In brief: Sirenza, Fujitsu, AXT, Johnson Matthey
Sirenza disappointed on sales
RF component developer Sirenza Microdevices has revised its expected sales for the current quarter significantly downwards.
The Broomfield, CO, company now reckons that it will post $12 million-$12.5 million in revenue, compared with the previous expectation of $15 million-$16 million.
"Given the strength we saw in 2004, we are disappointed that our sales have not tracked the forecasts provided to us by our major customers for the first quarter," said Sirenza CEO Robert Van Buskirk.
Buskirk put the soft sales down to order deferrals and lower-than-expected demand, but added that he expected a return to double-digit sequential revenue growth for the remainder of the year.
152 GHz GaN transistor
Working with Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Fujitsu Laboratories researchers have built the world's fastest GaN transistor - according to a report at Nikkei.net.
The Japanese business newspaper says that the 152 GHz switch has a 65 nm gate electrode and a protective layer of high-quality SiN.
The output power of the device is expected to be 100 mW-1 W.
Johnson Matthey gets purging patent
Johnson Matthey's gas purification division has been granted US patent 6,866,698 for its design of a rapid hydrogen purger for palladium membrane purifiers.
Designed specifically for large MOCVD production platforms, the so-called "V-Purge" system is said to ensure total hydrogen removal, even in the event of a power outage or emergency shut-down.
A complete purge is said to take less than 10 minutes, which is five times faster than conventional methods, claims the company.
AXT hires applications VP
US-based substrate supplier AXT has appointed Hani Badawi as VP of applications engineering.
Already an AXT employee, Badawi was previously VP of engineering at strained-silicon specialist Amberwave Systems, and director of operations at Epitronics/ATMI Services III-V division prior to that.
