Gallium Arsenide, Electronics Materials and Devices. A Strategic Study of Markets, Technologies and Companies Worldwide 1999-2004

Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices A Market and Technology Overview 1999-2004 Third Edition UK Elsevi...

Author: R. Szweda

58 downloads 2770 Views 24MB Size Report

This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form

DOWNLOAD PDF

Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices A Market and Technology Overview 1999-2004 Third Edition

UK

Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK

USA

Elsevier Science Inc, 665 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010, USA

JAPAN

Elsevier Science Japan, Tsunashima Building Annex, 3-20-12 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan ,

,

.

,.

..

,

,

. ,.

.,

,

,

,,,

,

Copyright 9 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd

Author: Roy Szweda Project Editor: Jane Gilby

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, p h o t o c o p y i n g , r e c o r d i n g or otherwise, without prior consent of the copyright owner. Whilst every care is taken to ensure that the data published in this report are accurate, the Publishers cannot accept responsibility for any omissions or inaccuracies appearing or for any consequences arising therefrom. First edition, 1994 Second edition, 1996 Third edition, 2000

Library Cataloguing in publication data ISBN 1 85617 364 X

Published by Elsevier Advanced Technology The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK Tel: +44 1865 843821 Fax: +44 1865 843971 Typeset by The Midlands Book Typesetting Co, Loughborough Transferred to digital printing 2005

Contents

List of Tables List of Figures

ix

xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Report Structure 1.2 Products 1.3 Markets 1.4 Regions 1.5 Research Background Chapter 2 Executive Summary 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Materials Properties 2.3 The GaAs Marketplace 2.4 Market Evaluation and Forecast 2.5 The Supplier Situation 2.5.1 Merchant Device Market 2.5.2 Merchant Epiwafer Market 2.5.3 Merchant Substrate Market 2.6 Conclusions

5 5 7 7 8 9 9 12 13 15

Chapter 3 Substrate Markets 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Worldwide Market for SI GaAs Substrates 19 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 3.2.1 Geographic Split 3.2.2 Substrate Split 3.2.2.1 LEC 3.2.2.2 VGF 3.2.3 Wafer Size 3.2.3.1 Substrate Production 3.2.3.2 Substrate Application 3.3 The SI GaAs Substrate Business 3.3.1 Production 1999-2004 3.3.1.1 Demand and Supply by Geographical Region

17 17

Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

17 19 20 20 22 23 23 24 25 26 26 iii

Contents

3.3.2 3.3.3 3.3.4 3.3.5 3.3.6

3.4

Merchant and Captive Production Substrate Sizes Crystal Growth Technology Applications Impact of Device Demand on Substrate Consumption 3.3.7 Foundry Usage of GaAs Wafers 3.3.8 Pricing trends Market Share 3.4.1 World Substrate Supplier Situation 3.4.1.1 Japan 3.4.1.2 North America and Europe 3.4.1.3 Rest of the World

27 28 29 30 30 30 32 34 34 35 35 36

Chapter 4 Merchant GaAs Epitaxial Wafer Markets 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Epiwafer Industry Overview 4.3 Epiwafer Market Analysis and Forecast 4.3.1 Ion Implant vs. Epitaxy 4.3.2 Merchant vs. Captive Epitaxy Markets 4.4 Epiwafer Markets by Epitaxial Growth Technique 4.5 Epitaxial Wafer Markets by Substrate Type 4.5.1 Market by Epiwafer Diameter 4.6 Epitaxial Wafer Markets by Geographic Region 4.7 Epitaxial Wafer Markets by Application 4.7.1 Foundry 4.8 Epiwafer Pricing Trends 4.9 MBE Epiwafer Suppliers 4.10 MOVPE Epiwafer Suppliers 4.11 Silicon-Germanium Epiwafer Markets

37 37 40 41 42 43

Chapter 5 Application Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Worldwide Market for GaAs Devices 5.3 The Worldwide GaAs Electronics Business 5.4 Merchant vs. Captive Markets for GaAs Devices 5.5 Market by Geographical Region 5.6 Telecommunications Markets for GaAs Electronic Devices 5.6.1 Mobile Communication Handsets: Cellular, Cordless and personal communication service (PCS)/personal communication network (PCN) 5.6.1.1 Discretes vs. MMICs 5.6.2 Satellite Receivers 5.6.3 GaAs Radiofrequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs) for Handsets 5.6.4 Mobile Communications 5.6.4.1 Mobile Communications Handsets

63 63 63 65

iv Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

46 49 49 50 55 55 56 58 59 59

72 73 76

79 79 79 80 83 83

Contents

5.6.4.2 Handset Manufacturing Digital Mobile Communications 5.6.5.1 GSM 5.6.5.2 CDMA 5.6.5.3 Dual-mode Handsets 5.6.5.4 Base Stations 5.6.6 RF Components 5.6.6.1 Low-noise Amplifier 5.6.6.2 Power Amplifiers 5.6.6.3 Control Products 5.6.6.4 Small-signal FETs 5.6.6.5 Integrated GaAs Front-ends 5.6.7 GaAs Components for Handsets 5.6.8 Local Multipoint Distribution Services 5.6.9 Point-to-point and Point-to-multipoint 5.6.10 Mobile Communications: Microwave Radio Links 5.6.11 Global Positioning System (GPS) 5.6.12 Satellite-based PCS 5.6.13 Other Satellite Applications 5.6.13.1 VSATs Wireless Data Communications 5.7.1 Wireless LANs 5.7.2 HIPERLAN 5.7.3 Multiband System (MBS) 5.7.4 GaAs Opportunities for Wireless LANs 5.7.5 Fibre-optic Communications 5.7.5.1 Plastic Optical Fibre Consumer Markets for GaAs Electronic Devices 5.8.1 Wireless Cable: MMDSand LMDS 5.8.2 High-definition Television (HDTV) Computer Markets for GaAs Electronic Devices Industrial Markets for GaAs Electronic Devices Military/Aerospace Markets for GaAs Electronic Devices 5.11.1 Phased-array Radars 5.11.2 Electronic Warfare 5.11.3 Air-to-air Missiles 5.11.4 Anti-radar Missiles 5.11.5 Longbow/Hellfire 5.11.6 Military Satellites 5.11.7 GaAs Applications in Space 5.11.80nboard Power Supplies 5.11.9 Crystal Growth in Microgravity 5.1 1.10 Microsatellites Automotive Markets for GaAs Electronic Devices Other Markets for GaAs Electronic Devices 5.6.5

5.7

5.8

5.9 5.10 5.11

5.12 5.13

84 85 85 86 88 89 90 91 91 92 93 93 94 97 98 98 99 101 102 102 103 103 106 108 108 109 110 112 114 114 116 121 123 126 127 128 129 129 129 130 132 132 133 134 144


v

Contents

Chapter 6 Gallium Arsenide Crystal Growth 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Crystal Growth 6.3 Crystal Growth Technologies 6.3.1 Liquid encapsulated Czochralski 6.3.2 Vertical Gradient Freeze 6.3.3 Other Technologies 6.3.3.1 Horizontal Bridgman 6.3.3.2 Vapour-controlled Czochralski 6.3.3.3 Horizontal Gradient Freeze 6.3.3.4 Conclusions 6.4 Substrates 6.4.1 GaAs vs. Silicon 6.4.2 Wafering 6.4.3 Aspects of Cutting 6.4.4 Metamorphic Crystal Growth

147 147 149 151 152 153 155 155 156 156 156 157 157 158 158 159

Chapter 7 Epitaxy and Device Processing of Gallium Arsenide 7.1 Epitaxial Growth 7.1.1 Introduction 7.1.2 Custom vs. Standard Equipment 7.2 MOVPE 7.3 Epitaxial Precursor Materials 7.4 Commercial MOVPE Reactors 7.4.1 Introduction 7.4.2 The AIXTRON Planetary TM Reactor System 7.4.3 The EMCORE TurboDisc'" Systems 7.4.4 The Thomas Swan Epitor TM System 7.4.5 The Nippon Sanso MHR-8000 System 7.4.6 The Epigress SiGe CVD System 7.5 MBE 7.5.1 Introduction 7.5.2 The DCA 450 7.5.3 Applied Epi Inc GEN2OOO 7.5.4 The Riber SA 6000 7.5.5 The VG Semicon VG80 7.6 MBE Growth of Other Semiconductors 7.7 UHV-CVD of SiGe 7.8 In s i t u Monitoring 7.9 Alternative Fabrication Processes 7.10 Ion Implantation 7.11 Device Processing 7.11.1 Introduction 7.11.2 Rapid Thermal Annealing of Semiconductors 7.11.3 Etching of Compound Semiconductors

161 161 161 162 163 165 167 167

Chapter 8 Company Profiles 8.1 Agilent Technologies Inc 8.2 AIXTRON AG

195 196 198

vi Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

168 170 172 173 173 174 174 176 176 177 178 180 180 181 185 186 188 188 189 190

Contents

8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9

8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 8.17 8.18 8.19 8.20 8.21 8.22 8.23 8.24 8.25 8.26 8.27 8.28 8.29 8.30 8.31 8.32 8.33 8.34 8.35 8.36 8.37 8.38 8.39 8.4O 8.41 8.42 8.43 8.44 8.45 8.46 8.47 8.48 8.49 8.50 8.51 8.52 8.53

Alpha Industries Inc ANADIGICS Inc Apex Co Ltd Applied Epi Inc Atmel Corp ATRAMET (Atomergic Chemetals Corp) AWSC (Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Co) AXT (American Xtal Technology) Caswell Technology Celeritek Inc CMK Ltd Conexant Systems Inc Dowa Mining Co Ltd EMCORE Corp Endwave Corp Epichem Ltd Epitronics Corp Filtronic Solid State Freiberger Compound Materials GmbH Fujitsu Quantum Devices Ltd Furukawa Electric Ltd GCS GIGA A/S Hexawave Inc Hitachi Cable Ltd Hitachi Ltd Hittite Microwave Corp Honeywell Technology Center Infineon Technologies AG Intelligent Epitaxy Technology IQE PIc Japan Energy Corp Kopin Corp Litton Airtron M/A-COM Inc M/A-COM III-V Materials Group Matsushita Electronics Corp MBE Technology Pte Ltd Micro Wave Sys MicroWave Technology Inc Mitsubishi Electric Corp Motorola Inc Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd NEC Corp Oki Semiconductor OMMIC Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology Picogiga Procomp Informatics Ltd Raytheon RF Components RF Micro Devices Inc (RFMD)

200 203 206 206 208 211 211 212 214 216 218 218 221 223 228 229 230 233 235 236 239 240 241 242 243 245 247 248 250 253 253 256 257 259 260 262 263 266 267 267 269 272 275 277 279 282 283 285 286 287 288


vii

Contents

8.54 8.55 8.56 8.57 8.58 8.59 8.60 8.61 8.62 8.63 8.64 8.65 8.66 8.67 8.68 8.69 8.70 8.71 8.72 8.73 8.74 8.75 8.76 8.77

Riber SA Sanders Sanyo Electric Co Ltd Sharp Corp Showa Denko SiGe Microsystems Inc Sony Corp Stanford Microdevices (SMDI) Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd Surface Technology Systems Ltd Tegal Corp Teledyne Electronic Technologies TLC Precision Wafer Technology Toshiba Microelectronics Center Trikon Technologies Inc TriQuint Semiconductor Inc TRW Inc Unaxis United Monolithic Semiconductors GmbH (UMS) VG Semicon Vitesse Semiconductor Corp Wafer Technology Ltd Watkins-Johnson Communications Inc WIN Semiconductors Corp

292 294 295 297 299 300 301 303 304 307 308 310 311 312 314 317 319 322 323 325 326 331 333 334

Chapter 9 Directory of Leading Suppliers

335

Chapter 10 Appendices

395

10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4

Acronyms Mergers and Acquisitions Agreements Exchange Rates

viii Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

395 402 404 410

Contents

List of Tables

Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 3.3 Table 3.4 Table 3.5 Table 3.6 Table 3.7 Table 3.8 Table 3.9 Table 3.10 Table 3.11 Table 3.1 2 Table 3.1 3 Table 3.14 Table 3.15 Table 3.1 6 Table 3.1 7 Table 3.18 Table 4.1 Table 4.2

Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI GaAs Substrate Market Summary: 6-inch (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI GaAs Substrate Market Summary: 4-inch (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI GaAs Substrate Market Summary: 3-inch (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI GaAs Substrate Market Summary: 2-inch (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Worldwide 6-inch SI LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Worldwide 4-inch SI LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Worldwide 3-inch SI LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Worldwide 2-inch SI LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI VGF GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Worldwide 6-inch SI VGF GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Worldwide 4-inch SI VGF GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Worldwide 3-inch SI VGF GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Worldwide 2-inch S! VGF GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Wafer Market Share by Diameter. Worldwide Market Share of the SI GaAs Substrate Market by Company 2000. Average SI GaAs Substrate Price (US$/in2). Total Worldwide SI GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary: 6-inch (US$ Million).


18 18 19 19 19

20 21 21 21 21 22 22 22 22 22 23 24 33 38 39

ix

Contents

Table 4.3 Table 4.4 Table 4.5 Table 4.6 Table 4.7 Table 4.8 Table 4.9 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 5.3 Table 5.4 Table 5.5 Table 5.6 Table 5.7 Table 5.8 Table 5.9 Table 5.10 Table 5.1 1 Table 5.1 2 Table 5.1 3 Table 5.14 Table 5.1 5 Table 5.16 Table 5.17 Table 5.18 Table 5.19 Table 5.20

x

Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary: 4-inch (US$ Million). 39 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary: 3-inch (US$ Million). 40 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary: 2-inch (US$ Million). 40 World Epiwafer Market Split by Epitaxy Technology 1999-2004. 47 Summary of the Epiwafer Market by Growth Technology. 49 Summary of the Epiwafer Market by Diameter 1999-2004 (US$ Million). 50 Epiwafer Pricing Trends by Diameter 1999-2004 (US$/in2). 56 Worldwide GaAs Electronic Devices Market: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 64 Worldwide Total GaAs Device Market Discretes + ICs by Region (US$ Million). 65 Worldwide GaAs Electronic Devices Market by Device Type (US$ Million). 66 World Market for GaAs Discrete Electronic Devices by Region (US$ Million). 68 World GaAs Discrete Electronic Devices Market by Application 1999-2004 (US$ Million). 69 World Market for GaAs Digital ICs by Region 1999-2004 (US$ Million). 70 World GaAs Digital IC Market by Application 1999-2004 (US$ Million). 70 World Market for GaAs MMICs by Region 1999-2004 (US$ Million). 71 World GaAs MMIC Market by Application 1999-2004 (US$ Million). 72 Merchant vs. Captive Markets for GaAs Devices 1999-2004 (US$ Million). 73 World Telecommunications Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 77 World Telecommunications GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). 77 World Telecommunications Digital IC Market (US$ Million). 77 World Telecommunications GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). 77 Telecommunications Applications for GaAs Devices. 78 World Market for GaAs Electronic Devices: MMICs vs. Discretes 1999-2004 (US$ Million). 79 Handset Applications for GaAs Devices. 82 World Consumer GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). 112 World Consumer Digital IC Market (US$ Million). 113 World Consumer GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). 113


Contents

Table 5.21 Table 5.22 Table 5.23 Table 5.24 Table 5.25 Table 5.26 Table 5.27 Table 5.28 Table 5.29 Table 5.30 Table 5.31 Table 5.32 Table 5.33 Table 5.34 Table 5.35 Table 5.36 Table 5.37 Table 5.38 Table 5.39 Table 5.40 Table 5.41 Table 5.42 Table 5.43 Table 6.1 Table 6.2 Table 8.1 Table 8.2 Table 8.3 Table 8.4

World Consumer Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). World Computer GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). World Computer Digital IC Market (US$ Million). World Computer GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). World Computer Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). World Industrial GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). World Industrial Digital IC Market (US$ Million). World Industrial GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). World Industrial Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). World Military/Aerospace GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). World Military/Aerospace Digital IC Market (US$ Million). World Military/Aerospace GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). World Military/Aerospace Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). Selected Military Applications for GaAs Analogue Devices. World Automotive Market Discretes (US$ Million). World Automotive Market Digital ICs (US$ Million). World Automotive Market Total MMICs (US$ Million). World Automotive Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). Automotive Applications for GaAs Analogue Devices. World Other GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). World Other Digital IC Market (US$ Million). World Other GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). World Other Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). Comparative Prices of Materials. Comparison of Methods for Bulk Crystal Growth of SI GaAs. Agilent Technologies Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). AIXTRON AG Financial Highlights (E; Million). Alpha Industries Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). ANADIGICS Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million).

113 116 116 116 116 121 121 121 122 123 123 124 124 126 134 134 134 135 136 144 144 144 145 150 151 197 200 203 206


xi

Contents

Table Table Table Table

8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8

Table 8.9 Table 8.10 Table Table Table Table Table Table

8.11 8.1 2 8.1 3 8.14 8.1 5 8.1 6

Table 8.17 Table 8.18 Table 8.19 Table Table Table Table

8.20 8.21 8.22 8.23

Table 8.24 Table 8.25 Table 8.26 Table 8.27 Table 8.28 Table 8.29 Table 8.30 Table Table Table Table

8.31 8.32 8.33 8.34

Table 8.35 Table 8.36 Table 8.37 Table 8.38 Table 8.39 Table 8.40 Table 8.41

Atmel Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million). AXT Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Celeritek Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Conexant Systems Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Dowa Mining Co Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). EMCORE Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million). ATMI Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Fujitsu Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Hitachi Group Financial Highlights (u Billion). Hitachi Group Financial Highlights (u Billion). Honeywell Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Billion). Infineon Technologies AG Financial Highlights (DM Billion). Japan Energy Group Financial Highlights (u Billion). Kopin Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Litton Systems Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). MEI Financial Highlights (u Billion). Mitsubishi Group Financial Highlights (u Billion). Motorola Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Billion). Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). NEC Corp Financial Highlights (u Billion). Oki GaAs Logic Processes. Oki Electric Industries Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Royal Philips Electronics Group Financial Highlights (E; Million). Raytheon Co Financial Highlights (US$ Million). RFMD Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Sanyo Electric Co Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Sharp Corp Financial Highlights (u Billion). Showa Denko Financial Highlights (u Billion). Sony Corp Financial Highlights (u Billion). Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Tegal Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Teledyne Technologies Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Toshiba Corp Financial Highlights (u Billion). Trikon Technologies Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). TriQuint Semiconductor Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). TRW Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Vitesse Semiconductor Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million).

xii Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

210 214 218 221 222 227 233 238 245 247 250 252 257 259 260 265 271 275 277 279 280 281 283 288 292 297 298 299 302 306 309 311 314 317 319 322 331

Contents

List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2 Figure 2.3 Figure 2.4 Figure 2.5 Figure 3.1 Figure 3.2 Figure 3.3 Figure 3.4 Figure 3.5 Figure 3.6 Figure 3.7 Figure 3.8 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 Figure 4.5 Figure 4.6 Figure 4.7 Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2

The GaAs Industry Structure. Total Market for GaAs Materials and Devices 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Total World GaAs Device Market 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Total Merchant Epiwafer Market 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Total Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI GaAs Substrate Market 1 999-2004 (US$ Million). Total Worldwide SI GaAs Substrate Market 1999 Total Worldwide SI GaAs Substrate Market 2004 Worldwide Market Split by Substrate Growth Method 1 999. Worldwide Market Split by Substrate Growth Method 2004. SI GaAs Substrate Market by Diameter 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Trends in End-use of SI GaAs Substrates 1999-2004. Substrate Pricing Trends for SI GaAs Substrates 1999-2004 (US$/in2). Worldwide Merchant Market for SI GaAs Epiwafers 1999-2004. Total Worldwide SI GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Implant vs. Epitaxy Market 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Merchant vs. Captive Epitaxy Market 1999-2004 (US$ Million). World Epiwafer Market Split by Epitaxy Technology 1999-2004. Summary of Epiwafer Market by Diameter 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Epiwafer Pricing Trends by Diameter 1999-2004 (US$/in2). Total World Market for GaAs Electronic Devices 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Worldwide Total GaAs Device Market: Discretes + ICs by Region (US$ Million). Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

6 9

10 11 13 18

20 20 23 23 24 25 33 37 38 43 44 46 50 56 64 65 xiii

Contents

Figure 5.3 Figure 5.4 Figure 5.5 Figure 5.6 Figure 5.7 Figure 5.8 Figure 5.9 Figure 5.10 Figure 5.1 1 Figure 5.1 2 Figure 5.1 3 Figure Figure Figure Figure

6.1 6.2 6.3 7.1

Figure 7.2 Figure 7.3 Figure 7.4 Figure 8.1 Figure 8.2 Figure 8.3 Figure 8.4 Figure 8.5 Figure 8.6 Figure 8.7 Figure 8.8 Figure 8.9 Figure 8.10 Figure 8.11 Figure 8.12 Figure 8.1 3 Figure 8.14 Figure 8.1 5 Figure 8.1 6 Figure 8.1 7 Figure 8.18 Figure 8.1 9 Figure 8.20

Worldwide Total GaAs Device Market: Discretes + ICs by Device Type (US$ million). World Market for GaAs Discrete Electronic Devices by Region 1999-2004 (US$ Million). World Market for GaAs Discrete Electronic Devices by Application 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). World Market for Digital GaAs ICs by Region 1999-2004 (US$ Million). World Market for GaAs Digital ICs by Application 1999-2004 (US$ Million). World Market for GaAs MMICs by Region 1999-2004 (US$ Million). World Market for GaAs MMICs by Application 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Merchant vs. Captive Device Markets for GaAs Devices 1999-2004 (US$ Million). World Telecommunications Market Total: Discretes + ICs 1999-2004 (US$ Million). World Market for GaAs Electronic Devices: MMICs vs. Discretes 1999-2004 (US$ Million). Schematic Representation of Handset Showing GaAs Fraction. Schematic Representation of the LEC Method. Schematic Representation of the VGF Method. Schematic Representation of the HB Method. Schematic Representation of the MOVPE Method. Schematic Representation of the MBE Method. Schematic Representation of the UHV-CVD Method. Schematic Representation of the Ion Implantation Method. AIXTRON AG Net Sales. Alpha Industries Inc Net Sales. ANADIGICS Inc Net Sales. Atmel Corp Net Sales. AXT Total Revenue. Celeritek Inc Net Sales. Dowa Mining Co Ltd Net Sales. EMCORE Corp Net Sales. ATMI Total Revenue. Filtronic Solid State Net Sales. Fujitsu Ltd Net Sales. GIGA A/S Turnover. Hitachi Group Net Sales. Hitachi Group Net Sales. Honeywell Inc Net Sales. Infineon Technologies AG Net Sales. IQE PIc Turnover. Japan Energy Group Net Sales. Kopin Corp Net Sales. Litton Systems Inc Net Sales.

xiv Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

66 68 69 69 70 71 71 73 76 79 80 152 153 155 163 175 180 186 198 201 203 209 212 216 222 223 231 233 237 241 244 246 248 251 255 256 258 259

Contents

Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure

8.21 8.22 8.23 8.24 8.25 8.26 8.27 8.28 8.29 8.30 8.31 8.32 8.33 8.34 8.35 8.36 8.37 8.38 8.39 8.40

MEI Net Sales. Mitsubishi Group Net Sales. Motorola Inc Net Sales. Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd Net Sales. NEC Corp Net Sales. Oki Electric Industries Ltd Net Sales. Royal Philips Electronics Group Net Sales. Raytheon Co Net Sales. RF Micro Devices Inc Net Revenue. Sanyo Electric Co Ltd Net Sales. Sharp Corp Net Sales. Showa Denko Net Sales. Sony Corp Net Sales. Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd Net Sales. Teledyne Technologies Inc Net Sales. Toshiba Corp Net Sales. Trikon Technologies Inc Total Revenue. TriQuint Semiconductor Inc Net Revenue. TRW Inc Net Sales. Vitesse Semiconductor Corp Net Sales.

264 270 273 276 278 281 282 287 289 296 298 299 301 305 310 313 315 318 320 327


xv

This Page Intentionally Left Blank

Introduction

This report examines the d e v e l o p m e n t of the gallium arsenide (GaAs) electronics industry over a five-year period, 1999-2004, incorporating analysis of trends in markets, technologies and industry structure. It is designed to provide key information to users and manufacturers of GaAs substrates, epiwafers and devices. The coverage includes GaAs-active electronic components, i.e. field effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits (ICs), and the semi-insulating (SI) wafers and epitaxial wafers ('epiwafers') on which most of these devices are made. The geographical coverage of the report includes North America, Japan and Europe, which together will account for over 90% of the production and consumption of GaAs electronic materials and devices over the next five years. However, many other countries have activities in GaAs, including South-east Asia (Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore), China, India, Australia and Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic), amongst others. Activities in these countries are commented on in the text where relevant, but are not quantified in the market data.

The report is structured as follows: 9 Chapter 2: an executive summary of the GaAs industry, summarizing the main conclusions and market data. 9 Chapter 3: GaAs substrate markets. The size, quality and particularly the price of GaAs wafers are key factors in determining the ability of foundries to produce competitive products. The trends in GaAs crystal growth, the impact of the device markets on wafer demand and the main suppliers are examined. 9 Chapter 4: GaAs epitaxial wafer markets. Active layer formation by epitaxy can provide several advantages over ion implantation. Already well-established for the production of discrete devices, a combination of Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

1

Introduction

increasing demands on device performance and price reductions in epiwafers is expanding the use of epitaxy for the manufacture of G a ~ ICs. Focusing on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), the applications of epitaxy for GaAs device manufacture are examined. Chapter 5: GaAs device application markets. The basic application sectors (many of which overlap) for GaAs microelectronic devices are examined, as well the basic commercial opportunities, changes and forces acting within each sector. This chapter also examines the market for the basic types of device, microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMICs), digital ICs and discrete devices. For each type of device, market data and forecasts are provided and future prospects are described. Chapter 6: GaAs materials technologies. This chapter introduces the G a ~ and related semiconductor materials that are presently, or likely to become, important to the fabrication of microelectronic devices. The principal distinguishing properties of these materials are explained, with r e f e r e n c e to t h e i r a p p l i c a t i o n . GaAs is p r e s e n t l y facing s t r o n g competition for market share from a number of other semiconductors. Here the technical and market prospects for silicon variants such as bipolar, silicon-germanium (SiGe) and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) are assessed. Also included is an overview of the market situation for indium p h o s p h i d e (InP), gallium nitride (GaN), silicon carbide (SIC) and diamond. Chapter 7: GaAs epitaxy and device processing. In this chapter a background and overview of developments in the principal technological R&D and p r o d u c t i o n process t e c h n i q u e s for GaAs epilayers and subsequent processing is provided. The main focus is on the most important enabling technology for the production of the present and future generations of microelectronic devices. Chapter 8: company profiles of substrate suppliers, epiwafers suppliers and merchant and captive producers of GaAs devices. Chapter 9: a directory of leading suppliers of materials, equipment and devices worldwide. Chapter 10: appendices listing acronyms, mergers and acquisitions, agreements and exchange rates.

The products considered in this report are those that have an established market presence. Coverage is also included for materials and devices that are not yet in widespread use but are expected to exert an impact during the forecast period, as are longer term trends and R&D activities. Coverage also includes competing materials and devices based on the following materials: silicon, SiGe, SOI, SiC, InP and GaN.

2


Introduction

Market figures were compiled d u r i n g 2000, the c u r r e n t year, and data are provided for 1999, the base year, through to 2004, the final forecast year. W h e r e relevant, markets are e x p r e s s e d b o t h in v o l u m e and value terms. Values are expressed in constant 1999 US dollars. Markets and forecasts are considered according to the five following product categories: 9 9 9 9 9

Substrates. Epiwafers. Discrete devices. Analog ICs. Digital ICs.

This study considers the topic o n a global basis. Markets and forecasts are broken down according to the following four regions: 9 North America. 9 Western Europe. 9 Japan. 9 Rest of the world (ROW).

The information in this report was derived from a combination of sources: 9 9

Extensive literature and Internet research. Comprehensive interview programme.

The latter was c o n d u c t e d with key p e r s o n n e l from leading GaAs materials and microelectronics device manufacturers, researchers and other organizations. Other secondary sources employed included: 9 9 9 9 9

Manufacturers' product literature. Company reports and profiles. Company accounts and other financial data. Technical articles and research publications. Conference proceedings.


3

Introduction

9 9

Press releases and other promotional material. Industry, trade association and government statistics.

This report was p r o d u c e d in association with the GaAs industry's premier publication, llI-Vs Review. Readers are also referred to the companion report in this series, Gallium Nitride & Related Wide Bandgap Materials & Devices: A Market & Technology Overview 1998-2003, Second Edition (ISBN 1 85617 363 1). This volume contains additional R&D information on the status of GaN, SiC and other wide-bandgap materials as applied to microelectronic devices for high-frequency, high-power and high-temperature operation.

4


Executive Summary

In this section, the key findings and forecast results of the report are presented. In the half-decade since the first edition of this report the gallium arsenide (GaAs) electronics industry has experienced an accelerated growth to a maturity approaching that of the silicon industry. Up until the early 1990s, the business had been growing steadily but was fragmented and insubstantial in comparison with the mainstream silicon device industry. Today the G a ~ market is established as a multibillion-dollar per-annum business, with many players and new participants being added annually. Most of the players described in the first edition are still active despite gloomier prognostications from certain quarters. The GaAs business is an attractive but competitive segment of the electronics industry. It is characterized by having a higher degree of stability compared with the cyclic mainstream business dominated by silicon-based integrated circuits (ICs). However, in recent years competition from other materials and device technologies has become commercially significant. For this reason the coverage of this edition of the report has been enlarged to address the real or potential threat from such contenders as silicon-germanium (SiGe)- and indium phosphide (InP)-based microelectronic devices. The report is timely because of the industry's concerted move to achieve what has b e e n described as 'silicon-like' economics via a transition to 6-inch (150 mm) diameter GaAs substrates. The report assesses this watershed period, including the progress of vertical gradient freeze (VGF) material in a market otherwise d o m i n a t e d by liquid-encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) substrates. Device coverage includes discrete devices such as diodes and transistors but the emphasis reflects the industry's preoccupation with ICs. Digital ICs remain an important but fairly small market in relation to analogue ICs. However, m o d e m communication links such as fibre-optics demand higher speed and bandwidth. Digital GaAs ICs stand poised to excel in a market otherwise dominated by wireless applications and cellular handsets in particular. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

5

Executive Summary

The report has also responded to the changes within the industry structure whereby a greater degree of diversity is to be found in companies. This has arisen from the particularly strong growth experienced in what might be termed the middle tier of the i n d u s t r y - - o n e that is largely confined to GaAs III-Vs - - that of merchant epiwafer supply. The structure of the G a ~ electronic materials and devices industry as covered in this report is shown in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 The GaAs Industry Structure.

Source Materials

Substrates LEC

Epiwafers MBE

li 4-inch vs. 6-,nch

vs.

vs.

VGF

MOVPE

II

4-inch

vs.

6-inch

The Device Market

Discretes

!

Digital ICs

MMICs

6

GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

Executive Summary

The principal attraction for use of GaAs is its characteristic semi-insulating (SI) property. This means that very high frequency circuits can be fabricated from GaAs. In contrast, this is much more difficult for conventional silicon, which has a much lower resistivity, i.e. it is semi-conducting, In the past five years many of the technological difficulties that characterize GaAs, i.e. fragility, have b e e n o v e r c o m e . Today the i n d u s t r y is on the threshold of a new era of mass production capability. This has arisen from the commercial availability of much larger, i.e. 6-inch (150 mm) diameter GaAs substrates. Several Western companies have already installed dedicated 6-inch fabrication facilities to process these wafers, largely for the mass production of a n a l o g u e ICs for t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s applications. In contrast, the p r e d o m i n a n t wafer size for silicon is 8-inch (200 mm) with only a few fabrication facilities currently operational with 12-inch (300 mm) wafers. However, for the foreseeable future, the majority of GaAs manufacturers will make do with smaller diameter (4-inch) wafers until the volume that their business handles mandates re-equipment and scaling up. Equally so, in optoelectronics, the sister to the microelectronics business covered in this report, semiconducting GaAs is also enjoying considerable commercial success. Because of its exclusive reliance on discrete devices it remains based largely on 2-inch (50 mm) diameter wafers.

The origins of the GaAs business lie with defence R&D programmes in the 1960s and 1970s. From the basic crystal growth and device fabrication technology, development of the material has become well established in the non-defence sectors. Today, G a ~ is a market that is growing fastest in nondefence sectors, particularly in telecommunications and consumers. The key transition for GaAs began a few years ago when manufacturers were at last able to obtain highly dependable supplies of GaAs ICs, notably microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs). However, in many large volume areas, discrete devices such as field effect transistors (FETs) and diodes remain important. GaAs has become an enabling technology in many application areas. The material is also very important in this respect in the complementary area of optoelectronics. A huge industry has grown up based on the speciality devices that can only be fabricated in III-V semiconductors such as GaAs and related c o m p o u n d s and not from silicon. Examples of such enabling technology include diode lasers for fibre-optic telecommunications and optical data storage. In GaAs microelectronics, c o m p a r a b l e examples of innovative product families include low-noise satellite TV receivers and cellular phones.


7

Executive Summary

Interestingly, in the 1980s many industry observers predicted a great future for GaAs in the digital arena. However, in today's marketplace there is only a fairly small business to be had from digital electronics based on G a ~ . By far, over 90% of the market is for analogue components. That is not to say that there will be a rosy future for digital GaAs. At present the digital market for GaAs is centred on data communications (high-speed switches for example). Little or no activity is evident in such big market sectors as microprocessors or semiconductor memories. However, with processor speeds now reaching or exceeding 1 GHz, silicon is becoming less practicable a material and by the end of the period of this report it cannot be ruled out that the latest Intel Pentium variant may be GaAs- rather than silicon-based. However, the actual value of the market is the inverse of this structure and this is reflected in the market data provided herein. Because of this, the executive s u m m a r y begins with the highest value tier --- that of GaAs electronic devices. Thereafter, it covers epiwafers and substrates. At the lowest tier is the source materials sector, i.e. the gallium and arsenic. In this edition of the report, attention is also given to the device processing equipment sector, which was worth a total of over US$750 million in 1999 for all III-V applications, i.e. opto- and microelectronic devices. Systems constitute the highest value tier but because GaAs is only a small fraction, i.e. one or two GaAs MMICs in the average cellphone, it amounts to u n d e r 10% of the total manufacturing value of the product. There is also pressure to reduce this still further, even t h o u g h the market is growing strongly. The market is also growing through the debut of new products and not just the replacement market for cellphones.

In 1999, the total global market for all types of GaAs materials and devices was worth a combined total of US$4305 million. This will experience an overall c o m p o u n d average annual growth rate (CAAGR) of 24% to reach US$13 070 million by 2004. This is shown in Figure 2.2. The market also includes source materials such as gallium and arsenic and compounds thereof, together with equipment used in device manufacturing. In 1999, these were w o r t h an additional US$200 million and US$750 million, respectively. The combined total GaAs materials and devices market in 1999 was therefore worth US$5255 million. In 1999 the worldwide merchant GaAs electronic device market was worth US$3601 million. This market will grow to reach US$11 008 million by 2004, which is a CAGR of 24% (see Figure 2.3). The device market is presently split into two major segments (discretes and ICs) and these w e r e worth, respectively, US$521 million and US$2890 million in 1999. This will have changed to become respectively US$1202 million and US$9422 million in 2004. 8


Executive Summary

In 1999 the worldwide market for merchant GaAs epiwafers for electronic applications was worth US$466 million. This market will grow at 24% to reach US$1429 million in 2004. This is shown in Figure 2.4. The epiwafer market is presently split into two major s e g m e n t s - molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) - - and these were worth, respectively, US$217 million and US$249 million in 1999. This will have changed to become respectively US$663 million and US$765 million in 2004. The 1999 market for SI GaAs substrates was worth US$238 million. This market will grow at 20% to reach US$633 million by 2004. This is shown in Figure 2.5. The substrate market is presently split into two major segments (LEC and VGF) and these were w o r t h respectively US$199 million and US$39 million in 1999. This will have changed to become respectively US$530 million and US$103 million in 2004.

