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August 23, 2006...Makers of green LEDs are green with envy over the efficiency and performance
of state-of-the-art blue and red LEDs, or so it would seem. A team from Kyma
Technologies and researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have won funding
under the US Department of Energy (DOE) Solid State Lighting Core Technologies
Program. (Ref: March
22 Coverage). The winning proposal, co-led by professors Christian Wetzel
and E. Fred Schubert of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is entitled, “High
Performance Green LEDs by Homoepitaxial MOPVE.” The company hopes to improve
green LED performance and efficiency by making improvements in the quality of
native polar and non-polar gallium nitride (GaN). LIGHTimes SecondPage Members can click here to view the extended version of this article. SMI Receives Phase I SBIR Grant from DTRA to Develop More Reactive Coatings for Projectiles and Munitions
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 23, 2006...In one MOCVD application that you rarely hear about, Structured Materials Industries
(SMI) has received a Phase I SBIR grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)
to explore MOCVD and sputter processes to develop enhanced lethality coatings.
In other words, the company will develop MOCVD and sputter process techniques
to increase the realizable energy of a projectile or of the munitions’
structural components. The technology, based on the release of thermal energy
of metal/metal-oxide powders, will use the thin films produced through MOCVD
and sputtering techniques to facilitate controllable reactivity of the coatings.
The release of metal/metal-oxide powders is well understood. The company hopes
to use the precision of technologies such as MOCVD and PVD to produce thin films
that have physical properties that make them more reactive. Company
News Release Skyworks Touts PAs That Power Smallest Camera Flip Phone
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 23, 2006...Skyworks Solutions Inc. of Woburn, Massachusetts USA, announced that its power
amplifiers will power Cingular's GSM/GPRS Pantech C300 multimedia messaging handset.
According to Skyworks, the handset is the smallest camera flip phone available
today, weighing just 2.5 ounces, with an area one-third the size of a US dollar
bill. The phone offers an impressive array of features that Skyworks says are
usually featured on phones twice its size. It has bright, large font color screens,
a video graphics array (VGA) camera with flash and zoom in liquid crystal display
(LCD) mode, multimedia messaging for photos, text, and sound, customizable MP3,
MIDI, and iMelody music ringtones, Yahoo! mobile instant messaging, high-speed
data transmission availability using GPRS, 10 megabytes (MB) of usable memory
for storage and e-mail.
With more and more multimedia features packed into smaller and smaller phones,
designers are increasingly focused on form factor, battery life and system cost
to be able to accommodate such multimedia features. Skyworks says that their
PAs and front-end modules (FEMs) are ideally suited to support extremely compact,
power-efficient and low-cost application. Brian M. Daly, vice president of marketing
for Mobile Platforms at Skyworks, stated, "Our power amplifiers provide
the required functionality and exceptionally small form factor for designing
compelling ultra-thin phones that appeal to consumers of all ages around the
world." Company
News Release NEC Boasts Highest Output Power Amplifier for 3G Base StationsAugust 23, 2006...NEC Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, reported developing a compact gallium nitride
(GaN) power transistor amplifier and GaN power amplifier (PA). The company touts
the power amplifier as the world’s highest output power level of 400 Watts.
The transistors used for this amplifier are made on a GaN epitaxial wafer, which
was developed under the NEDO "High-Power, High-Frequency Gallium Nitride
Device Project," and manufactured by Toyoda Gosei Co, Ltd.. The company
said it features low distortion characteristics for 3G base stations. The development
was the result of research project headed by professor Yasushi Nanishi of Ritsumeikan
University. Company
News Release IQE Completes Acquisition of Emcore's Epi Business
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 21, 2006...IQE reports completing the acquisition of Emcore’s US epi foundry business, called
the Electronic Materials Division (EMD). The acquisition was completed after shareholders
approved the settlement of funds with Emcore. The acquisition cost a total of
$16 million with 13 million of it in cash and $3 million in financing at 7.5 percent annual
interest rate to be paid in equal payments in each of next four fiscal quarters.
Emcore says it expects $9 to $11 million profit from the sale.
The IQE says the acquisition positions it as the leading global outsource supplier of wireless
components including: pseudomprphic high electron mobility transistors (PHEMTs),
heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), integrated bipolar field effect transistors
(BiFETs) and gallium nitride (GaN) technologies. IQE’s Directors believe
that the new customer base and the new product offerings will help increase
revenues. IQE now boasts the largest production capacity epi foundry in the
industry.
Dr Drew Nelson, President & CEO of IQE plc commented, “We are
very happy to have completed this acquisition, which represents a key step forward
in IQE’s development as the leading outsource wafer supplier worldwide
to the global semiconductor industry. The joining of the two companies allows
IQE to offer a truly one stop wafer outsource service to its customers, with
a complete range of current and next generation products. This transaction assures
EMD’s current customers that as part of a larger wafer outsource group
all the necessary resources are in place to fully support the joint customer
base as their wafer demands continue to grow.” IQE
News Release IQE’s products reportedly include components used in wireless infrastructure, optical communications, optical storage (CD, DVD), laser optical mouse, laser printers & photocopiers, thermal imagers, leading edge medical products, barcode, high efficiency LEDs and a variety of advanced silicon based systems. EDGE Technology Still Has Its Place, ABI Research Says
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 21, 2006...EDGE technology can not provide all the features of mobile broadband, and
has therefore been downplayed by the industry. However, ABI Research’s
latest report on the wireless component industry predicts that EDGE handsets
will reach about 14 percent of the total mobile phone market in 2006 with approximately
148 million shipments. Furthermore, ABI contends that currently many carriers
who do not have licenses for 3G and are waiting for 4G technology, will choose
EDGE technology. One reason they cite is that it comes closer to providing complete
geographic coverage on a wide scale than WiMAX, LTE, or HSUPA.
