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August 15, 2005...Agilent Technologies of Palo Alto, California USA, announced it will sell its semiconductor business to Kohlberg Kravis
Roberts & Co and Silver Lake Partners for $2.66 billion. Company president
and CEO, William Sullivan said that the semiconductor business unit of agilent was half as profitable
as it should have been this year. The chip testing business posted a loss for
the quarter. The company will cut 1,300 of its 28,000 workers in the divested
units. The moves are expect to cost $200 million. Agilent will close 11 locations,
Chief Financial Officer Adrian Dillon said at a meeting with analysts in New
York. According to the company, the sale will close by Oct. 31, and Agilent
expects the divestiture will be largely completed by the middle of FY2006.In addition to the sale of its semiconductor business, Agilent has agreed to sell
its 47% stake in Lumileds Lighting Inc., a maker of advanced LEDs of all colors (and a leading manufacturer of white LEDs) to its JV partner in Lumileds, Royal Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands for approximately $950 million and $50 million in debt payoff. (Lumileds'
company news release) Lumileds was originally set up as a 50-50 partnership between Agilent and Lumileds. Lumileds employees hold approximately 3.5% of the original Agilent shares.
Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... GigaBeam to Use Vitesse InP TechnologyAugust 15, 2005...GigaBeam Corp. of Herdon, Virginia USA, has entered into an exclusive agreement
with Vitesse Semiconduct to use Vitesse’s proprietary indium phosphide (InP)
semiconductor technology. GigaBeam says it will use the technology in its proprietary
RF modules. "We are excited to have exclusive access to certain of Vitesse's
technology and know how. As a company, GigaBeam is committed to incorporating
into its products proprietary technologies which we believe will continue to provide
us with sustainable competitive advantages, " said Lou Slaughter, GigaBeam's
Chairman and CEO.
GigaBeam's WiFiber G Series was introduced at Supercomm in June 2005. The company
says it is currently developing its next generation WiFiber, which will include
the their 10 Gigabits-per-second products operating at 10Gig E and OC192 protocols.
Mr. Slaughter added, "The Vitesse technology and know-how being obtained
under this new agreement will be incorporated into our next generation 10 Gigabits-per-second
products. Our strategy is to continue to develop and commercialize products
designed to lead the market in overall performance and cost for last mile communications."
The FCC has assigned WiFiber the 71-76GHz and 81-86GHz part of the spectrum.
GigaBeam says that the current speed achieved by GigaBeam's WiFiber 2 and anticipated
WiFiber G Series product lines is one Gigabit-per-second. The company claims
this is equivalent to 647 T1 lines or 1,000 DSL connections. GigaBeam also plans
deployment of future products capable of 10 Gigabits-per-second which is the
10 Gigabit Ethernet protocol standard. Company
News Release Cree Awarded Airforce Contract for SiC MMIC Development
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 11, 2005...Cree Inc., of Durham, North Carolina USA, was awarded a $19.7 million cost share contract to develop and manufacture silicon carbide monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) devices for next generation military radar systems, according to the Department of Defense. The DoD reported that $4.1 million of the funds have been obligated thus far. The work is scheduled to be completed in March 2010. Solicitation began March 2005 and negotiations were completed July 2005. In early July of this year, Raytheon was awarded a $580 million contract through Boeing to provide 190 GaAs-MMIC-based radar systems for the Super Hornet fighter aircraft used by the U.S. navy.
Chemical Warfare Agent Detection Systems Development Update
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 11, 2005...Northwestern University researchers (Illinois, USA) have created a quantum cascade laser that may one day be a part of a man portable (or perhaps even handheld) system to detect chemical warfare agents (CWA’s). Portable compound semi-based CWA detectors is a field in which Ahura Corporation of Wilmington, Massachusetts USA already has a established a foothold with their Ramen laser-based handheld devices. Northwestern's development effort is part of a three-year program called Laser Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (LPAS), funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create a system that can warn against a wide variety of potential threats.
