22 Nov 2018  |  Author: Dr Mark Dineen

Semicon Europa, Munich, Germany

Another week has gone by and that means another event has been wrapped, this time Semicon Europa in Munich, Germany. This has become a pattern with different Semicon events happening throughout the year but some are beginning to stand out more than others. What is making us all feel that buzz and have the desire to be present at such events? Having been to Semicon for a few years the most exciting thing for me was the fact that it is collocated with Productronica.  What a great way to bring the suppliers and customers together.

We take great pride on capabilities of our tools but to see the final products that have been achieved through our solutions is taking pride to a different level. Being a hall apart from our customers and to be able to see many great things that have been achieved with our tools is what makes me love what I do for living.

From Silicon Carbide (SiC) in Electric Vehicles (EV), Gallium Nitride (GaN) in wireless charging to Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) VCSELs for LIDAR and 3D sensing I can point and say ‘We helped make that’, this is extremely useful when explaining to my 10 year old what I do for a living!

At times I forget the impact we make as a company on our daily lives … but going to such shows and seeing how our process solutions have changed our lives now and even better the impact they will have once the latest innovations are rolled out is a great motivation to move the science forward from ‘Lab to Fab’. Some of the materials and devices that we have worked on for 15+ years, in some cases, are now reaching the point of maturity and Oxford Instruments is uniquely placed to enable the ‘Lab to Fab’ journey.

We have systems placed within nearly all the top research institutes globally, the best people are doing the best work on our systems, innovating and creating new solutions every day, every month. When these move to the next level towards more volume production this can be achieved smoothly as our product range utilises matching internal chamber environments and then incorporates industry standard handling, monitoring and control, all the things demanded from a production supplier. The customer is able to achieve the same innovative results with all the production metrics in place. This is the pathway that is allowing exciting new devices and materials, GaAs, SiC, GaN etc to enter the market.

Semicon Europa 2018 was just reaffirmation that what we are doing, supporting our customers in innovation as well as offering solutions to meet the end user demands is something myself and my colleagues are proud to be part of.

I can’t wait until next year to see what new things we have helped our customers create. I read somewhere that ‘words and ideas can change the world’, at Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology we drop the CAN and replace it with WILL because we know we are already changing the world.

Watch this space, 2019 will contain even more exciting innovations, if you can join us at Semicon China, you will get a glimpse of what I mean by exciting.

For more information on Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology applications visit our page or drop us a line through our email Plasma-experts@oxinst.com