Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology, a provider of advanced wafer processing solutions for the semiconductor industry, has announced plans to move to a state-of-the-art, manufacturing facility in Bristol, UK.
The relocation is driven by the growing demand from customers, which include the world's leading semiconductor device manufacturers and materials research institutions. This is also against a backdrop of a worldwide shortage of semiconductors.
Managing Director of Plasma Technology, Matt Kelly, said: "Our new site will be a leading-edge laboratory, manufacturing and office environment for our colleagues, customers, and collaboration partners; an inspiring environment that supports team working, innovation, training and provides greater flexibility. Our customers will have even more opportunity to see our solutions and train at our facility. Our building will also be an excellent base to welcome community groups, such as schools and universities promoting STEM subjects."
Kelly continued: "The new premises is just twenty minutes away from our current site and is a purpose-built facility in Bristol. We took the decision to keep our manufacturing and R&D facilities in the Bristol area, for several reasons. Our employees are of utmost importance to us and limited disruption to their current work/home life balance was key."
The new facility will include ISO Class 5 & 6 class application laboratories spanning 1,000 sqm equipped with a complete suite of state-of-the-art wafer processing solutions and advanced characterisation/metrology technologies; many of these being supplied by Oxford Instruments businesses.
This will not only enable development of next-generation processes for customers but also allow continuous improvement, and intense reliability testing of high-volume manufacturing (HVM) application processes, combining silicon semiconductor standards with compound semiconductor solutions.
The design of the new site incorporates a range of energy-saving technologies to reduce environmental impact, with the goal to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. This includes the option to generate significant amounts of energy from photovoltaic panels, reusing heat from the building's cooling and heating systems, and harvesting rainwater.
