GaAs Vendors Should Continue to Improve Monolithic Integration of PAs or CMOS Will Replace It, Strategy Analytics Says
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 11, 2008...Boston, Massachusetts USA-based market research firm, Strategy Analytics, released its “PA Technology Trends 2008-2013” report. According to the company, the report reveals an increase in the number of companies developing CMOS power amplifiers (PAs) for cellphones. The report summarizes the actions of 20 firms that promise to lead to
simplified multi-band, multi-standard cellphone front ends, potentially reducing the cost of cellphones, while potentially disrupting established suppliers. GaAs and LDMOS hold the vast majority of the market, but CMOS has so far only captured a tiny portion of the market.
Strategy Anlytics notes in the report that however, that even in mainstream PA modules based on GaAs and LDMOS RF power elements, suppliers increasingly add CMOS support chips for linearity-efficiency management and control. SA contends that this increasing adoption of CMOS leads to the prospect of replacing the entire PA-front end with a potentially lower-cost monolithic solution in CMOS or SiGe-BiCMOS. SA says that new technologies, such as MEMS tunable elements, could enable this transition. GaAs and LDMOS will continue to lead the market, SA says.
Asif Anwar, Director of the GaAs and Compound Semiconductor program of Strategy Analytics, said, "It is crucial that GaAs vendors continue to improve the monolithic integration supported by GaAs for cellular PAs, otherwise CMOS will eventually replace GaAs, as it did about a decade ago in handset transceivers." Company News Release
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August 11, 2008...Veeco Instruments, a company best known for its MOCVD systems based in Plainview, New York USA, reported that it has settled patent litigation that it had brought against Asylum Research Corporation in 2003 concerning technology related to Veeco’s atomic force microscope (AFM). As part of the settlement, Veeco and Asylum agreed to drop all pending claims against each other. The companies have also agreed to a five year, worldwide cross license of each other's patents. The companies have made a mutual covenant not to sue on patents either party has a right to assert. Under the terms of the agreement Asylum will make a net payment to Veeco plus an ongoing royalty for the five-year term of the cross license. According to Veeco, Asylum acknowledged the validity of the its patents asserted in the case. Other terms of the license were not disclosed.
John R. Peeler, Chief Executive Officer of Veeco, commented, "We are pleased to have reached this favorable settlement with Asylum that values our technology and validates our patents. Veeco has invested tens of millions of dollars in intellectual property and research and development for AFM technology, and this investment has helped us to bring the best AFM products to the marketplace. This settlement is a significant milestone for our employees, customers and shareholders, and we will continue to protect our valuable intellectual property, as necessary, in the future." Veeco News Release Skyworks Continues to Improve Integration of PAs as it Surpasses Two Billion GaAs PA Module Shipments
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 11, 2008...Skyworks Solutions’ GaAs-based power amplifier (PA) shipments have reached the two billion milestone, the company reported. Skyworks says it expects to outperform market growth because of its share gains and diversification in the market.
The Woburn, Massachusetts company says that it uniquely supplies to each of the world's top five handset OEMs and two leading smartphone manufacturers. Also, Skyworks points out that it has developed design partnerships with leading baseband suppliers. Skyworks notes that most recently, it captured key sockets on Qualcomm and MediaTek reference designs. Skyworks’ Intera line of front-end modules, which includes connectivity solutions for GSM, GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA, as well as CDMA, WLAN, and WiMAX applications, integrates GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobile transistors (pHEMTs) and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs).