2.5.1 Merchant Device Market Attribution of the end-user market for GaAs devices is less easy to define than those for epiwafers and substrates. The GaAs device market is dominated by the telecommunications sector. In turn, this is dominated by handsets. The handset market is dominated by three companies: Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola. As a result, the largest share of manufacturing of handsets and related equipment is carried out in European factories. Europe is thus the most important end-market for G a ~ devices, even though these handsets are then sold around the world. In this report, end-market is Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

9

Executive Summary

taken as the region where the original e q u i p m e n t m a n u f a c t u r e r (OEM) undertakes handset manufacture. Over the period of this report some shifts in production are expected. Even though handset manufacture will be further established in the Far East, it will continue to be dominated by the top three OEMs: Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola. Today's G a ~ device market remains split between captive and merchant but with an increasing emphasis on merchant expected over the next 5 years. To a large extent this parallels the deployment of implant versus epitaxy-based device processing. Implant will, for some time to come, be the most costeffective m e a n s of mass p r o d u c t i o n of electronic devices but its p o o r applicability to heterostructure and other advanced devices will eventually lead to changes in its role and the dominance of epitaxy-based processes. N o r t h America will c o n t i n u e to be the d o m i n a n t r e g i o n for the m a n u f a c t u r e of MMICs (but not for d i s c r e t e devices) w h i l s t also representing the biggest market. The key issue to be conquered by the device manufacturers as they seek to contest the consumer market is to achieve 'silicon-like' device manufacturing economics. They must equip themselves with the necessary processes so as to continually improve productivity and thereby cost-competitive device manufacture in an increasingly cost-sensitive marketplace. Since the previous edition, a growing number of companies have initiated their moves to 150 mm diameter wafer processing from 100 mm. Conspicuously absent from the trend to 150 mm fabrication facilities were the companies based in Japan, which have yet to reveal their plans for 150 mm new fabrication facilities or conversions of existing facilities. 10


Executive Summary

The G a ~ electronic device market is presently dominated by MMICs. Since the previous edition, hybrid-based circuits using discrete devices have had to make way for MMICs. Digital GaAs ICs have a niche role to play in so far as they are n e e d e d for specialist applications. These are b e c o m i n g more important as demand for higher speed and higher bandwidth networks is required for multimedia applications such as the Interact. However, in these network and related applications, silicon-based devices are also b e c o m i n g c o m p e t i t i v e . This is h a p p e n i n g t h r o u g h p e r f o r m a n c e enhancement via SiGe process technologies. At the lower frequency ranges, i.e. below 5 GHz, silicon devices are encroaching on what previously was the exclusive preserve of GaKs. In d u e course, GaAs devices will also come u n d e r threat at the higher frequencies, i.e. above 25 GHz, in the miUimetre wave part of the microwave spectrum. This is due to the development of InP-based devices. However, these may yet require processing based on a GaAs substrate. Metamorphic processes, i.e. InP epilayers on larger GaAs substrates, will help to achieve full potential and this will ensure continued demand for GaAs materials. The next five years will see a further intensification of the already competitive GaAs materials and device marketplace. The business has reached a level of maturity that had previously been considered always to be 'just around the comer'. This success has brought with it many challenges new to the practitioners of G a ~ device manufacture and it will be those who can master these and remain profitable who will reap the rewards of the multibiUion-dollar market forecast in this report. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

11

Executive Summary

2.5.2 Merchant Epiwafer Market The situation as regards merchant epiwafers is somewhat less restrictive. This tier of the business is a relatively new p h e n o m e n o n and has no comparable parallel in the silicon industry where epiwafers are mainly sourced from either substrate suppliers or internal facilities. Although the latter is still the case for III-V epiwafer supply, virtually none of the Western suppliers conduct substrate and epiwafer businesses under one roof. Japan was the home of the very first epiwafer suppliers. Sumitomo Electric Industries was selling vapour phase epitaxy (VPE) epiwafers in the 1970s off the back of its substrate and device business (derived from internal supply and offered on a merchant basis). Since then many Japanese suppliers of substrates and/or devices also sell epiwafers. They have some of the most c o m p r e h e n s i v e p r o d u c t ranges available today, i.e. they derive from liquid phase epitaxy (LPE), VPE, MOVPE and MBE. H o w e v e r , in g e n e r a l , t h e s e c o m p a n i e s lack the m o s t n o t a b l e characteristic of Western merchant epiwafer suppliers, that of purely ' c u s t o m ' w a f e r m a n u f a c t u r e . To a large e x t e n t , t o d a y ' s b u s i n e s s phenomenon of merchant epiwafer supply is a 'Western' innovation. Merchant epiwafer suppliers do not sell substrates as such, nor do they sell devices. They must at all times visibly avoid competing with their customers who make devices. However, since the previous edition of this report, certain companies have stretched the boundaries of the original precepts and the boundaries have b e c o m e blurred. So far, this appears to have had little impact on the industry as a whole. This is largely because it is presently more characteristic of the optoelectronics rather than the electronics market. Merchant epiwafer suppliers tend to be at the cutting edge of process development and acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment. They were amongst the first to tool up for 6-inch-wafer-capable multiwafer epitaxy machines. Another aspect of this recent climate of change has been the move towards a broader offering and less reliance on specific epitaxial growth techniques. Previously, companies specialized-- like Picogiga with its MBE technology, which continues to this day--- and other companies have b r o a d e n e d to respond to their perception of the market need. In 1999 two merchant epiwafer suppliers m e r g e d - - EPI, the MOVPE specialist, merged with QED, the MBE specialist - - to form the world's first 'pure play' epiwafer vendor, IQE Plc. Epiwafer companies have, unlike substrate suppliers, become very successful on a truly global basis. OEMs in Japan having purchased volume quantities of wafers from Western epiwafer vendors akin to those orders from North American device makers. Japanese device companies have been much more open and responsive to the concept of merchant epiwafer supply from the West.

12


Executive Summary

The principal area of competition at this tier will continue to be between merchant epitaxy vendors and captive facilities.

2.5.3 Merchant Substrate Market Three interrelated issues preoccupying the substrate industry players include: 9 9 9

Production meeting very strong demand. Production of larger substrates, in particular 150 mm (6-inch) diameter. Production technology: LEC v s . VGF crystal growth.

The handful of major players have to meet the biggest demand for substrate products in the history of the business. Furthermore, they have to do it while making capital investments, absorbing higher prices of gallium source materials and pressure to reduce wafer prices from device and epiwafer customers. The third, and least important, preoccupation of substrate vendors and their customers is the crystal growth method. LEC is dominant and looks set to continue, but VGF is better suited and has yet to be proven to be markedly superior to LEC for epitaxy-based device structures for electronic devices. This tier of the industry is following silicon and it is likely that there will be further c o m p a n i e s either exiting the business as a result of the n a r r o w margins or having to make painfully large capital investments to maintain the status quo. Since the previous edition of this report, several companies have left the business to focus on more profitable GaAs products. Conversely, there have been no new entrants. It is u n l i k e l y that t h e r e will be a n a m e t h a t is n e w to the i n d u s t r y . N e v e r t h e l e s s , given the p a u c i t y of supply, t h e r e exists a w i n d o w of opportunity for at least one supplier with the right product (150 m m GaAs


13

Executive Summary

substrates) available at the right time (now). But such a company could not spring up overnight. There is a conspicuous absence of a substrate player in the Far East outside Japan. Someone could acquire the technology from s o m e o n e leaving the business looking to move away from this particular technology and make money instead of just writing it off. There is much d e m a n d coming out of Taiwan where an u n p r e c e d e n t e d n u m b e r of epiwafer and epiwafer-based device companies are setting up. Combined, the d e m a n d for substrates in Taiwan alone is probably approaching that of North America already. Certainly it must be above that of Europe. There are over 20 epiwafer factories for optoelectronics and now three have set up to make comparable electronic devices. There would a p p e a r to be plenty of commercial o p p o r t u n i t y to set up a fabrication facility in Taiwan dedicated to selling materials to all these customers. Another notable factor in this supply chain is the stability of the substrate supply business. At this level of the supply chain there have been few new entrants. Conversely, only a few companies have left the business, notably one or two Japanese suppliers. But there would seem to be some new opportunities for substrate suppliers, what with new players coming at the epiwafer and device business levels. Geographically speaking, the market is characterized by Japanese OEMs sourcing almost exclusively locally. Japan is also the most notable area for vertical integration; only in J a p a n do companies manufacture everything from substrates t h r o u g h to finished devices. These products are offered on the merchant market as well as for internal use. In the West, J a p a n e s e substrate suppliers operate very successfully. The converse, however, is not well known. Western c o m p a n i e s have m a d e attempts to secure supply deals with Japanese device manufacturers but, in the main, this has proved to be unsuccessful. In some cases, Japanese companies have sampled potentially innovative substrates such as VGF but few cases have been reported of large followon contracts for regular supply. As to the sense of this, questions arise with r e g a r d to t h e n e e d to be as c o m p e t i t i v e as p o s s i b l e , b o t h technologically and economically speaking. Six-inch substrates have b e c o m e a major issue for a growing n u m b e r of players. At the time of writing, a shortage of substrates was being discussed that had the result of hardening prices and bolstering the market for 4-inch substrates. This should have been worked through by the end of the forecast period for this report. Indeed, the substrate market shows signs of flattening by 2002-2003. At this point there could be a return to an excess of supply over demand for the substrate supply business. It is also worth mentioning the rise ofVGF substrates. This newer form of SI substrate is now being p r o m o t e d by two major Western players (AXT and Freiberger Compound Materials) and, in a device market where epitaxy-based materials are the strongest growth area, VGF is showing signs of being more attractive than other substrates. 14


Executive Summary

Having regular s h i p m e n t s of competitively priced substrates from nonJapanese sources, e.g. VGF substrates that are not yet comparably available from local suppliers, would permit Japanese OEMs maximum latitude in the competitive device market. This is something that their traditional 'family' a p p r o a c h w o u l d seem to have denied them so far. Whether this situation might change over the forecast period of this report remains unclear. It could, however, restrict or even h a r m the c o m p e t i t i v e n e s s of J a p a n e s e device suppliers wishing to expand their share on the open market. It looks more and more likely that the GaAs substrate industry will follow the route of silicon and be reduced to the hands of a much smaller number of key players. Identifying these companies is not an exact science at this point in time.

As the new century gets u n d e r way, the GaAs electronics industry has finally reached maturity; it has found a high-volume market to dominate. As a result of this learning experience, it is becoming a well-structured business sector, albeit o n e that has b e e n built on a n a l o g u e r a t h e r t h a n digital ICs as originally anticipated. Having b e e n able to find one high-volume m a r k e t - - - that based on mass acceptance of mobile communications - - the goal for the future will be to find one or more other huge markets. At present it is not clear where such markets lie. Undoubtedly, having perfected the mass p r o d u c t i o n of GaAs ICs for one market will have increased the likelihood of acceptance of these devices in other markets. Overall, the p r e s e n t market looks set to have at least a half-decade of life remaining. GaAs has s u c c e e d e d in becoming established in a high-volume c o n s u m e r market sector. The microelectronics manufacturing industry is characterized by the rise and fall of such markets. Each new market has a life cycle that is made to last, as long as its suppliers can make it so. During that life cycle the participants are faced with ensuring that the supply--demand equation stays in balance for as long as possible. At the time of writing there were signs at the u p p e r tiers of the market, i.e. amongst the leading cellphone manufacturers, that it was heading towards a dip. On the one hand certain key components were in shorter supply leading the h a n d s e t m a n u f a c t u r e r s to scale back p r o d u c t i o n . This w o u l d have a negative effect on the balance sheets of the many device manufacturers who were reporting record fiscal results. Nevertheless, this was at a time leading towards the Christmas period when consumer equipment purchasing is at its highest, so it was considered that the hiatus would not last for long.


15

Executive Summary

In the medium to longer term, the aforementioned maturity will bring with it many challenges in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The key driver in the GaAs business - - the cellphone and related p r o d u c t s - - has yet to complete its product life cycle. The industry looks set for further spectacular growth as consumers worldwide continue to buy new-generation telephones based on GaAs and other components. Comparable newer markets such as Web-enabled phones, digital TV, global positioning satellites and higher speed broadband datacoms and networks will bolster this market. Two factors may well serve to spoil this ongoing bonanza: how well the industry embraces and deploys 'silicon-like' mass-production techniques and achieves ever-lower unit prices; and being able to compete with and hold off the encroachment of market share from higher performance cheaper silicon technologies. Ultimately, as we have cautioned herein, the industry may not be able to fulfil the most optimistic of market forecasts, purely because overall demand will continue to outstrip supply. Experts worldwide hold that today's forecasts are not optimistic enough, just as they were only a few years ago. The market potential is there for those companies that have the wherewithal to meet the challenge with the right amount of products available at the right time for the right price.

16


Substrate Markets

In this chapter the worldwide markets for gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiinsulating (SI) substrates are analysed and forecast. The coverage includes an examination of the two most important material types: 9 9

liquid-encapsulated Czochralski (LEC); and vertical gradient freeze (VGF).

These will remain the principal crystal growth techniques for the fabrication of microelectronics devices over the period of this report. For both LEC and VGF types, market data, forecasts and pricing trends are given and their future prospects are described.

In 1999, the t o t a l worldwide market for SI GaAs substrates for electronic devices, was valued at US$238 million. This will exceed US$633 million by the year 2004. A c o m p o u n d average a n n u a l growth rate (CAAGR) of 20% is expected to be sustained t h r o u g h o u t the period in value of sales, but significant shifts in production emphasis by product type, pricing and a p p l i c a t i o n are e x p e c t e d . The t o t a l w o r l d w i d e m a r k e t for SI GaAs s u b s t r a t e s by r e g i o n is s u m m a r i z e d in Table 3.1 a n d is p r e s e n t e d graphically in Figure 3.1. The w o r l d w i d e s u b s t r a t e m a r k e t is analysed and forecasted by several different approaches: 9 ~

by geographic region; by type, i.e. LEC vs. VGF;


17

Substrate Markets

9 by customer application, i.e. implant and epitaxy; 9 by wafer area; and 9 by substrate size. The overall market for substrates by wafer diameter from 2-inch to 6-inch is summarized in Tables 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5, respectively. Unlike the analysis of the epitaxial wafer marketplace that follows in the next chapter, the analysis for the substrate market does not address the split between merchant and captive. In the West there has been no r e t u r n to captive substrate production, and there are few signs of this happening in the next 5 years. The Japanese approach includes a significant manufacture of substrates and related products by vertically integrated companies. Such products are also offered on the merchant market.

Table 3.1 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

80 69 55 33

98 79 66 41

122 91 80 50

154 104 97 62

195 119 119 77

252 137 148 96

237

284

343

417

510

633

North America Japan Europe RoW Total

Table 3.2 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Substrate Market Summary: 6-inch (US$ Million),

18

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

North America Japan Europe RoW

22 10 16 11

31 12 22 15

43 14 30 20

61 16 40 26

87 19 54 35

125 22 73 47

Total

59

80

107

143

195

267


Substrate Markets

Table 3.3 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Substrate Market Summary: 4-inch (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

42 37 26 15

49 42 30 17

58 48 34 21

69 55 39 25

82 63 45 30

98 72 52 36

120

138

161

188

220

258

Table 3.4 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Substrate Market Summary: 3-inch (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


11 12 8 4

13 14 9 5

14 16 10 5

16 18 11 6

18 21 13 7

20 23 14 7

Total

35

41

45

51

59

64

Table 3.5 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Substrate Market Summary: 2-inch (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


6 10 5 3

6 11 5 4

7 13 6 4

8 15 7 5

9 17 8 6

9 19 8 6

Total

24

26

30

35

40

42

3.2.1 Geographic Split North America and Japan are the largest regional users of SI GaAs substrate products, accounting for 34% and 29% of demand, respectively, in 1999. By 2004, demand will be concentrated further in these two regions, at 38% and 24% respectively, together accounting for 62% of the market. Some of the difference will have been accounted for by increased activity in the rest of the world (ROW). Table 3.1 shows a summation of the total worldwide substrate market, i.e. all sizes of substrates split by geographic markets, and this information is shown graphically in Figures 3.2 and 3.3, which show the total market in the base year, 1999, and at the end of the 5-year forecast, 2004, respectively.


19

Substrate Markets

3.2.2 Substrate Split The 1999 worldwide market for GaAs SI substrates split by substrate growth method LEC or VGF is summarized in the following tables: 9 9

LEC: Tables 3.6-3.10. GF: Tables 3.11-3.15.

3.2.2. 1 LEC Table 3.6 Total Worldwide Sl LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2(:04

67 57 47 28

82 65 56 34

101 75 68 42

127 85 83 52

162 98 103 65

210 112 128 81

199

237

286

347

428

531


20


Substrate Markets

Table 3.7 Worldwide 6-inch Sl LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


18.0 7.0 14.0 10.0

26.7 8.3 19.8 13.1

38.7 9.9 27.1 17.7

56.1 11.7 37.1 23.9

81.4 14.0 50.8 32.2

118.0 16.6 69.6 43.5

Total

49.0

68.0

93.4

129.0

178.4

248.0

Table 3.8 Worldwide 4-inch Sl LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

35.0 31.0 22.0 12.0

40.0 35.0 24.6 14.0

46.1 39.7 27.7 16.5

53.0 45.1 31.2 19.4

60.9 51.2 35.1 22.8

70.0 58.1 39.4 26.7

100.0

114.0

130.0

149.0

170.0

194.2

Table 3.9 Worldwide 3-inch Sl LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


9.0 11.0 7.0 3.0

10.2 12.0 7.4 3.7

11.2 13.7 8.3 4.1

12.3 15.5 9.4 4.6

13.5 17.6 10.5 5.1

14.9 20.0 11.8 5.7

Total

30.0

33.3

37.3

42.0

47.0

52.4

Table 3.10 Worldwide 2-inch Sl LEC GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

4.0 9.0 4.0 3.0

4.6 10.2 4.5 3.1

5.1 11.5 5.0 3.5

5.6 13.1 5.6 4.0

6.1 14.9 6.3 4.5

6.7 16.9 7.0 5.0

20.0

22.4

25.1

28.3

32.0

36.0


21

Substrate Markets

3.2.2.2 VGF Table 3.1 1 Total Worldwide Sl VGF GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


14 12 8 5

17 14 10 7

21 16 12 8

27 19 14 10

33 22 17 12

42 25 20 15

Total

39

48

57

70

84

102

Table 3 . 1 2 Worldwide 6-inch Sl VGF GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


3.0 3.0 2.0 1.0

3.9 3.3 2.3 1.6

4.5 3.8 2.6 1.9

5.2 4.3 2.9 2.2

6.0 4.9 3.3 2.6

6.9 5.5 3.7 3.1

Total

9.0

1 1.1

12.8

14.6

16.8

19.2


2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

7.0 6.0 4.0 3.0

9.0 7.0 5.1 3.5

12.0 8.3 6.4 4.4

1 5.9 9.9 8.0 5.6

21.0 1 1.7 10.0 7.1

27.9 14.0 12.5 9.0

20.0

24.6

31.1

39.3

49.9

63.3



2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0

2.4 2.O 1.4 1.0

2.9 2.3 1.6 1.1

3.5 2.7 1.9 1.3

4.1 3.1 2.1 1.6

4.9 3.5 2.5 1.8

Total

6.0

6.8

8.0

9.4

10.9

12.7

Table 3 . 1 5 Worldwide 2-inch Sl VGF GaAs Substrate Market 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million).

22

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

1.6 1.3 0.9 0.6

1.8 1.5 1.0 0.8

2.1 1.7 1.2 0.9

2.4 1.9 1.3 1.0

2.7 2.2 1.5 1.2

Total

4.0

4.4

5.1

5.9

6.6

7.6


Substrate Markets

The total market values for LEC and VGF were valued at US$240 million and US$39 million, respectively. LEC will g r o w by 20.4% to exceed US$530 million by the year 2004, whereas VGF will grow by 21% to exceed US$103 million by the year 2004. This information is presented graphically in Figures 3.4 and 3.5.

3.2.3 Wafer Size In 1999, the GaAs SI substrate market continued to be dominated by 4-inch (100 mm) wafers. However, the 6-inch (150 mm) substrate market was the fastest growing sector of the market. As shown in Figure 3.6, by 2004 the 150 mm will have passed the 100 mm market in importance. Table 3.16 shows the relative market share by diameter.

Table 3.16 Wafer Market Share by Diameter. 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

6-inch 4-inch 3-inch 2-inch

59 119 36 24

79 138 40 27

106 161 45 30

143 188 51 34

195 220 58 38

267 258 65 43

Total

238

284

342

416

511

633

3. 2. 3. 1 Substrate Production In 1999 North American companies were the largest regional merchant producer at 46% of demand, compared with 42% from Japanese companies. By 2004, the Japanese share of p r o d u c t i o n is expected to fall to 41%, compared with 51% from North America. The leading merchant suppliers in 1999 are shown in Table 3.17.


23

Substrate Markets

Table 3.17 Worldwide Market Share of the Sl GaAs Substrate Market by Company 2000. .

.

Company

.

.

.

.

.

9 .

.

.

.

.

Litton Airtron Sumitomo Electric Industries M/A-COM Freiberger Compound Materials Others Total

.

.

.

.

.

Share (%) .

.

.

.

.

.

.

23 19 16 22 20 100

3. 2.3. 2 Substrate Application Today the principal market applications for SI GaAs substrates are ion implantation and epitaxy. For a more in-depth assessment of the evolution of this market, see Chapter 4. Over the years the relative share of these process techniques has evolved (see Figure 3.7).

24 Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

Substrate Markets

The strong growth areas within the business are expected to be principally in LEC and also in VGF, a n d to a m u c h lesser e x t e n t in o t h e r m e t h o d s . Substrates will also be affected by competition with other Si-based devices, such as silicon-germanium (SiGe). Within this area the product types are seeing excellent growth for both the short and longer term. Overall, they will sustain growth, making the GaAs microelectronics sector one of the best performers in the semiconductor industry. D e m a n d for SI GaAs substrates comes from each of the principal device sectors, as follows: 9 9 9 ~

Discrete Devices I: diodes, sensors, etc. Discrete Devices II: field effect transistors (FETs), high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), heterostructure bipolar transistors (HBTs), etc. Integrated circuits (ICs) I: digital. ICs II: microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs).

9

R&D.

However, in the short-term the industry has been experiencing a shortfall in capacity, especially in the larger wafer sizes. Substrate vendors can, for the first time in a long while, sell everything that they can make. Historically, supply has always outstripped demand. From 2000 to perhaps as long as 2001-2002, the situation may be that demand cannot be met with present capacity. New additional capacity will take one year to have an effect. The market may thus not fulfil its fullest potential for the first time in its career. However, it will benefit from the resultant hardening of prices. Although the bulk of orders come from c o m p a n i e s having p r o d u c t i o n facilities, a small percentage, around 9%, of the demand comes from research institutes and organizations. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

25

Substrate Markets

3.3.1 Production 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4

3.3. 1.1 Demand and Supply by Geographical Region North America is the biggest regional c o n s u m e r and p r o d u c e r of SI GaAs wafers, followed by Japan. Over the next five years, d e m a n d from North America is expected to increase further as a percentage of the total, as shown in Figure 3.2. It does not have as many suppliers overall as Japan (eight principals) but all three are respective Top 10 companies. Wafer demand is dominated by GaAs IC production, and North America is by far the largest p r o d u c e r of both MMICs and GaAs digital ICs. This lead is expected to be further consolidated over the next few years. There are 25 GaAs p r o d u c t i o n foundries in the USA (including many 4-inch lines), c o m p a r e d with 12 in Japan and seven in E u r o p e (see C o m p a n y Profiles in C h a p t e r 8). Epiwafer s u p p l i e r s are also large consumers of wafers (see Figure 3.7) and several leading vendors are in the USA. Although Japan c o n t i n u e s to dominate the p r o d u c t i o n of discrete GaAs components, such as power FETs and low-noise HEMTs, this has a smaller impact on wafer demand. Home to two of the largest merchant epiwafer houses, E u r o p e ' s SI GaAs substrate demand is substantial. It is also home to several GaAs IC and FET manufacturers, but as a whole European substrate demand is expected not to grow quite as strongly as that of North America. However, it will likely increase in t e r m s of 6-inch, o w i n g to d e m a n d for this size f r o m key companies such as Infineon Technologies, IQE and Picogiga. Rest of the world (ROW) countries have previously provided a smaller demand for SI GaAs wafers, but in the 1998-1999 timeframe new fabrication facilities have begun to appear, especially in Taiwan. So by 2000 these are likely to contribute to the region's growing appetite for GaAs substrates. The question is less about d e m a n d as a b o u t supply. All of the top SI GaAs s u b s t r a t e vendors have strong supply agreements with North America, European and Japanese customers. For key substrate products, 6-inch in particular, all capacity is already allocated into the next year (2001). RoW companies, especially those new fabrication facilities in Taiwan, will find it difficult to source sufficient GaAs substrates. An additional factor is their competition with Japanese vendors, which conflicts at u p p e r tiers, especially epiwafers and devices. W h e n J a p a n e s e 6-inch d e m a n d a c c e l e r a t e s , T a i w a n e s e companies (and others) may experience supply difficulties as J a p a n e s e vendors strive to meet all customers' demands. Japan was the largest regional producer of GaAs wafers, by a growing margin having lost the lead to N o r t h American suppliers. J a p a n e s e s u b s t r a t e suppliers had a combined market share of 46% in 1999, and this is expected to fall to 41% by 2004. Much of this has to do with the success of Title III P r o g r a m p a r t i c i p a n t s (AXT, Litton A i r t r o n a n d M/A-COM) w i t h commercialization of larger diameter substrates.

26


Substrate Markets

The Japanese share of the overall market has continued to fall over the past few years, owing to increased competition from the 'Big Four' Western suppliers: Litton Airtron, M/A-COM and AXT in the USA, and Freiberger C o m p o u n d Materials in Germany. In addition, currency exchange rates, including a strong Yen, had a negative impact on foreign imports and Japanese exports. In the USA, the Ittle III Program (which has now concluded) provided a boost to the industry, virtually guaranteeing its long-term future. This improvement affected all tiers of the US manufacturing base, assisting the foundation of a strong home market. However, this has yet to be translated into significant penetration of the attractively sized Japanese domestic market. Barring some major development, this looks set to remain closed to Western suppliers. Conversely, the Japanese home market is still, to a large extent, closed to non-Japan-based suppliers of SI G a ~ . Some penetration was expected but has so far been limited to sampling, e.g. of VGF material. This reflects the traditional close working relationship between companies in Japan. Western suppliers are presently (2000) less interested in this potential market as fulfilling existing o r d e r s . The e x p e r t i s e that t h e s e c o m p a n i e s have accumulated in 6-inch substrates (and VGF) could become attractive to Japanese device houses in due course. However, Japan's wafer industry still has strength in depth and, despite substantial domestic over-capacity, it has not yet experienced the shakeout of suppliers seen in North America and E u r o p e . But with market share increasingly concentrated at the top few suppliers, some Japanese companies have quietly withdrawn from the market to focus on other 'value-added' sectors of the industry, such as epitaxial wafers. Since the previous edition of the report, little progress has been noted for suppliers originating in the RoW. There are very few important suppliers of SI GaAs wafers in countries otherwise active in microelectronics, such as the Former Soviet Union, South Korea, Taiwan ROC or PR China or Eastern Europe. The few companies that currently operate outside the principal geographic regions have not yet become commercially competitive. This is not expected to change significantly over the forecast period, given the present industry set-up and competitive supply situation. There would appear to be little opportunity for any new entrant to this business sector for the foreseeable future.

3.3.2

Merchant and Captive Production

Very few GaAs device manufacturers have captive crystal growth facilities and none of the independent merchant epiwafer suppliers have any captive crystal growth manufacturing. Furthermore, there are few signs of any reversal in the market. Quite a number of Japanese substrate suppliers are vertically integrated, i.e. they not only manufacture substrate products but also epiwafers and in some cases devices. However, virtually none of the large device makers, e.g. Mitsubishi, Fujitsu, etc., have continued with captive substrate supply, relying exclusively on close working relationships with a few external sources. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

27

Substrate Markets

Amongst the very few industry changes to have appeared in the past three years is the availability of wafers and o t h e r p r o d u c t s from an equipment supplier, e.g. EMCORE (see Company Profile). However, this does not as yet include substrates. Captive production of SI GaAs substrates accounted for under 10% of world d e m a n d in 1999, and is expected to virtually d i s a p p e a r e d by 2004. No additional investments in captive crystal growth have been a n n o u n c e d and nor are any anticipated in the near future. In North America, Texas I n s t r u m e n t s was the only GaAs f o u n d r y with production capability in LEC crystal growth. However, with the sale of their GaAs business to Raytheon and thence to TriQuint, this o p e r a t i o n was discontinued. 9

9

The M/A-COM wafer operation continues to supply a percentage of the needs of the GaAs device division that is able to source from the open market. For the M/A-COM wafer o p e r a t i o n this r e p r e s e n t s a small fraction of total output as merchant suppliers. Litton Airtron also supplied SI GaAs LEC substrates to Litton Solid State but this was sold to Filtronic and is therefore no longer in the 'captive' category.

Most Japanese epiwafer vendors are supplied with substrates from their own wafer divisions, including Furukawa Electric, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp, Hitachi Cable and Sumitomo Electric Industries. Conversely, previously a substrate vendor, Japan Energy now o u t s o u r c e s its r e q u i r e m e n t s for its epiwafer business. In Europe, there have been no captive crystal growth production capabilities for some time.

3.3.3

Substrate Sizes

Today's SI GaAs substrate marketplace is characterized by the broadest range of available diameters in its history. The principal diameters are 2-, 3-, 4- and 6-inch. Larger diameter wafers have been demonstrated but are not likely to be commercially significant for at least another three years. This description is, however, superficial and hides the fact that in the market substrate specifications remain very much dependent on specific user requirements. In 1999, the dominant substrate size was 4-inch, accounting for one-half of the market. New fabrication facilities coming on line or planned will be 6-inch, and this will result in market share peaking and the start of a decline thereafter. At present the majority of leading producers of GaAs devices manufacture on smaller d i a m e t e r substrates, i.e. 3- or 4-inch. Use of 2-inch s u b s t r a t e s continues in R&D but has been phased out by all device foundries. This is in c o n t r a s t to the o p t o e l e c t r o n i c s sector, w h e r e 2-inch s e m i c o n d u c t i n g substrates continue to predominate. 28


Substrate Markets

Recently, leading substrate manufacturers such as Freiberger C o m p o u n d Materials have announced cessation of 2-inch substrate manufacture. These are still available via o t h e r lower tier players such as Atomergic, which sources its products in part from the Former Soviet Union. The most important size for volume p r o d u c t i o n of certain types of GaAs microelectronic devices is 6-inch (150 mm), which already accounted for 11% of the market in 2000. This market share reflects the price premium of this size, which was expected to drop significantly as mass-production volumes gear up. As a result, market share will have increased to 32% by 2004. This wafer size will thus not b e c o m e the m o s t i m p o r t a n t in terms of actual numbers of wafers shipped until one to two years afterwards. Interest in 6-inch substrates began in the mid-1990s but did not take off until 1998-1999, when the first major production commitments emerged. Further a n n o u n c e m e n t s of new 6-inch capable facilities followed in fairly short order from device and epiwafer makers. However, further take-up of 6-inch is being driven by relatively few major GaAs device producers working closely with substrate suppliers. A high proportion of demand for SI GaAs substrates will continue to come from North American companies. The key c o m p a n i e s t h a t p r e s e n t l y s u p p l y 6-inch s u b s t r a t e s are (in alphabetical order) as follows: 9

9 9 9 9 9

Dowa Mining. Freiberger Compound Materials. Hitachi Cable. Litton Airtron. M/A-COM. Sumitomo Electric Industries.

3.3.4 Crystal Growth Technology LEC is the dominant crystal growth technology, accounting for over 83% of wafers c o n s u m e d in 1999. S u b s t r a t e s g r o w n by all o t h e r t e c h n i q u e s combined accounted for less than 10% of shipments. LEC is suitable for most applications and has a large-scale installed base worldwide. Consequently, it is expected to maintain its leading position and to account for at least 75% of demand by 2000. The main commercial competition to LEC arises from VGF, available mainly from American Xtal T e c h n o l o g y (AXT) and m o r e r e c e n t l y F r e i b e r g e r Compound Materials. Benefits offered by VGF include a low etch pit density (EPD), reduced mechanical stress and potentially lower cost. More information on crystal growth technologies is to be found in Chapter 6. In particular, VGF has found favour amongst optoelectronic companies using epitaxy-based processes. However, so far it has achieved only a limited penetration of the ion implantation houses, but this is of less consequence for future market development. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

29

Substrate Markets

3.3.5 Applications SI GaAs substrates have three p r i m a r y d e s t i n a t i o n s (Figure 3.7). GaAs foundries are the main users, accounting for over 70% of 1999 demand, followed by merchant epitaxy companies (25%). 'Others', accounting for a r o u n d 5% of d e m a n d , include universities and g o v e r n m e n t research laboratories.

3.3.6 Impact of Device Demand on Substrate Consumption Demand for GaAs substrates is mainly driven by the p r o d u c t i o n of GaAs devices (although R&D is also a major consumer). However, it is a tradition of the industry that the g r o w t h rate of the substrate markets has b e e n proportionately lower than the growth rate of the device markets. At this point in time this scenario is less certain but the larger diameter substrates enjoy exceptional growth. However, this situation is likely to be only temporary because of the relationship between device production and substrate demand. This depends mainly on three variables: foundry yields, device count per wafer and wafer prices. ~

Foundry yields. As yields increase, fewer substrates are required to produce a given number of devices. Yields for the industry as a whole are generally low, especially for ICs. Substantial improvements are occurring for devices in volume production. 9 Die sizes. Because cost is related to chip size, circuits are continually refined to achieve the same level of p e r f o r m a n c e in a smaller area, resulting in fewer substrates being required for a given p r o d u c t i o n volume. 9 Substrate prices. As explained above, these are falling less rapidly than in previous years, but will continue to erode.

Not all product lines follow this pattern. For example, in some sectors there is a trend towards increasing die sizes owing to the incorporation of more on-chip functions in digital ICs. MMIC c o m p o n e n t s tend to be less area dependent. However, the industry is in a transition phase at present with a fairly high degree of design evolution under way. Designs are seldom frozen for long and until they reach that point, die size creep is an inevitable problem for fabrication facilities to contend with. This will remain a general trend of the market.

3.3.7 Foundry Usage of GaAs Wafers In 1999, over 80% of the substrates u s e d by foundries w e r e for device production compared to under 20% for R&D/process development. Although R&D will fall as a percentage of total substrate consumption, it will remain an important demand driver. Processing of substrates by foundries (ion implantation and epitaxy) is discussed in Chapter 7.

30


Substrate Markets

Most GaAs foundries s u p p o r t substantial R&D programmes, either from internal resources or from government programmes. Many larger corporations have GaAs pilot lines for research, in addition to the main production line. Some J a p a n e s e c o m p a n i e s have GaAs research in four or five separate locations. Together, these R&D activities add up to considerable substrate consumption. In terms of device p r o d u c t i o n , MMICs c o n t i n u e to be the main driver, accounting for nearly 75% of substrates used in 1999, rising to 85% by 2004. Far more companies are involved in GaAs MMIC manufacture than in digital GaAs, although most microwave devices are relatively small, and overall yields are higher than in the digital industry. Discrete devices will continue to be important for the duration of this report. Few companies manufacture production volumes of GaAs digital ICs and their contribution to substrate demand is expected to grow less strongly than MMICs as a percentage of the total market. At present only a relatively small n u m b e r of companies manufacture p r o d u c t i o n volumes of GaAs digital ICs. Most of these p r o d u c t s are manufactured by companies that make other types of G a ~ or non-GaAs (i.e. silicon) ICs. Very few c o m p a n i e s p r e s e n t l y exist that specialize in digital GaAs ICs. Nevertheless, t h e r e are signs that the s e c t o r is g o i n g to e x p e r i e n c e a resurgence. This is due in large part to the market d e m a n d for very-high-speed, widebandwidth digital signal processing, mandated by such applications as full multimedia video/audio datacommunications over the Internet and radar signal processing in real time (see Chapter 5). GaAs discrete devices constitute the most mature sector of the GaAs device markets. Manufacturing discrete devices is a high yielding process overall, delivering up to several thousand units off a 3-inch substrate (the discrete device industry has yet to move to the very largest available G a ~ substrates). The market is not growing as strongly as the IC industry, and will not be a major driver for substrate demand outside Japan. Once the price differential has moved in favour of 6-inch, then there is every likelihood that discrete device manufacturers will also move to the larger substrate. By then, process equipment will have been written off and new i n v e s t m e n t s made. Of course, by t h e n it will be less attractive to buy equipment to handle smaller substrates. Within five years equipment will be either unavailable or prohibitively expensive to own and run. It is worth noting that differing requirements exist for digital IC v s . MMIC manufacturing. This derives from the present preference for ion implantation for the manufacture of digital ICs. In several respects this market has a less stringent specification so it is unlikely to cause substrate suppliers to turn away from this proportionately smaller market.


31

Substrate Markets

Vitesse, with its emphasis more on digital than analogue, was one of the first m e r c h a n t players to i m p l e m e n t full 6-inch wafer processing in predominantly ion implant rather than epitaxy-based.

