In brief: Picogiga, SiGe Semiconductor, Skyworks
Picogiga on the up
GaN-on-silicon wafer specialist Picogiga saw sales rise sharply in the financial quarter that ended on June 30.
According to its parent company Soitec, its wide-bandgap subsidiary made sales of €2.7 million ($3.4 million) into RF applications, up 110 per cent from the equivalent period last year.
Soitec itself, which sells silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers primarily, enjoyed a healthy year-on-year sales increase of 67 per cent to hit €82.2 million for the quarter.
SiGe delivers Wi-Fi integration
SiGe Semiconductor, the Canadian manufacturer of wireless components for RF applications, is targeting the dual-band Wi-Fi sector with a new, highly-integrated front-end module.
The latest in its "RangeChargerT" product line, the new SE2559L front-end is designed for the IEEE 802.11b/g specification. It is claimed to be 60 per cent smaller than competitive products, and to cut the typical bill of materials cost by 15 per cent.
The module integrates a power amplifier, power detector, two switches and matching circuitry.
Skyworks on the EDGE with Samsung
Skyworks says that it is supplying Samsung with its Helios EDGE radios as the Korean electronics giant pursues an aggressive ramp-up of 20 different mobile handsets.
The Helios subsystem from the Woburn, MA, GaAs chip manufacturer comprises an RF transceiver, power amplifier (PA) and PA controller.
Samsung is the world's third-biggest maker of mobile phones, behind Nokia and Motorola.