Principal analyst Stuart Carlaw points out that, "EDGE is downplayed in
the market because it cannot really provide a mobile broadband experience and
is therefore not seen as being at the cutting edge of cellular handset evolution;
it is viewed purely as an evolutionary step on the GSM ladder, and industry
attention is very much focused on the newer technologies such as W-CDMA and
HSDPA. That view is further compounded by the fact that operators do not actively
report EDGE numbers in the public domain." ABI
Research News Release Silicon Gets Closer to Silicon Germanium in Transistor Speed Records
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 17, 2006...Researchers at Southampton University reported a record breaking silicon bipolar
transistor with a clocked speed of 110 GHz. The researchers collaborated with
STC Microelectronics to achieve the record. The previous record for silicon bipolar transistors, held by researchers
with Philips Electronics, was 70 GHz. The researchers said that speeds are frequently
one-tenth of their transistor counterparts and they suggested that a silicon
chip with a speed of 10GHz might be within reach. The engineers with
the School of Electronics and Computer Science used flourine implants to suppress
boron diffusion at the base of the transistor to make it faster. “We have
already beaten the world record,” commented Professor Ashburn. ‘We
have just improved the performance of silicon to a level which was only previously
possible with silicon germanium.” He added, “This means that the
electronics industry will be able to achieve better performance at little extra
cost.” The engineers hope to reduce the boron diffusion by another 50
percent, and they are beginning to look for other materials besides flourine
which would accomplish this. Southampton
University News Release Avago Image Sensor Wins AwardAugust 17, 2006...Avago Technologies’ image sensor has received the Ultimate Product award
from EE Times and eeProductCenter. Avago, located in San Jose, California USA,
produces the ADCC3000 image sensor that won the top product award in the Ultimate
Products 3.1 interconnect, passive and electromechanical (IP&E) category.
According to the company the ADCC-3000 enables handset manufacturers to upgrade a
one-quarter inch VGA (video graphics array) resolution camera to 1.3 megapixels.
This 4x increase in resolution increases the ability to take sharper images.
Avago says the 1280 by 1024 resolution of the image sensor has pixels of 2.8
microns by 2.8 microns, and it supports superior video and action shots, a smooth
digital zoom, autofocus, and reduced image lag.
"Avago Technologies raises the price and performance bar with its
1/4-inch optical format, 1.3-megapixel (MP) CMOS image sensor," commented
Gina Roos, editor at eeProductCenter. "The ADCC-3000 leverages the
company ' s enhanced-performance (EP) pixel architecture and image-pipe processing
technology touting much better picture quality than existing megapixel sensors
for camera phones." Company
News Release Freescale Devises GaAs Substrate Compatible With Soft Solder TechniquesAugust 17, 2006...Engineers of Freescale Semiconductors, headquartered in Austin, Texas USA,
have been awarded a patent for a method of producing a thin gallium arsenide
substrate that is compatible with soft solder techniques and can be packaged
using plastic packaging.
According to the patent by Jeffrey Crowder and Monte Miller of Phoenix, Arizona
and Alexander Elliot of Tempe, Arizona, adding a copper-back metal layer to
a gallium arsenide substrate allows the substrate “to be packaged using
conventional plastic packaging technologies.” The patent describes that
the copper-back metal layer gives the additional benefit of making the substrate
thinner, reducing it to around 50 microns. The patent further explains that
making the substrate thinner improves heat dissipation and allows soft solder
technologies. Basically, the engineers reason that if the copper-backed metal
layer is made sufficiently thick it can provide adequate mechanical support
for the GaAs substrate during a soft-solder die attach process. Ultimately,
the patent contends that enabling plastic packaging reduces costs. What this
means for the industry and whether this means Freescale will take a more active
interest in compound semiconductors remains to be seen. The inventors were issued
U.S. Patent No. 7,092,890
on Aug. 15. The Ahura Corporation Has Detection System Ready for Airport Screeners
Scott McMahanAugust 16, 2006...The recent uncovering of a terrorist plot in the UK to use liquid explosives
has sparked renewed interest in chemical detection technology. One company in
Wilmington, Massachusetts USA, the Ahura corporation, has developed a hand-held
chemical detection device called the FirstDefender. It uses Raman spectroscopy
and sensors. The results are compared with a database of millions of substances to identify
chemicals and mixtures enclosed in containers that are potentially harmful.
The Raman laser and sensors both require compound semiconductors. The device
was originally brought to market in the spring of 2005. (Ref: March
24, 2005 Coverage).
It is designed for military, security, law enforcement agencies, and hazmat
teams and has already been proven numerous times in the field. The device has
been adopted by numerous groups and agencies including: FBI explosives lab,
British Ministry of Defense, US Army, US Customs and Immigration, FDNY, City
of Seattle FD, Washington DC Fire Dept, NJ State Police and more than 100 other
agencies in the US. The Ahura Corporation was honored at the American Business
Awards for the Best New Product or Service Category on May 19, 2006. (Ref: Coverage).
However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet put such a devices
in place in airports. One congressman, John Tearney of Boston, hopes to change
that.
Currently in the United States the FAA has placed a ban on bringing liquids
onto airplanes. The FAA says that until airport security has a way to screen
liquid containers, the ban on passengers bringing liquids onto an airplane will
continue. Ahura’s FirstDefender detection system has the ability to do
just what airport screeners need. The FirstDefender is now available through
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance
Program (CEDAP). So hopefully, with the current media coverage, a FAA solution
will soon be in place. (Link
to CBS Boston Video) Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
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