3.3.8 Pricing Trends Over the long term, GaAs substrate prices will always be in decline. This is the general rule for this tier of the industry irrespective of the material type (Si, GaAs, etc.) This accepted fact of business life is due to a combination of intense pricing pressure coupled with increasing d e m a n d and improved yields, year-on-year. Nevertheless, prices still vary considerably depending on the volume and geographical region, etc. This is irrespective of which type of substrate, i.e. LEC or VGF, etc. At the time of writing, this g e n e r a l rule was having to be r e a p p r a i s e d . Research conducted for this report showed that the 6-inch diameter substrate product was likely to show a slower price erosion with time over the next three years. In fact, it is deemed likely that the price for 6-inch will continue to rise until at least the end of next year (2001). At the same time, prices will rise for the smaller diameter, i.e. 2-inch and 3-inch, substrates. Also likely to see a price decline is the 4-inch substrate as this diameter continues through its product life cycle. However, this too could see a discontinuity at around the 2 0 0 1 - 2 0 0 2 t i m e f r a m e as it is i m p a c t e d by the s h o r t a g e of 6-inch substrates worldwide (see Table 3.18 and Figure 3.8). Previously, substrate price erosion was helped by government subsidies such as the Title III P r o g r a m in the USA. However, the differential with silicon substrates will remain substantial. Although new crystal growth technologies might provide lower price substrates due to various factors such as higher yields or l o n g e r ingots, this has yet to be f i e l d - p r o v e n by any m a j o r manufacturer. There is also an in-built long timeframe before any such new substrate p r o d u c t gains w i d e s p r e a d a c c e p t a n c e with any of the m a j o r substrate purchasers, who prefer to stick with the tried-and-trusted materials that underpin their manufacturing operations. In e x t r e m i s it cannot be ruled out that a new start-up may begin to offer such innovative p r o d u c t s within the t i m e f r a m e of this report. This is, however, deemed unlikely because of the very close --- almost symbiotic - relationship that is favoured between users and suppliers today. There are precedents in other materials, such as silicon carbide (SIC), but these are rare. Conversely, the technology exists for gallium nitride (GaN) crystal products, but this has yet to achieve even small-scale commercial status despite an apparent consensus of the desirability of such products within the huge market for GaN optoelectronic devices.

The increasing availability of cheaper raw materials and substrates has, as yet, not turned out to have an impact on the world substrate market. Such materials were becoming available from suppliers in the Former Soviet Union and elsewhere, and in the longer term they may b e c o m e established in commercial markets. The unreliability of supply and the generally lower quality are factors that serve to negate their successful penetration of the very tight market for substrate products. 32


Substrate Markets

The industry could see further escalation of gallium prices. At the time of writing, gallium was going through one of its periods of being in shorter supply and this was h a r d e n i n g prices and for some grades the price was climbing. This was effectively squeezing the substrate manufacturers that were under pressure from their customers to keep prices down. The situation is being e x a c e r b a t e d by the c o m p a r a b l e success b e i n g enjoyed by the optoelectronics industry, which is a volume consumer of semi-conducting GaAs substrates and epilayer growth products. It is difficult to predict the overall impact of changing gallium prices over the longer term because in the past they have come down as new production capacity has come on stream. With the present device market boom expected to last, the gallium suppliers --- s o m e of w h o m , e.g. Dowa Mining, are themselves GaAs product suppliers --- will likely have to add capacity and this s h o u l d ease the s i t u a t i o n over the m e d i u m to l o n g e r term. It s h o u l d therefore have the effect of lowering the price and easing the situation for substrate suppliers so that they can lower their prices. GaAs wafer prices continue to fall, due to a combination of intense pricing p r e s s u r e , increasing d e m a n d and i m p r o v i n g yields in crystal g r o w t h . However, prices still vary considerably by volume and geographical region. 9 9

6-inch substrates w e r e currently priced at a r o u n d US$500 in 2000, depending on size of order and specification, etc. 4-inch substrates were priced at around US$175 in volume in 2000.

Table 3.18 Average Sl GaAs Substrate Price (US$/ina). 6-inch 4-inch 3-inch 2-inch Average

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

17.0 15.0 12.0 5.0

19.2 11.3 13.5 5.9

21.7 8.4 1 5.2 6.9

16.3 9.6 17.1 8.1

12.2 10.9 19.2 9.5

9.2 12.3 21.6 11.2

12

12

13

13

13

14


33

Substrate Markets

As has long been the case, qualifying as a substrate vendor is expensive and time consuming. Typically it may take more than one year to complete and involve a close interaction between the various parties. The industry norm is for each device manufacturer to have at least two and sometimes even three qualified sources of supply: Unlike the silicon industry where substrates are purchased on a less-stringent basis, GaAs device makers buy complete boules of substrates rather than substrates irrespective of which boule they came from. This is another sign of the relative immaturity of the market compared with silicon. In due course it may emulate the silicon industry, as it is beginning to do in other areas of device manufacturing for instance, but it is unlikely to happen for another three to five years. Use of larger substrates is not a sign that this era is drawing closer, at least as far as the modus operandi of the substrate manufacturing tier is concerned. More 'hands-on' feedback during the qualifying process is mandatory for the first stages of qualification of 6-inch substrates. With each generation of substrate sizes this becomes more involved and time consuming.

3.4.1 World Substrate Supplier Situation Production of SI GaAs substrates is dominated by a handful of major players that, together, accounted for 88% of the 1999 market. Worldwide there are 15 main s u p p l i e r s of SI GaAs wafers. Despite the shakeouts that have forced half a dozen companies out of business over the past few years, there was, until recently, substantial over-capacity, especially in Japan. A f u r t h e r r e d u c t i o n in s u p p l i e r s may o c c u r as the b u s i n e s s f u r t h e r consolidates into the hands of the majors. Despite the upturn, others may chose to exit the business altogether. With some GaAs products in shorter supply for the time being there may be opportunity for improved market success, but this is unlikely. The shortage is worse for the larger sizes of substrate, the bulk of which business is in the hands of the major league players rather than the smaller players. There are a r o u n d 10 Japanese companies with SI GaAs capability. Most J a p a n e s e GaAs v e n d o r s are located within large diversified c o m p a n i e s involved in many aspects of compound semiconductors. The two dominant suppliers are Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) and Hitachi Cable, which are also the leading vendors of other III-V products such as epiwafers. As mentioned, some Japanese suppliers have withdrawn from SI GaAs substrate production to focus on other areas. It is not unlikely that other companies exiting the business will come from this region. They may chose to favour higher margin p r o d u c t s such as epiwafers or chemicals. 34


Substrate Markets

In the USA, the dominant players are Litton Airtron, M/A-COM and AXT. The latter, the pioneer but no longer the only commercial supplier of VGF, has emerged as the third major force. This trio were the beneficiaries of the nowconcluded Title lll program to develop improved GaAs materials. Crystal Specialties International supplies SI VB substrates on a small scale, mainly for sampling, but has not made a commitment to volume production. It is focused on producing semiconducting (doped) wafers for the optoelectronics industry. E u r o p e has only one major supplier of SI GaAs. Freiberger C o m p o u n d Materials in Germany (Outokumpu Semitronic in Sweden closed in 1994). Freiberger has made further progress in the market, focusing on 6-inch substrates and latterly expanding production to triple capaciqr. In late 1999 it also introduced 4-inch SI VGF substrates. Wafer Technology (UK), the second largest European vendor, is a more diversified supplier of III-V materials, including both LEC and VGF, and does not have a strong presence in SI GaAs.

3.4. 1.1 Japan The two main players in the J a p a n e s e m a r k e t are S u m i t o m o Electric Industries and Hitachi Cable which together accounted for about 60% of the 1999 Japanese market. The Japanese market has so far been largely closed to Western suppliers, due to a combination of slow growth in d e m a n d and massive domestic overcapacity. With price becoming an increasingly important factor, currency factors have proved unfavourable to importers. Penetration of the Japanese market by Western suppliers is not expected to improve substantially over the next few years.

3.4. 1.2 North America and Europe In North America and Europe, Litton Airtron established a lead primarily due to its large share of the 4-inch market, followed closely by M/A-COM. AXT is steadily increasing its presence and is estimated to have captured 10% of the world market. These companies also d o m i n a t e today's 6-inch substrate business and look set to continue to do so for the forecast period of this report. Of the Japanese vendors, Hitachi Cable and Sumitomo Electric Industries have the most significant presence in North America and Europe, with others barely visible. The market share of all the Japanese players has d r o p p e d significantly over the past year or two, due to increasing competition from Western suppliers on price and quality. In Europe, Freiberger Compound Materials is by far the leading player, having grown rapidly over the past couple of years to become the Number One Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

35

Substrate Markets

supplier. In North America, Freiberger Compound Materials had 20% of the 1999 market.

3. 4. 1.3 Rest of the World W i t h i n the RoW c o l l e c t i v e r e g i o n t h e r e are few o t h e r s i g n i f i c a n t manufacturers of SI GaAs substrates. A steady but small business is obtained by newer companies via the Former Soviet Union that could become more significant over the period of this report. Although there would appear to be substantial commercial opportunity for a substrate supplier based in Taiwan, no such operator presently exists in that country. There are now three strong-looking microelectronic device foundries in Taiwan, plus over a d o z e n o p t o e l e c t r o n i c fabrication facilities. This represents a huge single market for III-V substrates and related products but at present this market is entirely served by foreign vendors.

36


Merchant GaAs Epitaxial Wafer Markets

The second tier in the gallium arsenide (GaAs) electronics market is that of merchant epitaxial wafer ('epiwafer') manufacturing. It is currently one of the strongest growth areas in the industry. Potential for future growth is also one of the best in the GaAs marketplace. However, it is also one of the most challenging activities, not only from a technological standpoint but also from a business one. In this chapter the focus will be on the metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE)- and molecular b e a m epitaxy (MBE)-based m e r c h a n t epitaxy business. The major players worldwide have chosen one or another. However, more recently companies have come into being that have a broader base that includes m o r e than one epitaxial growth type. This is in r e s p o n s e to a number of factors, not the least being the needs of the market. A trend within the market is less emphasis on the growth technique from the customer viewpoint. Customers are less interested in the 'how' as the ~,hen'. The structure of this chapter is shown in Figure 4.1. Figure 4.1 Worldwide Merchant Market for SI GaAs Epiwafers 1999-2004. MERCHANT VS. CAPTIVE E P I T A X Y VS. I M P L A N T i/,/%

4.i vs..I

,

I

i


37


In 1999, the total worldwide merchant market for semi-insulating (SI) GaAs epiwafers for electronic devices was valued at US$466 million. This will exceed US$1429 million by the year 2004. A c o m p o u n d average annual growth rate (CAAGR) of 24% is expected to be sustained t h r o u g h o u t the period in value of sales, but significant shifts in p r o d u c t i o n emphasis by device type and application are expected. The total worldwide market for SI GaAs epiwafers by region is summarized in Table 4.1 and is presented graphically in Figure 4.2.

Table 4.1 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


155 129 100 81

202 156 120 98

266 189 144 11 8

352 228 173 143

469 277 209 175

627 336 252 21 3

Total

465

576

717

896

1130

1428

The w o r l d w i d e epiwafer m a r k e t is analysed and forecasted by several different approaches: 9 Geographic split. 9 Substrate split. 9 Wafer area. 9 Epiwafer process. 9 Wafer size. In this edition of the report, the technical overview of epiwafer manufacture is covered elsewhere. Chapter 7 covers the present and future principal growth technologies used in GaAs electronics. Only cursory details will be given here, where relevant. 38



The key technology point for epiwafers is that virtually all next-generation electronic devices rely on this process. These devices are not practical to make using older techniques. New transistors, for example, can only be made using epitaxial growth. In c o m m o n with the ion i m p l a n t a t i o n m e t h o d p o p u l a r for the metal s e m i c o n d u c t o r field effect t r a n s i s t o r (MESFET) generation, new devices still rely on a high quality substrate. Rather than create the device within the substrate, epitaxy adds new surface layers from which the device is then made. Epitaxy is not a new technology and has already been popular for MESFET discrete devices and integrated circuits (ICs). These early m e t h o d s will remain in use for the lowest cost discrete devices, for example. They are inadequate for new heterostructure-type devices. Such devices have been made possible by new techniques. In particular, MOVPE and MBE. This is a key transition period for the business, on which will d e p e n d the fortunes of virtually all players in the global GaAs industry. Unlike the analysis of the substrate marketplace in Chapter 3, the analysis for the epiwafer market does address the split between merchant and captive (see Tables 4.2-4.5). The reason for this is that there are many signs of a continuing reliance on captive epiwafer production over the next five years. Worldwide, the industry approach is reliant on a significant manufacture of epiwafers and related products by independent as well as vertically integrated device companies.

Table 4.2 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary: 6-inch (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

47 7 31 31 116

2004

66 9 38 40

93 12 48 51

130 17 59 65

182 22 74 83

256 29 92 106

153

204

271

361

483

Table 4.3 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary: 4-inch (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

72 82 47 33

97 100 57 39

130 123 69 47

174 151 84 56

232 185 102 68

311 227 124 81

234

293

369

465

587

743


39


Table 4.4 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary: 3-inch (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


22 24 14 10

25 29 16 11

28 34 17 12

32 39 19 13

37 46 21 15

42 54 24 16

Total

70

81

91

103

119

136

Table 4.5 Total Worldwide Sl GaAs Epiwafer Market Summary: 2-inch (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


14 16 9 7

15 18 10 8

15 20 10 8

16 22 11 9

17 24 11 9

18 26 12 10

Total

46

51

53

58

61

66

Today's epiwafer business can be split into a n u m b e r of different ways. Firstly, unlike substrate manufacture (see Chapter 3), epiwafer manufacture is an activity still undertaken by device makers. It can thus be seen as having a strong captive as well as m e r c h a n t aspect. I n d e e d , the business is still evolving towards a steadier position. Today, companies mix and match their own capabilities with those of one or more merchant vendors of epiwafers. For example, this will d e p e n d heavily on the type of device required and production maturity. If it is viewed from another angle, R&D and production split the epiwafer business. Epiwafer supply is one of the highest technologically sophisticated levels in the business. It is not u n u s u a l for a large original e q u i p m e n t manufacturer (OEM) anywhere in the world to turn to an epiwafer house at certain times to assist with new product innovation and augmentation. In many respects, the epiwafer v e n d o r is less of a p r o d u c t supplier than a provider of technology solutions unavailable in-house. It thus has many aspects of a design house with parallels in the application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) business. The customer requires the prototype of a new device type. Contracting this work outside to the experts can save much time and perhaps also a lot of money. This would be described as the R&D stage. Subsequent to the proving of the device in the prototype product, e.g. a new type of handset, the OEM may need help to set up in-house production. The OEM may also choose to 'second source' the production to the epiwafer house. This can vary with the size of the order and also its timing. It is usual industry-wide practice to rely on one or more subcontractors to meet surges

40



in production. This is beneficial because of the savings in plant that would be idle at other times. From here it is a short step to surrendering aU production to the epiwafer house. Other factors such as compliance with rules governing the storage and handling of the toxic materials used in epiwafer production may also be a factor. The issue as to captive or merchant has other dimensions and these are discussed below. The third way of dividing the epiwafer business is by epitaxy type. As has already been stated, 'first-generation' processes have a place in the future marketplace. However, they have been superseded by MOVPE and MBE. The industry prospects for the next half-decade can thus also be divided into MOVPE v s . MBE. In captive R&D and production, the past year has seen a return to 'pure play' epiwafer practice. This was brought into being by the m e r g e r of MOVPE-based EPI Ltd a n d MBE-based QED Inc to f o r m International Quantum Epitaxy Plc. Finally, it should be noted that the merchant epiwafer business is also split by device type. The optoelectronics business has always been reliant almost exclusively on epitaxy. This shows no sign of change. Indeed, the devices with the strongest growth rate are all based on new-generation epitaxy processes. In o p t o e l e c t r o n i c s the issue as to epitaxy type is less clear-cut. Older techniques such as vapour phase epitaxy (VPE) and even liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) are still popular for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), while leading edge MOVPE- or MBE-type processes are required for devices such as diode lasers required for digital video disk (DVD) systems. There will be major changes in this industry over the next five years. Many of these changes will have some impact on the GaAs electronics industry, e.g. in the perfection of efficient mass-production reactors having design features common to both. Similar principles apply to the merchant v s . captive issues in optoelectronics. Indeed, a number of merchant epiwafer suppliers serve both optoelectronic and electronic device manufacturers. Others specialize in either one or other business. There are no clear trends appearing as yet, but some companies are shifting to a more diversified footing. For example, EMCORE Corp, an NJbased company well known as a producer of epitaxy equipment, now also mass-produces not only devices such as Hall sensors but also various types of epiwafers via subsidiary companies or divisions (see Company Profile in Chapter 8).

In this section the analysis of the 1999 GaAs epiwafer market for electronic devices is described. This addresses quantitative differences in production types, e.g. ion implantation v s . epitaxy as well as markets split by region and application. In the second aspect of this section, the five-year forecast is given. This covers the same areas as the 1999 market analysis up to 2004. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

41


The issues of market split by epitaxy type (captive v s . merchant) are fully assessed. Prospects for the future development of these and related i,~sues are also discussed.

4.3.1 Ion Implant

vs.

Epitaxy

The basis of this c h a p t e r is what fraction of the o u t p u t of the w o r l d ' s manufacturers of substrates is required by which process of active layer formation. This amounts to either ion implantation or epitaxy. Substrate suppliers have to meet a set of specifications for either process; the two are similar but in general these specifications mean that the substrates are not interchangeable. As will be described later in this chapter, the industry trend is a steady shift away from implant towards epitaxy. The split between implant and epitaxy is shown schematically in Figure 4.3. As described earlier, there have been important shifts in the device market. These have tended to favour epitaxy-based processing. Ion implant is likely to remain an important process technique for three reasons: 9 9 9

It is well established, i.e. it is a well-understood technology with a large user base; Implant is a very cost-effective production process that beats epitaxy by orders of magnitude; and Ion i m p l a n t p r o c e s s i n g is also r e q u i r e d for later stages of device processing and, as such, will likely remain a fabrication tool for some considerable time into the future.

However, there are key disadvantages for implant and these are as follows: The process is incompatible with new-generation heterostructure device manufacturing in so far as the active layers are concerned. Implant has a fairly high cost of o w n e r s h i p - - its t h r o u g h p u t can be phenomenal and outstrip even the busiest fabrication facility. Hence, it can be idle much of the time and be a financial burden on the fabrication facility. Implant has not found favour with subcontractor companies. Although there are over a d o z e n m e r c h a n t epiwafer houses, there are but o n e or two specialists offering custom implant services. Merchant epiwafer processing is necessarily more complex and its emergence is a consequence of this. Nevertheless, there will still be a place for implant in the manufacture of most electronic devices, e.g. for contact formation or isolation. This is not the traditional active layer formation as required in the MESFET, for example, but rather to provide intra-circuit inter-device isolation, which is less practical via an epiwafer process. Therefore, there will be a shift in the use of the implant process contribution in the overall fabrication scheme. This is an ongoing evolution that should ensure the longevity and future market d e m a n d for implantation equipment, but this will be within a device maker's fabrication facility rather than in a merchant position.

42


Merchant GaAs Epitaxia/ Wafer Markets

The key point in this section is the progressive decline of implant-based processing v s . epitaxy for the first steps of device manufacture. In the second e d i t i o n of this r e p o r t the r a t i o was a p p r o x i m a t e l y 3:1 in f a v o u r of implantation. Three years on this has become 2:1. In the next few years the balance will have shifted further to favour epitaxy. It is estimated that by 2004 some 70% of the industry will be epitaxy based by value. This equates to nearly half of the market in terms of epiwafer area, reflecting the economic edge shown by implant techniques.

4.3.2 Merchant

vs.

Captive Epitaxy Markets

In 1999, the total w o r l d m a r k e t for m e r c h a n t e p i w a f e r s for SI GaAs e l e c t r o n i c s a p p l i c a t i o n s s t o o d at US$550 million. This e q u a t e s to an approximate production volume by area of over a million square inches. In other words, the average price is just under US$200 per square inch. The total market for GaAs epiwafer p r o d u c t s for microelectronic device applications is s h o w n schematically a c c o r d i n g to m e r c h a n t or captive m a n u f a c t u r e in Figure 4.4. It s h o u l d be n o t e d that this g r a p h i c is a generalization rather than based on the forecast data, because hard data on captive wafer production is proprietary. It also depends on many factors such as the technological complexity, size and delivery schedule of orders. It should be noted that the world's largest single multiwafer MBE facility-that owned by RF Micro Devices (RFMD)/TRW-- looks set to continue its expansion if announced machine orders are any indication. Should RFMD shift its posture and move into merchant markets then it would cause serious worries within the merchant epiwafer marketplace, given the e n o r m o u s leverage it could exert from its throughput. The epiwafer market in terms of total available business could be worth at least a n o t h e r 30% m o r e than the US$466 million that exists today, i.e. US$605 million. Should captive manufacturers become capacity limited, then they may offload more manufacturing to the merchant players. This may prove to be the case with Japanese device companies wishing to quickly boost 150 mm epiwafer sourcing prior to installing internal capacity enhancements. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

43


This is what the market would be worth if all the captive business, which is on average not available for merchant suppliers to tap, were to b e c o m e purely merchant. It is expected that although the value of the captive fraction also looks set to increase strongly if equipment purchases are any measure--captive sales of m u l t i w a f e r epitaxy m a c h i n e s seem a b o u t equally split between merchant and captive supply--- in this forecast it is assumed that it will follow the industry trend for outsourcing manufacture and will see a steady erosion of market share as the market shifts towards merchant. The value of the m a r k e t in this forecast also excludes any e n g i n e e r i n g changes. These one-off payments are to set up the epitaxy and are usually many thousands of dollars per order. There is a similarity with the non-recurring engineering (NRE) tooling charge levied for application-specific IC (ASIC) devices. They are strictly clientconfidential and seldom disclosed in the o p e n literature. As a result the actual epitaxy market is much larger than this forecast data by as much as 10% or more. Over the next five years the m e r c h a n t epiwafer market will increase as follows: ~ ~

it will increase by 24% by value; and it will increase by 21~ by area.

The expansion of the market value will be checked by stronger competition as the market matures. This competition is intensifying as device makers pressurize epiwafer suppliers to lower prices. Prices of substrates will commensurately follow this trend. In addition, merchant epiwafers will exert commercial leverage to u n d e r c u t captive supply. These trends will be felt throughout the industry, including the supply of substrates, source materials and e q u i p m e n t . Indeed, m u c h - i m p r o v e d larger wafers and multiwafer, low-cost-of-ownership equipment will play more into the hands of merchant epiwafer companies. 44



Overall, the merchant epiwafer market will increase via two routes: 9 9

general e x p a n s i o n of epiwafer vs. implant-based m a n u f a c t u r i n g of devices; and shifts away from captive towards merchant epiwafer supply.

However, there will also be increased competition from newly launched companies getting into the epiwafer market. Its high profile and profitability inevitably serve to attract the a t t e n t i o n of o t h e r players and ease the provision of start-up capital as 'high-tech' stocks ride well in the stock markets around the world. There is another key factor that is already coming into play in this arena. Environmental regulations are tightening each year and this has an impact on all epitaxy processes (but implant to a lesser extent). Toxic hazards with respect to the handling and storage of source materials are one aspect. Another aspect is the treatment and disposal of waste materials, which can be no less toxic. The overhead costs of these operations will drive device companies away from future captive plant and towards sub-contracting the total task. I n e x t r e m i s , m e r c h a n t epiwafer supply may also e n c o m p a s s recycling of waste materials in a closed-circuit high-purity process. There is also an u n d e r l y i n g t r e n d to i m p r o v e the efficiency of epitaxy processes so as to minimize wastage. This is driven by three factors: 9 9 9

Increasing prices of source materials. Increased costs of disposal of wastes. Price pressure from customers.

Owing to these three factors, by the end of the forecast period of this report it is likely that dramatic improvements in efficiency and yields from these o p e r a t i o n s will occur. Some companies may wish to capitalize on their experience with cost control, which can be best achieved in-house, e.g. Motorola or ANADIGICS. Others source externally with a mix of ordering, but seldom is this published because of the confidential nature of this business. However, it w o u l d take only one fairly major incident to accelerate such changes. One toxic accident by an OEM would likely persuade most device makers to move further towards merchant outsourcing of their epiwafer supply. It is e s t i m a t e d that in 1999 the ratio of m e r c h a n t to captive epitaxy processing was approximately 1.5:1 in favour of m e r c h a n t epitaxy. The balance swung in favour of merchant in the past two years. In 1995 some 65% of the business was captive, but by 1998 this had fallen to 52% and in 1999 to 43 %. The critical factor that has u n d e r p i n n e d this t r e n d is that of device complexity. In the past two years the dominance of the high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) and latterly the heterostructure bipolar transistor (HBT) has at last come to pass. Success in these device technologies has been the suit of the merchant providers to a large extent. Captive producers were Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

45


unable - - or unwilling - - to provide the o p t i m u m mix of technology and e c o n o m i c s in the right t i m e f r a m e . The availability of e a g e r m e r c h a n t providers only exacerbated the effect. There are signs of a reversal of this trend as OEMs equip themselves with the means to mass-produce epiwafers in-house. Here it will be u n d e r closer control. The challenge facing the epiwafer houses is to prepare for the nextgeneration of devices so as to be ready to ride the next wave of interest from the OEMs. As benefits smaller and quicker-to-react companies, m e r c h a n t epiwafer companies have t e n d e d to be the first to equip with o p e r a t i o n a l 'nextgeneration' epitaxial equipment and procedures. Thereby they have been able to secure business at a critical stage in the device market evolution. In short order, the telecommunication handset moved away from MESFET technology to higher efficiency, higher performance epitaxy-based circuits and modules. The rapidly expanding telecommunications market forced OEMs to seek outside provision of large quantities of these devices or the materials to make them. In-house e q u i p m e n t was likely to be obsolete or not suitable, and technology learning curves were too steep to match demand. To raise the necessary capital, several epitaxy houses have launched public offerings and to date most have been very successful.

Today's merchant epiwafer marketplace is roughly equally split between MBE and MOVPE as the epitaxy technique of choice. This is shown as a summary of the forecast in Table 4.6 and in graphical form in Figure 4.5.

46



Table 4.6 World Epiwafer Market Split by Epitaxy Technology 1999-2004. 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

MOVPE MBE

249 217

308 268

383 334

479 417

604 525

765 663

Total

466

576

717

896

1129

1428

In this estimation MOVPE has a slightly larger market share than MBE: 54% v s . 46%, respectively. MBE is making great strides, as numerous companies are equipping themselves with 150 mm multiwafer-capable machines, and will hold its own against MOVPE. However, there is a likelihood that with the continuing industry emphasis on indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) and related phosphorus-containing compounds, MOVPE will surge ahead of MBE. Against this huge technological knowledge base coupled with the strong desire to maintain marketshare, proponents of MBE will be able to deploy technological fixes to achieve phosphorus compatibility. Such techniques were known to be in development but, with such high stakes, details remain proprietm'~. Today there are three principal epitaxial growth techniques used to fabricate electronic devices: ~ VPE. 9 MOVPE, also k n o w n as metal organic chemical vapour d e p o s i t i o n

(MOCVD). ~

MBE.

There is every sign that these will continue to dominate the marketplace for the next five years with few signs of any other technique appearing to replace them. What will happen is further refinement and evolution rather than drastic change. Historically, VPE was the first g r o w t h t e c h n i q u e to be applied to the production of electronic devices. Achieving worldwide popularity in the mid1970s, VPE continues to be used today for diode and FET products. Further exposition on these and other techniques is provided in a later chapter. MOVPE is in many respects a refinement of VPE that provides compatibility with aluminium compounds necessary for heterostructure devices such as HEMTs. The technique is now in widespread use not only for the production of electronic but also optoelectronic devices. Modern equipment is fully multiwafer capable up to 6-inch wafer diameters. A crucial factor in the HBT family of devices is the compatibility of the epitaxy equipment with phosphorus (so as to provide the requisite phosphorusbased alloys implicit in the HBT structure). The 'first-generation' aluminiumgallium arsenide (AIGaAs) HBT remains a very popular device but the 'nextgeneration' HBT that has arisen in the past two years is based on InGaP. MOVPE is a m a t u r e p r o c e s s with r e s p e c t to p h o s p h o r u s - c o n t a i n i n g quaternary c o m p o u n d semiconductors, largely due to its utilization in Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

47

Merchant GaAs Epitaxial Wafer Markets ,

optoelectronic device manufacture, and thus is proving to be popular for the mass production of HBT devices. MBE is also a m a t u r e process having origins in the early 1970s. Today, multiwafer MBE is popular with several of the merchant epiwafer suppliers. Indeed, it was the chosen technique for the pioneer of the merchant epiwafer business, Picogiga. This French-based company continues to exclusively focus its business on MBE, with the largest single m e r c h a n t fabrication facility capacity at the time of writing. At present, in the merchant epiwafer marketplace there is a roughly equal split between MBE and MOVPE as the epitaxy technique of choice. Of the Top 10 merchant epitaxy suppliers worldwide, three are exclusively MOVPEbased, three are MBE-based and the rest are equipped with both techniques. The latter are predominantly Japanese companies such as Sumitomo Electric Industries or Hitachi Cable. Western c o m p a n i e s - - w h i c h are truly independent merchant suppliers with no substrate or device activities - - were until recently either/or MBE/MOVPE with virtually no VPE. The formation of IQE Plc is the first Western merchant epiwafer supplier since Bandgap Technology in the 1980s, resulting in a broader-based top five player with both techniques available. To a certain extent the MOVPE is oriented towards optoelectronics rather than MBE (see Company Profiles in Chapter 8). The choice of MOVPE or MBE is to a large extent an unresolved question for most users of such techniques or wafers. Customers will make a choice of supplier based on many things, not the least being device performance and price. The exact technique used is of secondary importance. In the next five years the question of this choice will not be resolved for particular devices, but it is likely that MBE and MOVPE will continue in largescale use. VPE will continue to decline in importance. It will continue to be used only for the simplest discrete devices, such as Gunn diodes and varactors. MOVPE will gain competitiveness from its use in the optoelectronics sector. Virtually all the new high-growth devices, such as diode lasers, LEDs, solar cells and detectors, rely on MOVPE. However, AIGaAs d i o d e lasers for CDROM applications have seen a very strong market application for MBE for some years now. Optoelectronics is still largely a discrete device business with very few monolithic integrated circuits available on the market. As a consequence, present needs are focused on 2-inch wafers. Larger wafers such as 6-inch will only be required when the device die size becomes larger, i.e. when integration takes place. This huge market will provide major synergistic benefit to the improvement of techniques and equipment for electronic device production. Nevertheless, optoelectronics remains based largely on 2-inch diameter wafers and is some years behind electronic device manufacture, which is now embracing 6-inch wafers. Overall, there are signs that as a result of these trends MOVPE may become the more competitive over the next five years. 48



The present parity in price between MOVPE- or MBE-produced epiwafers could therefore shift in favour of MOVPE. A possible counter to this is the continued large-scale investment by such captive MBE specialists as RFMD Inc. This commitment will ensure that MBE will continue to be a technique suitable for high-performance electronic devices. It should be pointed out that there is a dangerous historical precedent with respect to the choice between MBE and MOVPE. In the early 1990s the first blue laser diodes emerged. These were based on II-VI compounds and were only made possible via the MBE technique. However, by the end of the 1990s a shift had occurred in the preferred epitaxial growth techniques. The world's first practical commercial blue diode laser emerged in early 1999. This was b a s e d on g a l l i u m n i t r i d e (GaN) a n d has r e a c h e d commercial status via MOVPE. Today, the entire blue optoelectronics device industry is MOVPE-based, with little prospect of any shift to MBE or any other technique. However, the industry consensus is that GaN based on MOVPE in its p r e s e n t form is imperfect. It cannot be ruled out that this industry may see a further shift towards non-MOVPE processes. There are characteristics of MBE with respect to the precision of layer growth that have the potential to supplant MOVPE. This is especially true for diode laser manufacturing, which is dominated in the homeland (Japan) of such devices by MBE. However, for shorter wavelength devices, particularly DVD units, the industry has shown a preference for MOVPE fabrication. Further details of these systems together with promising new techniques are oudined in Chapter 7.

4.5.1 Market by Epiwafer Diameter The epiwafer market will grow at an overall 24% CAAGR over the period of the report. However, there are significant differences within the market according to wafer diameter. The growth rates according to the forecast are summarized in Tables 4.7 and 4.8.

Table 4.7 Summary of the Epiwafer Market by Growth Technology. Wafer diameter

MBE

MOVPE

1 50 mm 100 mm 75 mm 50 mm

31% 26% 1 3% 7%

34% 25 % 1 5% 7%


49


Table 4.8 Summary of the Epiwafer Market by Diameter 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

6-inch 4-inch 3-inch 2-inch

116 233 70 47

154 293 80 47

204 368 91 47

271 465 104 47

361 587 119 47

483 744 136 47

Total

466

574

710

887

1114

1410

The overall growth of the epiwafer market by wafer diameter is shown in Figure 4.6.

It is clear from these data that the epiwafer market will be continuing to see the most impressive growth in the larger diameters over the forecast period. The 150 mm diameter epiwafer will see the highest growth whereas 75 mm and 50 mm diameters will in effect greatly shrink in marketshare.

The geographic market for merchant epiwafers is split between the following regions: 9 Japan. 9 North America. 9 Europe. ~ Rest of the world. The forecast of the epiwafer market split by geographic region is given in Table 4.1 and Figure 4.2.

50



This market split is also in order of i m p o r t a n c e - - J a p a n remains the largest overall user of epiwafers but this is predominantly captive rather than being available on the open market. However, this split differs when the market is analysed with respect to merchant epiwafer supply. Like the substrate market, the Japanese market is to a large extent captive rather than merchant. It has become more open to western suppliers but this c a n n o t be considered to be fully part of the total available market. This situation is unlikely to see much in the way of change over the next five years, such is the closeness of the business relationship in Japan. That said, the market is not entirely closed to all Western suppliers. The distinction is that only those offering specialist expertise are able to do business with Japanese companies. The latter are alert to the necessity of achieving maximum competitiveness at the device and systems level. If this must follow a route involving the purchase of unique technology unavailable from the home market, then it will be acquired. This is the case for epitaxy-related p r o d u c t s such as epiwafers and also epitaxial deposition equipment. Several leading Western suppliers have a n n o u n c e d p u r c h a s e s - - and repeat o r d e r s - - o f e q u i p m e n t by Japanese c l i e n t s . A l t h o u g h s o m e d e g r e e of a n o n y m i t y is m a n d a t o r y in s u c h transactions, information is generally disseminated but not in the press. This situation is in contrast to that with Western customers, who are generally much more open to this form of product endorsement. By contrast, sale of epiwafer products is usually highly confidential. Seldom does the glare of publicity fall on any such contracts, Western or Japanese. Such i n f o r m a t i o n is d e e m e d too c o m m e r c i a l l y s e n s i t i v e a n d is only infrequently published in the open literature. Nevertheless, original research for this report confirms that Japanese sales of epiwafers are fairly routine for at least some of the specialist vendors. Such sales that are made have one universal characteristic: with only a few exceptions they are small but fairly frequent orders having a high value. It is less usual for them to be followed by volume orders, unless difficulties are experienced or second sourcing is required. There are signs, however, that the industry is shifting more towards less-frequent larger orders, which is preferred by the epiwafer vendor, so as to augment cash flow and capacity utilization. Initially, the sale is a 'prototyping' service. Each wafer lot is likely to be less t h a n 50. An a s s o c i a t e d o n e - o f f t o o l i n g c h a r g e is also i m p o s e d . This a r r a n g e m e n t is not unlike that associated with ASIC manufacture, the socalled 'NRE'. Of course this tends to make estimation of market size that much less precise. The OEM seeks to obtain prototype devices so as to test designs and initiate pilot production. Thus proven, the device structure design is then transferred to the OEM's own factory. Often the same equipment is u t i l i z e d - - perhaps even via a straightforward exchange of 'recipe' via software p r o g r a m m e - thus stimulating the associated equipment market. The bulk of devices are Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

51


subsequently manufactured within the close control of the OEM. This is necessary so as to ensure the precision of control d e m a n d e d by today's microelectronics-based products. It is not, however, always practical for the complete duration of the product life cycle and so additional orders are occasionally placed with the epiwafer vendor. The OEM is also likely to revisit the supplier when further product refinement is required. In essence, the epiwafer vendor is selling less of a physical product and more of a service. The OEM seeks the u n i q u e ' k n o w - h o w ' p o s s e s s e d by the collective specialists in the epiwafer company. Such an activity mandates close adherence to customer confidentiality, which goes a long way to explain the low profile of this b u s i n e s s . It also m e a n s that n e w e n t r a n t s to the marketplace are relatively f e w - - although this has changed in recent years - and the mutual trust built up between epiwafer vendors and their customers is a mutual necessity. The marketplace is largely impervious to approaches from new players on the grounds of costs or other factors. However, there has arisen another factor that may tend to destabilize the relationship: the lack of capacity to fulfil larger orders. The epiwafer vendor may struggle to match installed operational capacity with genuine customer forward planning and often opts to err on the later rather than sooner side. Until recently this has proved satisfactory. In that way, the epiwafer vendor is not left with costly under-utilized capacity. However, it leaves the vendor unable to fulfil surges in orders. Such a situation was the case towards the end of 1999 and into 2000. These dynamics are causing a reappraisal of the competitive situation. New entrants to the market are able to pick up business that otherwise would have been denied them previously. Conversely, the chief prospect for increasing market share by epiwafer vendors is to encroach on the captive market. The aim is to persuade the OEM to devolve more and more of the epiwafer activity to the subcontractor. This has precedents in many aspects and is not limited to microelectronics. One route encountered in today's epiwafer industry is for the merchant house to sub-let a part of its capacity, i.e. one or more of its reactors, to the OEM. Geographically this p u r s u i t of market share via increasing the share of previously captive manufacturing is more commonplace amongst Western vendors. In Japan, vendors tend to be locked in with each other on a more formal, less changeable basis. Japanese epiwafer vendors thus look abroad to expand market share. North America is a very strong marketplace for epiwafer products. In the next couple of years it will have surpassed that of Japan in terms of total available market. It had already surpassed Japan because it represents a more open marketplace. In the USA, and to a lesser extent Canada, the epiwafer market is a straight fight between merchant and captive supply. It is also a market open to international suppliers on a more or less equivalent basis. The only restrictions that exist relate to defence products where national sales tend to be mandatory.

