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Editorial: Nitride-Based Compound Semi Device Showcase Preview for ICNS-7
... With the top international gallium nitride (GaN) compound semiconductor (CS) meet, the 7th International Congress of Nitride Semiconductors, ICNS-7, getting underway next week in Las Vegas, Nevada, it seems a fitting time to pick up where we left off in the August 22 McDonald Report column titled: Describing Nitride...
Jump down to the full story
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Features:
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IBM Claims Single-Chip RF Solution for Mobile Devices
Compoundsemi News StaffSeptember 12, 2007...At the FSA Suppliers Expo, IBM introduced what it says is a single-chip RF solution for mobile and wireless devices. While many companies have been pursuing the goal of a single-chip mobile solution for years, IBM is the first company to publicly claim the design achievement. According to IBM, the CMOS 7RF SOI integrates the multiple RF/analog functions of today's handsets including: multi-mode/multi-band RF switches, complex switch biasing networks, and power controllers. Despite this, IBM points out that integration of filter, power amplifier, power management and receiver/transmitter functionality remains a future possibility.
IBM says that the single-chip design makes the device not only more affordable but also more power efficient. IBM says that with the new solution it has been successful in reducing design complexity and manufacturing costs for producing mobile phones, laptops, and wireless communication devices. Steve Longoria, vice president for Semiconductor Solutions, IBM Global Engineering Solutions stated, "Our clients can turn to IBM for lower cost solutions, with the assurance of a stable technology base founded on our years of experience in manufacturing CMOS, RF CMOS and silicon germanium technologies." Company New Release
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Rubicon Technology Files for IPO
Compoundsemi News StaffSeptember 12, 2007...Rubicon Technology, an advanced electronic materials company headquartered in Franklin Park, Illinois USA, filed an initial public offering of its common stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to an article by the Associated Press.
The company specializes in in developing, manufacturing and selling monocrystalline sapphire substrates and other crystalline products for LEDs used in cellphone back lighting, signage, interior and exterior auto applications,video screens. Sapphire can also be used in other military, and optoelectronic applications. Rubicon said the IPO could raise up to $100 million. The company said however, that this figure was estimated solely for calculating the registration fee.
Rubicon told the Associated Press that it plans to use the proceeds to pay its $8.1 million loan and security agreement (estimated at June 30) with Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc. The company indicated that the remaining proceeds of the IPO will go towards working capital and other corporate purposes. The company hopes the proceeds will erase the $23 million loss it posted during the first six months of 2007 ending June 30. Anadigics Ships Wireless WLAN PA to NXP
Compoundsemi News StaffSeptember 12, 2007...Anadigics, Inc. of Warren, New Jersey USA, reported that the company is shipping production volumes of its AWL6951 Wireless LAN(WLAN) power amplifier(PA) modules to NXP Semiconductor. The PA modules shipments are for NXP's WLAN module solution, the MRX2000. According to Anadigics, the MRX2000 supports the upcoming 802.11n multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) standard and enables higher throughput of rich content for quality-critical applications.
Anadigics' AWL6951 dual-band power amplifier is a high performance InGaP HBT power amplifier module designed for transmit applications in the 2.4-2.5 GHz and 4.9-5.9 GHz band. It is matched to 50 ohm at all RF inputs and outputs, and the part requires no additional RF matching components off-chip. The company says that the simple to implement PA exhibits unparalleled linearity and efficiency for IEEE 802.11g, 802.11b and 802.11a WLAN systems under the toughest signal configurations within these standards.
Ron Michels, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadband Products at Anadigics commented, "We value our close relationships with industry leaders, such as NXP, in developing next-generation wireless connectivity solutions." Anadigics News Release
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Kyma to Collaborate with EOC and Caracal to Improve Nonpolar GaN Substrate Production Methods
Compoundsemi News StaffSeptember 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 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 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 Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - compoundsemi.com
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info7 -at - compoundsemi.com
or call +1 (512) 257-9888
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Commentary & Perspective...
Nitride-Based Compound Semi Device Showcase Preview for ICNS-7
Jo Ann McDonald, founding editorSeptember 12, 2007... With the top international gallium nitride (GaN) compound semiconductor (CS)
meet, the 7th International Congress of Nitride Semiconductors, ICNS-7,
getting underway next week in Las Vegas, Nevada, it seems a fitting time to
pick up where we left off in the August 22 McDonald Report column titled:
Describing
Nitride Devices to the Outside World. That began a promised three part
series recapping what Kyma Technology CEO Keith
Evans presented at our Compound
Semi Vision Executive Business Forum in June. Keith also served as one of
our esteemed co-chairs for Vision 2007 and is an advisor on CS Vision '08, which
will be held in a warm and sunny venue this winter, February 5-6. Herein lies the
next chapter, fortified by a glimpse at market research prognostications from
GaN researcher emeritus Hank
Rodeen of Strategies Unlimited.
Combined, their assessments should provide ICSN-7 goers and GaN-watchers helpful
background information before the Las Vegas get-together September 16-21.
ICNS has evolved to become a very special technical gathering leading edge
compound semi industry wide bandgap (WBG) material scientists and device designers,
the stars of which have traditionally been those working in GaN and SiC compounds.
Authors of papers and their co-authors are truly the creme-de-la-creme of the
leading edge CS field. I attended the inaugural and highly memorable ICNS in
Nagoya, Japan in 1995 where we paid homage to the reigning GaN master, Shuji
Nakamura, and ICNS-4 in Denver, Colorado in 2001 where we paid homage to early
day GaN pioneer, Jacques Pankove. The meeting is held every other year rotating
between Asia, Europe and the USA. Whether you'll be attending in person or not,
take a close look at the agenda and complete abstracts of talks in the extensive
pdf file via this
link. While the talks will likely be over the heads of those outside our
industry (but looking in), they'll be right on target for GaN sector insiders
as well as those who want to get a lot smarter a lot faster. The authors, co-authors
and presenters are truly the backbone of today's ... and tomorrow's CS industry.
