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News in brief: MetroPhotonics, Soitec and AWR

MetroPhotonics has become the first optical component vendor to manufacture photonic ICs on 4 inch InP substrates, Soitec is making a push into China and AWR has a new VP of marketing.
MetroPhotonics upgrades to 4 inch InP wafer fabrication

MetroPhotonics has announced the successful upgrading of its fabrication line to 4 inch InP wafers. This positions MetroPhotonics’ fab as the world’s first 4 inch InP line dedicated to the manufacturing of photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Upgrading from 3 to 4 inch results in an almost doubling of the number of chips per wafer at only a minimal increase in substrate, epitaxy and processing costs, resulting in an overall drastic reduction in per unit costs.

"Price is ultimately the main industry driver at present,” said David Clark, CEO of MetroPhotonics. “We know our chips have the functionality that our customers are looking for, the 4” wafer line will ensure that we can supply those chips at a price that makes realistic business sense." This major milestone in its evolution enables MetroPhotonics to take full advantage of the economies of scale offered by a semiconductor fabrication line in providing it’s lower cost, higher functionality SurePath components.

Seika to distribute Soitec’s products in China

French silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer manufacturer, Soitec has expanded its relationship with Seika Corporation, designating Seika as its exclusive distributor in China for products based on Soitec s proprietary Smart Cut technology. Soitec will leverage Seika s extensive knowledge of the SOI market to penetrate key technology markets within China. Soitec is the first SOI company to establish a sales and customer support organization in China.

With this agreement, Soitec is well positioned to address anticipated future high-volume needs of integrated device manufacturer (IDM) and foundry customers in China. Companies are dedicating major research and development dollars to this market, making high manufacturing excellence a top priority. A number of fabs are being built in anticipation of China s emergence as a major center for semiconductor manufacturing and use.

The new agreement builds on a successful 10-year distribution partnership between the two companies. Seika s strong technical expertise in SOI products and applications has been instrumental in facilitating Japanese chipmakers shift to SOI production. Seika will staff its Shanghai office with a sales force dedicated to Soitec s products.

AWR appoints new VP of marketing

Applied Wave Research, a provider of high-frequency electronic design automation (EDA) tools, has announced the addition of Tom Quan as the company’s VP of marketing. Quan has over 20 years of experience in technical and marketing roles in the semiconductor and EDA industries. He was formerly the VP of marketing at Cadence. Quan began his career at Intel Corporation as an IC designer and holds a BSEE from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

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