52


Merchant GaAs Epitaxial Wafer Markets .

.

.

.

.

.

.

N o r t h America is c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a small n u m b e r of local m e r c h a n t suppliers: 9 9 9 9 9

QED Inc. (now part of IQE). TLC Inc. Kopin Corp. Epitronics Inc. EMCORE Corp.

Spire Corp was formerly a supplier of both MOCWD equipment and epiwafers b u t has since e x i t e d t h e m a r k e t in f a v o u r of s o l a r cell e q u i p m e n t manufacture. New entrants include: 9

Intelligent Epitaxy Technology. ~.

9

9 9

Epitaxial Technologies. Blue Lotus Micro Devices.

These are principally focused on epiwafers with little interest in devices. An e x c e p t i o n to this g e n e r a l r u l e is EMCORE Corp, w h i c h b e g a n as an e q u i p m e n t s u p p l i e r but has since b r o a d e n e d its p o r t f o l i o to i n c l u d e epiwafers and devices. Spire Corp has long been a supplier of equipment, such as for solar cell manufacturing, etc., as well as wafers. The principal competition for independent epiwafer suppliers is the in-house or captive supply of the major device makers, a fair n u m b e r of w h o m have traditionally included epiwafer manufacturing capability within their own fabrication facilities. At this point in time there remained a strong preference for what might be termed the 'belt and braces' approach, whereby device makers relied on their own capability as well as buying externally. Sometimes this is attributable to tradition and more so to practical necessity owing to device specialization, etc. Companies having captive epiwafer capability include: 9 Alpha Industries. 9 RF Micro Devices (RFMD). 9 Motorola. 9 Raytheon RF Components. These companies almost exclusively also source their epiwafer requirements from Top 10 merchant epiwafer suppliers. In some cases, for example RFMD/ TRW, there is a strong emphasis on one type of epitaxy, in this case MBE. Other companies rely on external suppliers for a mix of epiwafer types: MOVPE, MBE, etc. In N o r t h America very little b u s i n e s s is c o n d u c t e d via partially fabricated devices, i.e. c h i p p e d die. The business is c o n d u c t e d either at the s u b s t r a t e or epiwafer level. In these cases the wafer p r o d u c t s are exclusively whole wafers. This is in contrast to the optoelectronics business Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

53


that is also conducted via LED die, for example. This is mainly with Far East b a s e d c o m p a n i e s . Conversely, s o m e US c o m p a n i e s u n d e r t a k e device packaging operations offshore. This is either another division of the same company --- if the company is big enough --- or via subcontractors. In these cases, either intact wafers or chipped die are sent offshore for packaging (and also for testing in some instances) and then returned to the OEM or sent to distributors. In Europe, the situation has many similarities with the North American lll-Vs industry. This region comprises the same kind of open market contested by all merchant epiwafer suppliers. Europe is also characterized by the presence of two major epiwafer suppliers. IQE Plc and Picogiga, plus a few smaller ones such as DERA and EMF Ltd, plus those that are university spin-offs, Nordic Epitaxy and Kelvin Technology. Each has a specialization and each was a pioneer in its respective field of operations. So, too, European substrate suppliers are not active in epiwafer manufacture and most of the major device suppliers have in-house epiwafer capabilities. The region also has several leading manufacturers of epitaxial deposition equipment: VG Semicon in the UK and Riber SA in France are the leaders in multiwafer MBE, whereas AIXTRON AG in Germany is a world leader in MOVPE multiwafer machines. All of these companies have made a point of distancing themselves from any form of epiwafer supply other than small technical samples for equipment customers during initial setting up. They are well aware of the need not to be seen to be competing with their own customers, many of w h o m are the world's leading merchant epiwafer vendors. European device manufacturers rely on internal epitaxy resources but also purchase wafers on the open market. The reasons for this are varied and largely stem from tradition. They involve technology assistance or second sourcing and depend on the device type. These procedures have been in place for some years and look set to continue for the next few years. Several of these device makers have recently begun to offer not only HEMTbut also HBT-based device families. To achieve this they have had to develop their own in-house epitaxial capabilities. However, it is likely that they also purchase epiwafer batches from time to time from merchant epiwafer houses, depending on demand from their own customers. Incidentally, virtually all epiwafers produced by these device makers are exclusively for internal use or for sale via foundry outlets. On occasion, small quantities may be provided free of charge to university d e p a r t m e n t s for the p u r p o s e s of n a t i o n a l collaborative programmes.

54



4.7.1 Foundry Today the market for epiwafers is largely driven by electronic devices for telecommunications and consumer applications. The earliest mass market relied on VPE production of MESFET structures for defence and Gunn diodes for applications such as distance m e a s u r e m e n t equipment. The present status of VPE is much diminished in favour of the more advanced processes that are capable of providing the requisite new-generation HEMT and HBT devices. These are still basically FET-based devices but they would not be possible without MOVPE or MBE. The initial success for MBE was in the mass production of HEMT epiwafers for the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) market. This technique was able to provide the requisite precision for active layer growth. Highly uniform epiwafers over 2-inch substrates w e r e the f o u n d a t i o n of the m e r c h a n t epiwafer business. Today, these devices are still a staple product for many suppliers, albeit in m o r e advanced forms. Such n e w - g e n e r a t i o n variants e m p l o y i n g m o r e complex epitaxial layers and finer geometries, etc., permit a relaxation in the specification (and therefore cost) of associated equipment. For example, higher gain, lower noise pseudomorphic HEMTs permit substantial reduction in the d i a m e t e r of satellite dishes. This is also a p p l i c a b l e to the very expensive associated satellite on-board electronics, which do not have to be so powerful to provide the equivalent reception characteristics. It should be mentioned that a fair amount of the value (though not wafershipped) of the epiwafer market derives from R&D. Small runs of high-value epiwafers are still making a good contribution to the overall epiwafer market out of all proportion to their numbers. It is expected that such is the nature of this industry that this will continue for the duration of the forecast period. Similarly, there is a steady interest in advanced epiwafer-based devices from the military sector. For example, new types of millimetre-wave transistor are required for next-generation radars and smart weapons, etc. Since the previous edition of the report, the interest in epiwafer-based MMICs has undergone a transformation. In 1999, the split between discrete devices and MMICs was fairly evenly balanced. In 2000, the emphasis has begun to shift firmly in favour of MMICs (see Chapter 5). For some time, the MOVPE epiwafer m a r k e t was m o r e heavily o r i e n t e d towards R&D. This was for a variety of reasons, including the immaturity of the performance relative to MBE. The approach has a number of advantages compared with MBE, such as in the fabrication of power devices --- these generally require thicker layers and hence longer growth times. MOVPE is often the faster growth process. The big change in emphasis in the past year has been due to a reappraisal of the use of HBTs. These devices have been commercially significant since the Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

55


early- to mid-1990s. However, until recently they were deemed overall to be too expensive compared with MESFETs. As is discussed in more detail in the following chapters, the reappraisal of the HBT has come about in part due to the d e v e l o p m e n t of a more reproducible HBT emitter process based on AIGa~ and latterly the InGaP wide-bandgap material. As a result of this reappraisal there has been a shift towards MOVPE-based epiwafers. MBE is less suitable for the production of InGaP. This is because of the incompatibility of a high vacuum with phosphorus, as explained later in Chapter 7. The year 1999 saw many companies repositioning themselves so as to be able to move into the HBT MMIC business.

Since the previous editions of this report the prices of epiwafers have seen a steady decline. This is a direct result of increased demand for these materials over the past years. There has been a considerable shift in emphasis towards epitaxial-based materials over those of implant. This has resulted in a set of new u n p r e c e d e n t e d dynamics in the epiwafers market. On the one hand demand is high, keeping prices buoyant, whereas on the other hand yields have increased via new generations of multiwafer epitaxial systems, allowing substrate cost reductions to be enjoyed for the first time (see Table 4.9).

Table 4.9 Epiwafer Pricing Trends by Diameter 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$/in2).

56

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

1 50 mm 1 00 mm 75 mm 50 mm Average

18.0 15.0 1 2.0 5.0 12.5

23.6 11.3 13.5 5.9 14.0

30.9 8.4 1 5.2 6.9 15.3

23.2 9.6 17.1 8.1 14.5

1 7.4 10.9 19.2 9.5 14.2

1 3.0 1 2.3 21.6 11.2 14.5

Total

50.0

54.3

61.4

58.0

57.0

58.1



In Figure 4.7 the trends for a range of epiwafer products are shown. This plot covers MBE, MOVPE and VPE wafers and the prices are for representative p r o d u c t i o n orders of 100-off epiwafers. Unit prices are much higher for smaller size orders. Typically, epiwafers are not yet ordered in thousand-off quantities. This is due in large part to the relative immaturity of the market (c.f. that of silicon) and the continuing evolution of device structures. Such an unstable market is the direct result of the strongly competitive market for cell phones and related products. Designs for these products seldom remain 'frozen' for long and are continually iterated. These changes filter down to the epiwafer level because it is by means of this process that the most critical components in handsets are prepared. It is not straightforward to discriminate between MOVPE- and MBE-based epiwafers on the g r o u n d s of price. Such information is proprietary and dependent on many factors, not the least being order size, device type and so on. It is also conditional on the strength of the relationship between the s u p p l i e r and customer. Such long-term m u t u a l u n d e r s t a n d i n g permits significant cost savings and reflects the interdependence that still exists in this business sector. In the past two years, the 4-inch epiwafer has become the most important wafer size. Volumes of such wafers have now reached many tens of thousands per a n n u m worldwide. Diameters of 3-inch and 2-inch are also important commercially but are now in decline. This has the effect of pushing up prices. This factor is exacerbated by the reduced emphasis in these products by major epiwafer providers. The 6-inch epiwafer has entered the commercial market in volume only over the past year. Previously it had been available only as commercial tooling samples. The debut of the 6-inch wafer has introduced a number of unique characteristics over the earlier wafer generations. In fact it is expected that the 6-inch epiwafer will not enjoy an accelerated introduction. This is for a number of reasons. At p r e s e n t the main interest in 6-inch substrates derives from digital IC manufacturers such as Vitesse Semiconductor. These devices do not as yet rely on epitaxial processes. Analogue MMICs as required for cellular handsets that do rely on epiwafers look set to d e m a n d m o r e 4-inch epiwafers. However, MMIC die sizes are gradually growing, thereby forcing a move to larger epiwafers. The 6-inch epiwafer will, however, soon become the benchmark epiwafer size. The improved cost-effectiveness and cost-competitiveness of the 6-inch wafer are becoming more widely known throughout the industry. In a device marketplace that is experiencing unremitting price pressure, the move to 6-inch wafers is likely to see accelerated schedules. These and other factors are forcing the 6-inch wafer down a pricing curve that is likely to be steeper than that for 4-inch and 3-inch before that. It should also be noted that this 'standardization' on 6-inch will also be influenced by the present low level of interest in any large sizes. With very little in the way of even prototypes nor Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

57


any development programmes in prospect, the emergence of any 7- or 8-inch (currently the silicon standard) wafers is not anticipated until after the forecast period. A worthwhile point to make here is the price pressure that is being placed on the substrate manufacturers. This is unlikely to assist the funding of further substrate development unless the manufacturers can make sufficient money to plough it back into R&D.

Since the previous edition there has been little change in the complement of merchant epiwafer companies: there have been several new entrants making their debut but none of the existing players have exited the business. There has also been a major boost to the size of the installed MBE capacity at RFMD Inc. This is now claimed to be the world's largest such facility. It was r u m o u r e d but as yet u n c o n f i r m e d that the c o m p a n y was considering a limited offering of merchant epiwafers. Also in the USA, the leading North American m e r c h a n t MBE e p i w a f e r supplier, QED Inc, merged with UK MOVPE epiwafer specialist EPI Ltd to form IQE Plc. This 'pure play' foundry is the first non-Japanese company to offer both MOVPE a n d MBE p r o d u c t s since the d e m i s e of B a n d g a p Technology Inc in the mid-1980s. IQE's formation could indicate a shift in emphasis in a marketplace that is less concemed with epitaxy technology and more on prices, performance and delivery. In France, Picogiga is a global supplier of MBE-based merchant epiwafers. Since the previous edition of the report there have been two newcomers to the epiwafer supply scene: the Finnish company Nordic Epitaxy, a spin-off from the University of Tampere; and MBE-based Kelvin Nanotechnology Ltd, a spin-off from the University of Glasgow. MBE players, unlike MOVPE players, have in several cases not restricted themselves to a single vendor. For example, Picogiga has both VG Semicon and Riber MBE equipment, whereas MBE Technology has exclusive deal with Riber. In the Far East, a n u m b e r of Japanese companies provide customers with MBE epiwafers but these so far have little presence outside Japan. The only merchant MBE epiwafer supplier based in the region is Singapore-based MBE Technology, which is an international customer base. Taiwan is populated by a relatively large number of new companies having epitaxy capabilities. However, as yet these are biased towards MOVPE, reflecting their interest in optoelectronic devices.

58



The modern MOVPE epiwafers marketplace has also remained the same in terms of competing companies. In the North America region Kopin is the leader and has been seriously adding to its capacity over the past 18 months. The c o m p a n y has been focusing on InGaP for some time and is now equipped with multiwafer AIXTRON G3 machines with probably the largest single installation for an independent epiwafer supplier. In Japan several companies provide MOVPE epiwafers. These include, Furukawa Electric (the dominant player), as well as Japan Energy, Mitsubishi Chemical, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Hitachi Cable. These companies tend also to have MBE- and VPE-based epitaxy products. Their market focus continues to be Japan but sales are also made in North America and Europe. However, the strength of the Yen and other factors have served to restrict these sales. (In recent years the Yen has been weaker than the corresponding foreign currencies and so this has made Japanese products more competitive. In many respects they are not offering the same kind of service as the Western companies. Their epiwafers are closer to standard products rather than being customer-specific designs.) MOVPE merchant epitaxy companies, unlike those based only on MBE, tend to opt for either one or the other epitaxy equipment vendor. There are really only two multiwafer machine suppliers: AIXTRON AG or EMCORE Corp. IQE, for example, has an exclusive contract for MOVPE equipment supply with AIXTRON. As already mentioned, the Cardiff-based EPI Ltd has merged with QED Inc to become IQE Plc, offering both MOVPE and MBE. This is presently the only Western supplier to offer both services. This c o m p a n y also serves the optoelectronics market. EMF Ltd is a Cambridge-based epiwafer p r o d u c t supplier. Its portfolio includes not only epiwafers but also epitaxial growth equipment and also precursor materials. The company was formed out of one of the world's first merchant epiwafer suppliers, Epi Materials Ltd. As far as the RoW region is concerned, merchant MOVPE epiwafer supply is fairly small--- mainly based on universities supplying small quantities of specialist products. However, in optoelectronics, Taiwan has made enormous investments in new multiwafer equipment for LEDs and diode laser products. Over 20 companies now serve this market and some of these could in time also enter the market for epiwafers for electronic devices.

Since the previous edition of this report, there has arisen a new segment in the merchant epiwafer arena. Silicon-germanium (SiGe) has been an R&D Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

59


subject for s o m e years but only r e c e n t l y has it achieved c o m m e r c i a l significance sufficient to challenge established device technology. This resurgence is largely attributable to the pioneering work of IBM, which has licensed its unique epitaxy process to a number of companies. Licensing has been granted to other device companies (such as AMCC or Atmel), epitaxial e q u i p m e n t makers (such as Epigress or Leybold) and, of most interest for this chapter, to a new epiwafer supply company, SiGe Microsystems. So far, SiGe Microsystems is the only independent merchant supplier of SiGe wafers. The origins and present status of the company are modelled more on GaAs industry practices than on those of silicon. However, this company has a n u m b e r of u n i q u e characteristics that are explained more fully in the Company Profile in Chapter 8. The company has diversified in response to the market so as to achieve a further vertical integration. It has c o m p l e m e n t e d its extensive epitaxy capabilities with device design expertise. So far this is u n i q u e with the merchant epiwafer supply sector. No III-V m e r c h a n t epitaxy supplier currently offers SiGe epiwafers. Presently Ottawa-based SiGe Microsystems is the only i n d e p e n d e n t supplier of these products. A n u m b e r of companies such as RFMD Inc source SiGe internally or via deals with external vendors, e.g. IBM. A certain amount of design is included in GaAs merchant epitaxy but this is restricted to device structure rather than circuit design, which is usually the province of the c u s t o m e r . SiGe is proving different in n a t u r e and the immaturity of the technology coupled with the urgency with which it is required has mandated a more vertical approach to the market. The progress of this company will likely have important ramifications for the GaAs industry. Herein, only the epiwafer aspects will be covered. The reader is directed to the next two chapters for analogue and digital device aspects. Although this report is principally c o n c e r n e d with GaAs, in this edition consideration is also to be given to competitive technologies. In the past 2 years silicon-based devices have seen an acceleration of two particular approaches: silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and SiGe. Only the latter relies on epitaxial growth processes. SOI is p r e p a r e d by a variety of p r o c e s s e s including ion implantation. For some time GaAs has seen competition from silicon bipolar devices. These have high frequency capability but lack the SI substrate essential for very high frequencies. However, at frequencies u n d e r 5 GHz, bipolar devices can provide competitive economics compared with G a ~ . It is also very familiar to most device designers and until recently presented something of a lower risk option. However, bipolar devices have other disadvantages, such as a higher power requirement. For small-signal systems this can be tolerated through the application of judicious design. It is, however, unacceptable for power amplifiers in b a t t e r y - p o w e r e d e q u i p m e n t - - one of the key areas of 60



application for GaAs MMICs. In handsets, talk-time is the N u m b e r One priority. The lowest power performance was only obtainable from G a ~ and so it is the technology of choice for these applications. GaAs provides longer talk-time via extended battery charge lifetime. Conversely, it confers smaller size phones for a fixed talk-time via smaller batteries. SiGe and SOI promise to boost the performance of silicon b i p o l a r - - and o t h e r device t e c h n o l o g i e s such as b i p o l a r / c o m p l e m e n t a r y metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) --- circuitry so as to compete on more equal terms with GaAs. At p r e s e n t , however, a l t h o u g h such designs are not yet in widespread use, they are being considered as a GaAs replacement. Many companies are conducting such R&D and it is here that a merchant epiwafer market has begun to develop. At present, it is in addition to the G a ~ market and only at the R&D level in many respects. However, it has already begun to threaten GaAs markets and could further erode market share in due course. It is thus necessary in a report of this kind to consider the present status and attempt to forecast the future trends. Indicative of the i m p o r t a n c e of the SiGe t e c h n o l o g y are several r e c e n t announcements by leading companies in the GaAs field. Examples include ANADIGICS collaborating with TEMIC of Germany, and Motorola working with Siemens (Infineon Technologies) to develop silicon-germanium carbide (SiGeC) technologies.


61


Application Market Overview

This chapter examines the basic application sectors (many of which overlap) for gallium a r s e n i d e (GaAs) m i c r o e l e c t r o n i c devices as well the basic commercial opportunities, changes and forces acting within each sector. The chapter also examines the market for the basic types of device: microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs), digital integrated circuits (ICs) and discrete devices (discretes). For each type of device, market data and forecasts are provided and future prospects described. Microelectronics has a crucial role to play in the m o d e m electronics industry that in recent years has seen GaAs become an important part of one of the fastest growing sectors globally. GaAs devices are found in an increasing number of systems applications, from consumer to space. At p r e s e n t the l a r g e s t u s e r of GaAs e l e c t r o n i c d e v i c e s is the telecommunications sector. In order, the sector analysis is as follows: * Telecommunications. 9 Consumer. " Computer. 9 Automotive. 9 Military/Aerospace. 9 Industrial. o Other.

The total market for GaAs electronic devices in 1999 - - discretes plus ICs - was US$3602 million (see Table 5.1 a n d Figure 5.1). This will rise to US$11 009 million by the year 2004. This r e p r e s e n t s an overall annual growth rate of 24%. However, t h e r e will likely be significant shifts in production emphasis by device type and application throughout this period. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

63


Table 5.1 Worldwide GaAs Electronic Devices Market: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Automotive 319 Computer 272 Consumer 758 Industrial 285 Military/Aerospace 383 Telecommunications 1506 Other 79

371 322 978 325 436 1946 88

433 383 1263 371 497 2519 99

505 455 1633 423 568 3265 111

590 541 2112 483 651 4237 124

690 644 2735 551 746 5504 139

Total

4466

5565

6960

8738

11009

3602

Although this report is principally concerned with GaAs electronic materials and devices, it does not include optoelectronic devices. Except where direct relevance exists, reference to other components such as non-radiofrequency (non-RF) integrated circuits in handsets is also excluded. The term 'MMIC' is used here to include all analogue and linear GaAs ICs. Discrete G a ~ transistors, such as field effect transistors (FETs) and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), are generically referred to as 'GaAs FETs'. In this edition, however, some coverage is also included of devices based on other III-V compound semiconductors, such as indium phosphide (InP) and gallium nitride (GaN), IV-IV compounds such as silicon carbide (SIC) and of

64



devices based on silicon, notably silicon-germanium (SiGe) and silicon-oninsulator (SOI), where they have an impact on the market for GaAs electronic devices.

To evaluate the overall position of the GaAs electronic device market over the forecast period, the results of the market analysis are summarized in the following tables and figures: 9 Table 5.1 and Figure 5.1 show the market split by application area. 9 Table 5.2 and Figure 5.2 show the market split by region. 9 Table 5.3 and Figure 5.3 show the market split by device type.

Table 5.2 Worldwide Total GaAs Device Market: Discretes + ICs by Region (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


1211 981 904 505

1514 1214 1108 631

1899 1510 1363 793

2390 1884 1682 1003

3020 2360 2082 1275

3829 2964 2584 1631

Total

3601

4467

5565

6959

8737

11008


65


The compound average annual growth rate (CAAGR) for each device family is as follows: 9 9 9

Discretes: 18%. Digital ICs: 22%. MMICs: 26%.

The strong growth areas within this business are expected to be principally in MMICs, especially for mobile communications and wireless applications. These sectors are expected to almost double in size by the end of the forecast period. Since the p r e v i o u s edition of this r e p o r t there have b e e n a n u m b e r of emergent trends in the analogue GaAs industry. In the first case there has been the full-scale move of MMICs from dependency primarily on military markets and to high-volume commercial applications. In a decade the GaAs electronic device industry has been transformed from small-scale runs of specialist high-value parts to generating production runs of millions of lowcost units per year. This has arisen from the major worldwide effort to make MMICs much more cost-effective and reliable for consumer markets. This has taken time and a great deal of effort by many companies who have become major players in the telecommunications industry worldwide. A related trend has been that much of the growth in the MMIC market has been at the expense of discrete GaAs FETs. In the past three years the latter 66



devices have been increasingly replaced by MMICs for most applications. Nevertheless, discrete G a ~ device technology is not static but continuing to develop steadily (in both III-Vs and silicon) and still provides a substantial market in applications where MMICs remain less practical. Everywhere else MMICs will be used so as to provide decreased size, lower manufacturing costs and better performance, usually all three in concert. In today's ever-faster trend towards miniaturization, MMICs are the favoured solution. But this is not a means unto itself because other components may dictate the overall size of the unit. For example, the bulkiest component in a transceiver is the filter. This can take up several hundred times as much board area as the active circuitry incorporated in the MMIC. When a designer assesses the overall cost and performance, there are many trade-offs and the choice of technology is often less obvious. In handset manufacture there remains a good deal of uncertainty over markets and standards. As a result, a discrete-based design may be favoured for the first iteration of a handset because they offer considerably more flexibility than MMICs, enabling manufacturers to adapt more readily to rapidly changing market conditions. So too, as with all integrated circuits, MMICs are best suited for long runs of many thousands or even millions of devices. MMICs can simplify design but development costs are high; they also m a n d a t e extensive u s e r design experience and availability of appropriate components within the supplier's foundry library. The full benefit of MMICs can only be realized when these costs are spread out over high production volumes. For MMICs, on-wafer functional testing allows for practically all tests and measurements to be performed before dicing. For small chips, where the die count per wafer is large, this results in considerable savings of time and costs. Packaging also plays a key role in so far as chip mounting, packaging and testing are necessary for both MMICs and discretes. Total design cost may have less to do with the actual price per chip and more to do with how much automatic handling can be used, i.e. the labour cost. The options range over having a fairly conventional surface mount package, flip-chip or adopting chip scale packaging. The format will match the intended application and for everslimmer handsets or for compact radar units on a vehicle the smallest type will be chosen. Unlike d i s c r e t e - b a s e d d e s i g n s , a MMIC u s u a l l y has to be m o r e of a compromise on total performance. Because they are small, transmission lines are narrower in MMICs than in discrete-based hybrid FETs, and this can degrade performance. There are other issues with regard to passive components. It is sometimes appropriate to have inductors, capacitors, etc on-chip but they are large and so it may be better to have these off-chip to minimize the MMIC die size. Passives are generally cheaper, and perform better, when implemented on ceramic substrates. Consequently, where optimal performance is required, such as ultralow noise or very high power, discretes will likely still be favoured. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

67


Whereas hybrid circuits can be tuned or tweaked for optimal performance, MMICs cannot and so must be produced to exactly the right specifications. The growth cycle for mainstream semiconductors has stabilized to some degree whereas that for GaAs devices has been growing strongly for several years. Within this area there are product types that are seeing exceptional growth in both the short and longer term. Overall, they will sustain growth above the average economic growth of the worldwide market, making the GaAs device market o n e of the most impressive p e r f o r m e r s across the microelectronics industry. However, this continuing success may be adversely affected by a mismatch in supply and demand. There is the possibility of the market being incompletely fulfilled by virtue of the lack of sufficient supply of key components. However, this will also serve to strengthen the average selling price (ASP) for certain components. The dynamics of the market over the next 5 years will, therefore, be even more complex than previously. The strong upward trend will likely continue but will not be able to reach parity with the total available market. Examples that will have a strong influence on the growth of the sector include applications such as tele- and data-communications. These are in turn fuelled by the continued e n o r m o u s growth of the Internet, which in itself boosts sales of IT infrastructure and office/domestic/mobile products, digital video disk (DVD) data storage, high-resolution displays, multimedia systems, i n s t r u m e n t a t i o n and new military/aerospace applications (see Figures 5.4-5.9 and Tables 5.4-5.9).

68




69


Table 5.6 World Market for GaAs Digital ICs by Region 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

62 54 46 27 189


2001

2002

2003

2004

72 63 52 31

84 72 59 36

97 83 67 42

113 96 76 48

132 110 86 56

218

251

289

333

384

Table 5.7 World GaAs Digital IC Market by Application 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

10 51 23 25 15 61 6

12 59 28 28 17 69 7

14 67 33 32 18 78 7

18 77 40 37 20 89 9

22 88 49 42 22 101 10

26 100 59 48 24 11 5 11

191

220

249

290

334

383

Automotive Computer Consumer Industrial Military/Aerospace Telecommunications Other Total

70




71


Table 5.9 World GaAs MMIC Market by Application 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Automotive 231 Computer 173 Consumer 636 Industrial 202 Military/Aerospace 289 Telecommunications 1301 Other 58

264 210 831 231 333 1703 64

300 254 1085 263 385 2231 71

342 307 1418 301 445 2923 78

390 371 1854 343 515 3830 87

445 449 2423 391 597 5020 96

Total

3636

4589

5814

7390

9421

2890

Although discretes are experiencing increasing competition from rapidly maturing MMIC technology, they continue to be widely used and the market is expected to continue to grow. The world GaAs discrete electronic devices market reached US$497 million in 1999 and is forecast to reach US$1145 million by 2004, which is a CAAGR of 18%. Continued areas of dominance for FETs over MMICs include low-noise HEMT front-ends and in h i g h - p o w e r applications. The emphasis of the i n d u s t r y has clearly shifted away from discretes, which are b e c o m i n g increasingly sidelined as MMICs gain momentum. New discrete device types are likely to emerge over the period of this report, e.g. wide-bandgap power transistors, but these markets will be small during this period.

Captive production continues to be a feature of FET markets, especially in Japan at the c o n s u m e r electronics and communications companies. The major merchant markets include devices for mobile telephones, and HEMTs for direct broadcast satellite (DBS) T~. MMIC and digital IC production tend to be d o m i n a t e d by m e r c h a n t p r o d u c e r s such as RF Micro Devices Inc (RFMD), ANADIGICS Inc and Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. The m e r c h a n t m a r k e t , which was w o r t h US$2418 million in 1999, is expected to increase further as a percentage of the total (see Table 5.10 and Figure 5.10) as the number of companies producing FETs in-house decreases. The merchant market will grow to be worth US$8012 million by 2004. The principal objective for device houses will be to win more business from captive p r o d u c e r s a n d t h e y will be a s s i s t e d in this o b j e c t i v e by the remarkable progress of the technology required for device manufacture over the next five years.

72



Table 5.10 Merchant v s . Captive Markets for GaAs Devices 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999 Merchant Captive

2418 1612

2000 3068 1802 .

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

2001

2002

2003

2004

3836 2066

4950 2224

6383 2361

8012 2671

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

North America remains the largest merchant market for G a ~ discrete FETs, but it is Japan's market that is dominated by captive production. Demand from North America and Europe is expected to grow over the next five years. This is due in no small part because the USA and Europe represent the largest military and space markets for FETs. Demand for consumer electronics applications, which is currently dominated by Europe and Japan has emerged strongly in North America. Emphasis in the rest of the worl~ (ROW) regions is more towards integrated circuits. Captive manufacturin continues to be important in regions such as China. But with the new start-u/ in Taiwan, for example, MMICs rather than discretes are the target market. Applications arising from the communications industry; continue to be strc in all geographical regions. Japanese companies remain the largestproducers of G a ~ discretes by sr margin, and dominate the merchant market for discretes. Japan's leading merchant suppliers are Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric, Oki Semiconductor and Toshiba. Matsushita Electronics Corp largest captive producer. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devic


In other regions no new merchant suppliers dealing exclusively with discrete devices have emerged. Several companies continue to supply FETobased assemblies and subsystems. In North America, the leading merchant suppliers include Agilent, Celeritek and Microwave Technology. In Europe there are two volume suppliers of discretes: Infineon Technologies and TEMIC (now part ofAtmel Corp), both based in Germany. In addition, GaAs electronic devices have also benefited from an ongoing penetration of other sectors. But it is in the innovation of new products that c o m p o u n d semiconductors with the unique combination of properties implicit in GaAs and related materials provide a particular edge over the competition. In this and other roles, GaAs devices are constantly under price and technological pressure from mainstream silicon devices and new variants thereof, such as SiGe and SOI. Through technical refinement and innovation, silicon processes are enabling these devices to become established in the areas of the gigahertz part of the electromagnetic spectrum, previously the exclusive commercial preserve of GaAs. The two goals of the commercial supplier of GaAs devices are: to mimic silicon p r o c e d u r e s to leverage productivity, yields and h e n c e cost competitiveness, and to push the device p e r f o r m a n c e further up the electromagnetic spectrum and establish new products. Conversely, GaAs is u n d e r attack at the higher end of the microwave spectrum: the millimetre wave (ram-wave) at >60 GHz. Here, InP-based compound semiconductors have many advantages over GaAs. In the longer term, terahertz (> 100 GHz) devices based on III-Vs will also become commercially significant. These higher frequency devices may, however, still require GaAs substrates as a b a s e - - so-called 'metamorphic' devices--largely due to the commercial advantages, e.g. the availability of 6-inch substrates (see Chapter 7). The past decade has seen a steady growth of G a ~ IC components for the use of high-speed, l o w - p o w e r - d i s s i p a t i o n p o r t a b l e electronics, p e r s o n a l computers and fibre-optic communications. In this section the three main device types for GaAs electronics are combined into one appraisal. For each application sector further information is provided on a per-device basis. All sectors have general similarities with respect to the analogue trend from discretes to monolithic integration, i.e. ICs. However, in digital circuits the emphasis is virtually dominated by ICs. The order of ranking of regions is unlikely to change over the period of this report (1999-2004). The strength of today's Ga/~ industry growth derives from not only a m a t u r e m a n u f a c t u r i n g base b u t mostly from the telecommunications manufacturing sector. In Japan there will be a continued emphasis on vertically integrated manufacture of equipment by original e q u i p m e n t m a n u f a c t u r e r s (OEMs), w h o also sell c o m p o n e n t s on the merchant market. Most of these major players in recent years reported 74



adverse financial results but have now been helped by stronger component sales, including GaAs electronic and optoelectronic devices. The leading region in terms of both manufacture and market for GaAs electronic devices will remain North America. This region includes several world-class players at each tier of the GaAs electronics device market, from substrates to finished devices. These will continue to be the engines of growth even though these are undergoing restructuring, the effects of which have yet to be worked through. The region also has a high number of very capable specialist suppliers with their own dynamics for growth. It is expected that some consolidation will occur within these companies as further merger and acquisition activity is w o r k e d through. At p r e s e n t there is a r e n e w e d enthusiasm for start-ups that, in turn, are likely to be acquired by corporations seeking to acquire rapidly the requisite technology and market share. Another engine for growth is likely to be found in the RoW category. Previously, this was t a k e n to r e p r e s e n t s u b s i d i a r y c o u n t r i e s w h e r e manufacturing proceeds at a lower level of activity. Today, however, this region includes countries with a high representation of OEMs, such as Taiwan and South Korea. At present, the fraction of manufacturing devoted to GaAs electronic devices is relatively small. In Taiwan, for example, the number of companies supplying optoelectronic components has grown enormously in the past five-ten years. At the time of writing there have emerged several additional manufacturers of GaAs electronic devices: Hexawave Inc, Hsinchu, Taiwan 9 WIN Semiconductor Corp, Taipei, Taiwan 9 AWSC,Tainan, Taiwan

9

Given the intensity of consumer and computer product operations in these regions it is likely that it will be only a matter of time before other companies focusing on GaAs electronic devices emerge. Taiwan is already a world leader in several sectors such as consumer and computer products, so individuals and companies in that country collectively target highly attractive sectors such as handsets and related products, which are big users of GaAs devices. As with optoelectronic components, they will strive to become self-sufficient in the requisite key components rather than rely on sources in Japan where cost-competitiveness and leading edge designs do not always favour manufacture. The clear leaders in the applications analysis for GaAs electronic devices remain telecommunications and consumers. The underlying factors in the dramatic escalation of the GaAs industry were the DBS and cellular handset markets. These and other products will continue to be engines for growth for the forecast period of the report. Increasingly; the boundary between application sectors is becoming less clear. Herein, handsets are designated as telecommunication products but they have many of the characteristics of consumer products. Handsets have moved on from voice-only functions to add messaging and Intemet access, for example. Thus, the dividing line between strictly telecommunication-only function and Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

75


that of data processing is less easy to define. Breaking down the dividing line between telecommunications and consumer is borne out by the routes by which h a n d s e t s are sold to the public. They are p e r c e i v e d less as an 'emergency'-only tool and more as a 'fun' product or fashion accessory. This is encouraged by intensive marketing and very low entry costs for these products, much like novelty consumer products such as the Walkman or games console. The handset is much less a part of the revenue stream than the services that the user is able to purchase. There is a school of thought that handsets could be given away free of charge so as to encourage their use, r e c o u p i n g the manufacturing costs via the phone calls and related premium services. This has parallels in the fact that consumer software products such as games and music CDs, DVDs, etc. far o u t w e i g h h a r d w a r e sales. This is a s o b e r i n g thought for a device manufacturer who spends many millions of dollars per annum perfecting t h e most complex components ever engineered for them to be given way and then have them become obsolete within six months and replaced in a fashion-conscious market. These factors will play a strong role in ensuring that the vital new markets and new subsets of existing markets will be able to further drive u p the demand for G a ~ electronic devices. The following sections proceed in order of importance of total market value according to Table 5.1.

