Agnitron has developed a system for preparing gallium oxide, a semiconductor material, using an Agilis dual-purpose machine via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition ( MOCVD ). Furthermore, the system can be switched to other materials when needed. Agnitron employs Beckhoff 's PC -based control technology to ensure the high reliability and flexible scalability required by users developing small- to medium-sized production equipment.
With improvements in the design and manufacturing of high-voltage switches in consumer electronics, the compound semiconductor gallium oxide ( Ga2O3) promises a wide range of exciting benefits. However, the performance and use cases of this ultra-wide bandgap compound semiconductor must first be confirmed by researchers such as Dr. Sriram Krishnamoorthy, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Utah .
Limitations in existing metal-organic chemical vapor deposition ( MOCVD ) equipment can prevent the proper processing of gallium oxide, hindering customization, cost, or reliability. While exploring new systems, Krishnamoorthy discovered the Agilis platform from compound semiconductor research company Agnitron .
Agnitron was founded in Chanhassen, Minnesota in 2008 by President and CEO Andrei Osinsky . While many MOCVD equipment manufacturers had begun to focus on broader industry trends such as LEDs , Agnitron was established to provide new solutions for unmet market needs. At that time, the company had completed research on gallium β- oxide applications and developed the Imperium MOVCD™ software and Agnitemp™ for their own system in the field for metering. The company's Agilis dual-purpose machine, with only minor adjustments, can convert growing gallium β- oxide into group III nitride semiconductor materials within a few days , a capability currently unavailable in other MOCVD equipment on the market. The modularity and flexibility of PC -based control technology simplified the design and development of this multi-functional platform.
Cost control and reliability are key.
A new MOCVD system typically costs over $ 1 million. Even though Agnitron machines are dual-purpose, the cost to Agnitron's customers is still significant, especially considering they typically don't have the large budgets of large semiconductor manufacturers. However, customer demands are constantly increasing in both research and production to meet high-quality standards and adhere to their own growth formulations. Ivan Yunchyk , Head of Automation and Control Technology at Agnitron , explains: " We operate in a highly competitive market. We must offer versatile solutions at the lowest possible price, while each component must simultaneously offer high reliability and repeatability. "
Dr. Dmitri Volovik, Senior Principal Engineer at Agnitron, added: “ The best praise you can get in this industry is when customers say the equipment works just as well as before. Customers spend years and millions of dollars defining their processes, so they want a well-programmed new system that can precisely maintain semiconductor manufacturing process recipes without unexpected downtime. ” In fact, Agnitron was on the verge of losing customers when the reliability of its previous automation and control system supplier became problematic. Just then, they found a brand-new solution at Beckhoff Automation, headquartered near Savage, Minnesota.
Modular systems can be customized for different users.
Beckhoff's modular control products offer two different control solutions for Aglis systems: the Beckhoff CX2042 embedded controller with a quad-core Intel® Xeon® processor and the CX2040 embedded controller with a quad-core Intel® Core™ i7 processor .
“ We offer the standard CX2040 to meet our customers’ R&D needs, ” said Dmitri Volovik . “ However, our customers have increasingly higher requirements for memory and processing speed. Our Imperium software and SQL database must run on the same hardware platform to support more complex operations and the acquisition of larger volumes of data, as well as to meet Agnitemp ’s metrology requirements. The CX2042 controller , equipped with a Xeon® processor and a 1 TB SSD, is the best choice for achieving 24/7 production. ”
Many refurbishment and retrofit projects can utilize the more affordable CX2040 . If the existing PLC is still functional, the company can simply replace the traditional PC with Beckhoff's C5102 rack-mount industrial PC . In both cases, Beckhoff's hardware and software backward compatibility ensures reliable maintenance of semiconductor growth formulas.
By using TwinCAT 3 automation software on the embedded controller , Agnitron engineers can write device control logic in C# using Visual Studio . Because the embedded control is based on the Windows operating system, they can install Imperium control software and store data locally. By using a PC -based control system instead of a separate PC and PLC , Agnitron machines save approximately $ 10,000 on control hardware .
It has real-time network connectivity while reducing space requirements.
EtherCAT 's real-time networking capabilities offer further benefits to Aglis . The EtherCAT high-density terminal module EL3318 connects Aglis to eight different thermocouples, crucial when using gallium β- oxide and other complex semiconductor materials. Together with other 16- channel I/O terminal modules, they allow the device to maintain a small footprint. " Space inside control cabinets is becoming increasingly limited, especially for smaller R&D systems, " said Dmitri Volovik . " The compactness of Beckhoff's EtherCAT I/O and embedded controllers allows us to stand out from the competition. "
EtherCAT has become the leading industrial Ethernet standard in the semiconductor industry and is now a SEMI standard, while DeviceNet was once the most widely used standard in the industry. In existing equipment, the EL6752 DeviceNet master / slave terminal block is used to connect EtherCAT networks and DeviceNet field devices. As Dmitri Volovik explained, EtherCAT also simplifies development: “ With EtherCAT industrial Ethernet and the TwinCAT development environment, integrating a DeviceNet network takes only a few hours. Using the previous vendor's solution, this would typically take a whole week. ”
Researcher Sriram Krishnamoorthy believes that the Agilis dual-purpose machine is a game-changer for research institutions and the semiconductor industry: “ Currently, there isn't a platform on the market that offers this service. In fact, I have several pending proposals exploring the integration of group III nitrides and gallium oxide in ultra-high voltage equipment, and I hope this platform will become an affordable option for my research projects in many other institutions. ”
