Technical Insight
Stanford signs foundry deal with RFMD (GaAs NEWS)
Stanford Microdevices and RF Micro Devices have signed a foundry supply agreement under which RFMD will manufacture RFICs according to Stanford Microdevices proprietary designs. Production will be carried out at RFMD s 4 inch GaAs HBT fabrication facility in Greensboro, NC. The two companies will not exchange intellectual property in the course of the agreement, and there are no plans for co-branding of any products. Stanford Microdevices is a fabless IC design company that supplies high-linearity power PAs, modules, LNAs, gain blocks, transistors, modulators, switches, mixers and up-/downconverters, plus multi-component modules for transmit and receive applications (see Compound Semiconductor November 2000, p49). "We are very enthusiastic about this relationship," said Bob Van Buskirk, president and CEO of Stanford Microdevices. "It enables us to take advantage of RFMD s high-volume, low-cost HBT wafer-manufacturing capabilities. At the same time, the agreement will maintain Stanford Microdevices proprietary design expertise in high-performance RF components for wireless infrastructure equipment."
