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Editorial: GaN Foundry Services Finally in the News
... It's been a long time coming, but two major USA compound semi houses, TriQuint Semiconductor of Hillsboro, Oregon and Cree of Durham, North Carolina have announced they're opening their doors to GaN electronic foundry customers (v.s. GaN-based LEDs) . Both companies took the opportunity of the IEEE MTT-S International...
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June 25, 2008...Ulvac of Japan, a tech firm formerly know for its vacuum technology, announced plans to start providing turnkey thin-film (non-silicon) solar cell manufacturing equipment, according to a Nikkei Net article. The company is apparently betting heavily on the demand it expects, before it has many customers lined up, the article indicated. The company reportedly spent about 3 billion yen (about $30 million) on a thin film solar cell demonstration production line.
China Solar Power has ordered the equipment to produce 50MW of amorphous thin-film solar cells per year from Ulvac. China Solar Power revealed in the article that it hopes to have its first solar cell production factory up and running in the spring of 2009. The article noted that startup companies hoping to specialize in solar power are looking to turn-key production solutions to start immediately. So far, 50MW of amorphous thin film solar capacity costs about 10 billion yen (about $100 million), the article estimated, but 50MW of polycrystal silicon solar cell production capacity is estimated to cost about 6-7 billion yen (about $60 million to $70 million). Ulvac and companies like it hope to reduce costs for its solar production equipment.
Ulvac has made about $2.34 billion (251 billion yen) in estimated revenue for the fiscal year ending in June 2008. Ulvac predicts that in four years it will get about 100 billion yen from turn-key solar production equipment. Laser Diode Transceiver Consumption to Have Nearly Eight-Fold Increase in Decade
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 25, 2008...ElectroniCast Consultants, a market and technology research firm, has released a new market forecast and analysis of the global market consumption and technology trends of hybrid and monolithic integrated edge-emitter laser diode (EELD) transceivers. According to the company, the United States consumed about 42 percent of the EELD-based fiber-optic transceivers worldwide in 2007. The company noted that the global consumption of EELD-based fiber-optic transceivers worldwide was $3.24 billion in 2007. The company predicts that the global consumption of these transceivers will have a nearly eight-fold increase to to $25.7 billion in 2017.
The company predicts that by 2012, the global consumption of monolithic transceivers of this type will reach 11 percent penetration of global integrated EELD transceiver production in 2012. According to the company’s report, this penetration rate will nearly quadruple to 42 percent ($10.6 billion) by 2017. The company noted that in 2007, single-channel EELD transceivers represented 27% of global consumption value while 2-12 channel transceivers accounted for 55% ($959 million). The company projects that the value share of the single-channel EELD based transceivers will expand to 38% ($4.7 billion) in 2017, the 2-12 channel transceiver value share will drop to 34%, and the remaining portion of 28 percent of consumption will be the 16-128 channel transceivers. Company News Release Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Installs Aixtron Tool for Blue-Violet Laser; VPEC Orders Aixtron Tool for Capacity Increase
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 25, 2008...Aixtron of Aachen/Germany announced a successful installation and commissioning of an MOCVD system for the production of GaN-based blue-violet lasers at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) of Japan. In other company news, epitaxial wafer producer, Visual Photonics Epitaxy Co. Ltd. (VPEC) of Taiwan ordered an Aixtron system for the production of microelectronic and optical devices. Aixtron says that MELCO began operating its AIX 2600G3 HT system with an 11 x 2-inch configuration for the development and volume production of gallium nitride (GaN) based lasers for high-density optical storage and related applications.
Aixtron points out that GaN-based lasers operating over the 390 to 420 nm emission wavelength range are becoming very important commercially.
MELCO commented, “Our previous experience with our existing Aixtron G3 MOCVD tools has confirmed the high quality of the engineering, service and process technology. Those systems have performed very well for the manufacture of AlGaInP-based high-power red lasers. We now look forward to the same high standard of throughput and economics for the new generation of blue-violet lasers.”
Aixtron News Release
Aixtron noted that its AIX 2600G3 IC systems will be delivered within this year for installation at VPEC’s facilities in Ping-Jen City, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Dr. James Huang, General Manager of VPEC’s Microelectronic Products Business Unit commented, “Since last year, we are continuing our strategic plan to build up additional capacity to meet growing demand from our customer base for microelectronic and optical devices.”
