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September 10, 2007...Less than one week after announcing the hiring of a chief scientist with world-class GaN growth expertise (Ref: Coverage), Kyma reported a new collaborative project.
Kyma Technologies of Raleigh, North Carolina USA has partnered with Caracal and the Penn State’s Electro-Optics Center for improved mass production methods for Kyma’s low defect density nonpolar native gallium nitride (GaN) substrates. Kyma said it solicited the aid of Caracal and the Electro-Optics Center (EOC) to help work through what Kyma refers to as a “backend process bottleneck” in the production of low defect density nonpolar native GaN substrates.
Dr. Ed Preble, Kyma COO, added, "We are pleased to be able to respond to our customers' growing needs for high quality nonpolar GaN with improved crystalline orientation control. Our partnerships with both Caracal and EOC have proven to be of great value in terms of increasing our effective manufacturing capability and capacity."
Kyma CEO Dr. Keith Evans noted, "We joined EOC's Electro-Optics Alliance (EOA) early in 2006 and have enjoyed a number of very positive collaborative interactions with EOC ever since. Dr. Bill Everson of EOC has a rich experience base in single crystal semiconductor processing across a broad materials spectrum and has been enormously helpful. Our relationship with Caracal began earlier this year and is already very valuable, due to the energy and experience of Dr. Olle Kordina, Caracal's founder and CTO, and Dr. Igor Agafonov, Caracal's semiconductor processing expert.” Kyma News Release
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TDI Ships Production Volumes of 4-Inch GaN and 4-Inch AlN Epitaxial Wafers
Compoundsemi News StaffSeptember 10, 2007...Technology and Devices International Inc. (TDI) of Silver Spring, Maryland USA, reported that its 4-inch (100 mm) gallium nitride (GaN) and aluminum nitride (AlN) epitaxial wafers are now in production and being shipped to customers. TDI uses its proprietary hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) process and multi-wafer equipment to manufacture the wafers. According to TDI, the company uses this HVPE process to deposit a 7 - 12 microns thick GaN layer on c-plane 4-inch sapphire substrates. The company indicated that these wafers are designed for low-defect substrates for manufacturing of advanced blue, green and white GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs).
For the production of the AlN epitaxial wafers, the company deposits a 10 - 30 microns thick electrically insulating AlN layer on 4-inch silicon carbide (SiC) substrates. The company says that these low defect electrically insulating substrates are primarily for development and production of high power AlGaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). Company News Release Bookham Deploys OceanBright Pump Laser Module
Compoundsemi News StaffSeptember 10, 2007...Bookham Inc. of San Jose, California USA, reported that the company’s OceanBright 980nm submarine pump is being actively deployed in undersea optical cable systems around the world. The company says that the pump module will make its European debut at ECOC September 17-19. Bookham boasts that the submarine pump module has met the demanding reliability requirements for submarine usage which include fewer than 50 failures in time. Furthermore the company says that the pump module has a lifetime of about 27 years with a less than 2 percent change in output power of that time. Bookham notes that the OceanBright module incorporates the Bookham generation eight laser chip (G08), and it is capable of exceeding 400mW at operating temperatures of 0°C to 45°C.
“The performance and reliability data for the 980nm pump module confirms its ability to perform to extremely high standards in very demanding conditions,” said Mark Ives, PLM Director, at Bookham. “Bookham has long been perceived as a leader in the terrestrial pump market; this product is expanding that expertise into the undersea cable market, as demonstrated by volume shipments of the pump module.” Company News Release
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Hittite Introduces GaAs MMIC Sub Harmonic SMT MixerSeptember 10, 2007...Hittite Microwave Corporation of Chelmsford, Massachusetts USA has introduced a new gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) sub harmonic surface mountable (SMT) mixer. Hittite says the device is suitable for microwave radios, VSAT, test and measurement, instrumentation, and military applications from 14.5 to 19.5 GHz. Company News Release Kyma Hires Dr. Tanya Paskova as Chief Scientist
CompoundSemi News StaffSeptember 5, 2007...Kyma Technologies of Raleigh, North Carolina USA, a supplier of ultra-high purity gallium nitride (GaN) and aluminum nitride (AlN) crystals, has hired Dr. Tanya Paskova, a renowned expert in GaN crystal growth and characterization as chief scientist. According to Kyma, Dr. Paskova has been collaborating with Kyma since early 2006. Her work with the company has resulted in several conference presentations and scientific journal articles documenting Kyma’s native nonpolar GaN substrate product line. During her career, Dr. Paskova has authored more than 200 scientific papers, reviews and chapters in highly prestigious journals and books, and has given several invited talks at international conferences and university seminars.
Dr. Paskova obtained her academic degrees from Sofia University (Bulgaria) and Linköping University (Sweden). She held posts as an assistant professor at Sofia University, a visiting lecturer and an associate professor at Linköping University and University of Bremen (Germany). She spent most of her career working in the famous group of Professor Bo Monemar which focused on development of GaN epitaxial growth and study of basic properties of nitride materials and structures. Company News Release Anadigics Acquires Fairchild’s RF Team and Design Center
CompoundSemi News StaffSeptember 6, 2007...Anadigics, a wireless and broadband solution provider headquartered in Warren, New Jersey USA, reported that it has acquired Fairchild Semiconductor’s RF team, fixed assets, certain leases, software, and licenses to IP in relation to Fairchild exiting its RF Group business in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. Anadigics' $2.3 million acquisition includes the hiring of 23 RF design and engineering professionals. Anadigics says that the new group of professionals will speed up the company’s development of 3G Wireless, WiFi, and WiMAX product lines.