The researchers at Northwestern University have created the quantum cascade laser (QCL) that can operate continuously at high power and at room temperature with an emission wavelength of 9.5 microns and light output greater than 100 milliwatts, according to a PhysOrg.com article. The researchers contend that existing standard diode lasers such as those that read CD’s or scan barcodes do not operate at the wavelengths required to detect chemical warfare agents (CWA’s). While every chemical has a unique 'fingerprint’ because it absorbs light at a particular frequency, most CWA’s absorb light in the 8 to 12 micron range.
Over the next two years, the Center for Quantum Devices director, Manijeh Razeghi and her team at Northwestern will work to put together a detection system based on the center's far-infrared laser. The system will then be evaluated by DARPA for use by the military.
The Center for Quantum Devices at Northwestern, a leader in high-power QCL research. was reportedly the first university research lab in the world to successfully grow, fabricate, and test quantum cascade lasers in 1997. After the initial demonstration of room-temperature pulsed lasers in 1997, the primary efforts of Razeghi and her colleagues over the past several years have been to increase the laser's operating temperature, power output, and efficiency for the continuous operation necessary for sensitive chemical analysis.
The Ahura Corporation's approach focuses on a device with a similar function of detecting chemical warfare agents and other potential threats. Unlike the device the Northwestern University researchers are attempting to design, the handheld Ahura system uses a Ramen-laser for spectroscopy. The results are interpreted by a sophisticated algorithm and compared with signatures of known chemical agents including industrial chemicals, explosives, narcotics, and chemical warfare agents. The system, called the First Defender, can be used through glass or plastic. Details on First Defender can be found on the company's website, www.ahuracorp.com. Ahura recently received the Product Innovation Award for Homeland Security Devices for their First Defender product from Frost and Sullivan. Applied Materials Enters MOCVD Equipment Market
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 10, 2005...Applied Materials Inc. of Santa Clara, California USA, plans to make and sell
metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment to produce high-k dielectrics
for advanced gate-stack applications, according to a recent EE Times
article. The company, which already produces CVD and atomic layer disposition machines,
is also expected to enter the ALD tool market for gate-stack applications.
In the article, Pravin Narwankar, high-k engineering manager for the Front
End Products Division at Applied Materials said that MOCVD technology is expected
to give chip makers the ability to produce high-k gate-stack films with lower
costs than ALD-based tools on the market. The article points out that device manufacturers are struggling to reduce current
leakage in their cutting edge devices while increasing performance. Narwankar
said, “The 45-nm transistor is at the cross roads,” He
added,. “Silicon dioxide has hit the wall at 65-nm. Silicon dioxide
has also hit the wall for low-power applications.”
According to the article,
companies are evaluating the use of ALD, plasma enhanced ALD, MOCVD, and related
technologies for the production of high-k for gate stacks to overcome such hurdles. Applied Materials has also gained a new ALD product, based on a mini-batch technology
through its acquisition of Torrex. The company showcased its technology at the
AVS 5th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition 2005 in San Jose
on Monday. Phasebridge Wins Contract for Optoelectronic DevelopmentAugust 9, 2005...The US Navy has selected Phasebridge to develop and demonstrate analog RF signal
transmission through fiber optic cable instead of the copper cable currently used.
While copper cable can handle some RF transmissions, it is limited in its ability
to transmit RF signals. Dr. John Gallo, vice president of business development
at Phasebridge, explained, “As frequencies of these RF signals increase,
copper cables become incapable of transmitting these signals faithfully over any
significant distance. Our advanced, hybrid fiber optic links not only overcome
this bandwidth-distance limitation, but also weigh much less than copper cables
– a significant factor in airborne applications.”