Aixtron News Release Strategy Analytics Predicts DBS Market to Offer GaAs Volume Growth but Limited Revenues
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 23, 2008...Market research firm, Strategy Analytics (SA), forecasts healthy GaAs component demand through 2012 for the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) market. The company makes this prediction in its report entitled, “GaAs Device Demand from Direct Broadcast Satellite Markets 2007-2012.” According to SA, the growth will occur for GaAs within DBS as DBS platforms continue to implement digital video recorder capabilities that allow consumers to record content, pause live TV and skip advertisements. SA predicts that demand for GaAs components in this market will largely be derived from the low noise block down converter function where SA says GaAs component volumes will increase at a CAAGR (compound annual average growth rate) of 12 percent through 2012.
SA points out that the increasing popularity of personal video recorders (PVRs) / digital video recorders (DVRs) requires multiple tuners in the set-top box as well as multiple LNBs (low noise blocks) to record one program while viewing another for example. “PVR/DVR functionality translates to multiple LNBs, thus GaAs will benefit from this trend as multiple components are used in LNBs,” observed Asif Anwar. “However, while volumes will increase, low ASPs will counter revenue growth with CAAGR limited to 6 percent through 2012.” Company News Release Solar Cell Investments to be on Par with with Semiconductor Investments by 2010
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 23, 2008...iSuppli Corp, a market research firm, has predicted that worldwide investments in all photovoltaic cell production (including silicon) will rise to the same level as the worldwide investment in semiconductor manufacturing by the year 2010. According to iSupply, global production of PV cells is expected to rise to as much as 12 Gigawatts (GW) by 2010. This would be up from 3.5GW in 2007, the company said. iSuppli predicted that by 2010, as many as 400 production lines in the world that can produce at least 1 Megawatt (MW) of PV cells per year will be in place. iSuppli says that this represents a four-fold increase from about 90 to 100 production lines in 2007. The company also indicated that that factories capable of 1GW of annual PV production also will be established in the future.
“The market for PV cells is estimated to grow by 40 percent annually until 2010, and 20 percent beyond,” said Dr. Henning Wicht, senior director and principal analyst, MEMS and photovoltaics, for iSuppli. “Nearly all market participants plan to increase their sales by a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40 to 50 percent during the next few years.” The company further predicts that the cost of electricity from photovoltaic cells and the cost of electricity derived from the electrical grid will reach parity beginning in 2012.
Company News Release
TriAccess Releases Drop Amp for CATV Applications; TriQuint to Serve as GaAs Foundry for TriAccess Products
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 23, 2008...TriAccess Technologies of Santa Rosa, California USA, a provider of CATV radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC), has introduced a new high performance, low noise 1 GHz, 75 Ohm drop amplifier for hybrid fiber/coax CATV network applications. According to the company, volume shipments of the TAT 7461 began in May. TriAccess Technologies also announced a supply agreement with TriQuint Semiconductor’s commercial foundry business unit. Under the terms of the agreement TriQuint will produce TriAccess products using TriQuint’s six-inch foundry process.
TriAccess noted that with its solid supply chain relationships, it can support output delivery of volume orders in a launch window of four to eight weeks while maintaining optimum performance, reliability and quality. TriAccess says that the TAT 7461 uses proven TriQuint GaAs foundry technology from which over 100 million RFICs have been fielded. Chris Day, President and CTO of TriAccess Technologies commented, “There is market demand today for a drop-in solution to existing footprints with incredibly short lead times. With TriQuint we have in place a solid supply chain system that can deliver our complete portfolio of products with industry-leading part-to-part consistency and unconditional stability.” TriAccess News Release
UDT Instruments Introduces New Measurement System
LIGHTimes StaffJune 24, 2008...UDT Instruments of San Diego, California USA has introduced a new LED measurement system, the portable S-471 LED Optometer. UDT notes that it is designed and configured for all LED measurement requirements. It features microprocessor control and three measurement data presentation options including direct display measurement with analog bar, RS-232C computer interface, and analog voltage input. The company says its easy to use in production or lab settings. It comes with a silicon photometric detector and LED holding sockets for a variety of LED types. UDT says that all of the sockets are designed to meet the recommended CIE Publication 127 Conditions A and B for candela of LEDs. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... TriQuint Semiconductor Unveils GaN Products; GaN Foundry to Begin Service in September
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 18, 2008...TriQuint Semiconductor of Hillsboro, Oregon USA, has released its first GaN power transistors. The company says that they are ideal for a range of high frequency applications including mobile base stations and defense and space communication systems. In addition, the company announced the opening of its new GaN foundry service. The company says that customers are lining up to produce their circuit designs for when full production of their products will begin in September 2008.