"We are thrilled to surpass the two billion PA module mark and are even more excited about the design-win traction of our next generation of multimode Intera™ front-end modules," said Liam K. Griffin, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Skyworks. "Given the strength of our product pipeline, Skyworks is benefiting from the trend towards highly integrated, multi-band FEMs for 3G, EDGE, LTE and WLAN applications. In fact, new product ramps of our content-rich Intera™ portfolio coupled with our diversification initiatives is positioning Skyworks to outpace our addressable markets this quarter and moving forward." Skyworks News Release
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Emcore Diversifies Its Terrestrial Backlog with Two Purchase Agreements for CPV Receivers
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 6, 2008...Emcore Corporation, a maker of GaAs solar cells based in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA, reported that it has entered into two new supply agreements for solar cells and receivers with a total value of over $40 million. The larger of the two purchase contracts is a multi-year supply agreement for solar cells, to be incorporated into photovoltaic concentrator systems and delivered over four years. The systems were developed for commercial rooftop installations as well as utility-scale solar farms. The company notes that the customers placing these orders are targeting CPV deployments in California and throughout the United. The company says that production for the orders has commenced, and approximately $1 million of product is expected to be shipped in the present quarter.
Emcore contends that the award of these purchase agreements affirms its position as a leading supplier of the enabling CPV engine, and further diversifies the company’s terrestrial CPV component backlog. Emcore has introduced a line of integrated CPV solar cell products optimized for operation from 500X to 1000X concentration with a minimum average efficiency of 37% and a 20- year performance warranty. Emcore says that using their CPV receivers, CPV system developers are able to focus their efforts on advancing their optical design and optimizing the balance of their system, thereby reducing their time to market. Emcore did not release the names of its new CPV receiver customers. Company News Release AmpTech Offers Gallium Arsenide and Indium Phosphide Foundry Services
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 6, 2008...AmpTech Inc. of Milpitas, California USA, announced that it is now offering GaAs and InP contract manufacturing foundry services. The company says that the gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP) foundry services target the radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) and optoelectronics markets. In the first nine months of operations, the company has shipped 1.5 million parts from its four-inch, 15,000 square foot clean room and fabrication line at its headquarters.
AmpTech noted that it offers front-end circuit design support, wafer processing, back-end characterization, RF and DC production testing, and die separation. It has production-qualified processes for GaAs MESFETS, and InGaP heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). The company says its MESFET process offers linear gain over 85% of the device operating range. The HBT process is characterized by breakdown voltages of over 25V. Additionally the company notes that process modules have been adapted to manufacture optical devices including GaAs and InP PIN photodetectors.
Ray Milano, president and CEO of AmpTech stated, “AmpTech is committed to providing foundry services, and can offer significant advantages in development time, production turn-around, and security of supply for key components in our target markets. ”
According to Craig Farley, director of foundry services, “Our production line includes redundancy in all key equipment to ensure a smooth and predictable material flow, and we offer fast-turnaround options for prototyping. We achieve high yields on both our HBT and MESFET processes, and offer our customers the choice of known good wafers, or known good die.” Company News Release
IQE is Largest Merchant Supplier and RFMD is Biggest Captive Producer of SI GaAs Epitaxial Substrates, Strategy Analytics Says
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 6, 2008...Market analysis firm, Strategy Analytics (SA) released a report entitled, “Markets for SI GaAs Epitaxial Substrates: 2007-2012.” SA said that in 2007, the market was split almost evenly between MOCVD and MBE processed substrates. As previously predicted, IQE was the largest merchant supplier of both MOCVD and MBE material in production and revenue. It was aided with the acquisitions of Emcore and MBE Technology. SA estimates that IQE held 36% of the merchant market for semi insulating gallium arsenide epitaxial substrates in 2007. Kopin was number one in MOCVD side the merchant market for SI GaAs epitaxial substrates. The report indicates that VPEC edged ahead of Hitachi Cable, in terms of total material output to the merchant market, and in the MBE side of the merchant market, North American supplier IntelliEPI overcame French Soitec subsidiary, Picogiga, by 3 percentage points.