5.6 Telecommunications Markets for GaAs Electronic Devices ,

.,

The market value of GaAs electronic devices in the telecommunications sector is estimated to be US$1506 million in 1999. This will increase to US$5504 million by 2004, r e p r e s e n t i n g a CAAGR of 29%. This sector is the largest consumer of GaAs electronic devices in the industry. The telecommunications sector represents no less than 27.7% of the market in 1999 and this will have increased to 30.6% by 2004 (see Figure 5.11 and Tables 5.11-5.14).

76



Table 5.11 World Telecommunications Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

482 422 422 181

627 542 537 240

818 698 684 319

1067 900 872 425

1394 1161 1114 567

1824 1498 1424 758

1507

1946

2519

3264

4236

5504

Table 5.12 World Telecommunications GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

46 40 40 17

55 50 48 21

67 61 56 26

80 75 66 31

96 93 78 38

11 5 114 92 47

143

174

210

252

305

368

Table 5.13 World Telecommunications Digital IC Market (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


19 17 17 7

23 19 19 8

26 22 22 9

30 25 24 10

35 28 27 11

41 32 31 12

Total

60

69

79

89

101

116

Table 5.14 World Telecommunications GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

416 364 364 156

549 473 470 211

725 61 5 606 284

957 800 782 384

1263 1040 1008 518

1668 1352 1301 700

1300

1703

2230

2923

3829

5021

Communications systems provide the strongest driving force for the growth of the analogue GaAs industry. The main application sectors for GaAs analogue devices are summarized in Table 5.15.


77


Table 5.15 Telecommunications Applications for GaAs Devices. Mobile communications

Satellite receivers

Fibre-optic Wireless data communications communications ,

Cellular telephones

Global positioning system

Long-haul

Wireless localarea networks (LANs)

Cordless telephones

Very small aperture terminals

LANs

Wide-area networks (WANs)

Personal Mobile communications satellite networks systems

WANs

Pagers

Microwave radio links

Local loop

Fixed satellite systems

MMIC and FET d e m a n d from all communications applications is shown in F i g u r e 5.12. MMIC d e m a n d is e x p e c t e d to g r o w s t r o n g l y from US$1751 million in 1999 to US$5706 million by 2004. Demand from mobile communications handsets is the main market driver. GaAs discrete FETs are expected to grow from US$28 million in 1999 to reach US$70 million by 2004. Digital ICs will show good solid growth over the forecast period as demand for high-speed devices for datacommunications applications increases to satisfy h i g h - b a n d w i d t h c o m m u n i c a t i o n s . This s e c t o r will g r o w from US$13 million in 1999 to reach US$24 million in 2004. The following sections discuss applications in each of the four main sectors of the communications industry. In addition to handsets, there is a smaller, but significant, market for GaAs that arises from the microwave radio links connecting base stations, typically operating at mm-wave frequencies.

78 GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices


5.6.1 Mobile Communication Handsets: Cellular, Cordless and Personal Communication Service (PCS)/Personal Communication Network (PCN)

5. 6. 1. I Discretes vs. MMICs

Table 5.16 World Market for GaAs Electronic Devices: MMICs Discretes 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 4 (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

vs.

2004

MMICs Disc retes

1301 144

1703 174

2231 210

2923 253

3830 305

5020 368

Total

1445

1877

2441

3176

4135

5388

In the telecommunications sector the overall trend is towards more highly integrated MMIC solutions. The discrete share of the market has fallen over the period 1995-1999 and will continue to do so over the forecast period of this report. The question of w h e t h e r and how much to integrate is still a key issue, involving a n u m b e r of complex trade-offs in performance, price and design flexibility.

5.6.2

Satellite Receivers

Satellite communication systems use FETs and MMICs in transmit and receive functions. These markets include global positioning satellites (GPSs), very small aperture terminals (VSATs) and mobile and fixed satellite systems. The g r o u n d s e g m e n t s of t h e s e s y s t e m s n e e d l o w n o i s e a n d low p o w e r consumption, often with a 'sleeping function' that turns the system on when there is a message. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

79


This is a fragmented market consisting of a wide number of small niches. The following highlight some of the key applications within this sector. For the past 15 years, the wireless communications market has maintained a steady, sustained growth.

5.6.3 GaAs Radiofrequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs) for Handsets GaAs RFICs have taken more than 50% of the wireless radiofrequency (RF) front-end components market share. As the microwave frequency increases to broadband wireless access applications such as local multipoint distribution services (LMDS) a n d VSATs, the d e m a n d of GaAs MMICs, particularly h e t e r o s t r u c t u r e field effect transistors (HFET) --- p s e u d o m o r p h i c high electron mobility transistors (PHEMT) or high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) - - will be boosted. Since the previous edition of this report, the wireless communications market has c o n t i n u e d to exert its d o m i n a t i o n of the market. The cellular/PCS cellphone business saw strong growth exceeding most analysts' expectations. In prospect are further such services and, in particular, the third-generation '3G' wireless p h o n e s that will further drive growth. GaAs MMICs are expected to be required in volume for these > 2 GHz applications. It is the cellular market that is driving the wireless c o m p o n e n t market. C u r r e n t l y the s u b s c r i b e r base for c e l l p h o n e s has r e a c h e d m o r e t h a n 300 million p e r a n n u m . Ericsson r e c e n t l y forecast that t h e r e will be 600 million subscribers by the end of 2001, and Nokia predicts that there will be 1 billion subscribers by 2005. New services such as instant messaging, wireless data and Internet access will provide continued m o m e n t u m for strong growth over the next five years.

80



With every new subscriber needing at least one p h o n e , many existing subscribers will continue to upgrade with new ones over this period. By 1998, production of new handsets had reached the 140 million units level. Broadband technologies will also become an important segment of this wireless communication IC market. Traditional bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS), CMOS, SiGe and bipolar processes are being pitted against each other. The overwhelming leader in the market today is CMOS, due to its role in the baseband sector, CMOS--- the dominant device technology in the computer i n d u s t r y - - still represents over 70% of the telecommunications market, but considerable gains are expected on the part of SiGe, particularly in the intermediate frequency (IF) sectors of wireless devices. SiGe will be less successful in the power amplifier sector, mainly because of the power-added efficiency of GaAs devices. SiGe will be particularly attractive as manufacturers begin to implement Bluetooth and GPS functionality in their devices. Today the RF/analogue section of GPS chips r e p r e s e n t s 21% of the GPS IC market but these functions are expected to survive integration into host systems longer than the baseband GPS functions. Discretes are likely to remain the technology of choice where performance needs to be optimized, such as very-low-noise front-ends, or in high-power applications. In some situations discretes provide more flexibility than MMICs and are often preferred by OEMs for distinguishing product lines. Although discretes are experiencing increasing competition from rapidly maturing MMIC technology, they continue to be widely used and the market is expected to show steady growth. Currently, the largest volume markets for discretes are p o w e r amplifier modules for mobile telephones, HEMTs for satellite T'q, small-signal FETs for handsets and consumer electronics and a wide range of general-purpose amplifier functions. Generic switching and amplifier applications, also in consumer electronics performing down-conversion functions, follow the largest markets for MMICs. Dual-band, dual-mode handset sales are growing at a t r e m e n d o u s rate worldwide, and MMIC suppliers are positioning themselves to provide enabling solutions for this high-growth sector in the wireless handset market. Wireless telecommunications is the fastest growing sector of the market, especially for GaAs MMICs. GSM (Groupe Systeme Mobile) handsets have been the largest market for RF semiconductors of all types (including silicon), with device shipments of several billion dollars in 1999. GSM is followed by CDMA, IS-136 TDMA, PDC and analogue chipsets, representing a further multibillion dollar business in total. The CDMA network has grown to nearly 40 million subscribers to date and will have exceeded 50 million shortly. Because the majority of applications operate in the 900 MHz-3 GHz bands, silicon providers dominate. But as the Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

81


operating frequencies rise, and more functions go on-chip, G a ~ technology will be favoured. Today silicon BiCMOS is a competitor, with SiGe BiCMOS likely to be important over the longer term. With their higher number of mask steps they are likely to be more expensive than GaAs. GaAs is the optimal solution for the required high functionality, mixed signal capability and high efficiency at low voltage operation. Table 5 . 1 7 Handset Applications for GaAs Devices. AMPS Frequency (MHz)

Rx Tx Access method t

916-949 871-904

860-870 915-925

935-960 890-91 5

FDMA

FDMA

FDMA

FDMA

* * *

* *

*

Americas Europe Japan Asia

*

CT2/CT2 + Frequency (MHz) Rx Tx C T 2 + : Rx Tx Access method t

*

*

Digital cordless DECT DCS 1 8 0 0

PHS

1880-1990

1805-1880

1895-1907

TDMA

TDMA

TDMA

TDMA

* *

* *

*

*

Americas Europe * Japan * Asia *

GSM

Frequency (MHz)

*

Digital cellular North American Digital Cellular IS- 54/IS- 136 IS-95

JDC (PDC)

935-960 1429-1453 890-91 5 1477-1501

869-894

869-894

810-826,

824-849

824-849

940-956,

Access method t

TDMA

TDMA

CDMA

TDMA

Americas Europe * Japan * Asia *

* * * *

* *

*

*

*

Tx

Country

* Excludes analogue cordless. See Chapter 10, Section 10.1 for explanation of acronyms. 82

*

864-868 1710-1785 930-931 940-941

Country

Rx

NMT-900

869-894 824-849

Country

CT2:

Analogue cellular ETACS NTACS



Today there are nearly 50 companies worldwide producing GaAs devices, in addition to numerous design houses without fabrication facilities. As a result, competition is still intense. Furthermore, most of the world's major GaAs MMIC m a n u f a c t u r e r s are vertically i n t e g r a t e d to s o m e extent, and are targeting the open market to maximize the use of their facilities, making for an extremely competitive merchant environment. Applications arising from the c o m m u n i c a t i o n s industry are very s t r o n g worldwide. GaAs FETs and MMICs are widely used in many sectors of the electronics industry, spanning military and space, communications, c o n s u m e r and a range of niche markets in industrial and automotive applications. The following sections discuss applications in each of the main sectors of the c o m m u n i c a t i o n s industry. Needless to say, the section given the m o s t prominence and dealt with first is that of mobile communications.

5.6.4 Mobile Communications The handset market is growing by over 50% per annum but is notable for its extreme pricing pressure. RF applications in mobile communication handsets c o n t i n u e to provide the largest volume application (by value) for GaAs analogue devices. Handsets constitute one of the most competitive marketplaces. The sector is contested as follows: 9 9 9 9

MMICs v s . GaAs discretes. Silicon bipolar MMICs v s . GaAs MMICs. SiGe MMICs v s . G a ~ MMICs. Metal s e m i c o n d u c t o r field effect t r a n s i s t o r s (MESFETs) heterostructure bipolar transistors (HBTs) v s . PHEMTs.

vs.

All these p e r m u t a t i o n s are battling to fulfil the o p t i m u m system design solution at the required time at the required price. Such is the continuing diversity of systems and requirements that no one single technology looks likely be able to dominate. Today, all are continuing to contribute. To further expand the envelope of possibilities, technology solutions are also likely to include SiGe, silicon-on-insulator and o t h e r semiconductors such as gallium nitride and silicon carbide. But these will be over the longer rather than the shorter term. There is also the smaller, but significant, market for GaAs devices arising from the microwave radio links connecting base stations. Typically these operate at miUimetre wave (mm-wave) frequencies.

5. 6.4. 1 Mobile Communications Handsets Technologically speaking, the trend is towards more highly integrated MMIC solutions, with the discrete share of the market having fallen from 50% a few Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

83


years ago to 10% over the next few years. The question of whether and how much to integrate is still a key issue, involving a n u m b e r of complex tradeoffs in performance, price and design flexibility. For mobile c o m m u n i c a t i o n s e q u i p m e n t m a n u f a c t u r e r s , however, the flexibility of discrete solutions is a major benefit when the evolving changes in standards and rapid falls in handset prices are taken into consideration. Prices of handsets continue to fall. This, coupled with worldwide markets for cellular/cordless systems being fragmented, means that the c o m p o n e n t manufacturers have to develop products for each system. In many respects, therefore, a handset built using discrete c o m p o n e n t s can be more easily changed to adapt than one implemented with a high degree of integration, i.e. using one or two MMICs. Moreover, telephony transmission standards c o n t i n u e to evolve, m a k i n g a c o n s t a n t l y m o v i n g t a r g e t for MMIC manufacturers. These manufacturers are seeking to target the high-volume markets where the MMIC is b e t t e r suited than discretes. Only w h e n o r d e r e d in m a n y thousands of units will the tooling charge - - the so-called non-recurring engineering (NRE) c h a r g e - - become insignificant. In fact it is fairly common practice to use over-specified components to achieve the necessary economies of scale. Additionally, the cost of components is becoming less significant a contributing factor than the cost of assembling them onto the printed circuit board (PCB). GaAs MMIC technology incorporates on-chip inductors, capacitors and resistors, which allow matching, biasing and stabilizing e l e m e n t s to be placed on chip. The designer must decide which passive components should be placed on chip versus which should be made external to the die. This choice is based on such tradeoffs as Q-factor requirements of inductors versus circuit losses, capacitor size versus die area or cost and on-chip versus off-chip bias-resistor values, which allows design flexibility for various applications. In addition, much of the direct current (DC) biasing circuitry can be placed on chip as well, greatly simplifying and reducing the component count required in the final application. Once an MMIC-based solution is adopted, its advantages over discretes are substantial. These include: 9 Reduced size. 9 Fewer parts. 9 Easier manufacturing. 9 Reliability. 9 No tuning or trimming, required In c o m b i n a t i o n , these factors enable design cycles and h e n c e the allimportant time-to-market, to be speeded up.

5. 6. 4.2 Handset Manufacturing Handset manufacturing is carried out by over a dozen companies worldwide. Only a few of these source their own GaAs c o m p o n e n t s i n t e r n a l l y - - and 84



even most of these also source from the merchant market as well--- and these companies are p r e d o m i n a n t l y Japanese. The top three handset manufacturers are Nokia, Motorola and Ericsson. Others include Philips, Siemens, Alcatel and Sagem in E u r o p e , Panasonic, Mitsubishi, NEC, Matsushita and Sanyo in Japan, Samsung, LG and Maxon in South Korea and Aselson in Turkey. Today, a key industry trend is the completion of the transition from analogue to digital technology. This is already well advanced in most regions but analogue phone sales are expected to continue for at least another 5 years, diminishing year by year. As a result, manufacture and shipments of analogue handsets and related products will remain important for some time to come. Manufacture is shifting to digital but analogue often continues alongside so as to achieve good economies of scale, as required by the very competitive marketplace. The RF parts of a handset are common to both analogue and digital phones. Analogue phones are now made mainly in the lowest-cost regions of the world, especially South-east Asia. For example, the majority of handsets in North America are manufactured in Mexico rather than the USA. GSM is by far the most mature of all digital cellular systems. Although it was developed initially for Europe, GSM has also been adopted by many other countries. RFMD developed the RF2365, a GaAs HBT 3.0 V low-noise amplifier for digital cellular applications including digital communication service (DCS) GSM, PCS CDMA, PCS TDMA and 2.4 GHz systems. The RF2365 is a low-noise amplifier with a high dynamic range designed for the frontend of digital cellular applications at PCS/DCS frequencies. It is engineered to amplify low-level signals with minimum noise contribution while operating in the harsh, interference-rich environments of newly deployed digital subscriber units. The product also provides excellent p e r f o r m a n c e as a l o w - n o i s e amplifier (LNA) for 2.4 GHz radio applications. Compared with analogue systems, the new digital standards place much more severe demands on semiconductor suppliers to deliver parts capable of low p o w e r c o n s u m p t i o n for i n c r e a s e d talk and s t a n d b y time and compactness and decreased weight for greater portability. Components must perform well up to 2.5 GHz, have 3 V low current capability, surface mount plastic packaging and be available at low prices in high volumes.

5.6.5 Digital Mobile Communications 5.6.5. 1 GSM Analogue GSM was initially developed in Europe and became the most popular system worldwide. Today it is being transformed into the digital era with the GSM 900 and DCS 1800 systems. These are second-generation '2G' technologies and are transitioning to '3G' via '2.5G'. The latter feature significantly higher bandwidth and are built on existing GSM infrastructure, Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

85


base stations, etc. This infrastructure will be steadily upgraded over the next five years as the industry shifts over to 3G. This will provide a significant commercial opportunity for vendors of G a ~ and related RF components. GSM handsets are the largest market for RF semiconductors, with device shipments of US$2 billion in 1999. Conexant Systems Inc. announced that Ericsson has selected Conexant's GSM dual-band power amplifiers for its next-generation digital cellular phone. Conexant started shipping to Ericsson in volume production in early 2000. C o n e x a n t ' s digital cellular p o w e r amplifiers use the c o m p a n y ' s highly efficient GaAs HBT process to increase talk and standby times. The GSM dual-band power amplifier is packaged in one of Conexant's first laminate-based multichip modules (MCMs) specifically developed for wireless applications. This technology allows for the integration of multiple devices and all power amplifier circuitry into a single, small form-factor package. The Ericsson 1 888 is a GSM world phone that works on 1900 MHz GSM in the Americas and 900 MHz GSM in Europe and most of the world. This dualband phone (see below) incorporates a custom-designed dual-band power amplifier from ANADIGICS. This supports Ericsson's phone with a singlepackage design that increases functionality while reducing board space, manufacturing and design time and cost. In the past, dual-band p h o n e designs required a power amplifier for each band supported. A single-chip dual-band solution simplifies the circuitry required and saves board space. In fact, the Ericsson 1 888 world phone weighs only 6.3 ounces, is 5.2 inches long, 1.9 inches wide and is less than 1 inch thick.

5.6.5.2 CDMA According to the CDMA Development Group (CDG), the number of CDMA subscribers worldwide now exceeds 30 million, with over half of those subscribers in Asia Pacific. The total n u m b e r of subscribers is rapidly expanding worldwide and is expected to exceed 50 million before the end of 1999. MMIC suppliers are adopting every means to extend the battery life of CDMA cellular phones while supplying all the power and features that customers have come to expect, all within a compact footprint. Power saving is important whether the cellular phone is being used or is in idle mode. Mitsubishi Electric Corp, America's Electronic Device G r o u p , has announced the North American availability of a low-voltage, low-current, high-efficiency three-stage GaAs FET RF amplifier module for PCS band (1.85-1.91 GHz) CDMA cellular p h o n e applications. The amplifier, FA01384, features an extremely low idle drain current (Idq) of only 85 mA (typical), i m p r o v e d p o w e r efficiency to 37% and a low 3.2 V operating voltage that allows for 10% more conversation time in cellular phone applications.

86



HBTs offer the best available performance for wireless applications where l i n e a r i t y is critical, such as CDMA a n d 3G w i r e l e s s t e l e p h o n y . The d e v e l o p m e n t and d e p l o y m e n t of 3G wireless systems is currently being undertaken to improve the high-bandwidth capabilities required by future handsets. To facilitate the seamless coverage that is expected in today's handsets prior to full 3G system deployment, multi-network phones would be required. This allows backward compatibility to existing IS-95 cellular networks and makes economic use of the existing infrastructure. A dual-band tri-mode approach to handset design is in use in today's handset market. 9 Alpha Industries received multiple design wins and increased production orders from Motorola for GaAs MMICs to be used in multiple versions of the CDMA digital StarTAC TM p h o n e . The CDMA StarTAC is the most popular new digital wireless telephone handset introduced by Motorola within the last few m o n t h s , with versions aimed at major markets, including the USA and China. 9 Celeritek has received purchase orders w o r t h US$3.3 million from Motorola for 3.0 V RFIC power amplifiers. The CMM1530 RFIC power amplifiers are expected to be used in Motorola's recently a n n o u n c e d CDMA PCS StarTAC phone, both for Korean PCE and US PCS markets. Celeritek considers its TRUE 3.0 V PHEMT technology to be well-suited for next-generation 3 V handsets. 9 Agilent's G a ~ PHEMT monolithic RFIC amplifier in the ultra-small, fourlead SOT-343 package is targeted specifically to meet the d e m a n d i n g performance requirements of CDMA handsets in the cellular and PCS bands. The chipset, fabricated with silicon bipolar and GaAs PHEMT technology, is designed for use with existing digital baseband ICs, filters and duplexers. The MGA-72543 features a built-in bypass switch that is designed to be used in an adaptive mode in both transmit and receive chains in CDMA handsets to ensure lowest current draw and sufficient linearity under all operating conditions. The built-in switch also enables a solution that requires very little board space c o m p a r e d with some competing implementations, which combine separate amplifiers and switches. RFMD has shipped more than 100 million power amplifiers. RFMD's GaAs HBT technology accounts for a significant n u m b e r of the power amplifiers sold for applications, including CDMA, GSM and others. RFMD saw growth in sales of RFICs to Korean handset manufacturers: LGIC, Hyundai, Samsung and several other Korean mobile phone manufacturers. Total mobile p h o n e p e n e t r a t i o n in South Korea reached 30% last year. C u s t o m e r s are relying more on the d o m e s t i c r e p l a c e m e n t m a r k e t and expanding export markets, particularly Asia Pacific, where the market for CDMA components remains very strong. RFMD was the first company to introduce a full CDMA front-end chip set in 1996. The Korean mobile phone manufacturers are now focused on making handsets smaller, lighter and with longer battery life and talk-time. They look to us to develop components with increased performance at a lowered cost. Demand for LNAs, mixers, upconverters, driver amplifiers, IF amplifiers, and power amplifiers are now at their highest levels. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

87


TriQuint Semiconductor Inc released four RFIC sets of CDMA receive chain ICs in small SOT23-8 packages, which will allow handset designers true tri-mode CDMA (IS-95 standard) o p e r a t i o n . The devices, all o p e r a t i n g with single 3 V supplies, consist of two LNAs and two downconvert mixers (each in cellular or PCS frequencies). Providing an immediate low-cost, high-reliability solution for the handset designer, this CDMA receive chip set is designed with maximum operational flexibility consistent with minimum additional circuitry.

5.6.5.3 Dual-mode Handsets Dual-band, dual-mode handset sales are growing at a t r e m e n d o u s rate worldwide, and MMIC suppliers are positioning themselves to provide enabling solutions for this high-growth sector in the wireless handset market. The past year has also seen the debut of tri-band handsets enabling even more global roaming capability with just one phone for frequent business travellers, and so on. These types of phone played a contributory role in the less-than-expected take-up of the truly global handset system Iridium. The new multi-band phones are also triumphs of miniaturization, something that the Iridium 'brick-sized' phones were not. More than 95% of the cellular phones produced worldwide in 2001 will be digital, with the majority supporting dual-band operation. The SA3600 lowvoltage RF receiver front-end integrates 800 MHz cellular and 1900 MHz PCSband LNAs and d o w n c o n v e r s i o n mixers. The on-chip local oscillator frequency doubler, input/output buffer amplifiers, matching circuitry and control mode logic reduce external glue components. As mentioned above, the Ericsson 1 88 World Phone is designed for global travellers; in addition to sending and receiving phone calls, users can check email, send and receive faxes, browse the Internet, and log-on to corporate networks using the built-in infrared modem. The phone offers menus in 24 different languages and features caller identification, call forwarding and conference calling with up to six people. Philips Semiconductors' SA3600 is a highly integrated low-power RF front-end receiver IC. It targets the coming wave of dual-band, multimode digital cellular phones. By integrating all the key RF functions in a single chip, the SA3600 provides a complete dual-band receiver solution that saves board space and design time. Cellular phones continue to shrink in size and cost while maintaining the required performance at low voltage; Philips claimed that the SA3600 helps designers to meet these objectives. The cellular-band LNA and mixer consume 10 mA from a 2.7 V supply. The PCS-band LNA and mixer consume 14 rn& which is 35% less power than the existing best-in-class GaAs RF front-end ICs. This power saving translates directly into greater standby time in mobile phones. Philips uses its QUBiC2 (F t = 20 GHz) silicon BiCMOS process for this application. At 881 MHz, the LNA and mixer, with external interstage surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter, provide 24 dB of gain, 2.6 dB of noise figure and -10.5 dBm of input IP3. At 1960 MHz, the equivalent PCS line-up provides 88



22 dB of gain, 3.1 dB of noise figure a n d - 1 0 . 4 dBm of input IP3. The SA3600 provides the gain, noise figure and linearity needed to meet the receiver sensitivity and intermodulation requirements for TDMA (IS-136 and GSM) dual-band mobile phones. In February, Ericsson announced the release of its new KF788 mobile phone, the world's smallest dual-band, tri-mode, digital advanced mobile phone system (D-AMPS) phone. With a weight of only 5.4 ounces and a height of 4.2 inches, designed for the demanding US consumer market, the phone benefits from an ANADIGICS IC that enables longer talk-time and the ability to work virtually anywhere in the countor. A highly integrated dual-band and tri-mode power amplifier packs all the functionality of two amplifiers into a single chip housed in a thermally enhanced SSOP28 package. These dual-band tri-mode power amplifiers are in full production, supporting the KF788 phone, which is growing in popularity. The Ericsson KF788 supports analogue and digital mode cellular as well as PCS systems in the USA. The p h o n e offers numerous advanced features, including optional vibrating call alert, caller identification, storage of 200 names and phone numbers, and recall of up to 40 of the last numbers dialled. Motorola integrated two complete power amplifier chains for dual-band/dualmode TDMA cellular phones in a single chip. The unit is a sin#e-chip device that uses PHEMT GaAs technology, which provides superior linearity and efficiency p e r f o r m a n c e over older MESFET GaAs process devices. The improved linearity translates to lower distortion performance, and improved efficiency offers longer battery life. The product integrates two three-stage power amplifiers in a single, high-power surface mount package that reduces the parts count and PCB space. The device conforms to the TDMA and AMPS performance requirement for operation with a 3.6 V battery, and reduces power consumption with the high-power added efficiency of the two power amplifiers.

5. 6. 5.4 Base Stations The increasing demand for cellular and PCS services has produced explosive rates of growth for handset manufacturers and consequently base station deployment must keep pace to maintain and expand network capacity. Base station amplifier designs can benefit from MMIC technologies to increase manufacturability while reducing overall cost and size. In order to support the growth in the handset market, new base station installations must also increase. Much of this growth is expected to use linear modulation formats as well as GSM. In a d d i t i o n to installing base s t a t i o n s in n e w areas, m u l t i p l e m o d u l a t i o n s t a n d a r d s are also being i n t r o d u c e d into existing areas, overlaying or overlapping the older standards. New base station amplifiers are being redesigned to be smaller, lower cost and more manufacturable. In order to achieve this goal, components with a higher level of integration and offering automated, surface-mount assembly capability are desirable. In the handset marketplace, this redesign has been Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

89


achieved in many cases by replacing discrete amplifier chains with multi-stage MMIC circuits in surface-mount plastic packages. Examples of components for base stations include the ANADIGICS GaAs MMICs (AWT921 and AWT1921) for use in base stations and other fixed terminals. An integrated high-power amplifier with multiple gain stages was developed that would contain as much of the circuitry (RF matching and DC biasing) on-chip as possible. Three primary features targeted for this part were to achieve higher output-power levels, at higher operating voltages, in a surface-mount plastic package. In early 1999, Toshiba America Electronic C o m p o n e n t s Inc (TAEC) announced the industry's first 20 W Ku-band internally matched highpower G a ~ FET. The new 20 W Ku-band G a ~ FET's enhanced internally matching n e t w o r k allows it to operate at 14.0-14.5 GHz, offering superior power, gain and efficiency compared with travelling-wave tube (TWT) products and GaAs devices from other suppliers. Designated TIM1414-20, the device boasts a smaller high-power amplifier size, allowing designers to simplify their designs and lower total system costs by reducing the device count. Featuring PHEMT process technology, the 20 W Ku-band is targeted towards solid-state p o w e r amplifiers for 14.0-14.5 GHz Ku-band satellite base s t a t i o n c o m m u n i c a t i o n s transmitters and VSATs. The same design and development tools and techniques that generated the GaAs MMIC power amplifier market can be applied to fixed installations to provide solutions for driver sections in macro base stations and also to act as the final amplifier in micro cells.

5.6.6 RF Components GaAs is the strongest contender for most of the RF functions in a handset, particularly for the receiver and transmitter components. For previousgeneration analogue phones, silicon devices were preferred for sub-l-GHz applications. Today silicon bipolar and SiGe BiCMOS provide the main competition for GaAs in the frequency range up to 5 GHz. Small signal amplifiers, frequency conversion devices and IF chipsets represented the largest part of the total market by chip type. Power amplifier and RF control chips also showed strong growth over 1998 levels. Leading silicon bipolar technology companies such as Infineon, Motorola, NEC and Philips provide the majority of the silicon RF chips used in the handset market. GaAs chips comprised 33% of this market in 1999, with strong growth in HBT sales by Conexant and RFMD. Other GaAs suppliers --Alpha Industries, ANADIGICS, Infineon Technologies, Motorola and TriQuint Semiconductor--demonstrated a solid performance in 1999. Over the next 5 years increased integration of RF and IF circuits will reduce the number of chips per handset dramatically, with CMOS, BiCMOS and SiGe ICs playing the major roles. G a ~ ICs will continue to lead in power amplifier and switch sockets.

90



For mobile communications applications, all RF functions are now available in G a ~ , including: 9 Low-noise Amplifiers. 9 Mixers and switches. * Oscillators. 9 Attenuators. 9 Prescalars. 9 Power amplifiers and driver amplifiers. * Integrated receiver front-ends. 9 Switches. These categories have not been added to significantly since the previous edition. The next section overviews the status of these G a ~ product families.

5. 6. 6. 1 Low-noise Amph'fier Mitsubishi Electrics' MGF4951 and MGF4952 low-noise HEMTs are targeted for use in low-noise amplifier applications at frequencies through the K band. The new packages are hermetically sealed in ceramic packages for high reliability, and are s h i p p e d in tape-and-reel form, which is suitable for automated assembly. The new leadless package of these HEMTs represents a substantial advance in packaging technology for this kind of device. This packaging technology will allow customers to further miniaturize their circuits and permit improved higher frequency designs by allowing other circuit elements to be placed closer to the HEMT. These devices will likely set the packaging trend for all future low-noise products in the industry.

5. 6. 6. 2 Po w er A m p lifie rs GaAs FET hybrid power amplifiers are widely used in cellular hand portables and some cordless systems due to their high efficiency and high linearity. The main suppliers are J a p a n e s e companies, led by Fujitsu, although many companies have now entered the market. High-volume prices are US$5-10 per module. GaAs MMIC power amplifiers are currently used in handset or terminal designs up to the 3 W level and have proven to be a cost-effective solution. The latest generation of modules based on discrete PHEMT and HBT technology are available from several companies, including Motorola and RFMD. Since the previous edition of the report, GaAs MMIC power amplifiers have continued to grow strongly. There are many vendors currently offering power amplifiers and these include TriQuint Semiconductor, ANADIGICS, M/A-COM, I n f i n e o n T e c h n o l o g i e s , M o t o r o l a , Fujitsu Q u a n t u m Devices, Oki Semiconductor, and Mitsubishi Electric. Such is the availability of this family of components that pricing is less stable and constantly under pressure to decrease. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

91


As far as MMICs are c o n c e r n e d , the p o w e r amplifier is a key s t a n d a r d product. This is because specifications are now clearly defined. For highp o w e r handsets, it may be some time before MMICs entirely displace discretes. But in low-power terminals, MMICs have rapidly gained ground, a l t h o u g h t h e y have faced c o m p e t i t i o n f r o m silicon m e t a l o x i d e semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) suppliers, such as Hitachi, Philips, STM and Motorola. Handset m a n u f a c t u r e r s have used p o w e r amplifier m o d u l e s to s p e e d engineering and manufacturing time, particularly for digital handset designs. ANADIGICS' AWT6101 was one of the first parts to i n c o r p o r a t e the company's integrated DC/DC converter technology, a development that allows GaAs MESFETs to operate from positive supply voltages without additional supporting c o m p o n e n t s in system designs. This allows the company to address the cost issue of power amplifier modules. GaAs MESFET p r o c e s s i n g allows low costs while still m e e t i n g i n d u s t r y requirements of power and linearity. ANADIGICS AWT6101 combines the DC/DC converter and power amplifier functionality within a module. Power amplifier modules feature MMICs embedded in components within a module to provide higher performance, smaller packages and to enable the advantages of m o d e m surface mount technology assembly. As a result, power amplifier modules are easier to use than MMICs. The trend is for lower priced power amplifiers and modules to enable lighter, smaller multi-mode, multi-band handsets. As described above, ANADIGICS and other suppliers have been developing components that meet the requirements of dual-band, multi-mode phones. These must conform to a much higher specification, one that requires higher integration, smaller sized packages and lower costs. They must also have lower power consumption with increased functionality. Current power amplifier modules use traditional technology. Future success depends u p o n finding a new technology that will reduce size and cost and how fast it moves d o w n the price learning curve. The future of p o w e r a m p l i f i e r s is likely to be m a r k e d by i n c r e a s e d i n t e g r a t i o n , g r e a t e r functionality and reduced overall footprint. With modules, technologies can be mixed, allowing isolation to be added while the footprint of the power amplifier m o d u l e is not decreased too much, increased integration and functionality that will d e c r e a s e the overall s o l u t i o n size b e c a u s e of a reduction in external components.

5. 6. 6.3 Control Products GaAs MMIC switches and attenuators are in high-volume p r o d u c t i o n for many digital cellular and cordless systems where the transmit (T) and receive (R) frequency are the same, such as DECT and CT2, providing high isolation and low current. When the T/R frequencies are different, a duplexer is used, although some designers combine a T/R switch with a duplexer to improve isolation. 92



Alpha Industries, the leader in control RF ICs, introduced a family of GaAs PHEMT RF IC switches for use in wireless telephone handsets and other wireless applications. These are the only high-power, high-linearity RF IC switches on the market that do not need a negative voltage connection, simplifying the circuit board design and reducing the cost of implementation. GaAs MMIC attenuators are used to control the power output of the terminal to the base station. Low-current positive intrinsic negative (PIN) diodes are another popular option. The major suppliers of GaAs control products are US companies, with M/ACOM and Alpha Industries leading the field. Prices are usually under US$4 per unit in high volume. With the n u m e r o u s modulation formats in use at different frequencies, manufacturers continue to build dual-band and multi-mode handsets, and these require components to switch between the different amplification chains. GaAs-based switch products are dominated by MESFETs, although PHEMTs offer distinct advantages for RF power switching applications and are rapidly gaining market share. 9

M/A-COMand Alpha Industries have PHEMT-based switch products, and ANADIGICS has plans to introduce them. 9 Alpha Industries' first production order for PHEMT-based switch ICs was for the Motorola V3688 dual-band handset. PHEMT technology offers lower loss, higher isolation and also performs better from a linearity point of view. PHEMT is suitable for next-generation switches because of the lower loss and higher linearity compared with MESFET at a low control voltage. PHEMT provides a superior solution for switches for GSM applications because of the high power transmitted by GSM handsets.

5. 6. 6.4 Small-signal FETs For receivers, the most important parameters are low noise figures and intermodulation distortion and high linearity. Many systems use Ga/~ FET preamplifiers followed by FET (or MMIC) mixers. Voltage-controlled oscillators are implemented either in GaAs or Si bipolar transistors. Japanese companies, such as Oki Semiconductor and NEC, are the leading suppliers of GaAs small-signal FETs. Outside Japan, the largest producers are Agilent Technologies and Infineon Technologies.

5. 6. 6. 5 Integrated GaAs Front-ends GaKs devices incorporating the LNA, filters, local oscillator, buffer amplifier, synthesizer and IF amplifiers are commercially available. GaAs faces stiffer competition in front-end applications compared with the power functions, where it can provide a greater performance advantage.


93


Si BiCMOS (e.g. National Semiconductor) posed a strong threat and SiGe is also encroaching. Suppliers of GaAs integrated front-ends for mobile c o m m u n i c a t i o n s include TriQuint Semiconductor, ANADIGICS, M/A-COM, Celeritek, Oki Semiconductor and Motorola. Over the longer term, the entire RF subsystem, incorporating receiver frontend, IF section, switches, filters and power amplifiers, will be integrated on a single G a ~ or silicon IC, although there are several technical hurdles that remain to be overcome (see below). Neither technology is yet optimized for all functions. The multi-chip chipset is not even available yet from a single supplier for all applications. ANADIGICS has developed a 'microwave DC/DC converter' that allows the devices to function from single 3 or 5 V supply rails. It will eliminate the external DC/DC converters, charge pumps and capacitors n o w used to generate a negative bias voltage for the GaAs power amplifiers and LNAs. Such converters take up space and add weight to cellular handsets, as well as tapping into battery life.

