Chemnitz, Germany, December 1, 2021 – 3D-Micromac AG, the industry leader in laser micromachining and roll-to-roll laser systems for the semiconductor, photovoltaic (PV), medical device and electronics markets, announces that its management board has appointed Marko Gerlach to the role of chief financial officer effective immediately. As CFO, Marko Gerlach is responsible for the areas of accounting and controlling at 3D-Micromac AG. The previous interim CFO, Frank Jäger, will remain with 3D-Micromac AG for a period of time to help ensure a smooth transition before leaving the company.

Marko Gerlach began his professional career in tax consulting and auditing. For approximately 10 years, he provided services to small- and medium-sized companies in the fields of annual audits, management consulting and all tax matters.

Since 2009, Marko Gerlach has held various management positions within the Jenoptik Group. He built up the group audit department and was responsible for this function. In this role, he supported numerous group initiatives in the areas of process optimization and corporate governance. In recent years, he was responsible for Jenoptik’s operational accounting in Germany, which was centralized under his leadership.

„We are very pleased to appoint Marko Gerlach, an experienced financial expert, as chief financial officer. With his extensive expertise and leadership skills, we are certain to have a strong new addition to our management board,“ stated Uwe Wagner, CEO of 3D-Micromac AG.

Chemnitz, Germany, May 12, 2021—3D-Micromac AG, the industry leader in laser micromachining and roll-to-roll laser systems for the semiconductor, photovoltaic, medical device and electronics markets, today introduced microCETI—the first laser micromachining platform that supports all laser processes in microLED display manufacturing with the high throughput and precision, and low cost of ownership, needed for volume production requirements.

The microCETI platform is available in three different configurations, enabling cost-effective transfer, lift-off and repair of microLED devices. Its high speed enables the transfer of hundreds of millions of microLEDs per hour without having to apply mechanical forces – up to several orders of magnitude faster than other approaches – while the on-the-fly square-beam laser enables transfer of nearly any shape and size of microLED. 3D-Micromac has already received multiple system orders for the microCETI platform from leading microLED chip manufacturers in North America and Asia for laser lift-off and transfer processing.

A Promising Display Technology Enabled By Laser Micromachining

MicroLEDs have the potential to revolutionize the display industry, promising a variety of advantages such as superior viewing angle, high dynamic range with perfect black luminance and high brightness, wide color gamut, fast refresh rates, long lifetime and low power consumption. However, the microLED fabrication process is vastly more complex than LCD and OLED manufacturing, and faces several technical challenges that must be overcome before microLEDs can be readily available in the mass market.

Among these challenges is detaching and transferring the processed microLED chips from the donor or growth (e.g., sapphire) substrate to an intermediate substrate for subsequent testing, allowing the expensive growth substrate to be repurposed for future use. Another challenge is to quickly and precisely transfer the chips to the final glass backplane, which for a typical 4K display involving tens of millions of microLED chips could take hundreds of hours using traditional pick-and-place transfer methods. Technologies are also needed that can detect and repair/replace defective microLEDs during the manufacturing process, since a pixel yield rate of 99.9999 percent is required to produce a full-HD desktop display. The microCETI platform from 3D-Micromac supports all laser processes in microLED display manufacturing, with the ability to address precisely these challenges.

According to Uwe Wagner, CEO of 3D-Micromac, “MicroLEDs have enormous potential for future displays across a wide range of applications and end devices, including indoor and outdoor signage, smart watches, augmented and virtual reality headsets, and automotive heads-up displays. As a leader in laser micromachining, 3D-Micromac has extensive experience applying innovative laser technology to new and emerging applications to support their volume-production requirements. Our new microCETI platform provides a high-throughput, versatile and cost-effective laser micromachining process that is ideally suited for the production of microLEDs. We look forward to working with microLED device and display manufacturers to accelerate the adoption of this exciting and promising display technology.”

