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Cree to offer foundry service in US for SiC MMICs

Cree is set to become the first company to offer a foundry service for wide bandgap MMICs to customers in the US.
Cree plans to offer a silicon carbide MMIC foundry service to US customers based on its second generation, 3-inch SiC MESFET production process.

"We have received significant interest in Cree providing this type of foundry service, and are pleased to begin offering it to US-based companies for domestic use," said Jim Milligan, Cree s manager of wide bandgap microwave products.

Typical applications for SiC MMICs include high-power, wide-bandwidth amplifiers for radar, electronic warfare, cellular infrastructure and homeland defense.

Cree s 3-inch SiC MMIC capability has matured rapidly over the last ten months, due in part to $26 million in defense contracts awarded last July from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL) for SiC MMIC process development. The contracts are jointly funded by the US Navy, the Missile Defense Agency, and the Title III program run by the Department of Defense (DoD).

"The DoD support given to this technology has been invaluable, and we are gratified to now be able to offer this high performance foundry service to support DoD requirements, as well as for commercial needs," said John Palmour, Cree s executive VP for advanced devices.

Initially, Cree will provide foundry and engineering support services based on custom design solutions developed by Cree s internal MMIC design staff. By the end of calendar 2003, Cree intends to support external customer designs using standard device models and layout rules.

The advanced MMIC process will enable the incorporation of integral resistors, capacitors, and through-substrate vias on a single RFIC reducing the parts count required for high power amplifiers.

"In addition to providing unmatched RF performance, this service will allow external customers to design into our SiC MMIC process using their own proprietary circuit designs and architectures," said Milligan. "Cree is the only company to commercially offer the higher power, wider bandwidth capability of SiC compared to silicon or GaAs in a MMIC format."

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