TriQuint points out that gallium nitride (GaN) amplifiers allow greater power density (wattage per square millimeter), are smaller in size and weight, and reduce energy consumption for communication applications. According to TriQuint, the benefits lead to better performance and lower overall system costs for the customer.
TriQuint’s first high frequency GaN device family is being introduced at the IEEE IMS MTT-S microwave symposium in Atlanta, Georgia, June 15-20. The new series of discrete die-level GaN-based devices boast up to 2.5-times the power density of high voltage gallium arsenide devices. They operate up to 18 GHz, have 55% power added efficiency (PAE), and can produce up to 90 Watts of output power. The company says that the amplifiers with the technology can operate more efficiently and at higher voltages. Company News Release IBM and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Collaborate to Make Solar Energy Affordable and Easy
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 18, 2008...IBM of Yorktown Heights, New York USA, and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (TOK) are working together to develop and bring to market low-cost next generation solar energy products. The companies want to produce solar energy products that are more affordable and easier to install than those that are available.
TOK and IBM have agreed to jointly develop processes, materials, and equipment suitable for the production of CIGS (Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide) solar cell modules. They can be put on cheap glass substrates instead of silicon and they have higher efficiency. IBM acknowledges that the cost per kW hour of the electricity from current photovoltaics is an inhibitor to a more widespread adoption of solar energy. IBM Research reports the development of new, non-vacuum, solution-based manufacturing processes for CIGS solar cells that can be put on flexible backing. IBM says it is targeting efficiencies around 15% and higher compared to current thin film product efficiencies that vary from around 6% to less than 12%. IBM contends that combining its technology with the proven coating technique and high purity chemicals of TOK has the potential to bring the large scale production of thin-film solar cells to market.
"Our goal is to develop more efficient photovoltaic structures that would reduce the cost, minimize the complexity, and improve the flexibility of producing solar electric power," said Dr. Tze-Chiang Chen, IBM Vice President of Science and Technology, IBM Research. IBM is also researching silicon solar cells and concentrator solar cells. IBM News Release San Francisco Passes Country’s Largest Municipal Solar Incentive Program
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 18, 2008...On June 10, the city of San Francisco passed legislation that would give incentives to residents, non-profits, and commercial businesses that choose to install solar panels.
With the mayor’s signature, the city of San Francisco has officially backed the largest city-funded solar incentive program in the United States.
The law will provide $3,000 to $6,000 per project in tax credits to San Francisco residents to put solar modules on their roofs. It provides up to $10,000 to non-profits and businesses that install solar power, and it offers up $30,000 for solar installed in non-profit affordable housing. The city’s experts estimate that the remaining cost for private residents after the $6000 tax credit incentive would be about $2000, and this amount could be well within reach of many residents’ creditcards.
Mayor Newsom said that the goal of the program was to make San Francisco a solar leader in both adoption and in local business whose success would be analogous to Berlin, Germany in terms of the solar adoption and the industry that has taken hold there. Berlin’s success has been backed by big financial incentives.
"Less than 1,000 rooftops in San Francisco have solar installed," said legislative co-sponsor and champion Supervisor Bevan Dufty. "Not only will this program significantly expand solar in the City, but it will also provide much-needed meaningful employment to the workers being trained to join the new green economy." City of San Francisco News Release RFMD Releases 5.8 GHz ISM Band Transceiver With Integrated PA
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 18, 2008...RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) of Atlanta, Georgia USA released a 5.8 GHz ISM band transceiver with an integrated power amplifier. According to RFMD, the ML5805 is a low-IF, frequency shift key (FSK) transceiver designed for operation in the license-free 5.8 GHz ISM band. The company notes that proprietary point-to-point and point-to-multi-point radios using 5.8 GHz ISM band transceivers are increasingly being implemented in consumer applications such as wireless audio, wireless video, and data connectivity.
