Bridgelux Closes Agreement and Expands Relationship with Toshiba to Drive GaN-on-Silicon Development
LiGHTimes News StaffMay 20, 2013...Bridgelux Inc., of Livermore California USA, a developer and manufacturer of
LED lighting technologies, has closed an agreement with Toshiba Corporation.
The agreement was originally announced on April 22, 2013 (See: Coverage),
and the companies have now completed the transfer of Bridgelux GaN-on-Silicon
technology assets to Toshiba.
The agreement includes an expanded licensing and manufacturing supply
relationship. Bridgelux says it will continue to develop and market its
GaN-on-Sapphire LED products as a fabless solid state lighting company. The
companies began their collaboration in early 2012, and later in 2012 Toshiba
became an investor in Bridgelux. As part of the previously announced agreement,
Toshiba hired Bridgelux’s GaN-on-Silicon development team. In turn,
Bridgelux reportedly retains a majority of its revenue generating operations as
a fabless LED company.
“We are thrilled to be moving into the next stage of our joint
work with Toshiba to advance GaN-on-Silicon-based solid state lighting
technologies,” said Brad Bullington, CEO of Bridgelux. “As
we outlined last month, Bridgelux will focus on commercializing, productizing
and bringing to market GaN-on-Silicon technologies alongside a proven global
scale semiconductor manufacturer. At the same time, we remain committed to our
GaN-on-Sapphire business and look forward to continuing to provide world-class
innovation and service to our customers.”
Bridgelux says it will continue developing GaN-on-Sapphire LED products which drive its operating revenue. Mellanox Agrees to Acquire Kotura
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 20, 2013...Mellanox® Technologies, Ltd. of Sunnyvale, California USA, a supplier of
interconnect solutions for servers and storage systems, has agreed to acquire
Kotura, Inc., a developer of silicon photonics for high-speed networking
applications. Mellanox and Kotura have signed a definitive agreement under
which Mellanox will acquire the privately owned Kotura at a total cash purchase
price of approximately $82 million subject to certain adjustments. The terms of
the transaction have been unanimously approved by both the Mellanox and Kotura
boards of directors.
Mellanox expects to establish its first R&D center in the United States
at Kotura’s current location. Further, Mellanox intends to retain
Kotura’s existing product lines to ensure continuity for customers and
partners.
Kotura reportedly has over 120 granted or pending patents in CMOS photonics
and packaging design, and successfully integrated multiple high speed active
and passive optical functions onto a silicon chip. Mellanox says that the
addition of Kotura’s technology will enable its interconnect products to
reach 100Gb/s and beyond bandwidth, and have longer reach optical connectivity
at a lower cost
Eyal Waldman, president, CEO and chairman of Mellanox Technologies stated,
“We expect that the proposed acquisition of Kotura’s technology
and the additional development team will better position us to produce 100Gb/s
and faster interconnect solutions with higher-density optical connectivity at a
lower cost. We welcome the great talent from Kotura and look forward to their
contribution to Mellanox’s continued growth.” NeoPhotonics Opens Sales and R&D Office in Moscow
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 20, 2013...NeoPhotonics Corporation announced the opening of a Sales and R&D office
in Moscow and servicing the Russian Federation and the broader eastern European
market.The company is a leading designer and manufacturer of photonic
integrated circuit, or PIC, based optoelectronic modules and subsystems for
bandwidth-intensive, high speed communications networks.
Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics commented, “Together
with our expanded sales force serving the region, this is the next step in our
local business development activities including a greater research presence and
the potential for production of advanced PIC-based solutions.” 'LAST POWER' Project Reports Achievements
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 20, 2013...'LAST POWER', the EU program to develop reliable and economical power
electronics, recently reported on the project's achievements. The project was launched in
2010 through the European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council (ENIAC)
Joint Undertaking (JU), which links private companies, universities and public
research centers to study of wide bandgap semiconductors (SiC and GaN). ‘LAST POWER’ is an acronym for 'Large Area silicon carbide Substrates and heTeroepitaxial GaN for POWER device applications'.
The main achievements stemmed from SiCrystal’s development of 150mm
diameter substrates with a cut-off angle of 2°-off axis with comparable quality
to the 100mm 4°-off material available at the project’s beginning. At
LPE/ETC, a novel CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) reactor was employed to
fabricate 600-1200V JBS (Junction Barrier Schottky) diodes and MOSFETs on 150mm
4H-SiC. The JBS diodes on 150 mm substrates had electrical performance
comparable with the state-of-the-art 4°-off material. Chemical mechanical
polishing (CMP) process, StepSiC ® reclamation and planarization from NOVASiC, enabled the JBS fabrication. The same company also developed epitaxial growth process for fabricating both MOSFET and JFET devices.
Acreo and FORTH with the support of CCR, jointly developed novel modules for
high-temperature 4H-SiC JFETs and MOSFETs. CCR studied molding compounds and
“lead-free” die-attach materials for reliable packaging.
ST Microelectronics also successfully produced AlGaN/GaN HEMTs epitaxial
structures with a 3 μm thickness and 200V breakdown. Last Power collaborated
with IMM-CNR, Unipress, and ST to develop ‘gold free’ production
for normally-off AlGaN/GaN HEMTs that is fully compatible with the fabrication
process at the ST production line. Anadigics PAs with InGaP-Plus Technology Enable Samsung’s New Galaxy S4
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 20, 2013...Warren, New Jersey USA-based Anadigics, Inc. announced that the
company’s AWL9581 802.11ac front-end IC (FEIC), AWT6651
ProEficient™ power amplifier (PA), AWT6624 HELP4™ PA, and AWC6323
HELP3E™ dual-band PA enable wireless connectivity in the Galaxy S 4 by
Samsung Electronics. This feature-rich smartphone offers a 5-inch full HD Super
AMOLED display, 1.9 GHz quad-core processor, 13 megapixel camera, and Android®
4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system. The new Samsung Galaxy S 4 also builds upon
adds touch-less interactions and government-grade security.
