Sapphire (a-Al2O3) is a multifunctional oxide crystal with excellent optical, physical, and chemical properties.
In the field of optoelectronics, sapphire crystal is the preferred substrate material for manufacturing gallium nitride (GaN) light-emitting diode (LED); in the field of optical communication, sapphire crystal is not only used as a short wavelength active device, but also as a polarizer of passive devices; in the field of laser, sapphire is an excellent laser medium material (such as Ti: Al2O3, Cr: Al2O3); in the field of superconductivity, sapphire crystals can not only produce Y-series, La-series high-temperature superconducting films but also grow new practical MgB2 high-temperature superconducting films. In the field of national defense, sapphire crystal is an important window material for infrared military devices, missiles, submarines, satellite space technology, high-energy detection, and high-power lasers. In addition, CRYSCORE is also acted as a sapphire ingot manufacturer providing sapphire ingots as raw material for further fabrication.
Whether the led sapphire substrate in the optoelectronic field or the sapphire window in the optical communication field, there are very high requirements for its processing quality. For example, the sapphire substrate of GaN grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) requires a super smooth and non-destructive surface. At present, a super smooth surface refers to the surface whose surface roughness is less than 1nm (RMS). The non-destructive surface means that the machined surface can not have the processing metamorphic layer, and the surface lattice is complete.