“Highly specialized RF talent is rare in the semiconductor industry and is a differentiating factor in our fast growing markets,” said Dr. Bami Bastani, President & CEO of Anadigics, Inc. "The establishment of the Massachusetts design center not only fulfills our planned 2008 resource requirements, but further consolidates the industry and provides Anadigics with a knowledgeable and exceptionally experienced RF team, which will accelerate our new revenue growth opportunities for 3G Wireless, WiFi and WiMAX product lines.” Anadigics News Release Riber Sales Down but Cash Up for First Half of 2007
CompoundSemi News StaffSeptember 6, 2007...MBE equipment maker, Riber of Bezons, France, reported a 67 percent decrease in sales for the first half of 2007 fiscal year compared to the first half of 2006. The company noted that while no machine was delivered during the first half of 2007, (compared to 2 machines during the first half of 2006), machines deliveries which were planned during the first half-year have been shifted to the second half of the year.
The company showed a net loss of € 3.0 million during the first half of 2007 compared to breaking even during the first half of fiscal 2006. The company's cash and cash equivalents increased from € 5.2 million in the first half of 2006 to € 10.3 million in the first half of fiscal 2007. Riber says that this increase comes mainly from the collection of the balance on the sale of the Rueil Malmaison site. The company said that despite an significant increase expected in the gross margin during the second half of 2007, the company would still not able to show a profit for the year. Company H1 2007 Financial Results TriQuint Expands into New RF Markets with Peak Devices Acquisition
CompoundSemi News StaffSeptember 4, 2007...TriQuint Semiconductor, a maker of wireless products, reported that it has completed the acquisition of Peak Devices, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado USA. In the cash transaction TriQuint acquired the fabless semiconductor company that focuses on discrete RF transistor technology. The acquisition will broaden TriQuint’s product offerings to include more devices for applications including: 2-way communications, FM and television broadcast, telecommunications, avionics, radar, and military.
“With the completion of the acquisition of Peak Devices, we take another step toward diversifying our technology portfolio, and further our strategy to cultivate revenue across multiple high-growth markets,” said Ralph Quinsey, TriQuint Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In the August 21st initial acquisition announcement, Mr. Quinsey remarked that Peak’s technology may make the wireless industry's goal of software definable radio possible. Peak has reportedly developed proprietary semiconductor technology that allows a single wide bandwidth amplifier to replace multiple high power multiplexer-combined-amplifiers.
Peak Devices CEO Bill McCalpin will lead TriQuint’s newly acquired Colorado operation. “Our team is eager to join TriQuint. We look forward to expanding our reach through TriQuint’s global salesforce, and working with their design teams to incorporate our wide band technology in upcoming product plans,” he said. “I believe the combination of TriQuint’s advanced semiconductor technologies such as GaN (Gallium Nitride) and High Voltage HBT with our wideband circuit technology will bring high power RF amplifiers to new levels of performance.” TriQuint News Release Bookham Ships 100,000th InP MZ Modulator Unit After 10 Years of LeadershipSeptember 4, 2007...Bookham marked the 10 year anniversary of its dominance in the indium phosphide (InP) Mach-Zehnder (MZ) Modulator market with shipment of its 100,000th unit. Bookham says that its InP MZ modulator has been co-packaged with lasers for over ten years. The company reports that with billions of field hours the modulators have had fewer than 30 failures in time (FITs). Bookham says that the highly reliable InP technology is the basis for the company’s vertically integrated new tunable portfolio including the MSA compliant integrable tunable laser assembly (iTLA), tunable transmitter assembly (TTA), and tunable small form factor transponder (TSFF).
“InP MZs offer a smaller footprint and lower cost than competing LiNbO3 and GaAs modulators, and have proven their ability to perform in 10Gbit/s metro and long haul applications,” explained Jon White, product line manager, InP MZ and tunable portfolio, at Bookham. “With increasing bandwidth demanding higher line card density, the ability to produce ever smaller components and modules is a critical differentiator. InP offers the ideal platform on which to build the next generation of tunable technology and will enable our future 40Gb/s developments and small form factor products.” The key products from Bookham’s tunable InP MZ portfolio – the TTA and the TSFF – will be demonstrated live at ECOC 2007 later this month on the company’s stand (number 17049). Company News Release Infinera Used Jazz’s SiGe BiCMOS Process to Produce First 100 Gb/s ICs for Optical NetworksSeptember 4, 2007...Jazz Semiconductor an analog-intensive mixed-signal (AIMS) foundry and wholly owned subsidiary of Jazz Technologies Inc., reported that it has collaborated on the design and production of the first 100 Gb/s (Gigabits/second) ICs for service provider networks. Jazz says that Infinera Corporation used the Jazz Semiconductor 0.18-micron Silicon Germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process (SBC18QTD) to produce the integration required to develop components of the new Digital Optical Networks architecture.
Jazz Semiconductor indicated that Infinera’s new digital architecture is designed to be faster, more flexible, and simpler to deploy than conventional DWDM systems. Infinera says that optical network service providers see benefits from the architecture in terms of capacity, scalability, flexibility, reliability and intelligence. For this reason, the Infinera DTN, the key to building block of Infinera’s Digital Optical Network architecture, has won service provider customers for long-haul and metro networks worldwide in less than three years since its launch. Jazz Semiconductor News Release
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