Anadigics’ 802.11ac FEICs leverage the company’s exclusive
InGaP-Plus™ technology and patented design architectures to combine a
high performance power amplifier (PA), low-noise amplifier (LNA), and RF switch
on a single die.
Anadigics’ AWL9581 5 GHz FEIC utilizes InGaP-Plus to deliver what the
company claims to be the lowest current consumption, significantly extending
battery-life in mobile applications.
The Company’s ProEficient, HELP4, and HELP3E power amplifiers also use
InGaP-Plus and unique design architectures to provide greater efficiency in low
power mode and extend talk-time. Additionally, Anadigics’ ProEficient PAs
offer exceptional performance in high power mode to minimize current
consumption when using 3G and 4G data services and maximize overall
battery-life. The AWT6651 is featured in the Galaxy S 4 for China Mobile, the
AWT6624 is being used in the Galaxy S 4 for U+ in Korea, and the AWC6323 is
being utilized in the Galaxy S 4 for China Unicom. IQE and II-VI Inc. Launch 150mm GaN HEMT Epi Wafers on SiC Substrates
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 13, 2013...IQE of Cardiff, UK announced the launch of gallium nitride based, high
electron mobility transistor (GaN HEMT) epitaxial wafers on 150mm diameter
semi-insulating silicon carbide (SiC) substrates. The SiC substrates are
supplied by the WBG Materials subsidiary of II-VI Inc., a provider of
optoelectronic components.
IQE says that GaN power amplifiers offer superior power capability,
efficiency, bandwidth and linearity compared with silicon (Si) or gallium
arsenide (GaAs)-based technologies commonly used. IQE contends that GaN power
amplifiers also lower overall system costs. Additionally, the company says that
GaN-based low-noise amplifiers exhibit improved robustness, noise figure and
dynamic range when compared to incumbent solutions. According to IQE, GaN-based
transistors can operate at high temperatures, thus reducing system cost, size
and weight.
IQE says that the higher cost of epitaxial material grown on 100mm SiC
substrates has limited the commercial market penetration of GaN HEMTs. However,
IQE says that its 150mm products are compatible with LDMOS processing lines,
and its customers have demonstrated the use of LDMOS to fabricate GaN HEMTs.
Russ Wagner, VP of IQE wireless business unit said,"Scaling up to 150mm
wafer diameter is a critical milestone on the path to technological maturity
and wide market acceptance of GaN HEMTs on SiC." Wagner added,"We are
very pleased with the quality of substrates supplied by II-VI Inc. and look
forward to continuing our partnership as we execute volume production ramp and
expand IQE's range of advanced high-power high-frequency transistor products
for defense and wireless infrastructure applications." Skyworks New Family of Antenna Switches Supports Carrier Aggregation
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 13, 2013...Skyworks Solutions, Inc. of Woburn, Massachusetts USA has introduced RF
switching technology that is enabling early adopters to implement carrier
aggregation solutions. Carrier aggregation allows mobile service providers to
use utilizing two or more bands simultaneously instead of the single band
method used currently to combine spectrum and increase data rate throughput for
an enriched data experience regardless of location. As an increasing amount of
data is downloaded to smartphones, Skyworks says that mobile operators are
driving carrier aggregation to help increase the efficiency and speed of
today’s saturated mobile networks.
Skyworks’ devices support standardized inputs to popular industry
chipsets (MIPI RFFE compatible) and address both transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx)
switching paths.
“Skyworks’ carrier aggregation switching solutions, which
are compliant to tier-one, carrier-driven specifications, offer dedicated
receive diversity functionality to accompany the primary antenna-switch
path,” said David Stasey, vice president and general manager of
analog solutions at Skyworks. Excelitas Technologies Introduces 905nm Pulsed Laser Diode
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 13, 2013...Excelitas Technologies’ Surface Mount 905 nm pulsed semiconductor laser is designed specifically for high volume applications such as laser therapy, range finders, safety light curtains and adaptive cruise control. Multi-cavity layers concentrate the emitting source size and create three emitting active areas. When operated at 30A, these areas produce 70W of peak optical output power on average. The laser is mounted on an FR4 substrate, a leadless laminate carrier (LLC), which Excelitas says provides thermal management and power stability. The laser diode is intended for surface mount application and for hybrid integration. The diode encapsulate material is a molded epoxy resin for low cost and high-volume manufacturing. International Rectifier Begins Shipping GaN-on-Silicon Power Device Components
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 13, 2013...International Rectifier of El Segundo, California USA, reports that it has
qualified and shipped gallium nitride-on-silicon power device components for a
leading consumer electronics company’s home theater systems. The company
says that this commercialization was made possible through the company’s
high throughput, 150mm GaN-on-Si epitaxy along with subsequent device
fabrication processes that are compatible with the company’s silicon
manufacturing facilities. IR says that the technology offers a
capital-efficient manufacturing model that enables customers with improvements
in key application-specific figures of merit (FOM) of up to a factor of ten
compared to state-of-the-art silicon-based technology.
IR’s President and CEO, Oleg Khaykin stated, “We fully
anticipate the potential impact of GaN-based technology on the power conversion
market to be at least as large as the introduction of the power HEXFET® by IR
over 30 years ago.” Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
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