As you can see by the news in recent weeks regarding Kyma, (ref: Sept.
10 headline news "Kyma to Collaborate with EOC and Caracal to Improve
Nonpolar GaN Substrate Production Methods" and Sept.
5 headline news announcing the hiring of Dr. Tanya Paskova as Chief Scientist)
one of the major shakers/movers in the overall field of GaN these days is Keith
Evans, president and CEO of Kyma Technologies.
Based in Raleigh, North Carolina USA, Kyma's tagline is what the company name
implies ... the next wave in nitrides. And since Keith came onboard as
CEO, the company appears to be poised to ride that proverbial seventh wave, the
big one. Keith's talk at CS Vision was tailor-made for his fellow senior
managers of CS companies as well as our other target attendees; investment counselors
and market researchers. Aptly titled, Prospects and Progress in Substrates
for Nitride Semiconductor Devices, Keith's talk reviewed current devices
and applications, underscored today's choices in substrates and what the competition
looks like from the commercial standpoint, plus taking a hard look at current
trends, which of course, is what our handpicked CS Vision speaker do best.
According to Keith Evans, when it comes to blue laser diode applications, as
used in optical data storage, high resolution printing, medical diagnostics,
communications and projection displays, the technology drivers are high power,
higher efficiency, lower cost, and greater reliability. Especially noteworthy,
records are being set for nonpolar GaN at UCSB's SSL and Display Center and
independently from Rohm. These are currently based on Mitsubishi Chemical Corp's
nonpolar GaN with Kyma's nonpolar GaN now competitive in size and quality with
Mitsubishi Chemical's. When it comes to green laser diodes frequently used for medical diagnostics, projection displays, and communications, the
tech drivers include wavelength shift from blue and indium content control.
He also updated us about an especially interesting new and related DARPA program
(response date was June 4th, solicitation Number BAA07-28) called VIGIL
which stands for Visible InGaN Injection Lasers. Program goals include:
laser emission wavelength of 500nm, CW output of 1 W @ RT, wallplug efficiency
of 30%, demo of stable operation over 1000 hrs, and wafer yield on 2 inch diameter
substrates of 20%. Then for the power electronics sector, which includes automotive,
electric grid power distribution, consumer electronics power supplier, and power
inverter applications, he informed us that the tech drivers are higher blocking
voltages, higher electrical efficiency, greater reliability, and higher switching
frequencies.
Keith also reviewed current work in UV LEDs and UV laser diodes for all sorts
of interesting optoelectronics applications, as well as for GBIV (green/blue/indigo/violet)
LEDs. The drivers for this field appear to be higher power per dollar, higher
electrical efficiency and, of course, lower cost. Current leading suppliers
for UV LEDs include SET Inc., the Fox Group, Nichia, and Seoul Optodevice Co.
For high power/high frequency (HP/HF) electronics applications, which includes
3G base station power amps (where, according to Vision presenter Craig
Farley, who spoke on "Where Does GaN Go From Here" says silicon
based LD-MOS devices are beating the compounds). Other target apps are for
satellite communication, phased -array radar systems, plus varied military electronics
and microwave apps. The tech drivers for these, according to Keith Evans, are
greater performance and reliability, higher electrical efficiency, better thermal
dissipation, and lower cost epitaxy
 Fortifying the above are the latest forecast numbers from Hank Rodeen of Strategies
Unlimited, who also presented in our CS Vision meet. In an attempt to put numbers
to Hank's impressive bar graphs representing his most recent round of exhaustive
international interviews, we can cipher the following device market revenue
forecast. For GaN HB LEDs for 2007-2010, the numbers look to be worth just over US $4,000M
in 2007, climbing to US $4,500M in 2008, then just over US $5,500M for 2009 and about
US $5,700M by 2010. His GaN laser diode market forecast was for just over US $1,000M in 2007, US $2,000M in 2008, US $2,400M in 2009, and US $2,600M by 2010.
Hank's forecast for GaN-based electronic devices for the same timeframe showed,
as expected, that the majority of the revenue would come from RF/microwave applications,
with progressively more going to power switches and high voltage rectifiers
and high temperature applications. Totals on Hank's illustrative charts (and
you would have had to attend Vision in person to get them in detail) look to
be rising from about US $25M
in 2007 to over US $50M in 2008, to almost US $150M in 2009 and up to an impressive
US $250M by 2010. We'll get into much more detail with Hank Rodeen's Strategies
Unlimited GaN market forecast in a future column, but that should whet the appetite
for now.
In my next column reviewing Keith Evan's incredibly inclusive CS Vision talk,
we'll look specifically at some of the details he presented regarding nitride
substrate progress, with the tease being the summary of his presentation, which
contained the following summary bullets: "Foreign substrates still dominate
LED commercialization and RF electronics development; liftoff and template GaN,
however, will dominate laser diode applications; native GaN and AlN development
is progressing in size and availability; there's a huge amount of activity surrounding
nonpolar GaN development underway; and native GaN is destined to become increasingly
important." Stay tuned ... and in the meantime, have a great ICNS-7 meet.
If you have news or
views to share about the compound semiconductor, LED or solid
state lighting industries
contact our Publisher, Tom Griffiths
His direct tel in Austin is +1-512-257-9888
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