News in brief: Crystal IS, Inphi, Peregrine, Oki
Crystal IS, a supplier of single-crystal aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates, has received over $750,000 from DARPA to fund a one-year extension to a program to improve the quality and availability of ultra-low dislocation density native AlN substrates.
The funding comes from DARPA’s Semiconductor Ultraviolet Optical Sources (SUVOS) program and its RF/Microwave/Millimeter-wave Technology program, which are managed by John Carrano and Mark Rosker, respectively, and monitored by John Blevins at AFRL at Wright-Patterson AFB.
“DARPA’s support continues to be critical in helping transition native single-crystal AlN into a new platform technology which has the potential to enable broad-based benefits,” said Jon Whitlock, CTO of Crystal IS. “Like Si, GaAs, InP, and SiC before it, native AlN will enable new semiconductor device developments of both military and commercial importance.”
Inphi receives ISO certification
Inphi Corporation, a fabless manufacturer of analog mixed signal electronic components for computing and communications, has received certification as an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2000 Fabless IC company. Inphi received the certification for both engineering and manufacturing after exhaustive review of its business practices and procedures.
“The Inphi team is proud to have met the rigorous ISO standards, and we are committed to maintaining high-quality standards through continuous improvement programs,” said Ashok Dhawan, president & CEO of Inphi Corporation.
Oki Electric completes transfer of Peregrine process
Peregrine Semiconductor, a supplier of mixed-signal and RF CMOS communications ICs, has announced that its 0.5-micron UTSi Silicon-on-Sapphire technology has been successfully transferred to the Hachioji, Japan fabrication facility of Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. In December 2002 the two companies announced a broad licensing agreement that included the transfer (see Oki and Peregrine in CMOS-on-sapphire deal).
Several Peregrine products have now been fabricated, and their performance has been verified. The process qualification activity is currently underway, with completion expected by June 2004.
“Oki has confirmed the excellent RF performance and the maturity of Peregrine’s UTSi SOS technology,” commented Yoshiki Nagatomo, senior manager of Advanced Technology R&D at Oki Electric, who leads the Oki process transfer team. “Now, high performance UTSi RF CMOS products can be sourced from multiple suppliers, which is a great benefit to wireless designers incorporating high-performance RF components.”
UTSi CMOS is a proprietary, patented variation of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology that combines high-performance RF, mixed-signal, passive elements, nonvolatile memory and digital functions on a single device. Peregrine says that significant performance advantages exist over competing mixed-signal processes such as GaAs, SiGe BiCMOS and bulk silicon CMOS in applications where RF performance, low power and integration are paramount.