5.6.7 GaAs Components for Handsets There are several design-win opportunities for GaAs devices in handsets. These may be broken down as follows: *

Receiver front-end, whereby the incoming signal undergoes the first stage of amplification; this is the LNA. . Transmitter, whereby the signal is boosted for transmission via a power amplifier. . Downconverter, whereby the signal from the LNA is reduced to the IF to be p r o c e s s e d by the s u b s e q u e n t nonoRF s e c t i o n of the h a n d s e t . Conversely, the upconverter translates the IF to RF for transmission. 9 Transmit/receive (T/R) switch, whereby the received and transmitted signals are controlled.

To simplify the design of handsets, M/A-COM a n n o u n c e d a GaAs-based enhancement/depletion (E/D) mode semiconductor IC process. It installed the process at both its Colorado Springs fabrication facility and its Roanoke operation (formally ITF GaAsTEK), placing it among the few companies in the world manufacturing E/D ICs. M/A-COM developed the E/D process to meet the increasingly stringent linearity and single supply voltage requirements of second-generation and 3G wireless handsets, infrastructure and wireless local area network products. In addition, this process will also support the integration of both high-frequency analogue and high-speed digital circuitry on the same semiconductor chip. The E/D mode process provides breakthrough performance. This process allows M/A-COM to provide products with higher linearity and efficiency for today's wireless marketplace where battery life and talk-time matter. It also

94



positions us well to innovate the next g e n e r a t i o n of highly integrated solutions that the market will require. The E/D process features two FET device types (one enhancement mode FET and one depletion mode FET). The enhancement device supports on-chip gain mode switching without requiring a negative supply voltage. The depletion mode device is ideal for RF switching, mixing and amplification. Cellular phone transceivers developed using this process offer more than 50% lower current consumption for equivalent RF performance compared with the latest SiGe BiCMOS products. Key figures of merit for this process are: F = 25 GHz and F~, = 0.3 dB with an associated gain of 16 dB at 2 GHz. For frequency converters requiring optimum linearity with minimum current, the E/D process defines a new level of performance. The process achieves an IP3 efficiency of 7.5, which is more than twice that of the best SiGe technology currently available. M/A-COM's first two standard p r o d u c t s based on the E/D process are currently in volume production. The MD59-0021 features a fully integrated LNA/downconverter IC with LNA, RF amplifier, downconverter floating FET mixer, IF amplifier and local oscillator buffer. Key attributes of the MD59-0021 include a low noise figure, a high input intercept point and optional control of LNA IP3. The MD59-0022 is a fully integrated upconverter/driver featuring an IF amplifier, upconverting mixer, two-stage driver and local oscillator buffer. Key attributes of the MD59-0022 include a very linear power amplifier driver with a current saving mode, leading to increased talk-time for phone users. Both products are designed for digital PCS applications and operate on a single 2.7 V supply. These two products represent the first of several standard converter offerings that M/A-COM will release in the PCS and cellular bands using the E/D process during 2000. The CDMAfFDMA market is the trade-off between power, efficiency and linearity. Of course, designers must do this u n d e r the umbrella of cost, performance objectives, external components and size considerations-- the driving forces for all devices in the wireless market. (most manufacturers agree that cost is perhaps the biggest factor influencing new designs.) Linearity is a new concern for power amplifier designers. Overall, discrete HEMTs and latterly HEMT-based MMICs are used in handsets, offering good linearity and efficiency together with better superior die area costs when compared with MESFETs. Raytheon base station products are PHEMT-based. PHEMT MMICs offer better backed-off performance and power-added efficiency (PAE) for higher output powers.


95


It is still a m a t t e r of c o n j e c t u r e as to w h e t h e r PHEMTs can be costcompetitive with HBTs. Between HEMTs and MESFETs, epitaxy is now the major cost factor. In an industry used to the excellent economics of ionimplanted MESFETs, epiwafer-based higher performance PHEMTs are less attractive. PHEMTs have a smaller die in comparison with MESFETs and, although epiwafers have a price premium, device processing has fewer steps. It is thus not easy to place an advantage in one or another camp and much d e p e n d s on the actual quantities ordered. In fact, the industry has been known to utilize PHEMT-type devices in lower performance systems so as to accrue improved overaU economics. A consensus is that merchant 100 mm epiwafers must drop to US$500 or less to allow PHEMT m a n u f a c t u r i n g costs to a p p r o a c h those of implant-based MESFETs. Agilent Technologies has a PHEMT process optimized for handsets. Based on high-specification devices for high-performance defence applications and commercial DBS at 12 GHz, Agilent Technologies u p p e d the yield and therefore the price by cutting down the performance. The second-generation PHEMT process provides a higher mobility than MESFETs, giving higher gain and a lower receiver noise figure. HEMTs have a key role to play as commercial p r o d u c t s for high-volume applications. Largely due to the higher indium content in the channel, HEMTs grown lattice-matched to InP show significant performance advantages over conventional pseudomorphic HEMTs. As noted earlier, a key trend is the development of enhancement-mode (Emode) technology, i.e. a FET requiring no drain switch, one that gives a performance approaching that of HBTs. Earlier devices were depletion-mode and so needed a negative voltage-generating circuit that turns off the device plus a drain switch to eliminate standby current. These other components are not needed by E-mode devices or by HBTs. This is a benefit for the latter devices because having them increases system cost, die area, board space plus extra design and engineering. There are a number of applications where this is a big advantage and over the past 2 years many companies have been developing products based on Emode FETs. Examples of these include: Motorola, Fujitsu Quantum Devices, NEC and Alpha Industries. HBTs also operate from a single positive supply and do not require a drain switch. These are a d v a n t a g e o u s in terms of cost and ease of use over HEMTs for power amplifiers. Linearity is a measure of signal quality and is crucial for advanced cellular p h o n e systems using the CDMA and TDMA standards. It is also required for the exciting new 3G data phones, which use wide-band CDMA transmission protocols to wirelessly access the Web and other services. HBTs are very efficient, thereby consuming less power. This is critical for mobile applications such as GSM, CDMA and TDMA digital handsets, where HBTs can extend the talk-time or data transmit time due to their lower power consumption. HBTs consume no power when they 96



are turned off, thereby eliminating the switch components needed for other transistor types. RFMD's 3 V GaAs HBT p o w e r a m p l i f i e r s c o n t i n u e d to d o m i n a t e s h i p m e n t s , u t i l i z i n g o u t p u t from the c o m p a n y ' s n e w GaAs HBT fabrication facility. The market for these GSM, CDMA and TDMA handsets continues to grow rapidly. The introduction of 3G data-phones will enable mobile users to access the Web, email and o t h e r services, and will further drive market d e m a n d for h a n d s e t s and HBT p o w e r amplifiers. Worldwide wireless subscribers are expected to exceed the installed land-line base within a few years and mobile users will demand new handsets and appliances as the capabilities of wireless systems are continuously enhanced.

5.6.8 Local Multipoint Distribution Services Local multipoint distribution services (LMDS) is the generic name for mmwave wireless b r o a d b a n d access. This high-frequency, h i g h - b a n d w i d t h c o m m u n i c a t i o n s t e c h n o l o g y is at the heart of the b u r g e o n i n g m a r k e t addressed by wireless competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), such as Teligent, WinStar and ART. High-volume wireless broadband access applications allow delivery of fast Internet, high-speed data and p h o n e services to businesses and h o m e s w i t h o u t the n e e d for installing cable for the last mile to the customer premises. LMDS, VSAT and point-to-point applications: the 29-33 GHz band covers the LMDS Block A u p p e r bands 29.1-29.25 GHz and 31.075-31.225 GHz; and the LMDS Block B bands 31.00-31.075 GHz and 31.225 GHz-31.30 GHz; the 29.5-30 GHz band is for the user terminals in the u p c o m i n g Ka-band multimedia satellite systems. Examples of product offerings in this area include: 9

~

Sanders is now marketing six power amplifier MMIC products covering the 26 GHz, 30 GHz and 38 GHz frequency bands. These new chips were designed on Sanders' 0.15/~m GaAs PHEMT to provide higher power per chip than previously available in the marketplace, leading to fewer chips being needed to achieve communication system link budgets. In 1997, Sanders began a two year programme to develop products focused on the emerging Ka-band mm-wave markets for high-speed digital data and video communication systems, such as point-to-point digital radio, pointto-multipoint radios for LMDS and Ka-Band VSAT for multimedia satellite systems. Alpha Industries' chipsets consist of mm-wave G a ~ ICs for the transmit and receive functions and include LNAs, power amplifiers, mixers for upand down-converters, voltage-variable attenuators (VVAs) and switches. These are based on Alpha's epitaxial MESFET or PHEMT processes. They provide all of the necessary elements to provide our customers with a full LMDS transceiver solution. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

97


5.6.9 Point-to-point and Point-to-multipoint Companies are developing MMICs to m e e t the high-performance transmission requirements for mm-wave-based digital communications systems: Point-to-point microwave radios in the 23, 26, 30 and 38 GHz band. Point-to-multipoint microwave radios in the 23 and 38 GHz bands. 9 Local multipoint distribution (or communications) systems (LMD/CS) systems in the 27-31 GHz bands. 9 40-42 GHz microwave video distributions systems (MVDS) for Europe. 9 The newly defined Internet-in-the-Sky satellite systems operating in Kaband (19 and 29 GHz).

9 9

A variety of GaAs devices and chipsets have been produced from a growing number of vendors. For example the TriQuint chipset was the first to enable wireless OEMs to meet aggressive cost and p e r f o r m a n c e targets for the emerging mm-wave-based wireless communications systems. Cost-effective GaAs devices that do not sacrifice p e r f o r m a n c e are the key e n a b l i n g technology for most of these emerging, high-bandwidth mm-wave systems. TriQuint Semiconductor's quartet of power amplifier MMICs covering the 19-41 GHz (TGA1073A, B, C and G) 0.25 m m p o w e r PHEMT GaAs provide linear characteristics in a small physical size per watt of output power. Performance is c o m p a r a b l e to that normally associated with 0.15/~m gate length devices while providing high device yields of a mature production process. In addition to the high gain and power levels that the short gate lengths provide, the PHEMT structure allows for reduced intermodulation distortion over devices fabricated with other process technologies.

5.6.10 Mobile Communications: Microwave Radio Links Microwave radio links connect cellular and PCS/PCN base stations t o main switching centres. Currently, most digital microwave radios operate in the 18and 23 GHz bands. Much interest is now centred on the 38 GHz band for PCS systems is the choice for networks in North America and Europe. This a p p l i c a t i o n r e p r e s e n t s o n e of the l a r g e r mm-wave m a r k e t s for GaAs technology. These systems use GaAs FETs for transmit/receive (T/R) functions, but with the move to higher volumes and constraints on costs, there is a big drive to develop MMICs. Leading mm-wave foundries in North America, Europe and Japan are developing products. Litton Solid State has d e v e l o p e d a full-duplex t r a n s c e i v e r for this a p p l i c a t i o n . It uses a 38-GHz G u n n - d i o d e o s c i l l a t o r w i t h MMIC amplifiers for both receive and transmit modes. Alpha Industries, TRW and Raytheon RF Components also have products. Japan has viewed the mm-wave field as strategically significant. MITI has s p o n s o r e d the f o r m a t i o n of the Advanced Millimeterwave Technology Company to coordinate R&D. Corporate participants include Fujitsu and NEC.

98



Fujitsu has d e m o n s t r a t e d a new FET technology to fabricate 38 GHz power amplifiers for PCN base station links. It features a 0.25/~m long Tshaped WSi/Au gate and a highly d o p e d channel layer. The maximum available gain at 38 G Hz is 6dB for a 600/~m gate width FET.

5.6.1 1 Global Positioning System (GPS) GPS came into the public view during the Gulf War in the early 1990s, and has since become a key tool for improved navigation for many applications ranging from sea fishing to smart bombs. A firm prospect is the integration of GPS into other products, particularly handheld appliances such as laptop computers and cellphones. GPS is set to change drastically with the advent of GPS-enabled phones, p e r s o n a l digital assistants (PDAs) and r e l a t e d p o r t a b l e e q u i p m e n t . At present, only a small fraction of the market is taken by such products but the trend is towards 'convergence' whereby the user has to carry around only one multipurpose communications and data processing device. GPS is a space-based system of 24 Navstar satellites, run by the US Defense D e p a r t m e n t and Air Force Space C o m m a n d . It provides high-resolution positioning information along three axes, as well as a highly accurate time stamp. Japan's Science and Technology Agency (STA) is also developing a GPS constellation that it hopes to have operational by the year 2000. STA intends to launch four satellites. When GPS first came on-line in the early 1980s, commercial users were offered a less-accurate Standard Positioning Service, while the Defense Department relied on a Precise Positioning Service unavailable to other users. However, in March 1996 the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy directed the US Defense Department to phase out selective availability in four to ten years. In the intervening years, the Transportation and Defense Departments will p r o m o t e commercial uses of GPS to broaden its base in low-cost embedded applications. This loosening of restrictions will open up major new applications: using GPS in w e a t h e r prediction, combining the technology with cellular radio for emergency-response networks and linking GPS with RF identification systems for trucking and marine terminals. In Japan, there is already a large market for automobile GPS. At least 10 manufacturers are developing GPS transceivers, and the resulting drop in c o m p o n e n t costs should make GPS mapping systems available in midrange cars. But the current US$2000 OEM price for receivers is expensive, even in highend luxury cars, because most manufacturers are trying to reduce costs from optional feature sets.


99


As digital-cellular and PCS technologies move into metropolitan areas, receiver costs should decline considerably. Initially, units should cost under US$ 500, but the eventual model is to give the hardware away free, to sell the service. GPS is also being developed as a navigational system for tracking freight containers in trucking and maritime terminals. Many terminals already use RF identification or wireless LAN technologies to track freight containers locally. But to link shipment information with remote sites, a space-based system for navigational coordinates would probably be preferable to specialized mobile radio systems. In terms of semiconductor requirements, GPS receivers have similar demands to mobile communications handsets, with space and power consumption at a premium. Commercial versions operate at 1.57 GHz whereas military versions, which need greater accuracy, require the use of a secondary frequency at 1.23 GHz. For GPS LNAs, the choice of technology is mainly determined by the noise figure required. In applications requiting the very lowest noise (< l dB), GaAs is often used in discrete form, but MMICs are increasingly being designed-in. Magellan Systems Corp, a leading producer of commercial handheld GPS receivers, uses G a ~ MMIC front-ends from TriQuint. Rockwell, which played a key role in the development of GPS technology, produces highly integrated GPS receivers, on a single chip, for military and commercial applications. Mixed-signal silicon bipolar provides some of the strongest competition to GaAs at these frequencies. For example, Agilent (formerly HP-Avantek), a supplier of silicon MMIC blocks, has developed a highly integrated, lowpower GPS MMIC (1.8 x 1.8 mm) containing two downconversion stages and the dividers, buffers, digital phase frequency detector and negative resistance cell required to synthesize both local oscillators and a TTL system clock. Complementing these devices, Agilent has also offered a family of GaAsbased components for GPS applications. Motorola Wireless-Assisted GPS includes server technology and an embedded receiver solution to enhance traditional GPS performance for telematics systems, particularly in urban canyons and under dense foliage. Telematics is an e m e r g i n g m a r k e t for a u t o m o t i v e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s t e c h n o l o g y that combines wireless voice and data, including GPS, to provide locationspecific information for security and driver services. The Wireless-Assisted GPS system includes a GPS mobile receiver and a server, which exchange data with a telematics unit. The c o m p l e t e s o l u t i o n is s u p e r i o r to conventional GPS performance on two levels. First, the server provides for improved acquisition times, sensitivity and accuracy. Second, the mobile receiver offers enhancements in terms of a faster time-to-first-fix and less power consumption.

1O0



5.6.12 Satellite-based PCS In the 1990s, several major consortia were developing ubiquitous PCS based on low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. These included: 9 9 9 9

Motorola's Iridium. TRW's Odysse~ Loral's Globalstar. Teledesic system supported by Microsoft and McCaw Communications, amongst others.

These promised a bonanza for GaAs components in satellites and terrestrial systems. Since then, however, only one has become operational: Iridium, and that has since become deactivated. The high profile of this about-turn in the fortunes of LEO satellite communications systems has had an adverse effect on further progress of the other planned orbital systems. A US$1.4 billion investment in the first system of the advanced Spaceway global broadband satellite network was a n n o u n c e d by Hughes Electronics Corp. Spaceway will provide affordable, high-bandwidth and high-speed communications for broadband and multimedia applications. The first system is scheduled to begin operation in North America in 2002. Hughes plans to work with global strategic partners to roll out additional systems with similar capabilities in other regions as the markets develop, including Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Asia, thereby producing an integrated worldwide system. The Federal Communications Commission has already allocated Hughes orbital slots worldwide to operate the Ka-band frequency satellite system. At the 1992 World Administrative Radio Conference, spectrum for mobile satellite services in the 1500-1700 MHz L-band was allocated. Some of the key players are as follows: 9 9 9

9 9 9

Hughes Communications Galaxy Inc, of El Segundo, California, wants to operate 17 satellites to connect four world regions. Lockheed Martin proposes a nine-satellite constellation, called Astrolink, into five geostationary slots for international service. E c h o s t a r Satellite Corp, of E n g l e w o o d , C o l o r a d o , p r o p o s e s two satellites. Echostar builds satellite dishes and is preparing to launch a direct broadcast satellite system for US service. Loral Aerospace proposes at least two geostationary satellites. Teledesic Corp, a venture h e a d e d by Craig McCaw and Bill Gates, is developing a LEO system that will require 840 satellites. AT&T's VoiceSpan Satellite System is i n t e n d e d to be u s e d for international voice, data and video services. AT&T plans to launch 12 geostationary satellites from 2000 to 2003.

All these systems require GaAs to be realized. For example, Motorola's Iridium used a set of 16 K-band MMIC chips implemented with both highpower and low-noise 0.25 ~m PHEMT technology, fabricated by Raytheon and M/A-COM (Clarksburg, MD) respectively.


101


However, although the potential demand from these systems is large, several issues remain to be resolved, not the least being demand for systems such as Iridium, before the programmes raise finance. The Iridium coalition, after much difficulty, managed to raise the billions of dollars necessary but failed to find enough subscribers, and the other consortia have also had problems. Whether or not enough money is available to make personal communications services delivered by LEO satellites a reality is still open to question. Less of a concern today is the availability of reliable competitively priced launch services in multiple locations.

5.6.13 Other Satellite Applications 5. 6. 13. 1 VSA Ts VSATs comprise a satellite dish (60-120 cm in diameter) with associated electronics, providing a link to a company's computer, telephone or video equipment. The VSAT market is primarily in the USA, where over 75 000 twoway systems are in use and the market is growing at around 17% per year. In Europe, the market has grown more slowly and there are only about 10 000 systems in use. VSATs operate at Ku-band and C-band, typically using up to 10 FETs per system in front-ends and power T/R functions. MMIC technology has the potential to reduce size and costs in VSAT subassemblies. In particular, power-efficient IF devices that offer a wide dynamic gain/attenuation range of greater than 90 dB are a key requirement. VSATs at 30 GHz are also u n d e r development. So far, MMIC usage in VSATs has been restricted to single-function devices, mainly IF amplifiers, but several companies have developed Ku-band MMIC transceivers. Hughes Network Systems, which has over 60% of the Ku-band VSAT market, is working with several GaAs suppliers to implement highly integrated MMIC solutions. A key technology for this sector is the InGaAs/AIGaAs pseudomorphic HEMT. The high transconductance and current of these devices, c o m p a r e d with MESFETs, result in improved gain and power-added efficiency at microwave and ram-wave frequencies. Mobile Satellite Systems that operate at Ku-band have similar requirements to VSAT terminals. The leading supplier is Qualcomm. These systems are not in large volume p r o d u c t i o n . Most suppliers into these markets t e n d to o p e r a t e at the s u b s y s t e m level, p r o v i d i n g GaAs-based amplifiers. The opportunities for purely merchant suppliers of components continue to be rather limited.

102



Bandwidth capabilities in response to the growing use of multimedia and the Internet have been constrained by the 'first-mile' problem. In other words, the inability to send data from the business to the local switching office or Internet access point at broadband frequencies. With today's technologies utilizing a wire- or cable-based infrastructure, communications are limited to just a few hundred kb/s up to a few Mb/s. A l t h o u g h fibre-optic cabling (see below) p r o v i d e s virtually u n l i m i t e d bandwidth, it is expensive. Fibre installation costs can be up to US$600 000 p e r km a n d take m o n t h s or years to install completely. Alternatively, broadband wireless technology is relatively inexpensive, quick to install and provides data rates up to 155 Mb/s (OC-3). Wireless LANs are therefore potentially a great business o p p o r t u n i t y for equipment providers. The demand is clearly there and present options are limited. Wireless LANs require high-frequency microelectronic components in just the same way as cellphones and hence this sector provides potentially a market for GaAs electronic devices approaching that of handsets for mobile communications. Wireless data communications is made up of three principal sectors: 9 LANs. 9 WANs. 9 Pagers. WANs provide two-way communication, i n d e p e n d e n t of location, and are thus similar to cellular and paging systems, except that they have data and voice. In due course they will also have video capability. WAN terminals consist of wireless m o d e m s built into mobile t e l e p h o n e s and portable computers. Because it is unlikely that data-only networks will be built (besides the narrow-band paging systems), WANs will use the existing and developing cellular networks. Consequently, the WAN system demands for GaAs will be similar to those from mobile communications systems. The biggest market for GaAs in this sector is from wireless LANs (also known as R-LANs [radio local area networks] or C-LANS [cordless LANs]).

5.7.1 Wireless LANs Wireless LANs offer a more flexible and potentially lower cost solution to dynamic environments than existing cable-based systems. Versatility and cost are what have spurred interest in the development of wireless LAN products featuring GaAs MMICs. ICs for wireless LANs are showing good growth and the application is appropriate for a test bed for widespread implementation of SiGe chips. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

103


Wireless LANs have found take-up in, for example, hospitals to provide staff with access to information such as patient records while on the move. Other applications include w o r k e r s at airports, c o n s t r u c t i o n sites, university campuses and so on. Wireless LANs are also used together with bar-code readers in supermarkets or mounted on vehicles. Other applications include the b r i d g i n g b e t w e e n c a b l e d LANs in d i f f e r e n t b u i l d i n g s o r a d hoc networking, which is expected to take advantage of the wireless connection. The office market has not yet materialized in high volumes due to several factors, including: 9 9 9 9 9 9

Lack of standards. High initial set-up costs compared with wired systems. Concerns over security and interference. Low data rates. Reliability. Incompatibility with existing systems.

Most vertical wireless LAN applications use the 902-928 MHz band. Owing to congestion from mobile telephones, the trend is to move up to higher frequency bands. The bulk of interest is n o w centred a r o u n d the 2.4 GHz band, which is available worldwide for wireless LAN applications, i.e. USA (2.4-2.485 GHz), Europe (2.4-2.5 GHz) and Japan (2.471-2.497 GHz). The global potential of the 2.4 GHz band is the key factor driving industry developments. Two major technologies are used to convey data by wireless LAN. firstly, the Industrial, Medical & Scientific (ISM) band between 2.4 and 2.483.5 GHz. For use, equipment must be compliant to the European Telecommunication Standard ETS 300 328, which defines the technical r e q u i r e m e n t s , but because this band is also used by other types of equipment, e.g. microwave ovens, techniques to avoid interference have to be used, i.e. frequency spreading must be used. These techniques can be divided into two families: 9 9

Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS). Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS).

Secondly, there is digital enhanced cordless telephone (DECT), which works with a bit rate of 1152 kb/s and w h e n used to convey data it provides a 552 kb/s when using a single radio. Higher capacities are achieved through adding several base stations within the same cell. DECT was designed to operate in residential, business and public environments, so it also supports full authentication and encryption, thus ensuring that it is a suitable medium for confidential information. The radio range of a DECT system is normally 30-100 m indoors and up to 3 km outdoors. A key difference between these approaches is that higher output power and directive antennae are allowed in DECT. The DECT standard allows 250 mW plus the gain offered by directive antennae. This can give more cost-effective solutions when building larger wireless LAN infrastructures where premises can be covered from the outside by a single base station. 104



Domestic premises, hotels and the home provide a potentially huge market for wireless LAN. Few of these are being cabled --- either as new-build or retrofits - - with Ethernet wire b e t w e e n rooms. Mobility in the home is desirable for the kind of roaming while chatting on the p h o n e or for TV r e m o t e o p e r a t i o n that today's citizens have b e c o m e u s e d to; wireless connectivity between appliances is becoming more attractive. In addition the 2.4 GHz band is universally acceptable so the market for such p r o d u c t s should be worldwide and hence huge volumes are within reach so as to lower the unit cost. An association called 'HomeRF' has b e e n formed to deal with the main obstacle preventing the deployment of wireless LANs: the cost. Even though, t h r o u g h h o m e office n e t w o r k i n g , the use of interface cards for PCs is a p p r o a c h i n g , the bulk of the p o p u l a t i o n does not yet see the value in s p e n d i n g m o n e y to install LAN cards to c o n n e c t their PCs and o t h e r equipment. The main cost of a wireless LAN is the modem, which requires analogue, h i g h - p o w e r electronics, a n d for the past few years m o d e m s have stabilized in price. The main wireless LAN application is the integration of digital cordless telephony and computing, so as to allow the home/office PC to re-route calls or offer voice/data services. Addition of data services to a wireless private automatic branch exchange (PABX) can also use the same installed set of base stations that already provide voice. Fax, email and access to files stored on a LAN can also be provided. Offering wireless voice and data over the same infrastructure, e.g. via DECT, potentially offers highly flexible and costeffective solutions if they can be made to an attractive price. In the office environment, the emergence of wireless LAN products will offer the option of building LANs on a much more flexible and hopefully cheaper wireless technology if it becomes a volume-product such as line handsets. Wireless technology can help businesses to reduce total planning costs for cabling and make it less troublesome when moving computer equipment to new locations where access to hard-wired LAN cabling is a problem. Other possible applications of wireless technology in general are in public institutions that currently have little or no infrastructure. In a world of over-eager anticipation, wireless technology is immature with existing equipment manufacturers only offering proprietary products. One of the biggest barriers to the growth and diffusion of this technology is the lack of standardization. The lack of current standards raises the risk for business consumers wishing to take advantage of this exciting technology. They might find that the products of today might not be able to work with the standards of tomorrow. The most widespread use for wireless technology today is for email, leasedline replacement, Internet access and wired LAN replacement. Few use wireless technology for vertical markets (transportation, insurance sales, etc.) Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

105


and disaster recovery. Some have introduced wireless technology in order to reduce line costs but the other view is that the cost of wireless is a deterrent from investing in the technolog~ Once standards are adopted, the economics of scale set in and businesses will s t e a d i l y a d a p t to w i r e l e s s LAN t e c h n o l o g y ; n e w p r o d u c t s a n d applications will then emerge. A n o t h e r key issue is the n e e d for m o r e b a n d w i d t h in LAN-based communication equipment, which has been inexorably rising. Graphics-based documents and programme-interfaces strain the existing LAN infrastructures and the situation has been aggravated further by the emergence of real-time high-definition video transmissions. Information technology systems must also have some degree of built-in future-proofing, which is less the case for cabling than wireless because wireless has m o r e capability for a d d i n g or m o v i n g a r o u n d a d d i t i o n a l equipment and adding yet more bandwidth. Digital video via the MPEG3 standard requires data streams of 18 Mb/s, which cannot be accommodated in any commercially available wireless equipment. Fidelity is also an issue when video signals are susceptible to reductions of quality once the bandwidth drops, even if only momentarily. There is also a need for proof against eavesdropping, as was the case with the not unrelated technology of analogue phones. A number of initiatives are under way to ensure that using wireless communications becomes secure. Frequency spreading makes it impossible to eavesdrop by listening in on a single frequency. Again, one of the over-riding problems for wireless LANs is standardization and making the best use of the ever-scarcer radio spectrum, but also making the standard attractive enough to use so that the market can grow. Several global and national standardization initiatives have taken place in wireless technology.

5.7.2 HIPERLAN HIPERLAN type 2 (High PERformance Radio LAN, or 'H/2') is a promising t e c h n o l o g y for wireless LANs a n d was s t a n d a r d i z e d at the E u r o p e a n Telecommunication Standardisation Institute (ETSI) in 1999. H/2 is intended to be the first wireless LAN with full support of quality of service for different network types, providing at the same time interoperability of devices from different vendors. The first main a d v a n t a g e of HIPERLAN is that it works in a d e d i c a t e d bandwidth (5.1-5.3 GHz, allocated only in Europe), and so does not have to include a spread spectrum. The signalling rate is 23.5 Mb/s and five fixed channels are defined. The protocol uses a variant of CSMA/CA based on packet time to live and priority, and MAC level retransmissions. The protocol includes optional encryption (no algorithm mandated) and power saving. HIPE~ suffers from the same disease as 802.11: the requirements are 106



tight and the protocol complex, making it very expensive. The HomeRF is a group of big companies from different backgrounds formed to push the usage of wireless LANs in the home and the small office. This group is developing and promoting a new radio LAN standard. HIPERLAN requirements are as follows: 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

Short r a n g e - - 50 m. Low mobility--- 1.4 m/s. Networks with and without infi'astructure. Support isochronous tratiic. Audio 32 kb/s, 10 ns latency. Video 2 Mb/s, 100 ns latency. Support asynchronous traffic. Data 10 Mb/s, immediate access. Quality of service.

HIPERIAN requires a predictable sharing environment and a band of at least 150 MHz, e s t i m a t e d f r o m the i n s t a n t a n e o u s d a t a rate of 20 Mb/s p e r terminal and an average of 1000 Mb/s/floor/hectare. A requirement for two different frequency bands was foreseen, one offering good frequency re-use within buildings and the other offering good in-building penetration. HIPERLAN is a p r i v a t e v i r t u a l o p e n r a d i o s u b n e t w o r k , i n t e n d e d for integration with c o m p u t e r systems, which is o w n e d and o p e r a t e d by the user. It provides short-distance, high-speed radio links between computers systems using the 5.2 GHz and 17.1 GHz frequency bands. HIPERIAN can provide asynchronous services at rates of 1-20 Mb/s and timeb o u n d e d services at rates of 64 kb/s up to 2048 kb/s. A HIPERLAN station is able to c o m m u n i c a t e whilst in motion. Maximum s p e e d is 36 km/h. The typical range of a station is 50 m at 20 Mb/s and 800 m at 1 Mb/s. Above 2.4 GHz, development work continues at 5.1-5.7 GHz ( H I P E ~ in Europe), 18-19 GHz and up to 60 GHz. The market potential of systems operating at these frequencies is presently not large but looks set to become significant over the next five years. HIPERLAN is designed to work without any infrastructure. Two stations may exchange data directly, without any interaction from a wired (or radio-based) infrastructure. The simplest HIPERLAN thus consists of two stations. Further, if two HIPERLAN stations are not in radio contact with each other, they may use a third station (i.e. the third station must relay messages b e t w e e n the two communicating stations). Products compliant to the H I P E ~ 5 GHz standard must be possible to implement on a PCMCIA Type III card. Thus the standard will enable users to truly take computing power on the road. The HIPERLAN s t a n d a r d has b e e n d e v e l o p e d at the s a m e time as the development of the SUPERnet standard in the USA.


107


5.7.3 Multiband System (MBS) MBS is another wireless LAN contender but one that has flexibility coupled with a high data rate. MBS is a u n i v e r s a l system; t h e t e r m i n a l s can communicate within any public MBS coverage area with a better quality of service offering capacities up to 155 Mb/s. The r e q u i r e m e n t for full motion video d e m a n d s MBS; video bit-rate reduction codes introduce delay and coding artefacts and large delays are u n a c c e p t a b l e for interactive services. C o d i n g artefacts may cause p r o b l e m s with m a c h i n e vision r e c o g n i t i o n systems. MBS gives the f r e e d o m to c h o o s e the video c o d i n g system b e s t - s u i t e d for each application. But MBS also supports low data rate services such as voice, which means that for MBS extra hardware is not required. Other constraints, especially the small cell size imposed by the p r o p o s e d frequencies, mean that MBS will probably not achieve a complete coverage because it requires such large investments in its infrastructure. MBS will likely be introduced customer-by-customer and be tailored to the customer's requirements, which reduces the need to install a large amount of unused infrastructure. The first MBS systems will likely be installed as customer-promised networks, from which the need to link different such networks in a city or industrial estate creates the first public MBS network. The first mobile terminals could be vehicular mounted or be attached to equipment that is normally fixed, i.e. a desktop computer. In due course the availability of portable MBS mobile terminals will also be important. But MBS installation is going to take some time to implement because the high bit rates and o p e r a t i n g f r e q u e n c y create m o r e difficult technical challenges. Many applications can be satisfied using the Universal Multipoint Telecommunications System (UMTS) system, but with its 2 Mb/s upper limit on capacity that will be a limiting factor for u s e r s of high d a t a rate multimedia systems, especially if high definition is required. With an everincreasing demand for capacity some users will opt for MBS. MBS will likely not replace UMTS but supplement it in areas of users with higher bandwidth demands.

5.7.4 GaAs Opportunities for Wireless LANs In these applications, GaAs is a strong c o n t e n d e r for low-voltage, highefficiency power amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers and T/R modules where it can p r o v i d e a high level of i n t e g r a t i o n . For LAN a p p l i c a t i o n s this is particularly crucial. Over the next five years, the main opportunity in wireless LANs for GaAs will be in 2.4 GHz systems. Below 2.4 GHz, most systems operating in the 900 MHz band use silicon rather than GaAs, and in the 1.8-1.9 GHz band the market prospects for wireless LANs are limited.

108



Above 2.4 GHz, GaAs will likely be the dominant RF technology, but the market for such systems will also be a small niche for at least the next five years. Suppliers of GaAs 2.4 GHz RF transceivers include Celeritek, Raytheon, M/ACOM and Northrop Grumman, amongst others. Chipset prices vary widely. To i m p l e m e n t a 2.4 GHz GaAs RF front-end currently costs in the region of US$25-35, falling to US$15-20 in higher volumes. This applies w h e t h e r the s o l u t i o n is a single m u l t i f u n c t i o n transceiver or implemented with a combination of single-function ICs, which are typically priced at US$10-13 each. Pricing pressures are very strong, however, and rapid erosions are expected. For example, Motorola offers a three-IC chipset for wireless LANs in low-cost small outline integrated circuit (SOIC) packages. The devices include a downconverter (US$7.30), power amplifier (US$6.70) and single-stage exciter amplifier (US$4.03). One of the leading suppliers of silicon devices to the wireless LAN market is Harris Semiconductor, whose PRISM four-chip set implements 2.4 GHz solutions supporting data rates up to 4Mb/s. The chipset is priced at US$3545, depending on volume. In Japan, LAN work is focusing on higher frequencies with the MPT (Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications) supporting developments. Conceptual s t u d i e s of mm-wave LANs have b e e n c o n d u c t e d , with m o s t efforts concentrating on the 60 GHz band where PHEMT MMICs are the main technology under consideration.

5.7.5 Fibre-optic Communications Fibre-optic communications systems include long haul, local loop and LANs/ WANs. Component demand is characterized by low volume and high prices. This application accounted for under 10% of the GaAs device market. Over the next five years they will have reached 15%. The key benefit of using GaAs for these applications is its ability to handle wide bandwidths. The majority of demand in the future will arise from increasing deployment of fibre in the local loop by cable television (CATV) and telephone companies. Fibre-optic LANs are not expected to emerge as a major market, because wireless (microwave and IR) and wired systems will dominate. The main products are GaAs FET or MMIC laser drivers and trans-impedance amplifiers (TIAs). Much of the demand is captive to system producers. In the USA, the leading merchant suppliers of GaAs laser drivers and TIAs are ANADIGICS, TriQuint and Texas Instruments. The most recent entrant to the market is Vitesse Semiconductor, which a n n o u n c e d the availability of its GaAs TIAs, signalling its entry into the analogue communications market.


