technology, Inc. is an American company specializing in sapphire crystal growth and large-diameter sapphire technology. Their improvement to the Kyropoulos technology is known as "ES2", and was developed in their Illinois-based crystal growth facilities. Rubicon Technology has been producing the industry's first 12-inch sapphire wafer since 2010, and has shipped millions of wafers and core products in sizes from 2" to 12" since 2001. [1] The company's products have been used in the LED industry and for the production of silicon on sapphire wafers for integrated circuits (RFICs), as well as on high-quality optical and industrial applications for high-performance sapphire.

Contents

History

In 2000, Rubicon Technology began its commercial production and was incorporated in 2001. The company successfully grew a 30 kg sapphire boule in 2002. In 2003, its polishing capacity was added, and it received ISO 9001 certification in the following year. In 2013, Rubicon launched 4" and 6" Patterned Sapphire Substrates, extending vertical integration "from powder to pattern". [2]

Products

Rubicon Technology is engaged in developing, manufacturing and selling monocrystalline sapphire and other crystalline products for light-emitting diodes, radio-frequency integrated circuits, optoelectronics, and other optical applications. [3]

Rubicon Technology produces Patterned Sapphire Substrates in 4" through 8" diameters. The company also produces sapphire ingots, which are used as raw material for further fabrication. Additionally, Rubicon produces optical windows, with applications ranging from defense/aerospace and instrumentation to medical devices and polished epi-ready substrates. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Integrated circuit</span> Electronic circuit formed on a small, flat piece of semiconductor material

An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip, computer chip, or simply chip, is a small electronic device made up of multiple interconnected electronic components such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. These components are etched onto a small piece of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Integrated circuits are used in a wide range of electronic devices, including computers, smartphones, and televisions, to perform various functions such as processing and storing information. They have greatly impacted the field of electronics by enabling device miniaturization and enhanced functionality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MEMS</span> Very small devices that incorporate moving components

MEMS is the technology of microscopic devices incorporating both electronic and moving parts. MEMS are made up of components between 1 and 100 micrometres in size, and MEMS devices generally range in size from 20 micrometres to a millimetre, although components arranged in arrays can be more than 1000 mm2. They usually consist of a central unit that processes data and several components that interact with the surroundings.

Photolithography is a process used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. It involves using light to transfer a pattern onto a substrate, typically a silicon wafer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semiconductor device fabrication</span> Manufacturing process used to create integrated circuits

Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to manufacture semiconductor devices, typically integrated circuits (ICs) such as computer processors, microcontrollers, and memory chips. It is a multiple-step photolithographic and physico-chemical process during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer, typically made of pure single-crystal semiconducting material. Silicon is almost always used, but various compound semiconductors are used for specialized applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sapphire</span> Gem variety of corundum

Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3) with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name sapphire is derived from the Latin word sapphirus, itself from the Greek word sappheiros (σάπφειρος), which referred to lapis lazuli. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called rubies rather than sapphires. Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on the locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) – sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, such as infrared optical components, high-durability windows, wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and very thin electronic wafers, which are used as the insulating substrates of special-purpose solid-state electronics such as integrated circuits and GaN-based blue LEDs. Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary. A sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wafer (electronics)</span> Thin slice of semiconductor used for the fabrication of integrated circuits

In electronics, a wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor, such as a crystalline silicon, used for the fabrication of integrated circuits and, in photovoltaics, to manufacture solar cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallium arsenide</span> Chemical compound

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photonics</span> Technical applications of optics

Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Photonics is closely related to quantum electronics, where quantum electronics deals with the theoretical part of it while photonics deal with its engineering applications. Though covering all light's technical applications over the whole spectrum, most photonic applications are in the range of visible and near-infrared light. The term photonics developed as an outgrowth of the first practical semiconductor light emitters invented in the early 1960s and optical fibers developed in the 1970s.

Silicon on sapphire (SOS) is a hetero-epitaxial process for metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing that consists of a thin layer of silicon grown on a sapphire wafer. SOS is part of the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) family of CMOS technologies.

In semiconductor manufacturing, silicon on insulator (SOI) technology is fabrication of silicon semiconductor devices in a layered silicon–insulator–silicon substrate, to reduce parasitic capacitance within the device, thereby improving performance. SOI-based devices differ from conventional silicon-built devices in that the silicon junction is above an electrical insulator, typically silicon dioxide or sapphire. The choice of insulator depends largely on intended application, with sapphire being used for high-performance radio frequency (RF) and radiation-sensitive applications, and silicon dioxide for diminished short-channel effects in other microelectronics devices. The insulating layer and topmost silicon layer also vary widely with application.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boule (crystal)</span> Synthetic ingot of crystal

A boule is a single-crystal ingot produced by synthetic means.

Masklesslithography (MPL) is a photomask-less photolithography-like technology used to project or focal-spot write the image pattern onto a chemical resist-coated substrate by means of UV radiation or electron beam.

An epitaxial wafer is a wafer of semiconducting material made by epitaxial growth (epitaxy) for use in photonics, microelectronics, spintronics, or photovoltaics. The epi layer may be the same material as the substrate, typically monocrystaline silicon, or it may be a silicon dioxide (SoI) or a more exotic material with specific desirable qualities. The purpose of epitaxy is to perfect the crystal structure over the bare substrate below and improve the wafer surface's electrical characteristics, making it suitable for highly complex microprocessors and memory devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single crystal</span> Material with a continuous, unbroken crystal lattice

In materials science, a single crystal is a material in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries. The absence of the defects associated with grain boundaries can give monocrystals unique properties, particularly mechanical, optical and electrical, which can also be anisotropic, depending on the type of crystallographic structure. These properties, in addition to making some gems precious, are industrially used in technological applications, especially in optics and electronics.

Soitec is an international company based in France, that manufactures substrates used in the creation of semiconductors.

Monocrystalline silicon, more often called single-crystal silicon, in short mono c-Si or mono-Si, is the base material for silicon-based discrete components and integrated circuits used in virtually all modern electronic equipment. Mono-Si also serves as a photovoltaic, light-absorbing material in the manufacture of solar cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand-Braun-Institut</span>

The Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH) is a research institute, which is a member of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community. The institute is located in Berlin at the Wissenschafts- und Wirtschaftsstandort Adlershof (WISTA), its research activity is applied science in the fields of III-V electronics, photonics, integrated quantum technology and III-V technology

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyropoulos method</span> Method of bulk crystal growth used to obtain single crystals

The Kyropoulos method, also known as the KY method or Kyropoulos technique, is a method of bulk crystal growth used to obtain single crystals.

Adamant Namiki Precision Jewel Co., Ltd. is a Japanese precision components manufacturer based in Tokyo, Japan.

Orbray Co., Ltd. is a Japanese precision components manufacturer based in Tokyo, Japan.

References

  1. "Company Introduction". Rubicon Technology.
  2. "Company History". Rubicon Technology.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. "Rubicon Technology to Showcase Optical-Grade Sapphire Products at Laser World of Photonics in Munich, Germany". www.businesswire.com. 2013-05-13. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  4. "Products". Rubicon Technology.