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Technical Insight

GCS signs foundry deals with GTRAN and Celeritek (GaAs News)

Global Communication Semiconductors (GCS), a foundry based in Torrance,
CA, has announced two foundry deals. GTRAN, a fabless company that designs high-speed devices for wireless and optoelectronic markets, has selected GCS as a foundry partner for its recently developed InP HBT process, which targets emerging 40 Gbit/s SONET markets. Meanwhile, Celeritek, an established GaAs foundry, has signed a three-year agreement with GCS for HBT and PHEMT device wafers for its wireless products. GCS will supply 4 inch InP HBT wafers, for which it has a production capacity of 500 wafers per week: this will soon be increased to over 1000 wafers per week. GTRAN s InP HBT process exhibits ft values of 150 GHz and fmax values of greater than 200 GHz, making the device suitable for 40 Gbit/s fiber-optic ICs. According to the company s COO, Deepak Mehrotra, GTRAN already markets a 10 Gbit/s transponder, but decided to develop its own process after a fruitless search for 40 Gbit/s technology. "We decided to put together our own development and process engineering team to come up with a suitable circuit process design that would accommodate the stringent requirements of OC-768 SONET applications," explained Mehrotra. "We now have the intellectual property required and have transferred the InP HBT design, and our process engineers, to rented space at GCS. We decided it would be best to transfer this technology to a foundry that was sensitive to III-V manufacturing issues." Founded in 1999, GTRAN is based in Westlake Village, CA, and has two product divisions and six design center locations worldwide. GCS will supply 4 inch GaAs HBT and PHEMT wafers to Celeritek for products such as power amplifiers used in cell phones requiring WCDMA and CDMA standards. Celeritek says the use of GCS as a second source will allow greater flexibility in responding to the wireless market. Under the agreement, Celeritek will outsource "a significant percentage" of its wafer manufacturing to GCS. "Our stated manufacturing strategy is to outsource a portion of our fabrication work," said Perry Denning, VP and general manager of Celeritek s Semiconductor Division. "We have been working with GCS for over a year now and have been extremely pleased with the quality of their work, and their ability to match our internal process, cycle time and service. It was therefore a natural progression to enter into a contractual relationship."
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