Oki and Peregrine in CMOS-on-sapphire deal
UTSiR, or ultra-thin silicon, is a technology used to form very thin silicon layers on sapphire substrates with fewer crystal defects than conventional methods. CMOS-on-sapphire is an SOI technology used to manufacture transistors on a completely insulated substrate that has less impact to parasitic capacity, resulting in transistors with ultra low power consumption and excellent high frequency characteristics.
The partnership between the two companies covers broad areas, from UTSiR technology licensing to joint technology development to product marketing. The agreement calls for the following:
- Oki will license Peregrine s UTSiR technology
- the companies will jointly develop UTSiR products
- Oki will act as a second source/foundry for Peregrine s UTSiR products
- the companies will market and sell Peregrine s products with chipsets provided by Oki
- the companies will share intellectual property (IP)
UTSiR technology enables the development of high quality RF semiconductors with ultra-low power consumption used in a variety of applications ranging from mobile radio to cellular telephony to cable television. Oki offers expertise in volume production with fully depleted SOI LSI technology, which is well-suited to low power-consumption LSIs. It is currently leveraging its SOI business operations into the personal and mobile markets.
Under the agreement, Oki will market chipsets which combine LSI with Peregrine s UTSiR products such as RF switches and high-performance mixer and phase locked loop (PLL) components, starting in 2003. Oki will also divert production capacity to manufacture UTSiR LSIs for Peregrine. Based on UTSiR technology, the two companies plan to undertake joint development of wireless communications LSIs, such as RF front ends for mobile phones and GPS (global positioning system) receivers. Product introduction is slated to begin in late 2003.