News in brief: Atmel, Instrument Systems, Xanoptix
Atmel, a major silicon IC manufacturer, is working with a team of researchers at Newcastle University in the UK to develop a strained silicon process for production. The project will be based at Atmel s fab near Newcastle, in the North-East of England, and will involve a team of five researchers lead by Professor Anthony O Neill.
The first phase of the project , which will involve integrating strained silicon into Atmel s CMOS process, is expected to take about a year. Both IBM and Intel have announced production processes including strained silicon, while Amberwave owns several patents in the area and is working with both AMD and UMC.
Instrument Systems establishes French office
Instrument Systems, a German manufacturer of optical instrumentation for light measurement, has established a new subsidiary in Sonchamp near Paris, France. "The demand for high-quality light measuring systems is growing rapidly in France," said Richard Distl, president of Instrument Systems GmbH. "We project particularly robust development in the fields of our core competence, LED and display analysis."
Xanoptix announces Hybrid Integrated Circuit Technology
Xanoptix, a manufacturer of communication modules based on 2D VCSEL arrays, has developed a wafer scale process for three-dimensional stacking of silicon and compound semiconductors. The company’s Hybrid Integrated Circuit Technology creates devices that combine the wealth and variety of silicon chip designs with the advanced capabilities of other semiconductor materials, such as high-speed materials or optical semiconductors.
"The practical integration of compound semiconductor functionality with silicon integrated circuitry has been an elusive goal challenging semiconductor device researchers for over twenty years," said Clifton Fonstad, Vitesse Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT.
"A manufacturable integrated circuit process that combines the unique performance of III-V and II-VI semiconductors with digital computational and memory prowess of silicon can enhance system performance over those made with conventional ICs."
Xanoptix s process can integrate thousands of devices in silicon or compound materials (e.g. GaAs- or InP-based lasers, detectors or transistors) with a silicon IC (such as a transceiver, network processor or DRAM chip).
