Semiconductor lighting talent bottleneck problem

On the day of the opening ceremony, the Ultra Clean Laboratory of the Aishang Training Center located at the nano-processing platform of the Suzhou Nano Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ushered in numerous visitors.

With the rapid development of the semiconductor lighting industry in our country, there have been problems such as insufficient technical strength. The scarcity of operating and maintenance personnel and process engineers has caused bottlenecks in the development of the industry. The establishment of a training center has provided a very good solution to this problem. Good model.

Chen Hao was very happy recently. As the managing director of Jiangsu Aoyang Shunchang (002245, Share Bar) Co., Ltd., on March 16th, he represented the company's Aoyang Shunchang Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. and AIXTRON Co., Ltd. (AIXTRON, stock Code: Frankfurt Stock Exchange AIXG; Nasdaq AIXG) has signed five ASICS multi-wafer MOCVD systems to produce high brightness light emitting diode (LED) materials. This will be even more powerful for Australian Shunchang Optoelectronics, which is moving into the new energy field.

On the same day, there was another thing that made Chen Xin more emboldened. That is to say, the training center jointly established by the Suzhou Nanotechnical Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Aishangqiang Company was officially completed and an opening ceremony was held. The talent bottleneck problem that has plagued China's semiconductor lighting industry has begun to be a problem.

Industrial development brings talent bottlenecks

MOCVD equipment is the most critical equipment for epitaxial material growth and chip production. It not only determines the performance of LED products, but also determines the cost of LED production. With the rapid development of China's semiconductor white lighting industry in recent years, the number of MOCVD purchases in China has also grown rapidly.

According to report, in 2009, the global MOCVD shipment was 228 units, of which China accounted for only 12%, South Korea accounted for 42%, and China’s Taiwan region accounted for 35%. In 2010, the global shipment of this equipment increased to 800 units, and the Chinese mainland rose to 32%, South Korea and China Taiwan were 33% and 26% respectively. In 2011, shipments of MOCVD were approximately 850 to 1,100 units, with China occupying 60% of the market, while South Korea further declined to 10%, and China's Taiwan region was 23%.

"China is the most important market for Astor." As one of the industry's leading manufacturers of MOCVD equipment, Dr. Rainer Beccard, Vice President of Marketing at AceRock has not concealed his esteem for the Chinese market. He told reporters that the current Chinese market has occupied 90% of the market share of Acecar.

However, a serious problem caused by the rapid increase in equipment is the lack of MOCVD epitaxy and maintenance engineers. Wu Yan, business development manager of PANalytical China, who is dedicated to providing analysis and testing equipment, revealed to reporters that the MOCVD operator's salary level is a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan. However, even if such a generous treatment is given, such talents are also Hard to find, more high-end maintenance engineers and process engineers are scarce.

Beccard told reporters that prior to this, Aisikang had two main channels for solving the problems of equipment operation personnel: First, equipment buyers went to Germany for training, and Aisikang provided on-site service for customers. “However, these two methods will not only increase the time for the round-trip journey, but also greatly increase the cost of training.”

Localization meets training needs

Gloves, head coverings, masks, hats, ultra-clean clothes, ultra-clean shoes... After a few minutes of “full arming” from head to toe, the reporter passed through the “purification” of the air shower to gain access to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The clean laboratory of the Aishang Training Center of the Suzhou Nanometer Nano Processing Platform.

The first thing that came into view was two MOCVD devices worth millions of dollars. The director of the center, Nicolas Muesgens, told the “China Science Journal” that these two devices are the latest generation products of AIXICO. "The center is first a demonstration laboratory where Aisin can show the students the latest products and processes."

Another function of the center is training. According to Nicolas Muesgens, in addition to the clean room, the center also includes laboratories and training rooms, with a total area of ​​350 square meters. “The level of MOCVD operators plays an important role in the LED. The training center provides various possibilities for learning, experiencing and operating, and provides operators, maintenance engineers and process engineers with different levels of training.”

Wolfgang Breme, chief financial officer of Astor Strong, told reporters that in June 2011, Aishong signed a cooperation agreement with Suzhou Nano Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In just nine months, this demonstration and training center was built. The background of the establishment of the training center is the rapid development of the semiconductor lighting industry in China and the increasing demand for talents. The choice of Suzhou is because this is a very concentrated area of ​​the LED industry. "With the development of the market, if other regions also have the clustering effect of Suzhou, we will also consider setting up branches of training centers," Breme said.

Regarding the significance of establishing a training center, Yang Hui, director of the Suzhou Nanotechnology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also holds the same view. “With the rapid development of the semiconductor lighting industry in our country, there have been problems such as insufficient technical strength. The scarcity of operating and maintenance personnel and process engineers has created a bottleneck for the development of the industry. The establishment of a training center provides a solution to this problem. Very good model."

Prepare for the market to warm up

2011 was a year of ups and downs in the semiconductor lighting industry. The good development momentum at the end of 2010 did not continue. Under the multiple pressures of massive release of domestic production capacity, slowing down of global market demand, and unclear government subsidy policy, the development of China's semiconductor lighting industry has entered a low period. Under this background, in 2011 many LED companies did not have satisfactory business conditions and even closed down.

In this regard, Yang Hui believes that this will not affect the long-term development of semiconductor lighting. "I believe that the market outlook for semiconductor lighting will be bright."

Wolfgang Breme told reporters that since last summer, he has observed that the semiconductor lighting industry is in a downturn. For this kind of swing in the industry, Aisiqiang is not unfamiliar. "The downturn is only temporary," Breme said. "I believe that in the future MOCVD sales will not be just a few units or dozens of units, but it will be several hundred units. In the interim period, Aishong will increase its investment to make the market better." ready."

According to Dr. Michael Heuken, vice president of R&D at Astor Strong, “China's LED industry is undergoing a transition from weight to heavy quality, and the market is becoming more and more fierce. AiSheng will further strengthen research and development to provide higher cost performance. Products to adapt to this change."

According to Chen Lijun, deputy director of the Suzhou Nanotechnical Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in the cooperation of this training center, Aishangqiang provided MOCVD equipment and was responsible for the training and maintenance engineers of the training center. The Nanotechnical Center provided Aisikang customers with Technical Training. More importantly, the two sides will jointly build MOCVD technology R&D centers on the basis of this cooperation.

Chen Lixin believes that for the current LED manufacturing, the most obvious key challenge is still to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of LED. Especially for conventional lighting applications, LED devices must be able to interact with existing light sources in terms of efficiency and cost. Competing. Whether or not the cost is reduced is greatly influenced by the manufacturing technology, and MOCVD epitaxial growth is a very critical process in LED manufacturing, which affects the cost reduction plan. In the future, Suzhou Nanotechnologies will join hands with Aisheqiang to use the training center as a platform to conduct in-depth research and development on MOCVD technology, thereby effectively reducing LED cost and improving its performance.

"This is a great challenge for both parties to the cooperation," said Chen Lijun.