Asif Anwar, Director of the GaAs service at Strategy Analytics said that the captive market of GaAs epitaxial substrates was about 30 percent of the total market output in 2007. He added, “Despite strong growth for the merchant vendors, we believe that overall RFMD will continue to be the world’s largest producer of SI GaAs epitaxial substrates.” SA contends that multimode and multiband markets will increasingly demand SI GaAs substrates and the market will have a CAAGR of 5 percent through 2012. Mr. Anwar predicted, “Demand for SI GaAs epitaxial substrates will grow by 7 percent year-on-year in 2008 and then 10% year-on-year in 2009.” Strategy Analytics News Release Columbia Professor Going After More Allegedly Infringing Companies
LIGHTimes StaffAugust 5, 2008...Columbia University Professor Emerita Gertrude Neumark Rothschild and her legal team at Dreier LLP have been looking into some companies that were not previously included in Rothschild’s original patent infringement complaint against 31 companies. Rothschild has reportedly reached licensing agreements with several leading multinational consumer electronics companies over a patent covering key LED and LD technology. Professor Rothschild is the sole owner of a US patent that was issued in 1993 that covers a method of producing wide band-gap semiconductors for LEDs and laser diodes (LDs) in the blue, green, violet and ultraviolet end of the spectrum.
Several companies have approached Rothschild to reach a licensing agreement despite not being named in the U.S. International trade commission case. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Energy Innovations’ Sunflower Solar Concentrator Achieves UL Listing (Corrected)
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 4, 2008...Energy Innovations, a company based in Pasadena, California USA, that makes a sun tracking and silicon photovoltaic system, reported that its Sunflower Solar Concentrator has officially received certification from the Underwriters Laboratories (UL). The company says that its Sunflower Solar Concentrator can carry the UL Mark under the Concentrator Photovoltaic Modules and Assemblies (QIPC) category. The Sun tracking and concentrating system has implications for compound semiconductor and multi-junction solar cells. Energy Innovations points out that so far, no other product in the concentrating solar photovoltaic (CPV) category has achieved this certification. The company notes that certification from a nationally recognized test laboratory, such as UL, is required to obtain permits for commercial PV installations and is necessary to qualify for most U.S. state incentive programs.
The Sunflower CPV Solution reportedly integrates the photovoltaic module, tracker, controller and communications system into one solution. The company contends that the solution produces cost-competitive solar power while also being easy to install and maintain over time. Energy Innovations said it will be raising more capital to expand production and deploy commercial installations coming online in 2009.
“After strict evaluation and testing to all current requirements, Underwriters Laboratories has issued UL Listing for the Sunflower solar concentrator system,” said Evelyn Butler, manager of UL’s Renewable Energy Sector. “We look forward to working with Energy Innovations and the growing community of solar start-ups, as well as regulatory authorities, government agencies and other stakeholders, to further define and develop requirements that will be used to test other solar concentrating photovoltaic products.” Company News Release US Navy Selects GeneSiC for New SBIR Awards
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 4, 2008...The U.S. Navy has reportedly selected GeneSiC of Dulles, Virginia USA, for two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards. The awards will fund development of high voltage SiC devices that are critical for integrating high power RADARs, Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), and ship propulsion systems with the modern on-board power sources. After completing a Phase I SBIR project, the US Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center selected its Phase II SBIR proposal. The project is to develop multi-kV SiC devices for power conditioning and power distribution systems using legacy and modern ship bus infrastructure. In another SBIR award to the company, the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) has completed award formalities on Phase I of a project focused on the design and fabrication of novel SiC devices for high-frequency, high-power RADAR applications.
"These projects will enable GeneSiC to develop industry-leading SiC devices through its innovative device solutions," said Dr. Ranbir Singh, GeneSiC’s President. "Power devices targeted in these programs will allow Megawatt-level power to be handled with digital precision. This technology has the potential to revolutionize critical commercial and military hardware, not yet possible due to the limitations of contemporary Silicon based technologies. These device development programs can also significantly improve the efficiency levels in power inverters used to integrate wind and solar energy systems with the power grid," he added.
The company said it is aggressively hiring personnel experienced in compound semiconductor device fabrication, semiconductor testing, and detector designs. Company News Release Our news features are reported
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