Thorlabs Semiconductor Manufacturing Capabilities

This facility in Jessup, Maryland houses Thorlabs’ semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. Thorlabs manufactures a broad variety of active optical devices, including three-five indium phosphide, gallium arsenide, and gallium antimonide semiconductors, mems-vcsel lasers, quantum cascade lasers, and lithium niobate optical modulators. Our vertically-integrated manufacturing facility includes device design, wafer fabrication, packaging, and device testing capabilities. Thorlabs’ semiconductor product offerings are available as part of Thorlabs’ extensive line of photonics products. Additionally, custom and OEM products for research, manufacturing, and the telecom industry are available. Thorlabs’ team of design engineers utilize a large selection of tools and design capabilities to support new and existing product development and manufacturing. Our design capabilities include epi-taxial wafer growth simulation, optical waveguide design, and optomechanical packaging design. Our environmentally-controlled class 100 and 1000 cleanroom houses our wafer fabrication facility, which is designed for volume production of three-five semiconductors and lithium niobate components, as well as production of precision test targets and other select foundry operations. Our solid-source molecular beam epi-taxy tool, or MBE, is used for three-five epi-taxial wafer growth. MBE enables the growth of complex multi-quantum well structures comprised of the elements Gallium, Arsenic, Indium, Phosphorus, Aluminum, and antimony. Our deposition, photolithography, and etching capabilities allow material to be deposited or removed in patterns on chips with sub-micron precision. Deposition techniques include plasma-etched chemical vapor deposition, RF sputter deposition, e-beam deposition, and plating, while etching techniques include RIE and ICP dry etch, and chemical etching. Many semiconductor devices are fabricated on a single wafer, so the wafer must be cleaved to form individual devices. We have automated cleaving, dicing, and pick and place chip handling capabilities to make this process quick and reliable. Once the devices are cleaved, their optical facets are coated with either an anti-reflective, or highly-reflective dielectric stack coating. Our optical coatings are then characterized by a multi-wavelength ellipsometer. Repeatability of wafer fabrication process steps is ensured by our extensive metrology capabilities, including the surface profile measurements shown here. The chips produced by our wafer fab are available in a variety of opto-electronic package types. Packaging takes place in our class 10,000 cleanroom area. Our automated die bonding and wire bonding processes attach the chip to a ceramic submount, and then attach fine wire leads to the electrical contacts of the device. Proprietary laser welding processes are used to locate and attach optical elements within the package. For certain package types, fiber pigtails are aligned and attached to carry light to and from the device. Finally, the semiconductor package is hermetically sealed to ensure stable and reliable long-term operation. Our semiconductor devices undergo an extensive testing and quality assurance procedure before being shipped to the customer. This testing includes burn-in, reliability testing, environmental testing, and extensive device characterization. For more information about our semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, or to inquire about purchasing a stock, custom, or OEM device, please visit our website at www.thorlabs.com.