TriQuint Awarded Phase 3 DARPA R&D Contract
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 3, 2009...TriQuint Semiconductor of Hillsboro, Oregon USA
announced that the Army Research Laboratory has awarded it leadership of Phase III of a multi-year gallium nitride (GaN) research and development contract. TriQuint says that the contract, which gets its funding form the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), was awarded based on the fact that TriQuint surpassed Phase II goals in an overall program to develop new high power, wideband GaN amplifiers for a range of defense applications. TriQuint is teamed with BAE Systems, IQE-RF Corporation, and Lockheed Martin for Phase 3 of the project.
Beginning in 2005, TriQuint executed Phase II of the gallium nitride program (valued at $15.8 million). Since that time, the company points out that it has achieved milestones in the project including improved power density, efficiency and device ruggedness. The next phase of the program (valued at $16.5 million) seeks to improve device reliability for 48V operation, increase operational lifetime, and extend performance to cover the high end of contracted frequency ranges. Phase 3 is expected to be completed in two years.
"In Phase II, we developed a high performance, reliable gallium nitride process with excellent reproducibility and high yield," said Cathy Lee, TriQuint’s Phase III program manager. "Since the program began we have achieved key milestones including 48V operation and superb high frequency performance." TriQuint News Release Skyworks Acquires Axiom Microdevices
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 3, 2009...Skyworks Solutions, Inc. of Woburn, Massachusetts USA, announced its acquisition of Axiom Microdevices, a volume supplier of CMOS-based power amplifiers for mobile phones.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Skyworks expects the transaction to be earnings per share neutral in fiscal year 2009 and accretive thereafter.
David J. Aldrich, president and chief executive officer of Skyworks commented, “With the addition of Axiom’s patent and product design portfolio, we can further our industry leadership position. At the same time, this acquisition supports our existing product road maps in adjacent linear products markets, such as low power smart grid networks and wireless meter reading, where we maintain a first-mover advantage. " Skyworks News Release June 3, 2009...Oclaro Inc, the company resulting from the merging of Bookham and Avanex based in San Jose, California USA,
reports that it has signed a definitive agreement with Newport Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, Newport will acquire the New Focus business of Oclaro's Advanced Photonics Solutions division in exchange for the Newport Spectra Physics high power laser diodes business. Oclaro will also receive $3 million in cash proceeds, which is expected to fund the substantial portion of related transition and integration costs. As part of the deal, Newport's Tucson fab will consolidate into Oclaro's Caswell and Zurich fabs. Oclaro projects that this will increase wafer volumes by about 30% and improve the gross margin for its telecom products.
Upon closing, Oclaro says the transaction will enable it to expand its high power laser diode portfolio with a deeper expertise in systems and packaging. According to Oclaro, says its expanded portfolio has the potential to yield gross margins of 40% or better.
"Oclaro is executing on its strategy to become a predominant force in the fiber optics industry," said Alain Couder, president and CEO, Oclaro, Inc. "The high power laser diodes business is ideally aligned with Oclaro's business model, corporate growth strategy and core competencies."
Oclaro News Release Blue 2009 Conference Promises World Class LED Industry Networking
LIGHTimes StaffJune 1, 2009...The 7th annual installment of CompoundSemi Online/Solid State Lighting Net’s
"Blue" LED supply chain business-technology conference is promising
some top-notch speakers for this year's event. Slated for June 8-9 in Hsinchu,
Taiwan, headline talks this year include a keynote market address by Strategies
Unlimited's Dr. Robert Steele, a "pioneer perspective" by Philips Lumileds'
CTO George Craford, and a new material/production capacity report offered by
Canaccord Adams’ Jed Dorsheimer. The Blue 2009 keynote talk will be offered
by Norbert Hiller, VP & GM of LED Components for Cree. Cree's President,
Chuck Swoboda, delivered a much-discussed keynote speech at the 2004 edition
of Blue, in which he accurately predicted Taiwan’s 2005/2006 LED industry
consolidation. Mr. Hiller will reportedly tackle a 5 year retrospective, and
provide some insights and predictions for the next 5. Information, agenda and
registration are online at www.BlueTaiwan.com. SolFocus CPV Modules First to Receive IEC Certification
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 1, 2009...SolFocus, a developer of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems based in Mountain View, California USA, announced that its SF-1000P module is the first CPV product to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 62108 standard. The IEC is a leading standards organization that prepares and publishes its rigorous performance, quality, and safety standards for electrical and electronic technologies. The IEC reportedly created the 62108 standard for photovoltaic concentrators and receivers to verify the safety, photoelectric performance and environmental reliability of panels designed with CPV technology and ensure that they were ready to be introduced to the emerging marketplace. The standard was designed to be universal, taking into account different environments and manufacturing technologies across geographies.