The ML5805 has a power amplifier (PA), a low noise amplifier (LNA), and the transceiver architecture on a single chip. RFMD says that the ML5805's unique design allows easy implementation for radio designers and a minimal external bill-of-materials (BOM) count. The company contends it also decrease the time-to-market for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The ML5805 provides even more flexibility by offering five, digitally selectable data rates ranging from 576 Kbps up to 2.048 Mbps for a broad range of applications. The ML5805 is RFMD's first product to incorporate the Company's proprietary FastWave microcontroller technology, which improves performance through value-add features including self-alignment of the low-IF receiver and phase locked loop (PLL) detection and control. Company News Release Our news features are reported
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The
McDonald Report
Commentary & Perspective...
GaN Foundry Services Finally in the News
Jo Ann McDonald, founding editorJune 23, 2008...It's been a long time coming, but two major USA compound semi houses, TriQuint
Semiconductor of Hillsboro, Oregon and Cree of Durham, North Carolina have announced
they're opening their doors to GaN electronic foundry customers (v.s. GaN-based
LEDs) . Both companies took the opportunity of the IEEE MTT-S International
Microwave Symposium (IMS 2008) in Atlanta, Georgia to make their announcements.
The world has embraced GaN for LED applications rather nicely. Without GaN you
simply wouldn't have blue spectrum LEDs (which includes green, white and UV).
But for those of us who have been championing GaN for electronic applications
for what seems to be decades, the fact that foundry doors are finally opening
is great news. The only thing yet to be determined is if there are enough customers
out there to make the efforts worthwhile.
As usual in the field of advanced compound semi materials science, this latest
"overnight success story" has actually taken about 20 years to unfold.
GaN electronics finally hit the ultimate commercialization goal by enjoying
a few days in the spotlight at MTT-S in Atlanta. Stars of the show (from our
point of view) were TriQuint and Cree with their individual flavors of GaN-based
foundry services for electronic applications.
TriQuint is generically referring to their process line as "GaN Foundry
Service" which has a nice, simple, straightforward ring to it, whereas
Cree is capitalizing on their existing MMIC foundry offerings calling their
foundry services an expansion of their standard full-wafer (SFW) MMIC Foundry
service to include shared multi-project (SMP) "pizza mask" foundry
runs on a quarterly basis. Cree's SMP service is available for both SiC MESFET
and GaN HEMT MMIC processes. Not so straightforward, but if you're a MMIC designer,
you get the gist. I call it all "GaN electronic foundry services"
as there are sure to be more players in this arena if and when customers start
to line up at the newly opened doors at TQ and Cree.
TriQuint's
announcement was targeted to customers with circuit designs intended for
production starts in September of 2008, underscoring all the virtues of GaN
for electronic applications that those of us inside CS circles have come to
know so well. The fresh phrases they used that I liked especially were: (1)
that GaN "offers considerable power savings and smaller device form factors
for space-conscious design applications" which gave it a somewhat sexy
sound, and (2) that: "The benefits lead to better performance and lower
overall system costs for the customer, and can shrink carbon footprints for
network system operators focused on reducing global warming" which makes
GaN sound downright trendy.
TriQuint's intrepid director of defense product marketing, Gailon Brehm, who
has been connected with the various DARPA-backed wide bandgap development projects
for many years, was spokesman for the offering noting that TriQuint’s GaN
Foundry services will initially target power amplifier applications through
the Ku frequency band. He was quoted as saying, "Now that we’ve
released the first member of our GaN discrete amplifier family for defense,
commercial and space applications, we’re welcoming Foundry customers who
have their own circuit designs ready for September 2008 starts. We want to meet
with customers, identify their needs and develop a successful implementation
production schedule." I'm sure they do. Virtually everyone in
the GaN electronics community wants to meet with customers and implement a production
schedule. They'd like it even better if they were prompt-paying customers with
high volume requirements and feasible specs.
