NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ARC Energy today announced the CHES® 500 crystal growth furnace, designed to produce the world’s largest-ever sapphire boules with a mass of 300kg and 500mm diameter. This new furnace will also have the lowest cost per unit for critical growth markets, yielding impressive quantities of up to 6,000 smartphone covers, up to 5,600mm of 4-inch LED wafers, or up to 2,500mm of 6-inch LED wafers per boule.
“ARC was founded to provide exactly these kinds of technological breakthroughs,” said Dr. Kedar Gupta, founder of ARC Energy. “I am very proud of our team and look forward to seeing our customers producing these massive sapphire boules cost effectively.”
In 2009, ARC’s first-generation CHES furnaces achieved remarkable 75+ percent crystal utilization by growing on the c-axis for the emerging LED solid-state lighting (SSL) market. CHES technology focused on enabling lower-cost production of large diameter wafers. Advances included ease of installation, precision controls, automated re-start and power off modes, and full safety interlocks for low operator costs.
Today, as energy-efficient LED lighting adoption continues to increase, another market for sapphire is emerging: durable transparent material for mobile devices such as smart phones and watches. CHES 500’s incredible 300kg/500mm diameter boule capability is set to give ARC’s customers the opportunity to again leap ahead of industry standard throughput with a yield of up to 6,000 smartphone covers per run.
In addition, the new field-tested CHES HZ3™ technology, which handles the complex process of melting sapphire above 2,040° C and re-solidifying it, has greatly reduced both consumable material and energy costs, and delivered the repeatable and reproducible performance required for large scale materials manufacturing. Collectively this has enabled ARC to develop the fully automated CHES 500 furnace for true push-button, walk-away ease of use.
CHES 500 will provide the lowest cost of ownership for sapphire boules on multiple axes (A, R, or C) for all applications including mobile, LED, optical, RFIC, and power electronics. First-generation CHES furnaces can be upgraded to the new platform. CHES 500 furnaces have already produced 380mm diameter boules weighing 190kgs. The revolutionary new CHES 500 crystal growth furnace, producing the world’s largest sapphire boules, will be available starting Q2 2015.
About ARC Energy
Headquartered in Nashua, N.H., the Advanced RenewableEnergy Company, LLC (ARC Energy), was founded in 2007 to commercialize cutting-edge technologies for LED and other clean energy markets. For additional information about ARC Energy, please visit www.arc-energy.com.