109


9 Vitesse Semiconductor's VSC7928 3.2 Gb/s diode laser driver is targeted at next-generation 10 Gb/s Ethernet, SONET/SDH OC-48, Fibre Channel and d e n s e w a v e l e n g t h division m u l t i p l e x i n g (DWDM) e q u i p m e n t manufacturers. The low power dissipation makes it possible to utilize f o u r VSC7928 d r i v e r s to i m p l e m e n t c o a r s e w a v e l e n g t h division multiplexing (CWDM) or quad m o d u l e s for the developing 10 Gb/s Ethernet market. In a plastic package it costs less than US$30. ~ Vitesse has also introduced the VSC8173 16:1 multiplexer and VSC8174 1:16 demultiplexer, a feature-rich 10 Gb/s chipset for OC-192 and STM64 applications with the lowest power dissipation available today. The reduced power makes the chipset ideal for telecommunication, DWDM, undersea transmission and test equipment. Manufactured using ~he HGaAs V process in the 6-inch G a ~ fabrication facility, Vitesse introtmced them at US$ 500, which is half the price of any competing solution. In Japan, most demand is captive to systems producers with internal GaAs capability, such as Fujitsu, Hitachi, and NEC. However, GaAs is experiencing competition from silicon, e.g. the TIA from Philips S e m i c o n d u c t o r s for s y n c h r o n o u s o p t i c a l n e t w o r k (SONET), asynchronous transfer m o d e (ATM), fibre channel (FC) and o t h e r highbandwidth point-to-point applications. ANADIGICS combined a TIA and a photodetector into a single package. These GaAs o p t o e l e c t r o n i c i n t e g r a t e d circuits (OEICs), which target Gigabit Ethernet systems at 1.25 Gb/s and fibre channel applications at 1.064 Gb/s, also benefit from innovative microwave-rate power-supply circuitry. The integrated photodetector/TIA products are the model AMT128502T46F/L, with an 850 nm metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) p h o t o d i o d e detector and w i d e b a n d TIA, and the model AMT121302T46F/L, with a 1300 nm p o s i t i v e i n t r i n s i c n e g a t i v e (PIN) d i o d e d e t e c t o r a n d TIA. H a v i n g a photodetector integrated directly onto the IC ultimately provides a lower cost approach than discrete PIN diodes and preamplifiers

5. 7.5. 1 Plastic Optical Fibre There is renewed interest both domestically and abroad in developing mature cabling t e c h n o l o g i e s b a s e d on m u l t i m o d e plastic optical fibre (POF). Multiple vendors are marketing products and a POF standard now exists at the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) forum. The thrust of development stems from the desire to increase operating distances, to lower system-wide installed costs and to improve overall performance. The use of light to send data or the optical transmission of data is a great advance. Fibre optics is the most eloquent and simple medium for such transmission. C o p p e r wire is unsuitable for high-speed data transmission because of its limitations and susceptibility to interference. Glass fibre a very small diameter and its fragility carries with it a high cost of instaUation. Currently, almost all LANs are based on copper, a material that c a n n o t s u p p o r t the b a n d w i d t h r e q u i r e m e n t s of m u l t i m e d i a a n d I n t e r n e t t e c h n o l o g i e s . In a d d i t i o n , c o p p e r is v u l n e r a b l e to e l e c t r o m a g n e t i c interference and can be easily tapped, making it a p o o r choice for secure 110



environments. Despite some improvements, antiquated wire-based technology is accepted because there has been no practical alternative. At data transmission rates of 300 Mb/s to 3 Gb/s, POF can operate faster t h a n can c o p p e r wire. But u n l i k e c o p p e r , POF p r o v i d e s for a s e c u r e environment that can support the bandwidth and performance requirements of ATM communications, Gigabit Ethernet and Multimedia and Internet technologies. The material cost of POF falls directly between the cost of high-speed copper and glass. POF is versatile and rugged, making it suitable for anyone looking for an easy-to-instaU, high-bandwidth, low-cost fibre-optic replacement for outdated copper cabling. The performance of this new fibre will cover the critical last mile of the telecommunications network. For more than 30 years, plastic optical fibre has proved itself to be successful and reliable. In the early 1980s there was the first use of POF in industrial controls and simple signalling applications. Signal and illumination were also c o m m o n uses of POF. However, by the late 1980s, with the n e e d for bandwidth in data communications becoming apparent, a new application for POF was found. The advantages of POF can be summarized as follows: ~ 9 9 9 9

Uses visible light so exploits low-cost LEDs and detectors. POF diameter is 750-1000/~m so lenses are not needed to couple light. Interconnection needs only simple tools. Cheap plastic connectors are acceptable. POF is biocompatible and disposable compared with glass.

Reversing the comparison, glass fibre is fragile and brittle, meaning that it is vulnerable to breakage at the connection and is also less bendy. Once cost a n d availability c o n s i d e r a t i o n s are a d d e d to the mix, for s h o r t - h a u l applications glass fibre offers no practical advantages over POE In contrast, POF is ideally suited to ATM operation, conveying information more rapidly than copper and offering almost unlimited capacity to meet the high-speed transport requirements. Moreover, glass-fibre installation and m a n a g e m e n t require extensive and costly technical expertise and equipment. For example, a routine glass-fibre t e r m i n a t i o n c o u l d range from five to 20 m i n u t e s , d e p e n d i n g on the application. Plastic-fibre cable termination can be done in about one minute. Based on a network installation of 100 terminations, the saved labour time can be substantial. The positioning of POF from a market standpoint has been as the technology that fills the price/performance void b e t w e e n glass and c o p p e r systems. Presently, POF represents approximately 1% of the data communications wiring market, which is estimated at US$2 billion. Growth trends in this marketplace are expected to continue at an accelerated rate. The cost of POF can be as much as 40% less than the typical cost of approximately 30 cents/ft for m u l t i m o d e glass fibre. W h e n high cost a n d p r o d u c t availability Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

11 1


considerations are added to the mix for short-haul applications (glass fibre is o b t a i n e d in set a m o u n t s and gives rise to waste), plastic fibre is at parity with glass fibre. With m o r e and m o r e h o m e systems --- particularly h o m e e n t e r t a i n m e n t systems m being digital and with more and more families having their own PC, all of these will be n e e d e d to be linked t o g e t h e r in a high-fidelity alldigital network. POF is one form of media being used to link these devices together. However, the attention is focused on POF 'Fibre-to-the-Home' and within the h o m e as a seamless all-digital ' H o m e LAN' for leisure, l e a r n i n g and security. Allied to this are communications applications in the small offices and h o m e offices (SOHO) arena. So too, corporations and businesses are seen as using POF to affordably implement secure, high-bandwidth LANs for both internal and external communications. Mobile workers will be able to purchase POF-equipped automobiles capable of supporting two-way information transfer, Internet access and a variety of mobile c o m p u t i n g tasks. Air travellers will sit in seats integrated to a POF network, offering each p a s s e n g e r a m e n u of business and e n t e r t a i n m e n t choices, such as Internet access and connectivity to home-based c o m p u t e r system, movies, v i d e o g a m e s a n d c a t a l o g u e . The military may also be provided with 'wearable computing': lightweight, water-resistant POF 'smart suits' that can send, retrieve and store mission-critical information.

The m a r k e t value of GaAs e l e c t r o n i c devices in the c o n s u m e r s e c t o r is e s t i m a t e d to be US$877 billion in 1999. This will increase to US$2258 billion by 2004, r e p r e s e n t i n g a c o m p o u n d average a n n u a l g r o w t h rate (CAAGR) of 29%. This s e c t o r is the s e c o n d l a r g e s t c o n s u m e r of GaAs electronic devices in the industry (see Table 5.21).

Table 5 . 1 8 World Consumer GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million).

112

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


32 27 26 14

38 33 31 18

46 41 36 22

55 50 43 26

66 62 50 32

79 76 59 39

Total

99

120

145

174

210

253



Table 5.19 World Consumer Digital IC Market (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

8 6 5 4

10 8 5 5

11 10 6 6

14 12 7 7

17 15 9 9

20 18 10 10

23

28

33

40

50

58

Table 5.20 World Consumer GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


223 178 127 108

294 231 163 143

388 301 208 188

512 391 267 249

676 508 341 328

892 661 437 433

Total

636

831

1085

1419

1853

2423

Table 5.21 World Consumer Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


262 211 158 126

342 272 199 165

445 351 251 216

581 453 317 282

758 585 400 369

991 755 507 483

Total

757

978

1263

1633

2112

2736

In terms of unit volumes, c o n s u m e r electronics e q u i p m e n t is the largest application sector for analogue G a ~ , with demand arising from a number of rapidly growing markets such as satellite TV dishes, high-end televisions, video cassette recorders (VCRs), CATVsystems and desktop boxes. Discrete device demand is forecast to show a CAAGR of 115%, growing from US$16 million in 1999 to US$41 million by 2004 (Table 5.18). Digital IC d e m a n d reached US$5 million in 1999, and is forecast to show a CAGR of 21%, reaching US$12 million by 2000 (Table 5.19). MMIC d e m a n d reached US$856 million in 1999, and is forecast to show a CAGR of 31%, reaching US$2205 million by 2000 (Table 5.20). Currently the biggest market is in Ku-band Direct Broadcast Satellite TV (DBS-TV) receivers. Discrete HEMT front-ends followed by MMIC (or FET) low-noise block (LNB) downconverters are used to convert the received satellite signal to an intermediate frequency, which is transmitted by cable to an i n d o o r s e t - t o p c o n v e r t e r . In t u n e r s for TVs and VCRs, a s e c o n d downconversion is required. In dual-channel LNBs, a PIN diode switch is often used to transfer the vertical and horizontal signals between the two outputs. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

113


The main markets for DBS-TV are in Europe (especially the UK and Germany) and Japan. With the launch of Hughes' DirecTV satellite, DBS-TV has found a major new market in the USA. A subscriber race is on between the Hughes DirecTV system, with about 1.5 million subscribers, and the Primestar DBS system, with over a million leased systems. There are four major applications in the marketplace: LMDS and its sister t e c h n o l o g y MVDS ( m u l t i p o i n t video d i s t r i b u t i o n service), satellite communication and VSAT, automotive smart wireless sensors and point-to-point radio links. Both LMDS (or MVDS) and satellite communication/VSAT are designed for delivering data and video via either terrestrial stations or satellites. Therefore, they can also be used to provide wireless Intemet services. Teledesic, one of the primary satellite communication enterprises, is aiming to provide the global Internet-in-the-sky services. LMDS and satellite communication/VSAT will each reach US$1 billion a year in 2003. The point-to-point radio links are used in cellular phone networks to provide links between cells. It is generally true that the Ka-band MMIC applications provide a much more profitable business than the currently blooming PCS and cellular businesses because it requires higher GaAs technology. In addition, there are much fewer competitors who can provide high-volume services and products in this market.

5.8.1 Wireless Cable: MMDS and LMDS Wireless cable is television programming delivered directly to the home via microwave networks. In its c u r r e n t form, the multichannel, m u l t i p o i n t d i s t r i b u t i o n service/system (MMDS) uses o m n i d i r e c t i o n a l microwave facilities and 8 - 1 0 m satellite earth stations (dishes) to transmit 30 TV stations. If line-of-sight is available, wireless cable is cost-competitive with traditional wireline cable systems. The subscriber unit receives the signal at 2.5-2.7 GHz. Another type of wireless cable system, LMDS, exists in the 27.5-28.5 GHz range. Cellular Vision, a New York company, is currently the only company licensed to use that frequency and broadcasts its signals t h r o u g h local antennas with approximate ranges of six miles, with carrying capacity equal to 400 000 telephone lines. Cellular Vision has joined up with Bell Atlantic to test services in New York. DBS and cable are e x p e r i e n c i n g c o m p e t i t i o n from a digital MMDS that operates at 27 GHz. These systems will allow local-broadcast TV stations to be included with cable-TV fare and will support limited one-way high-speed data delivery.

5.8.2 High-definition Television (HDTV) HDTV systems will not provide a significant market for GaAs within the next 5 years, although low-volume applications will arise from transmission equipment. For example, in Japan the 42 GHz band has been assigned for 1 14



HDTV transmission. HDTV radio cameras have been built based on GaAs FET technology for the field pickup microwave link that transmits data from the field to the broadcast station. Regarding sources of GaAs devices for consumer electronics applications, the supply of discrete HEMT front-ends is dominated by Japanese companies, led by Fujitsu and Mitsubishi Electric. Producers of discrete MESFETs for consumer electronics include Matsushita and Sony, mainly for internal consumption, as well as Hitachi. TEMIC, a subsidiary of Daimler Benz in Germany, is a large volume producer of discrete MESFETs, mainly for Asia/Pacific manufacturers of c o n s u m e r electronic subassemblies. The supply of MMICs is dominated by a handful of players. In the USA, ANADIGICS is the leading force. Raytheon is also active through an alliance with NJRC (New Japan Radio Company). Matsushita in Japan is a major captive producer. Hughes is a world leader in the communications services industry, with each of its u n i t s - - DirecTV, PanAmSat a n d H u g h e s N e t w o r k S y s t e m s - commanding a leadership position in the market that it serves. DirecTV is the w o r l d ' s largest d i r e c t - t o - h o m e p r o v i d e r of digital e n t e r t a i n m e n t p r o g r a m m i n g , with m o r e than 9 million s u b s c r i b e r s worldwide. It acquired a record 1.6 million net new subscribers in 1999, which is a 39% increase over the previous record year of 1998. In 1999, DirecTV began offering local channels and this year will roll out new interactive and enhanced TV services through alliances with companies PanAmSat Corporation, which is 81% o w n e d by Hughes, is the world's largest commercial operator of communications satellites and has a customer base that includes the world's premier entertainment, communications and Internet companies. PanAmSat recently expanded its capacity with the 21 D e c e m b e r 1999 launch of a Hughes 702 satellite, and plans f u r t h e r expansion by launching six additional satellites by early 2001. Hughes Network Systems DirecPC business, offering a high-speed broadband Internet service, will launch a joint service with AOL to provide premier AOL Plus Via DirecPC' to Internet users. Hughes Network Systems will also launch Spaceway, a two-way, interactive broadband service offering high-speed data communications, beginning in 2002. In December 1999 the PanAmSat Corp Galaxy XI spacecraft was launched into orbit, becoming the largest commercial communications satellite ever launched. Galaxy XI, PanAmSat's 20th satellite, will offer video, Internet and telecommunications services throughout North America and Brazil. The fleet will reach 25 satellites by mid-2001. Galaxy XI contains 40 Ku-band and 24 C-band t r a n s p o n d e r s and the 4500 kg satellite will become an integral component of the Galaxy| cable neighbourhood. Along with the current satellites, Galaxy XI will deliver Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

115


cable t e l e v i s i o n ' s m o s t p o p u l a r p r o g r a m m i n g to c a b l e h e a d - e n d s throughout North America.

The market value of GaAs electronic devices in the c o m p u t e r e q u i p m e n t sector is estimated to be US$253 million in 1999. This will increase to US$644 million by 2004, representing a CAAGR of 19%. This sector is the largest consumer of GaAs electronic devices in the industry (see Table 5.25).

Table 5.22 World Computer GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


13 12 10 12

15 13 12 14

17 15 13 16

20 17 15 19

23 20 17 23

27 22 19 26

Total

47

54

61

71

83

94

Table 5.23 World Computer Digital IC Market (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


14 18 11 8

17 20 13 9

19 23 14 11

22 26 16 12

25 30 18 15

29 34 20 17

Total

51

59

67

76

88

100

Table 5.24 World Computer GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

49 61 38 26

58 75 45 32

70 92 53 39

84 11 3 63 47

101 139 74 58

121 171 87 70

174

210

254

307

372

449

Table 5.25 World Computer Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

76 90 60 46

90 108 69 55

106 130 81 66

126 156 94 79

149 188 109 95

176 227 126 114

272

322

383

455

541

643

North America Japan Europe RoW Total 116



Development revenues, consisting of NRE and government funding, will show a CAGR of 5%, significantly decreasing as a percentage of the total market. The majority of the volume users of digital GaAs are based in North America. This is particularly the case for the main applications of digital ICs, i.e. computers, telecommunications and ATE. Demand from North America will increase further as a percentage of the total market over the next five years. The size of the c o m p u t e r industry today is of the o r d e r of several tens of billions of dollars p e r a n n u m and getting larger every year. At p r e s e n t the fraction of GaAs e l e c t r o n i c devices u s e d by this s e c t o r is very small in comparison with other types of components. The target for the fairly small number of companies active in the area of digital electronics manufacture is to a c h i e v e m a r k e t s u c c e s s in c e r t a i n critical h i g h - s p e e d c o n n e c t i o n applications within high-performance digital applications. If GaAs electronic devices could find even a single chip insertion into such systems, the total world market would be enormous. There was a time w h e n digital electronics was forecast as the s t r o n g e s t market opportunity for G a ~ ICs. For a variety of reasons, not the least being the industry preference for improved silicon devices, this market has yet to take off. Digital equipment still requires high-speed devices at critical points in many systems. However, in mainstream e q u i p m e n t such as desktop PCs, the G a ~ electronics content remains fairly minimal. Computer equipment that incorporates one or more G a ~ electronic devices tends to be restricted to a few basic areas: 9 9 9

Supercomputers. Specialist applications such as defence/aerospace. Datacommunications.

The s e c o n d and third applications were dealt with in m o r e detail in the corresponding application sectors. Suffice to say that there is some overlap between these areas. For example, the aerospace/defence industry is one of the leading users of supercomputers. Computer systems are many and varied but all comprise a basic combination of circuit c o m p o n e n t s and configurations. These b u i l d i n g blocks are as follows: 9 Microprocessor. 9 Volatile memory, i.e. dynamic random access memory (DRAM). 9 Non-volatile (NV) memory, i.e. read-only memory (ROM). 9 Application-specific ICs (ASICs). 9 General logic. 9 MicrocontroUers. Collectively, these device families make up more than 90% of the worldwide s e m i c o n d u c t o r device m a r k e t and are p r e d o m i n a n t l y b a s e d on silicon complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS) or variants thereof. Very few of these devices are based on non-silicon semiconductors such as GaAs. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

117


Laboratory demonstrations of such devices have been made on III-V materials such as GaAs, but today the commercial supplies of such devices are virtually non-existent. Given the lack of market demand and paucity of suppliers, this situation is likely to persist for the five year forecast period of this report. Overall, digital GaAs has not widely penetrated the computer market and, although a number of development programmes continue, the commercial demand from this sector has fallen far short of expectations. With the demise of Cray, which was by far the w o r l d ' s largest user of GaAs digital ICs, dependence on supercomputers will decrease with growing demand from WS/PCs (workstations and personal computers). In September 1995, the facility was purchased by M/A-COM to develop a second G a ~ MMIC, i.e. nondigital IC, production line, mainly for switches and attenuators. Cray's d e p a r t u r e was a t t r i b u t a b l e to the e n d of the Cold War a n d disappearance of US government funding for such projects. Cold-War-related tasks such as fusion studies for nuclear weapons and cryptographic code breaking had always been the main applications for vector platforms. Nevertheless, there are still quite a few existing applications, such as meteorology and aeronautical engineering (i.e. the development of 'stealth' aircraft and next-generation supersonic airliners). Supercomputers are also required for the simulation and testing of nuclear weapons, given the current ban on actual detonation of such devices. In today's military circles, very-high-speed data processing is becoming ever more important. For example, modern warfare has become more reliant on reconnaissance in real-time. Processing of signals at very high speed is also required for the processing of radar signals from GaAs-based phased array radars. Interception of short- to medium-range ballistic missiles, such as Scuds, is also high on the agenda of many armed forces around the world. Convex Computer, which became part of Hewlett Packard, was a n o t h e r pioneer in the application of digital GaAs. Working closely with Vitesse Semiconductor, Convex's programme resulted in the most commercially successful implementation of digital G a ~ in the computer industry. Whilst Vitesse's efforts in this field have been scaled back dramatically, HP-Convex continues to implement GaAs in a number of high-end systems. A significant development in the applications of GaAs for high-end machines was the announcement in October 1995 by Sequent Computer Systems Inc of a key role for GaAs in its next-generation system architecture, based on a new processor i n t e r c o n n e c t technology that will enable it to build systems containing more than 250 standard processors and 100 TB of data, providing a performance that is lO-fold that of conventional sequential multiple processor (SMP) systems. Unisys Corporation's A l l Series enterprise servers i n c o r p o r a t e a GaAs CPU, k n o w n as SCAMP, the Single Chip A Series Mainframe Processor. Fabricated on a 0.6/.~m, single-package H-GaAs by Vitesse, the GaAs SCAMP processor currently provides up to 60% more performance over previous models, measured on a system-level transaction processing basis. Outside North America, developments on GaAs supercomputers are led by Fujitsu. Fujitsu's VP2000 series of p i p e l i n e d s u p e r c o m p u t e r s , with a 118



maximum performance of five GFLOPs for a single processor, were the first of its machines to use GaAs. Suppliers active in the field of digital G a ~ electronics include: * Vitesse Semiconductor. 9 Fujitsu. . GIGA SA was acquired by Intel in 2000. 9 TriQuint Semiconductor. 9 Rockwell. 9 Old Semiconductor. 9 NEC. 9 NEL. 9 Mitsubishi Electronic. Europe has no significant production of digital GaAs, although there are a few design centres linked to Japanese and US companies. There are also a small number of specialist design companies or university affiliated organizations that offer digital GaAs ASICs. Generally, these have no m a n u f a c t u r i n g capability of their own and rely on the a f o r e m e n t i o n e d companies for the manufacture of the custom-design devices. F u r t h e r m o r e , virtually all of the c o m p a n i e s that have, at s o m e time or another, been involved in GaAs digital electronics have branched out their offerings to include silicon devices. At the beginning of the last decade the industry was optimistic about three specific areas for digital electronics based on G a ~ : 9 9 ~

High-speed supercomputers. Pin-for-pin replacement of silicon logic with GaAs. High-speed datacommunications.

In the intervening period the prospects of the first two applications have distinctly receded in favour of all-silicon approaches. The focus of the present cadre of suppliers of GaAs-based logic-oriented devices is in the area of highspeed datacommunications. The GaAs digital IC industry has undergone a complete shift in emphasis over the past couple of years. The major turning point came in mid-1995, when Seymour Cray's 12 year odyssey to develop GaAs-based s u p e r c o m p u t e r s finally collapsed. This marked the end of any real hope that GaAs would deliver a significant impact in the c o m p u t i n g environment. A n u m b e r of s p e c i a l i z e d c o m p u t i n g o p p o r t u n i t i e s still exist for GaAs, b u t the overwhelming focus of the industry has moved to rapidly growing markets in high-speed tele- and datacommunications, and automatic test equipment. In these applications, high-speed, high-fidelity, wide-bandwidth GaAs ICs have a much clearer margin over silicon. On a strictly performance basis, however, the superior physical properties of GaAs are clear. For equivalent geometries, G a ~ has the potential to perform about twice the speed of silicon and consume roughly half the power. This allows Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

119


more tolerant design rules for high-performance ICs. In typical applications it is used in cm'ticalpathfunctions where implementing a few high-speed and/or low-power GaAs ICs can deliver a major impact on system performance. Current demand is heavily d e p e n d e n t on a relatively small n u m b e r of major users, mostly in the communications industry. Approximately 75% of total industry revenues were accounted for by only 15% of the users. ASIC technology has dominated the industry, as it allows users to maximize the p e r f o r m a n c e of GaAs. But o p p o r t u n i t i e s are n o w e m e r g i n g for a p p l i c a t i o n - s p e c i f i c s t a n d a r d p r o d u c t s (ASSPs) in m a r k e t s w h e r e specifications are well defined, in particular the communications industry. The future prospects for digital GaAs depend on the fact that it has a much greater margin for improvement than silicon. Although advances in silicon have a remarkable track record of keeping up with GaAs, as digital GaAs manufacturing converges with silicon, the advantages of its superior physical properties will increasingly be realized cost-effectively. D e m a n d for faster clock s p e e d s , g r e a t e r b a n d w i d t h s and l o w - p o w e r operation all point to a growing, although still niche, role for digital GaAs. At high frequencies, CMOS and BiCMOS circuits dissipate a great deal of dynamic power. For GaAs MESFETs (diode-coupled FET logic, DCFL) by contrast, total power dissipation is only a weak function of clock frequency and therefore less power is dissipated. As clock frequencies continue to rise, this factor will be of increasing significance. Longer term prospects for large volume applications could arise from the availability of G a ~ reduced-instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessors, as well as digital signal p r o c e s s i n g (DSP) f u n c t i o n s in pox'table communications and c o m p u t e r equipment, which are migrating down to lower operating voltages. GaAs electronic devices have to be procured in this style of package and in most instances these are available for cost-effective manufacture. Plastic packaging in surface mount device (SMD) styles is now commonplace, which has assisted the take-up and economic manufacturing of systems based on these devices. The problem for GaAs is exemplified by the electronics in a digital phone. Silicon CMOS or some variant thereof will be used everywhere it can; only in certain areas is GaAs indispensable, such as in the RF front-end or power amplifier. No such comparable areas exist in computers such as desktops and so GaKs use in these systems is minimal in comparison with telecommunications. GaAs microelectronic devices are finding their greatest take-up in highspeed datacommunications. All of these applications require high-speed devices and this is where G a ~ is likely to enjoy its greatest success. An important application for G a ~ devices in computers is the area of data storage, i.e. CDROM and more recently in DVD disk drives. Within the past 5 years, the CDROM has fully penetrated the office and home PC market, with many millions continuing to be sold each year. Each CDROM relies on an 12.0 GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices


infrared diode laser and corresponding detector devices. These are classified as optoelectronic devices and, as such, do not come within the scope of this report. Indeed, unlike optoelectronics where both LEDs and diode lasers are used in volume by the c o m p u t e r industry (for status indication and data storage applications, respectively), use of G a ~ discrete devices such as that for ICs remains a fairly small market. The important application for GaAs devices at present is in the use of Hall sensors in the electronic circuitry, which provides the necessary precision of rotational speed for these units. This is a total available market amounting to a multi-million-dollar-per-annum business. However, GaAs Hall sensors must contest this market with low-cost silicon-based H a l sensors based on CMOS.

The m a r k e t value of GaAs e l e c t r o n i c devices in the industrial s e c t o r is estimated to be US$272 million in 1999. This will increase to US$527 million by 2004, representing a CAAGR of 14%. This sector is the largest consumer of G a ~ electronic devices in the industry (see Table 5.29).

Table 5 . 2 6 World Industrial GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


22 14 13 9

25 16 14 11

29 18 16 12

33 20 18 14

38 23 20 16

44 26 23 19

Total

58

66

75

85

97

112

Table 5.27 World Industrial Digital IC Market (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

9.4 5.9 5.4 4.0

10.8 6.7 6.1 4.5

12.4 7.6 6.9 5.2

14.3 8.7 7.7 6.0

16.4 9.8 8.7 6.9

18.9 11.2 9.8 7.9

24.7

28.1

32.1

36.7

41.8

47.8

Table 5 . 2 8 World Industrial GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

77 49 45 32

88 55 50 37

102 63 56 43

117 71 63 49

134 81 71 57

155 91 80 65

203

230

264

300

343

391


121


Table 5.29 World Industrial Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


108 68 63 46

124 78 70 52

143 88 79 60

165 100 89 69

189 113 100 80

218 129 113 92

Total

285

324

370

423

482

552

In this section, categorized as industrial, GaAs devices are finding usage in a diverse range of applications. However, these are generally small and amount to a fairly small collective marketshare compared to telecommunications and consumer applications. GaAs electronic devices are finding new niches in high-speed automatic test equipment (ATE). ATE is in itself a small market in terms of units shipped. The fraction of an ATE system using GaAs devices is also fairly small (under 10%) but these devices are specialized and therefore command high value. They are custom designed for the task and although only a few hundred ATE systems are sold per annum this represents a usefully sized market sector. With the increased reliance on ever-faster m i c r o p r o c e s s o r s and related devices, coupled with the buoyant semiconductor industry, ATE sales are expected to be strong for the next five years. Vitesse Semiconductor Corp shipped volume quantities of two custom digital GaAs ICs to LTX Corp for use in its Fusion test platform. The new Fusion test platform combines very large scale integration (VLSI) digital and mixed signal capabilities on a single software and hardware platform. Its architecture gives Fusion unparalleled flexibility to test system-on-a-chip products for highv o l u m e a p p l i c a t i o n s , such as disk drives, d a t a c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , telecommunications, multimedia and wireless. VLSI testers lack the analogue resources to test such devices, and the increasing level of integration typical of system-on-a-chip products exceeds the digital capability of traditional mixed-signal testers. Two ICs p r o v i d e the basic t i m i n g f u n c t i o n s of the tester: the p e r i o d generator; and a fully integrated timing g e n e r a t o r containing memory, verniers, formatting and extensive custom logic. Industrial applications include all forms of instrumentation, robotic systems, factory controls and automated assembly, inspection, test and measurement, diagnostics, condition monitoring and other applications covering a wide range of subset market sectors. The contribution from GaAs in this sector is diverse and encompasses various discrete, analogue and digital IC products. These tend to be used where other devices lack the performance and functionality, e.g. speed and radiation hardness. A GaAs device insertion opportunity might include a low-noise amplifier used, for example, in radio astronomy. Here the ability of the compound semiconductor detector and amplifier can provide the requisite signal-to-noise ratio for accurate observation of distant stellar emitters. 122



Much of the sector's basic electronics can be carried out by microcontrollerbased software-controlled s t a n d a r d e q u i p m e n t with the addition of an interface card. Many new systems are becoming available that use a standard PC, a standard software base and an additional card for interfacing and software additions. Thus, an instrument or control function is created that would otherwise have demanded a custom-made piece of equipment. The market will steadily grow as the industrial world continues to demand improved capabilities from instrumentation, control and automated facilities, etc. as well as larger volumes of standard equipment. The manufacturing industry is continually stressing the need for improved production efficiency and quality control, which will result in the further penetration of calibrated monitoring equipment. Similarly, the increasingly strict regulation of waste management and environmental emissions is also requiring the installation of f u r t h e r fail-safe, c o n t i n u o u s m o n i t o r i n g a n d c o n t r o l s y s t e m s to manufacturing processes.

The market value of GaAs electronic devices in the military/aerospace sector is estimated to be US$407 million in 1999. This will increase to US$645 million by 2004, representing a CAAGR of 14% (see Table 5.33).

Table 5.30 World Military/Aerospace GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


33 13 24 9

37 13 27 9

41 14 30 10

46 15 32 10

52 15 36 11

58 16 39 11

Total

79

86

95

103

114

124

Table 5.31 World Military/Aerospace Digital IC Market (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

6.4 2.4 4.7 1.7

7.2 2.6 5.2 1.8

8.0 2.7 5.7 1.8

9.0 2.8 6.3 1.9

10.0 3.0 6.9 2.0

11.3 3.1 7.6 2.1

1 5.2

16.8

18.2

20.0

21.9

24.1


123


Table 5.32 World Military/Aerospace GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


121 46 90 32

143 50 106 34

169 54 125 37

199 58 147 40

235 63 174 43

278 68 205 47

Total

289

333

385

444

515

598

Table 5.33 World Military/Aerospace Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


161 61 119 42

187 66 138 45

219 71 160 48

255 76 186 52

297 81 216 56

347 87 252 60

Total

383

436

498

569

650

746

Military/aerospace is a broad sector that includes all applications of the industry, such as the manufacture and operation of civilian transports, space applications and the military as a c o m m o n industrial unit for local use or export. Demands are similar in that the overall requirement is high reliability, although cost is an increasingly important but not yet dominant factor. In fact, the sector is unique in that whilst smaller volumes are required, they command higher, more stable average selling prices (ASPs). However, in a m o d e r n climate of regional conflicts such as the f o r m e r Yugoslavia and the Gulf War, the military sector continues to slowly reduce d e m a n d as defence b u d g e t s shrink. Nevertheless, r e q u i r e m e n t s for all involved, especially the forces of NATO, must be for secure communications, sensory systems and all forms of reconnaissance and electronic warfare. The military operations of the past decade have reaffirmed an increasing reliance on electronics systems. In fact the fraction of all military systems devoted to electronics is increasing strongly and GaAs components continue to be important for advanced systems of all kinds. In this sector there is also a requirement for more versatility from on-board systems and this is being achieved through electronics. Device suppliers are tasked with the d e v e l o p m e n t of technologies and capabilities n e e d e d to p r o d u c e the RF systems and future upgrades. In addition, they must provide microwave and mm-wave c o m p o n e n t s that enable a reduction in system front-end costs. This is at the same time as increasing system front-end capabilities. Modern systems are also requiring portability, which translates to lower p o w e r for battery operation. At the same time reliability must be improved and life cycle costs reduced. The cost and time for d e s i g n i n g MMICs, o t h e r c o m p o n e n t s , i n t e r c o n n e c t i o n s , subsystems and systems is also being reduced. Development in increased

124 GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices


circuit functionality within a given MMIC chip area, as well as new circuits, related c o m p o n e n t s and methods for interconnection and housing these elements, are needed. Similar to military systems, civil aviation is making more use of electronics and this is boosting the total sales in this combined sector. For example, the European Airbus is a world leader in fly-by-wire control systems. Besides improved functionality and control, these systems provide significant weight savings and hence c o n t r i b u t e greatly to i m p r o v e d overall e c o n o m y of operation. On the drawing board are higher performance control systems based on fibre optics ~ so-called 'fly-by-light'. Such systems will d e m a n d high numbers of electronic components when they begin operational service in the next 5 years. The worldwide air transportation industry has to develop ever more reliable and s o p h i s t i c a t e d systems to e n a b l e safety to be m a i n t a i n e d (or even improved) with a rapidly growing n u m b e r of flights. In addition, the more recent developments that are emerging as airlines vie for customer s u p p o r t - in-flight entertainment, navigation and communications whilst en r o u t e - are providing electronics with n e w challenges for such e q u i p m e n t and services at a reasonable price. This sector is growing and in part is making up for the general shrinkage of the military systems market. Components will play a key role in the defence/aerospace sector. In many respects this sector is ahead of mainstream electronics by virtue of the need for performance, often regardless of cost but mindful of reliability. Often a system such as a missile demands great performance and functionality in the smallest possible space. However, it will be stored for as much as a decade b u t m u s t w o r k p e r f e c t l y for a very s h o r t t i m e p r i o r to its c o m p l e t e destruction. Other military/aerospace applications require devices that can function over a wide t e m p e r a t u r e range. Rapid climatic changes can be experienced by a system and it must still deliver 100% operation for long periods with only rudimentary maintenance. However, with the move to 'commercial off-the-shelf' (COTS), the military is m a k i n g m o r e use of p l a s t i c - p a c k a g e d c o m p o n e n t s . It can gain m a j o r performance/cost advantages through the use of these devices. The next 5 years is likely to see much more use of these, which were formerly restricted to o t h e r application sectors. This will be to the d e t r i m e n t of specialist c o m p o n e n t types and their suppliers but to the advantage of the larger commercial vendors. However, there is mounting pressure to reverse this trend from designers and manufacturers who have expressed dissatisfaction with COTS c o m p o n e n t s . This will have r e p e r c u s s i o n s for c o m p o n e n t suppliers who have closed or sold off military-specification component lines or moved onto COTS lines. In accord with the consolidation of companies involved in G a ~ MMICs that has been happening in the North American military/aerospace industry in the past few years, Europe's industry is undergoing further consolidation. For example, GEC sold its defence electronics activities to British Aerospace, which in turn acquired the electronic warfare and related assets of Northrop Grumman. This included Sanders GaAs MMIC activities. Overall, it will make Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

125


BAE Systems one of the top three US suppliers in the electronic warfare and related products sector. BAE had already merged its missile business with that of the French company Matra and has close ties with Swedish aerospace systems manufacturer Saab. Most military applications of MMICs are captive to the systems producers. The main categories for G a ~ device insertion in military and space systems are shown in Table 5.9 and demand for GaAs MMICs (including from space, see below) is shown in Figure 5.5.

Table 5.34 Selected Military Applications for GaAs Analogue Devices. Smart weapons AAAM AMRAAM HARM LANTIRN MOFA SADARM Patriot

Electronic warfare ALQ Series (10) GEN-X STAFF

Radar ATF COBRA GBR SAR

Communications GPS Milstar SATCOM SCAMP

See Chapter 10, Section 10.1 for explanation of acronyms. In the following sections each of the key defence systems using GaAs devices is overviewed and future prospects are described.

5.11.1 Phased-array Radars Raytheon is a major developer of phased-array radars, including the groundbased radar (GBR) for the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, the US Army's newest Theater Missile Defense programme. Raytheon's D/MMIC process, along with a half-micron MESFET power process validated during an earlier phase of the MIMIC program, were used for the production of over 400 000 MMICs during the US Army's GBR programme. Aside from the phased-array radars, there are applications in electronically scanned active array antenna applications such as weather monitoring, ground mapping and high-resolution imaging. These also require a very wideband performance of transmit and receive functions. Because there are typically a large n u m b e r of channels in the active array, low-cost MMIC solutions are potentially attractive. Northrop Grumman has developed an amplifier that achieves broadband performance, combining six MMICs to produce a 10 W peak o u t p u t power. The Lockheed Martin Block 60 F-16 recently ordered by the United Arab Emirates is to be equipped with an electronically scanned array radar with an 80-mile range against cruise missile-size targets and the first r a d a r 126



countermeasure system designed to foil Russian-made SA-10 and SA-12 antiaircraft missile systems. In the USA, an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is to be operational by the year 2006. The more powerful radar would allow the use of an extended-range air-to-air missile to destroy enemy aircraft before they knew the attacking fighter was in the area. Boeing is nor planning to adapt the aircraft to carry a new long-range missile to exploit the radar's vastly improved range. Boeing is also developing the F/A-18G Growler, a potential replacement for the aging EA-6B Prowler radar and communications jamming aircraft. The Growler would have all of the capability of the EA-6B plus the AESA radar. There is a lot of electronic countermeasure (ECM) capability inherent in an active electronic array, so it can supplement and complement the capability. GaAs MMICs promise to revolutionize the application of phased-array radars and AESA via the potential for miniaturization. At present, systems such as the Russian Phazotron interceptor fighter radar and the Israeli Phalcon airborne early warning system use hybrid circuitry. This is bulky and unreliable in comparison with MMIC-based systems. It also has much larger power demands and thus can only be carried in large aircraft. To further illustrate the point, the US Navy operates a phased-array system aboard its Aegis-class warships. It is only through the miniaturization of such radars via the use of MMICs that these extremely capable systems can be used in such small aircraft as the F-16 and F-18, Gripen and Eurofighter. There is also a trend towards the d e v e l o p m e n t of ever smaller transport aircraft to be used for airborne warning and control system (AWACS) and aerial reconnaissance system (JSTARS) applications. Larger aircraft such as the Boeing E3A Sentry AWACS are large a n d expensive. Newer, s m a l l e r AWACS p l a t f o r m s i n c l u d e miniaturised systems installed in executive turboprop aircraft. In the longer term phased-array radars will be required for observation and monitoring in remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs). The RPV promises long duration flights for continuous monitoring of enemy dispositions with much reduced risk of detection and vulnerability to crew mishaps.