TriQuint has been a tremendous supporter of early stage GaN development and
has kept an open mind about GaN from the outset. You may recall they were the
first to run Nitronex' designs for impressive proof of concept. They've had
their noses to the GaN grindstone since GaN became a workable reality, and their
due diligence looks like it's now positioned well. They had a huge order come
in March from IQE Plc for GaN epiwafers with deliveries scheduled throughout
2008 that have helped support TriQuint's ongoing development efforts and products
for both defense and commercial applications. IQE itself has a great commercial
GaN effort going via its acquisition of the old Emcore epiwafer foundry services,
now called IQE-RF in Somerset, New Jersey.
TriQuint's own high frequency GaN electronic device family, around which the
foundry services are likely to revolve, includes discrete die-level devices
operate up to 18 GHz, have 55% power added efficiency (PAE), and can produce
up to 90 Watts of output power. The boilerplate marketing pitch underscores
that "GaN power technology has garnered significant defense and commercial
interest because of its ability to operate with substantially greater power
density (more wattage per square millimeter) and efficiency compared to other
commonly used solid-state amplifier technologies. These factors enable the development
of more efficient, smaller amplifiers capable of operating at higher system
voltages, which lower overall system current demand and reduce the cost of power
conversion." They turned to Strategy Analytics for the applications' pitch
stating that...
"Strategy Analytics sees future radar, communications, EW [electronic
warfare] and smart munitions platforms in the defense sector driving early demand
for GaN. There are also a myriad of commercial opportunities within wireless
infrastructure and satellite communications as well as those in broadcasting
and medical markets. Inherent GaN properties including high power at high frequency,
coupled with high voltage and wide bandwidth performance, make gallium nitride
a technology that will see broad applications as it evolves in the marketplace.
GaN’s further advantages including reduced form factors and weight savings
translate into system efficiencies that positively impact both capital and operating
expenditures.” That credited to our good friend Asif Anwar, Director,
GaAs and Semiconductor Technologies, Strategy Analytics.
Cree has also been working on GaN for a long, long time. Traditionally a SiC
house, they acquired tremendous GaN expertise when they integrated ATMI's GaN
team, headed by our good friend George Brandes. George traditionally grows great
GaN and, he's a great team player. But when Cree acquires you it's almost as
if you fell off the face of the earth. You never hear from those people again
until an announcement like this proves that they're not only still doing what
they do best, but that they've been up to something really special behind those
closed doors. My hunch is that what Cree is offering could be the best of the
best. Cree's
announcement at MTT-S of the ensuing of GaN foundry services also came with
the announcement of their latest GaN MMICs which include a wideband 5 watt distributed
amplifier operating from DC to 6 GHz and a higher power, 25 watt reactively
matched amplifier operating from 2.5 to 6 GHz. Both MMICs are geared for a variety
of applications where high power over broad bandwidths is required. Their foundry
offering is an expansion of what they call their standard full-wafer (SFW) MMIC
Foundry service to include shared multi-project (SMP) "pizza mask"
foundry runs on a quarterly basis. This SMP service is available for both SiC
MESFET and GaN HEMT MMIC processes.
Jim Milligan, Cree's director of RF and microwave products was spokesman for
the MTT rollout and noted that: "These products can provide our customers
with the performance improvement and size reduction benefits of microwave circuit
integration in convenient 'drop-in' 50 ohm amplifiers. Further, our new SMP
foundry service will be ideal for lower-cost prototyping of SiC or GaN MMICs
by allowing customers to purchase a portion of a shared multi-project wafer."
Our good pal John Palmour, executive VP for advanced devices at Cree and incredible
longtime champion of wide bandgap electronics, weighed in adding that: "This
MMIC milestone is the culmination of many years of internal investment and external
support from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Title III Office, and the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). We are extremely pleased to see the
results of these efforts beginning to pay off for both the military and commercial
markets." That's giving credit where credit is due. Overdue, in fact.
GaN electronics has come a long way, the hard way. The next great news will
be that device designers are walking through the newly opened foundry doors.
If you have questions about the
solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or have news
or views to share, I'm Jo Ann McDonald, Editor of LIGHTimes and CompoundSemi News.
Feel free to contact me directly, anytime. 
My direct tel at the ranch is
+1-325-463-5345
From time to time Jo Ann may comment on companies in which she holds a
modest investment - be sure to read
her disclosure at some point in time... |