Phasebridge, Inc. of Pasadena, California USA, which specializes in photonic
integration technologies, has been awarded a contract for the development and
manufacture of integrated fiber-optic transmitters and receivers for the AN/ALR-95
system on the P-3C Maritime Patrol Aircraft. The EDO Corporation awarded the
contract to provide the AN/ALR-95 system to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
Maritime Patrol Aircraft Program (PMA290). The company will develop the fiberoptic transmitter and receiver modules using their proprietary hybrid integration
technology. According to the company, the photonic modules developed under this
contract will be capable of delivering high bandwidth Electronic Support Measures
(ESM) in the presence of extremely challenging environmental conditions.Company News Release Northrup Grumman Wins DARPA Contract for SiC Power ElectronicsAugust 8, 2005...Northrup Grumman has won a Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)
contract to develop silicon carbide (SiC) high-power modules to replace bulky
transformers on naval vessels. According to the $8.9 million contract, part
of Phase II of DARPA’s Wide-Band gap High Power Switching program (Ref:
article),
Northrup Grumman will lead the team of multiple companies and institutions to
develop the technology to replace transformers on navel vessels that can be
as large as a sport utility vehicle and can weigh as much as 20,000 lbs. (about
9,091 kg). Silicon-carbide technology can enable these improvements due to its
ability to switch high voltages in what the company describes as a thin, high-speed
device with excellent thermal properties.
According to the contract, Northrop Grumman will design, fabricate and test
silicon carbide-based metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET’s),
insulated-gate bipolar transistors and PiN diodes. These will be assembled into
10kV, 110 Amp half-bridge modules by Powerex, a program partner based in Youngwood,
Pa. Other teammates for the project include: GeneSiC, Gaithersburg, Maryland;
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia; Auburn
University, Auburn, Alabama; University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. Northrop
Grumman's Newport News sector in Newport News, Virginia, will design the solid-state
power substation. The Navy plans to incorporate this new technology on vessels
such as the new aircraft carrier (CVN-78). The Navy expects to realize a total
weight savings of 170 tons and a volume savings of 290 cubic meters from this
innovation.
"The U.S. Navy will benefit from these volume and weight reductions,
translating into more shipboard capacity to accommodate other mission-essential
sensors, systems, weapons and other equipment," said Steve McCoy,
director of advanced technology programs at Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems
sector. Company
News Release Alfalight Awarded $4.5 Million ARL Contract for Laser ResearchAugust 8, 2005...Alfalight has again won funding for laser research. The Madison, Wisconsin USA,
a company which was recently awarded a $1.4 million DARPA contract has also won $4.5 million from the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi,
Maryland for the development of diode laser sources with 1kW output. Alfalight
expects the results of this contract to have a significant impact on diode source
brightness. They also expect the research findings to increase the power per laser
emitter, and they hope to produce new techniques for combining the output of several
laser emitters into one compact spot. The company says that the new contract could
help develop high-power laser modules for pumping fiber lasers or for direct materials
processing.
"The results of this program will have a significant impact on fundamental
diode source brightness and foster new techniques for delivering power from
multiple diodes into small spot sizes and fibers," said Manoj Kanskar,
vice president of Research and Development of Alfalight."This program
will provide a new diode-based high-energy laser architecture with important
defense and commercial applications," said Dr. Gary Wood, Chief of
Electro-optics & Photonics Division at ARL. "The system efficiency
and brightness of the laser diode source has the potential to make this suitable
for deployment in portable, close-range defense systems."
Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, who was on hand for the company announcement
said, "This development program is expected to yield fundamental technology
improvements, commercial products, and potential for growth in jobs and market
share that benefit both Alfalight and the state of Wisconsin."Company News Release IBM Announces Fourth Generation SiGe Foundry TechnologyAugust 5, 2005...IBM announced its fourth generation 130nm silicon germanium (SiGe) bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) foundry technology called 8HP, which claims over twice the performance of the previous technology. The company says it also offers a lower cost variation of the 8HP technology specifically targeted at wireless applications that can enable longer battery life and increased functionality in cellular handsets to help proliferate wireless local area networking and global positioning satellite (GPS) technology. According to IBM CMOS chips are the foundation for digital computing applications, while silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS chips provide enhanced radio frequency communications and analog functions in addition to the core digital computing capabilities.
"Silicon germanium technology is increasingly influencing next generation consumer devices and applications," said Bernie Meyerson, Chief Technologist for Systems & Technology Group, IBM. "IBM introduced the technology in 1989 to allow chip designers to increase computer performance. Over the years, SiGe revolutionized the wireless industry by providing a high volume Silicon-based technology. The fourth generation of SiGe will continue to enable wireless connectivity on an increasingly global scale."Company News Release
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