EpiWorks targets BiFETS after 6 inch expansion
EpiWorks, Inc, of Illinois, US, has completed the initial phase of its expansion of 6-inch HBT epiwafer production capacity.
New MOCVD systems, installed in summer 2006, have increased the capacity at the company's Champaign production facility to 50,000 wafers per year.
As well as conventional HBTs and PHEMTs, the extra capacity will be used to make integrated BiFET materials.
“Demand for our InGaP HBT technology has increased steadily over the past two years, and we are very pleased to have successfully completed the first phase of our capacity expansion in an aggressive time-frame,” said Quesnell Hartmann, EpiWorks' president.
“We expect to fill the new capacity by the end of the year, and, as this new capacity fills, we plan to begin our phase II expansion. This will double our capacity by 2009 to over 100,000 6-inch wafers/year.”
Alongside the ongoing expansion, EpiWorks' wafers produced by the new equipment continue to be qualified by their customers.
The company told compoundsemiconductor.net that the demand for its wafers was “driven primarily by wireless handset applications, such as power amplifiers and switches.”
EpiWorks also confirmed that it had needed to raise additional funding for the equipment purchases and hiring of staff behind this development.
The importance of the new facilities' PHEMT and HBT/FET capability was stressed by executive vice president David Ahmari.
“The shift toward MOCVD-based PHEMT and integrated HBT/FET technologies has also resulted in the potential for large increases in demand for our wafers.”
“We believe that our advanced technology and ability to interact at a high level with our customers will continue to enable further, rapid advancements in our materials technology.”