The microCETI platform is available in one of three configurations:

• LIFT: unique laser transfer process for nearly every microLED material and shape
• LLO: on-the-fly laser lift-off suitable for customer related microLED material
• REPAIR: Single-die-repair process at every step of the microLED production route

The microCETI platform features a high-precision UV-wavelength laser with high repetition rate and an advanced positioning system for three stages (donor stage, substrate stage and mask stage) and up to 16 axes to transfer every microLED with sub-two-micron positioning accuracy and nanometer-scale repeatability. microCETI supports donor wafer sizes ranging from 50mm (2 inches) up to 200mm (8 inches) as well as intermediate/transfer wafers and backplane substrates up to 350mm x 350mm. In addition to microLEDs, the microCETI platform is also suitable for standard LED and miniLED processing.

Product Availability and Further Information

3D-Micromac is currently accepting orders for the microCETI platform. More information on microCETI, including our latest white paper “Laser technologies for microLED production,” can be found at https://3d-micromac.com/laser-induced-forward-transfer/microceti-lift/.

dpiX and 3D-Micromac America today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlines the companies’ cooperation in the development, prototyping and manufacturing of laser-manufactured flat panel sensor semiconductors.

dpiX and 3D-Micromac America envision that the partnership will enhance the value chains for the U.S.-based, multi-segment semiconductor foundry operated by dpiX and the semiconductor and display segments of 3D-Micromac America’s business.“For over 20 years, we have been and continue to be the worldwide market leader in flat panel optical sensors for radiology. With great pride, we now see that our foundry services are also rapidly attracting strategic partners in R&D, prototyping and manufacturing for different types of flat panel semiconductors” said Frank Caris, CEO and president of dpiX.

dpiX and 3D-Micromac share the belief that their combined strengths – a U.S.-based semiconductor facility, industry-leading research and development (R&D), product development and end-product manufacturing capabilities – will contribute to the United States retaining and expanding upon these unique value chains to meet U.S. demand and compete internationally. Seeing these goals to fruition, however, requires appropriate funding. Both companies are monitoring progress of the CHIPS for America Act, the Biden-Infrastructure Plan and the Strategic Competition Act, with great anticipation.

“Partnering with dpiX means contributing precision laser expertise to a worthy endeavor. We look forward to adding a new dimension to the team and enhancing overall U.S. competitiveness in the sensor, display and electronics arena,” said Brian Hoekstra, president of 3D-Micromac America.

By ordering two microCELL MCS systems for their plants in Thuringia and Chemnitz, Heckert Solar GmbH and LWD Solar GmbH are once again relying on production equipment with the quality seal “Made in Germany”. The MCS systems are a further development of the proven microCELL  TLS laser tools for half-cell production in photovoltaics. The microCELL  MCS systems will not only be able to cut half-cells with the high edge quality, which is typical for the TLS technology. They will also enable module manufacturers to react flexibly to larger cell formats and to cut the solar cells into thirds and quarters if required. With the microCELL  MCS systems, 3D-Micromac enables the processing of photovoltaic cells with a maximum cell size of up to 220 mm².

With this new order LWD Solar puts their trust in 3D-Micromac as a reliable and long-term partner when it comes to the expansion of their own module production and conversion to half-cell technology.

More information on microCELL is also available on https://3d-micromac.com/laser-micromachining/products/microcell/.

Chemnitz, June 27, 2018— The TÜV SÜD Innovation Prize has been awarded for the second time, recognizing the successful cooperation of small and medium-sized enterprises with a research institution. The 1^st place in the TÜV SÜD Innovation Prize in 2018: 3D-Micromac AG (Chemnitz) and Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IMWS). The prize dignifies the successful development of a sample preparation system for microstructure diagnostics and failure diagnostics. The jury praised this innovative idea for its time savings, cost reduction and greater precision. The 2^nd place goes to Simi Reality Motion Systems GmbH and the Institute Informationsverarbeitung of Leibniz-University Hanover; 3^rd place goes to MdynamiX AG and Labor für Akustik & Dynamik Munich university. The prize provides the winners with a total of 50,000 euros.

“The three winners are a perfect example for successful and innovative cooperation of small and medium-sized enterprises and research institutions. This is what the TÜV SÜD Innovation Prize stands for. Congratulation to all winners and best of success for future developments.” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Stepken, Chairman of the board TÜV SÜD AG. The TÜV SÜD Innovation Prize was initialized in celebration of the 150^th TÜV SÜD anniversary and awarded for the first time in 2107. The main focus lies on the support of small and medium-sized enterprises that have worked with a research institution to jointly develop and successfully launch a product or service.