"The real-world testing conducted for the IEC CPV standard proves that SolFocus systems meet both the performance, qualification, and reliability criteria, critical in bringing CPV to a truly global scale," said Mark Crowley, president and chief executive officer of SolFocus. "We have already proven that CPV can yield nearly twice the efficiency of traditional PV systems, but meeting the IEC's rigorous CPV requirements proves that SolFocus systems can perform consistently across a variety of climates and environments. This validation sends a message to developers, investors and customers that CPV is on track to global commercialization." SolFocus News Release.
SolFocus' SF1100 modules previously were the first modules approved by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to be placed on the Eligible California Solar Initiative (CSI) Solar Electric Equipment List. (Ref: coverage). Skyworks Enables Two New Samsung Touch Screen Mobile Phones
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 1, 2009...Skyworks Solutions EDGE front-end is powering yet another handset. It is now in Samsung's S5230 touch-screen mobile phone handset. The device is reportedly one several new touchscreen models being offered in European markets.
Skyworks reports that its front-end also supports the Samsung 3310, a thin quad band GSM/EDGE candy bar mobile phone capable of global roaming.
Measuring a mere 11.9 millimeters (mm) thick, the S5230 has a three inch auto-rotating touch screen containing Samsung’s patented TouchWiz user interface, that reportedly simplifies data and text entry with finger-swipe navigation. The handset also contains a QWERTY keyboard, and comes with a built-in 3.0 megapixel (MP) camera that can record quarter video graphics array (QVGA) resolution video at 15 frames per second. The S3310 has a 2.1 inch thin film transistor (TFT) QVGA resolution display with 16 million colors. It also has a 2.0 MP camera that provides up to 30 frames per second of video recording capabilities.
“Skyworks is delighted to support Samsung as it enhances its position as a leading player in the hugely popular touch screen mobile market,” said Liam K. Griffin, Skyworks’ senior vice president of sales and marketing. “We look forward to further strengthening our partnership with Samsung as they add to their portfolio of innovative platforms that combine all essential multimedia functionality into a single device.” Skyworks News Release IBM and Bulgarian Government in Nanoscience Partnership
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 27, 2009...IBM and the Bulgarian Government have reportedly signed an agreement to cooperate on nanoscience research. IBM and the Bulgarian government signed a separate agreement to create and run Bulgaria's first nanotechnology center. The agreement also aims to encourage industry, universities and the Bulgarian Academy of Science to work together in the emerging field of nanoscience. The government’s three-year program hopes to create different nanoproducts, micromachines, and microsystems.
To enable the computing-intensive projects, the new 500 sq. meter laboratory facility will draw on IBM's Blue Gene - the most powerful Bulgarian supercomputer, owned by Bulgarian State Agency for Information Technology and Communications. Once the center is created, the Bulgarian government intends to conduct applied research in: Micro and nanofluidics, nanosystems for electronics and sensing, and nanomaterials.
"Bulgaria's important step into the world of nanoscience creates a global opportunity for the country and the region," said Marcelo Lema, General Manager, IBM Central and Eastern Europe. “IBM has been a leader in nanoscale science for many years and our participation in this project will support the accelerated success of the Bulgarian Nanotechnology Center. We see this type of collaboration as an emerging model for future industry-academic partnerships." IBM News Release Spire Receives U.S. Patent for Nanophotovoltaic Devices
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 27, 2009...Spire Corporation, a provider of turnkey solar factories, reports that it has been granted a patent for silicon or gallium arsenide photovoltaic devices ranging in size from 50 nm to about 5 microns. The patent covers the design of the tiny solar cells and the method of their fabrication.
The patent describes one of several possible applications which is to inject nanophotovoltaic devices into diseased tissue, e.g., cancerous tissue. Penetrating light activates these cells.
In theory this would generating an electric fields in the tissue, causing a disruption of the cancerous cells.
“This is an extension of our solar energy technology into biotherapeutics. Functionalized nanophotovoltaic devices can go to cancerous cells in the body and when exposed to tissue penetrating light, may provide sufficient electrical energy to destroy the cells. We are continuing to exploit this technology in our research and development activities,” Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire Corporations, and co-inventor, said. Company News Release Our news features are reported
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