China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has dismissed a request by Veeco Instruments (Shanghai) for invalidating a patent owned by China-based MOCVD set maker Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC), according to AMEC.
AMEC in July 2017 filed a complaint with Jujian High People's Court accusing Veeco Instruments (Shanghai) - a subsidiary of US-based Veeco Instruments - of infringing on its patent regarding substrate carriers used in MOCVD sets. Veeco Instruments (Shanghai) countered by trying to have SIPO invalidate the patent.
Following SIPO's decision, the court will judge whether Veeco Instruments (Shanghai) has infringed on AMEC's patent.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York in late October 2017 granted Veeco's request for a preliminary injunction on SGL Carbon's sale of wafer carriers involving Veeco Instruments' patent technology, including models specifically designed for use in AMEC-developed MOCVD sets.
While Veeco and Germany-based Aixtron SE have dominated the China MOCVD market, they face increasing competition from AMEC and China-based Tang Optoelectronics Equipment. AMEC has shipped more than 100 MOCVD sets, with China-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip makers San'an Optoelectronics and HC SemiTek being the major users.