5 . 1 1 . 2 Electronic Warfare Electronic warfare systems such as electronic countermeasures, decoys and unmanned vehicles require a high-performance front- and back-end coveting all or part of the 2-18 GHz band. GaAs MMICs help to reduce the size, weight and power consumption and give increased reliability. In today's airborne warfare scenarios where a higher risk of interception of attack aircraft is encountered from advanced surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles fielded by previously Third World nations, more capable electronic warfare systems are required. Moreover, these systems m u s t be m o r e functional in a smaller volume of the aircraft. They must also be fielded in other aircraft, such as for the protection of VIP transports. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

127


Many of these electronic warfare systems use MMICs to allow packaging of sections of the front- and back-end in several discrete MIC modules. Each MIC can contain up to 100 MMICs per module. For example, N o r t h r o p G r u m m a n has d e v e l o p e d a 6 . 8 - 1 0 . 7 GHz r e c e i v e / t r a n s m i t m o d u l e incorporating 72 MMICs for use in airborne systems. However, all has not been stable in the electronic warfare marketplace. Much reliance continues on government budgetary allocations. In the USA (the largest market for such systems), several key programmes have been seriously harmed by changes in budgets in recent years. For example, the cancellation of the B-1B's Defensive Systems Upgrade Program (DSUP). The DSUP was envisaged as a US$1.2 billion replacement for the ALQ-161 threat detection and jamming system, to include the ALR-56M radar warning receiver and RF jamming system plus a fibre-optic towed decoy. The ALR-56M would detect and display enemy radar systems, while the active countermeasures would have been used against both radars and missiles. The US Air Force decided not to fund DSUP. This came not long after the first operational use of the B-1B in Kosovo. Several of these bombers were attacked by Yugoslav surface-to-air missiles and without the ALE-50 towed decoy repeater jammer they could have been shot down. The US Navy is providing no money after 2002 for the R&D for fighter selfp r o t e c t i o n e q u i p m e n t : t h e p r o m i s i n g Tactical D i r e c t e d I n f r a r e d Countermeasures system, intended to provide fighters with a laser capability to defeat infrared missiles; and the AAR-47 missile-warning sensor that is being upgraded with the inclusion of a laser warning capability.

5.11.3 Air-to-air Missiles The AIM-120 a d v a n c e d m e d i u m - r a n g e air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) is b e c o m i n g the s t a n d a r d air-to-air missile for many nations. It has an allweather, beyond-visual-range capability and includes an active radar using GaAs MMICs. AMRAAM is a follow-on to the AIM-7 Sparrow missile series that relies on the launch aircraft's own active radar for target acquisition. The onboard radar for AMRAAM was only possible through the miniaturization achieved via GaAs MMICs over hybrid circuitry. Hughes Aircraft Co's Missile System Group is the full-scale developer for AMRAAM. AMRAAM is faster, smaller and lighter, and has improved capabilities against low-altitude targets. It incorporates active radar with an inertial reference unit and microcomputer system, which makes the missile less dependent upon the fire-control system of the aircraft. Other air-to-air missiles that are under development in Europe and Russia have equivalent performance to the AMRAAM and most likely also achieve this via GaAs MMICs. Information about these and related systems is of course very difficult to come by, especially with reference to the circuitry technology used.

128



5.1 1.4 Anti-radar Missiles There are two principal anti-radar missiles being fielded --- the US AGM-88 HARM (high-speed anti-radar missile) and the European AIARM (air-launched anti-radar missile). Both systems seek out and destroy enemy ground radars via complex onboard circuitry incorporating some GaAs components. The HARM was the first operational use of GaAs MMICs in a missile system and achieved many radar kills in the Gulf War and subsequent conflicts. HARM is an air-to-surface tactical missile designed to seek and destroy enemy radar-equipped air defence systems, and was one of the first military systems to incorporate GaAs technology. The AGM-88 missile was approved for full production by the Defense Systems Acquisition Review Council in March 1983. It is operationally deployed throughout the Air Force and is in full production as a joint US Air Force-US Navy project. The main contractor was Texas Instruments, but the missile is now made by Raytheon.

5.11.5 Longbow/Hellfire TRW is a manufacturer of the high-frequency transmitter modules for the US Army Longbow/Hellfire Missile programme. Longbow is the US Army's mmwave, fire-and-forget targeting and radar system for the Boeing AH-64D Apache attack helicopter that is in service with the US Army, the British Army and on order with other armed forces worldwide. TRW's Space & Electronics Group assembles and tests extremely high f r e q u e n c y (EHF) t r a n s m i t t e r m o d u l e s . The m u l t i c h i p m o d u l e s are implemented with TRW's GaAs technology, and are a key part of the guidance system used by Longbow/Hellfire missiles to guide themselves autonomously to targets. Each of the Longbow transmitter modules contains 24 GaAs mm-wave MMICs. The improved Hellfire missile is one of the largest users of mm-wave GaAs MMIC components in the military sector. It is being developed further for other mounts, such as from ground vehicles and other aircraft. The Brimstone missile is a variant being developed by GEC for use by UK Armed Forces.

5.11.6 Military Satellites The US Department of Defense Milstar system is a major military demand driver for GaAs. The system includes a c o n s t e l l a t i o n of ultra-secure communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit and a family of fixed-site, mobile and man-portable terminals. Operating primarily at very high frequencies, Milstar provides secure, survivable communications among Army, Navy and Air Force users anywhere in the world, day or night, under any level of conflict.


129


TRW verified the design and performance of an anti-jam antenna for the Milstar II satellites. Implemented in GaAs, this enables Milstar users to transmit voice, data and imagery information without disruption by enemy jammers. TRW designed and developed the nulling antenna as part of a contract to Hughes Space & C o m m u n i c a t i o n s Co. The a n t e n n a is a key 'enabling' component of the payload that Hughes is producing for Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space Co, the Milstar satellite prime contractor. nulling antenna derives its name from the fact that it can selectively change its receive pattern in response to incoming signals. These nulls effectively 'isolate' unwanted incoming energy from user signals, thereby eliminating the effects of jamming interference. Lockheed Martin designs and integrates the satellite with communications payloads provided by TRW and Hughes Space & Communications Co. In January 2000, the US Air Force successfully launched the eleventh of 14 communications satellites, built by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space. The Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) III B8 spacecraft, the first of four remaining super-high-frequency communications satellites to feature Service Life E n h a n c e m e n t P r o g r a m m e (SLEP) u p g r a d e s , will provide improved, uninterrupted, secure voice and high-data rate communications to its DoD and national security users. The third-generation DSCS III SLEP satellite will provide a robust antijam, nuclear-hardened capability that supports the DoD's worldwide communication requirements. It will also provide uninterrupted highdata rate communications to support globally distributed fixed and mobile DoD users, the Diplomatic Telecommunications Service and the White House Communications Agency. The DSCS III SLEP satellite will provide a 200% increase in communication capacity with its new 50 W TWT amplifiers. Its new solar cells will provide m o r e than 1.7 kW of solar array p o w e r for the u p g r a d e d satellite. Additionally, the new satellite will offer greater flexibility for mixing high- and l o w - p o w e r users, m a d e p o s s i b l e t h r o u g h its new variable-gain-step attenuation.

5.1 1.7 GaAs Applications in Space Technical performance advances in the power output of FET devices have led to increased efforts to produce solid-state replacements for travelling-wave tubes (TWTs) in satellite communication systems. So far G a ~ devices have not been able to supplant TWTs from high power operation, i.e. > 50 W. Arrays of such devices may in the future provide the requisite powe:, but TWTs have long been a favoured solution with their optimal combination of price and power characteristics. TWTs do, however, require higher operating voltages (of the order of kilovolts) and so for applications such as spacebome transmitters a lower voltage such as those based on GaAs would be very attractive. 130



The main benefits not only include lower operating voltages but also lower noise, increased reliability and a graceful degradation nature of combined devices. Set against this are considerations of efficiency, cost and thermal dissipation. These applications are mainly in the FET territory, due to the limited high power handling capability and performance of MMICs, although a key goal is to enhance the performance of power MMICs. A main area of development is the output combiner, which must have both high combining efficiency and a high power handling capability. Raytheon developed a 14.0 GHz 30 W FET combiner/amplifier intended as a replacement for 50 W TWTs used in uplink transmitter applications. The high power handling capacity of the output combiner will enable development of 60 W and 100 W Ku-band solid-state power amplifiers in the near future. The InGaAs/AIGaAs pseudomorphic HEMT offers improved gain and PAE at high frequencies, and is an approach favoured by many companies. 9 TRW has demonstrated a PHEMT power module with 3.2 W of power output and 35% power-added efficiency at 20 GHz, for use in spacecraft onboard power amplification. ~ Mitsubishi Electric is the leading Japanese player in this area. Recent d e v e l o p m e n t s include a 5-10 GHz 14 W p o w e r amplifier, which combines eight GaAs FETs in parallel. ~ Another Japanese leader is Toshiba, which recently introduced a line of internally matched FETs with PAE up to 41%. The line includes power outputs from 4 to 35 W at frequencies from 3.7 to 8.5 GHz. Market research institutes estimate that, in the coming years, close to 1600 satellites will be launched, which means an average annual increase of 33% in the number of satellites put into orbit around the earth. By far the largest project will be that of Teledesic. For this Internet-in-the Sky venture, more than 300 multimedia satellites will be required, according to current plans. Just as huge are the financing requirements of the last few years for the various satellite projects, since 1993, a total of US$18.8 billion. In 2000, Hughes and The Boeing Company announced that Boeing acquired the H u g h e s satellite systems businesses in an all-cash t r a n s a c t i o n of US$3.75 billion. I n c l u d e d in the a c q u i s i t i o n are: H u g h e s Space & Communications Company, the world leader in communications satellites; Hughes Electron Dynamics, a leading supplier of electronic components for satellites; and Spectrolab, a premier provider of solar cells and panels for satellites. Hughes announced plans to narrow the focus of its wireless business at Hughes Network Systems (HNS). As a result of this decision, HNS' wireless business will focus on its leading broadband point-to-multipoint product line and discontinue its mobile cellular and narrowband local loop product lines. HNS will fulfil its outstanding contractual obligations for these discontinued product lines.


131


5.1 1.80nboard Power Supplies Energy supply for the satellites is provided by the most m o d e m t e c h n o l o g y - solar cells made from G a ~ compound semiconductors convert the sunlight falling on the solar panels into electrical energy with the highest efficiency. This is especially i m p o r t a n t with the Iridium type of satellites, as these require more energy to communicate with one another. Although GaAs solar cell production is more expensive than with silicon-based solar cells, the expense is soon defrayed. This is because their efficiency is m o r e than double. Moreover, the solar panels on Iridium-type satellites can be made significantly smaller, thus substantially reducing their weight and therefore also the cost of putting them into orbit. It is the ratio of cost to watt of energy produced that is the deciding factor. In addition, solar cells made from c o m p o u n d semiconductors remain almost untouched by the aggressive radiation faced in orbit, something that is not the case for silicon cells. Similarly, GaAs circuits are not only more resistant to radiation than silicon equivalents but also GaAs MMICs are of higher efficiency and so place reduced load on the onboard power supplies. The Hughes Superbird-4 satellite combines silicon and GaAs solar cell panels. The Hughes Space & C o m m u n i c a t i o n s satellite was built for the Space Communications Corp of Tokyo. It is a high-power version of the Hughes HS 601 model and was launched on an Ariane-4 rocket. It joins the existing Superbird constellation allowing smart cruise control (SCC) to meet the r a p i d l y g r o w i n g d e m a n d for b u s i n e s s t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s services throughout Japan and the Asia/Pacific region. Superbird-4 will have 23 active transponders in Ku-band and a steerable Ku-band spot beam to increase service where needed. The satellite will also carry high-speed data services, via six t r a n s p o n d e r s in Ka-band. Superbird-4 will have 5.5 kW of p o w e r at e n d of life. This is m a d e possible with two solar wings, each with three panels of silicon solar cells and one panel of dual-junction GaAs solar cells.

5.1 1.9 Crystal Growth in Microgravity There is another aspect of GaAs in space that merits brief mention in this section: the possibility of substantially improved materials processing, such as better crystals. Several research programmes have aimed to understand better and control the crystal growth process, undertaking investigation of, for example, the effects of buoyancy-driven convection on crystal growth. Studies have been conducted into comparisons of GaAs crystals grown from the melt with differing degrees of convective flow, ranging from normal gravity to the near-zero gravity attainable only during orbital space flight. One such experiment was conceived and developed by a team of scientists and engineers at GTE Laboratories Inc. The study was funded jointly by NASA, the Air Force Materials Laboratory and GTE. 132



The space flight e x p e r i m e n t was part of a p r o g r a m m e aimed at understanding the effects of buoyancy-driven convection on the quality of melt-grown GaAs. It was performed in a payload that was self-sufficient, i n c l u d e d two nearly identical crystal g r o w t h furnaces and o p e r a t e d automatically for the many hours needed to melt and regrow the relatively large (1 x 3 inches) crystals.

5.11.10 Microsatellites Another important trend in the development of communications satellites has been increased interest in the micro- or even nanosatellite concept. For example, in early 2000, the Aerospace Corp (El Segundo, CA, USA) and DARPA concluded a pioneering mission to fly the smallest satellites ever placed into orbit. Measuring 4 x 3 x 1 inches and weighing u n d e r half-a-pound, the tethered pair of picosatellites were released from their OPAL (Orbiting Picosatellite Automated Launcher) mother satellite, built by Stanford University students. Validating an array of MEMS RF switches designed by Rockwell Science Center (Thousand Oaks, CA) was the primary goal of the mission, which was funded by the Microsystems Technology Office of DARPA. Picosatellites represent a link toward nanosatellites, envisaged by Aerospace Corporation researchers as alternatives to many large and costly spacecraft flown today. NASA selected Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) as the only non-US supplier for its Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition contracts over the next 5 years. Winning one of six Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts tendered by NAS,~s Goddard Space Flight Center, SSTL could bid on the supply of its flight-proven minisatellite platform for space science and technology missions to all of NASKs centres and other US Government agencies. A tiny, highly integrated, 2 kg 'nanosatellite' SNAP-1 has been built as a research project at Surrey for launch alongside UoSAT-12 in April 1999 and intended to image the 'mother' minisatellite and launch vehicle. Future applications for the nanosatellite are for remote inspection of satellites. Surrey's Nanosat technology provides an exciting, innovative and extremely low cost way to access space. SNAP-1 will demonstrate the feasibility of a standardized modular nanosatellite bus. It will also provide a test-bed for novel microelectronic technologies, particularly a n e w GPS navigation system, APD camera t e c h n o l o g i e s and RISC processors. A contract, awarded by DBS Industries Inc (DBSI), USA, is for a constellation of satellites (E-SAT) to target hard-to-locate utility meters, such as gas and electricity, and other fixed assets first in the USA and then, as operating permits are obtained, in other countries around the world. Low-power transmitters utilizing code-division multiple access (CDMA) technology will transmit usage, safety and other messages to satellites circling the globe in near-polar orbit. All six microsatellites will be designed and built at SSTL's facilities within the Surrey Space Centre, Guildford, UK. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

133


The space market is a growth market. More commercial satellites will be built and launched than ever before in history. However, the market for launch services will not be as robust as it will be for satellite manufacturing. Many of the new satellites will be launched increasingly in batches of two or more, thus limiting the demand for launch vehicles. It is also concluded that the only way to expand the market significantly and create more business for b o t h satellite m a n u f a c t u r e r s and l a u n c h service p r o v i d e r s will be to drastically reduce launch prices.

The market value of GaAs electronic devices in the automotive sector is e s t i m a t e d to be US$331 m i l l i o n in 1999. This will i n c r e a s e to US$654 million by 2004, representing a CAAGR of 16% (see Table 5.38).

Table 5.35 World Automotive Market Discretes (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


28 24 16 11

34 29 19 13

43 36 23 16

54 45 28 19

67 55 34 22

84 68 41 26

Total

79

95

118

146

178

219

Table 5.36 World Automotive Market Digital ICs (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


2.9 3.3 1.9 1.3

3.7 4.1 2.3 1.6

4.6 5.1 2.8 1.8

5.8 6.3 3.4 2.2

7.2 7.7 4.1 2.5

9.0 9.6 4.9 3.0

Total

9.4

11.7

14.3

17.7

21.5

26.5

Table 5.37 World Automotive Market Total MMICs (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

72 81 46 32

82 92 52 37

95 104 59 43

109 118 66 49

125 134 74 57

144 152 83 65

231

263

301

342

390

444



Table 5 . 3 8 World Automotive Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


102 108 64 45

121 125 73 52

142 145 84 60

169 169 97 70

200 197 112 81

237 230 129 94

Total

319

371

431

505

590

690

Today, the electronics content of vehicles imposes severe constraints on component manufacturers by virtue of its demanding price/performance and harsh o p e r a t i n g environment. Moreover, although the total electronics content of a vehicle amounts to only a few per cent of its total value, this is increasing year on year and the industry has many players wanting to offer an increasingly diverse range of products. Suppliers continue to innovate existing component devices and create new ones; they must also comply with ever more stringent r e q u i r e m e n t s for quality, delivery and all-round performance. In most cases the suppliers work closely with their automotive customers either through national/international programmes or through 'special relationships'. A range of technologies designed to help control road traffic, increase safety, reduce pollution and contribute to road-maintenance costs are under way in North America, Japan and Europe. At key points in these systems GaAs devices are likely to play a role. Many of these systems will require the use of high-performance microwave components. The timescales for large volume deployment will mostly be beyond the five year period covered in this study. However, the longer term impact of these developments is expected to be of considerable significance in terms of demand for GaAs (and possibly InP) devices. Electronic and other types of sensors for next-generation automotive systems are being developed at leading laboratories around the world. These include microwave, mm-wave and laser systems. Functions required include: 9 Collision warning. 9 Collision avoidance. 9 Adaptive cruise control. 9 Blind spot coverage. In-vehicle serial communication has evolved strongly over the past few years and is providing system designers with a variety of benefits. Automotive systems are traditionally linked through wiring harnesses or looms strung throughout the vehicle. Over the years, with ever more onboard systems, this has increased weight and made it less easy to design automotive interiors. Moreover, diagnosing system failures has been made less straightforward. All these factors have had the consequence of substantially increasing costs to the consumer and manufacturer. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

135


Table 5.39 Automotive Applications for GaAs Analogue Devices. Vehicle communications

Vehicle control

Automatic debiting (toll roads) Mapping and orientation Vehicle-to-beacon warning systems

Collision avoidance

.

.

.

Near-obstacle detection Doppler road speed measurement

.

Most developments are being sponsored by a n u m b e r of large government programmes such as IVHS in the USA, PROMETHEUS in Europe and AMTICS in Japan. Automatic debiting is being explored in Europe and the USA, in both the in situ monitoring band and at 5.7 GHz (in Italy and France). With many defence and aerospace contractors leading the way, various technologies developed for the military could find commercial applications in 'smart-highways'. For example, Rockwell is promoting an automatic vehiclelocation system based on GPS. It includes a vehicle unit that receives and processes signals from GPS satellites to help dispatchers determine where the vehicle is. The IVHS programme includes: 9 A d v a n c e d Traffic M a n a g e m e n t S y s t e m s t h a t will m a n a g e traffic congestion and electronic tolls. ~ Advanced Traveller Information Systems that include vehicle displays and travel information. ~ Advanced Vehicle Control Systems, an effort that includes guidance systems and controls for autonomous driving. This has long been seen as potentially the largest market opportunity in the automotive sector for GaAs devices. At present, collision avoidance radar (CAR) and near-obstacle detection systems (NODS) are receiving the most attention. A variety of collision warning systems are u n d e r development at frequencies ranging from 10 to 77 GHz. These include the Delco Electronics' Forewarn system, which operates at 10 GHz, and Vorad's CWS, currently available in North America for truck and bus applications. Automotive supply companies are developing low-cost collision warning technologies for the passenger car market. It is expected that these systems will be available by the end of the decade. CARs have not progressed as rapidly as first expected for a variety of reasons. Few of these are technical, for example, US bus company Greyhound fitted its fleet with radar-based collision-warning systems from Eaton Vorad and had to withdraw them. This was due in part to costly upgrades to a frequency that did not interfere with radar detectors. But their overriding concern is with safety and the failsafe requirement of systems in the light of potentially huge lawsuits against manufacturers should a system cause injury. However, despite the technological advances, the main obstacles to the implementation of these systems are legal a n d legislative issues, rather than



technological-- for example, how much control will consumers be willing to h a n d over, and to whom. For vehicle-to-vehicle c o m m u n i c a t i o n and/or vehicle-to-roadway communication for controlling the positioning and speed of the vehicles, control and decision-making will be handled by the roadway infrastructure. This requires keeping track of all the cars and helping to make decisions as to where they should move. Bosch, Rockwell, Siemens, N i p p o n Denso and TRW are a m o n g s t those companies that have worked on smart-car systems. Delco Electronics has d e m o n s t r a t e d some of the most advanced collision-warning systems: the Forewarn systems, in production. One of these is used to alert school bus drivers to the presence of children in their blind spots when the vehicle is stopped, and the other is a side-detection system for heavy-duty trucks. Siemens' Ali-Scout field test in Oakland County, Michigan, allows twoway c o m m u n i c a t i o n b e t w e e n v e h i c l e s a n d i n f r a r e d b e a c o n s at intersections. A central command system monitors how much ground the vehicles cover and, in the case of congestion, suggests alternative routes using in-car information displays. There are many cost and t e c h n o l o g y tradeoffs for these systems and a c o n s i d e r a b l e n u m b e r of t e c h n o l o g i e s are u n d e r c o n s i d e r a t i o n . Alpha I n d u s t r i e s is d e v e l o p i n g several MMICs i n c l u d i n g v o l t a g e - c o n t r o l l e d oscillators (VCOs), driver amplifiers, doublers, downconverters and PIN switches for 77 GHz systems, which is the frequency allocated in Europe for collision avoidance. Daimler-Benz is the main European centre of activity. The automotive electronics market continues to be very important for a growing range of compound semiconductors. To put it another way, more and more c o m p o u n d semiconductor devices are finding their way into a wider range of vehicles. This is for two reasons: these devices offer functionality and performance that meet the existing needs of automotive systems; and, most importantly, in this very price-sensitive sector they are available at competitive prices. The uptake of CAR systems for vehicles largely remains an 'optional extra' on high-end saloons. It is still a few more years away before we will see CAR achieving significant permeation of the vehicle market. Initially, CAR systems were fabricated using hybrid circuitry comprising discrete devices but this approach is expensive and therefore not suited to the automotive electronics sector. The goal of this arena is to achieve very low cost p r o d u c t i o n - - and this is only possible with a MMIC a p p r o a c h - and preferably all of the active circuitry would be in a single MMIC. For the a u t o m o t i v e m a r k e t it is e s s e n t i a l to have t h e m i n i m u m n u m b e r of c o m p o n e n t s , a m i n i m u m sized m o d u l e and m a x i m i z e d reliability and stability. However, the single MMIC solution is some way off. Nevertheless, progress is being made. For example, MMIC supplier UMS (Orsay, France), u n d e r the auspices of the AWARE/LOCOMOTIVE panEuropean R&D programme, prototyped a 77 GHz front-end system using only four MMICs. The receiver is based on the straightforward GaAs Schottky Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

137


diode process but the o t h e r three MMICs utilize a very high f r e q u e n c y PHEMT process: the 38 GHz VCO and reference MMICs are i m p l e m e n t e d using UMS' 0.25/~m PHEMT process and the 76.5 GHz transmitter uses the 0.135/.~m PHEMT process. Emerging developments of 76 GHz automotive radars have stimulated the realization of low-cost MMIC chip sets for RF front-end modules. Highly integrated transmit/receive (T/R) MMICs have been developed but their chip sizes are still too large. NEC Corp has d e m o n s t r a t e d a miniature 76 GHz band transmitter and receiver using MMICs. The MMICs have a small chip size, facilitating the realization of low-cost front-end modules. Chip size reduction was achieved via a single-chip coplanar MMIC where low-noise amplifiers, a medium power amplifier, a mixer and a rat-race coupler were combined. Smaller chip size implies lower MMIC fabrication cost. The MMICs w e r e f a b r i c a t e d u s i n g the 0 . 1 8 / ~ m - g a t e AIGaAs/InGaAs p s e u d o m o r p h i c h e t e r o j u n c t i o n FET (PM-HJFET) technology. The device structure was designed for mm-wave high-power applications. A key factor in the successful penetration of GaAs devices in such systems will be competitive pricing of complete modules. All players in the area are a d o p t i n g MMICs packaged so as to be compatible with a u t o m a t e d chip assembly equipment. This will be a major contributory factor in the aim of achieving the lowest possible system cost. These modules will consequently also be of very m u c h smaller overall d i m e n s i o n s and this will facilitate installation within the tight confines of vehicles. Automotive Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is desirable to maintain a driverselected headway interval between vehicles and is a promising growth area. The mechanical cruise control has been standard on many North American vehicles, w h e r e a set s p e e d is sustained irrespective of a m b i e n t traffic conditions. First-generation ACC monitors the headway interval, providing audible warning or retarding the vehicle when the inter-vehicle gap becomes potentially hazardous according to a preset distance. Short-distance sensor functions, such as park distance control systems, use ultrasonic acoustic technology. This is a suitable opportunity for low-cost microwave sensors. These have several advantages: they are robust and can be mounted invisibly, e.g. behind plastic bumpers. Follow-on-generation smart systems automatically maintain the safe distance governed by throttle and brake control. ACC laser-based radar systems have b e e n installed in a few J a p a n e s e executive saloons, w h e r e a s in E u r o p e companies such as Mercedes prefer radar-based ACC and in North America applications in saloons are catching up the early lead in haulage vehicles and Greyhound buses. The next stage in the evolution of this technology will be ACC integrated with an antilock braking system (ABS) that has reduced highway accidents in the haulage sector.

138



The ongoing successful penetration of these technologies is dependent on the further drastic reduction of unit prices. Cost is also important for the related automotive sector, that of roadside sensing, information presentation and signalling. Under consideration for some time has been the concept of embedded sensors at the roadside to monitor and control traffic flow. These are still deemed to be too expensive for use other than in special sections of highway, such as urban roads or toll roads (e.g. bridges, etc.). Alternatively, the less costly route would be to employ the vehicle as the sensing platform and share the gathered information about weather, traffic flow, etc. to a central computer. All subscribing vehicles would thereby share out up-to-the-minute route guidance. This has been set up by Mercedes-Benz. Several models have been equipped with radio systems that gather and transmit data from onboard rain and light sensors coupled with a satellite navigation system and stability sensors. Frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar has the advantages of low transmission power due to a unity duty cycle, low c o m p o n e n t count compared to pulsed radar and the ability of radar to see through adverse w e a t h e r c o n d i t i o n s . Because of the c o n t i n u e d i n t e r e s t in a u t o m a t e d highways and automatic cruise control systems, many advanced systems have been developed. In order to have a fully automated system for highways or cruise control, data in addition to the forward looking range/velocity are required. Awareness of the presence of objects in the vehicle's blind spots - - to the sides of the vehicle and at the rear of the vehicle - - is important. A blind spot is that point along the side and roughly in the middle of a vehicle where the usual combination of mirrors does not provide coverage. Blind spots are a common cause of sideswipe accidents during highway lane changes. This can be avoided by locating several sensors at various locations on the vehicle, such as on a tractor-trailer. At the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, USA, a n o v e l s i n g l e - c a r d FMCW r a d a r system has b e e n demonstrated for side and rear detection for fleets of delivery and work vehicles. A complete s~#tem is fabricated on one Duroid substrate with a monopulse processing circuit on the backside. The single-card FMCW radar is capable of accurate ranging of targets within 20 m and azimuth tracking to + 1-10 ~ and was prototyped for under US$150. Monopulse processing at the IF allows the use of inexpensive components and simplifies signal processing issues. It also allows the radar system to operate without electrically or mechanically steered antennas. This is highly advantageous in automotive and trucking applications, where the radar transceiver is vulnerable to harsh weather conditions and impacts. Mercedes-Benz became the first to launch a commercial CAR--- the 'Distronic' s y s t e m - - but only as an optional extra on its S-Class saloons.


139


In other sectors of the automotive marketplace, RF components are used to provide vehicle identification information for automated toll collection. Highperformance microwave components offer one possible way of providing lowcost capabilities for assisted braking or a u t o n o m o u s collision avoidance capabilities. RF technology is used to send coded signals from a keychain t r a n s m i t t e r to p r o v i d e reliable keyless e n t r y from a distance, w i t h o u t removing the transmitter from purse or pocket. Automotive distance warning systems comprising front, side and backup radar sensors monitor the distance and speed of proximate objects, alerting the driver of potential collisions. Already, first-generation forward-looking ACC radars based on hybrid circuits using GaAs transistors are steadily being supplanted by radar modules employing MMICs. A n u m b e r of agencies are looking to employ the MMIC in conjunction with new packaging formats to achieve lower-cost mm-wave modules. For example, workers at Daimler-Benz have adopted MMICs from an Infineon automotive radar chipset using flipchip technology: this approach is attractive in terms of production simplicity. The 77 GHz s e n s o r m o d u l e for a u t o m o t i v e r a d a r a p p l i c a t i o n s is completely uniplanar with no via holes, no backside metaUization and is thus very attractive in terms of production simplicity and cost. Precrash detection is foreseen to be able to increase the passenger safety. One possible new function is the smart airbag that is inflated adaptively by taking into account manifold sensor i n f o r m a t i o n on the collision and o c c u p a n t situation. Although acceleration or p r e s s u r e sensors trigger conventional airbag systems, the use of a radar p r e c r a s h s e n s o r could improve the reliability of the airbags, especially with respect to the side airbag, which is the most critical one. In the future, precrash sensors may also be used to activate reversible safety systems such as pneumatic airbags, electronically activated safety belts, neck restraints and kneepads. In addition to the various radar sensors around the car, further in-car sensors (e.g. optical 3D cameras for occupant detection) will support the safety and comfort of the passengers. Previously an elusive market opportunity for GaAs MMICs, CAR will likely become important some time in the next five years. Industry participants are more optimistic of this coming to pass than previously. The timing is less sure than the certainty that legislation and technology will move the industry steadily in this direction. But this will be more of a coat-tail effect, whereby the automotive industry can capitalize on the improving economics in other industry sectors. As the average price of RF components falls they will come within the interest of designers of automotive onboard systems. For the foreseeable future there are high prospects for the adaptation of existing technologies from other sectors within the automotive environment: further integration of sensors and systems with communications; and moving on from a hand-carried cellphone towards integrated wireless systems. These will enable vehicle owners not only to keep in touch at all times but also to c h e c k on the status a n d w h e r e a b o u t s of the vehicle. This has g r e a t ramifications for functionality, as well as security. Already, the on-line Mercedes-Benz Community has been set up. Upon purchase of a new model, 140



the customer is given access to an on-line service from the car, at home or at the office. These services would include dynamic route guidance to avoid traffic jams, as well as on-line concierge services for making reservations, paying bills and even making mail-order purchases. In addition, the COMAND display on the car's centre console could be linked to a miniature palm-top computer that not only stores addresses, phone numbers and other files but movies and music as well. It is also possible that wireless telematics technology could transfer this type of digital information directly into the car. Using a cellphone or satellite radio, p a s s e n g e r s w o u l d be able to read a n d send email, surf the Intemet and establish links to their personal computer back at the office or at home. Tele Aid, the built-in emergency call system that is standard on nearly every 2000-model Mercedes-Benz, could be expanded to include additional services such as Tele-Diagnosis. For example, in the event of a breakdown, the driver can push an SOS button to contact the Mercedes-Benz Client Assistance Center, where specialists can speak to the client via a special cellular line. At the same time, the system transmits vehicle i n f o r m a t i o n and location (tapping into the car's GPS navigation) to help technicians find the car quickly. Although this service is already available to most owners of 2000model Mercedes-Benz cars, transmitted information in the near future could include engine and chassis management data that would allow a technician to diagnose and even fix the problem via the phone. Another key component of such systems is the integration of GPS. Already this is used to manage commercial truck and van delivery fleets, giving dispatchers constant data on vehicle positions and allowing vehicles to be rer o u t e d in real time to m i n i m i z e fuel costs a n d e m i s s i o n s into the atmosphere. Such systems are already becoming important for trucking companies. For example, a joint venture was formed earlier this year by Orbital Sciences Corp and The Hertz Corp, called Navigation Solutions L.L.C. This is to complete the installation of 50 000 satellite-based car navigation systems that form the basis for the Hertz one-of-a-kind 'NeverLost' rental car service. This will be the largest fleet d e p l o y m e n t of satellite-based car navigation systems in automotive history. Navigation Solutions will install and maintain 50 000 incar systems in Hertz rental cars located in over 50 cities in the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia. Navigation Solutions is p u r c h a s i n g these 50 000 navigation systems from Orbital's Magellan Corp. The technology is maturing rapidly and several key components of practical CAR systems have been demonstrated in the past year. The automotive environment can be one of the most adverse experienced by c o m p o n e n t s , and suppliers need to continually improve the robustness within price constraints. Electric vehicles will improve the markets for a wide range of components. It will increase the take-up of p o w e r m a n a g e m e n t modules, and the electronics content and component count will be higher than a conventionally powered vehicle. In-between is the 'hybrid', which has Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

141


both a conventional engine plus an electrical generator/motor. It will use the diesel engine on the motorway, for example, and be propelled by the electric power unit in towns. In the automotive environment the maker is also concerned with preventing component overheating from external heat sources. This is often the case when, for example, the electronics is located close to the engine. Modern trends to ever-more-confined engine spaces or hotter running only aggravate these problems. It will thus continue to be one of the major preoccupations of all designers and makers of automotive electronics systems to ensure that they reach the best compromise of all these factors within a price regime that satisfies everyone. Traditionally, electronic circuitry has been located remotely from the adverse t h e r m a l e n v i r o n m e n t of the e n g i n e c o m p a r t m e n t . However, t h e r e is considerable interest worldwide in bringing them closer together. Already in the laboratories there are discrete devices that can operate at several hundred degrees Celsius. This is well above the region where silicon devices will fail. Similarly, related components from boards to complete modules are being developed to withstand temperatures above the military specified 125~ limit. For the represent time these will command high insertion costs and be used only at critical areas in high-end systems. Silicon carbide (SIC) devices have been developed by such companies as Cree Research in the USA as well as Infineon and Thomson CSF in Europe. This wide-bandgap semiconductor material not only confers blue light emission characteristics but also, devices made from it can operate at much higher temperatures than those made from silicon. It creates new opportunities for many types of monitoring and controlling processes for vehicle engines, etc. The aerospace sector is already looking to install jet engine monitor circuitry in close proximity to hot parts. SiC also has an advantage for power control components and smart power. Fuji Electric in Japan and ABB in Sweden are amongst companies working in this area. Gallium nitride (GaN) also is capable of being d e v e l o p e d into devices for high-temperature operation along diamond, but plans so far have only reached laboratory status. GaAs is another possible high-temperature e l e c t r o n i c m a t e r i a l a n d has b e e n s h o w n to w o r k at up to 500~ b u t proportionately less activity is under way in this area. However, specially formed silicon materials are likely to make the greatest strides. This is because of the great maturity of the silicon mainstream and also because there are many other applications to bring on the technology. Silicon-on-sapphire processes are being developed in the USA (Ibis, Motorola) in Europe (SOITEC, Thomson-CSF, GEC Marconi) and Japan (Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi). Ordinary silicon circuits can operate at up to 200~ (albeit derated in some respects for shorter lifetime) and this can be e x t e n d e d to 350~ Hall Effect ICs are a key c o m p o n e n t in t o d a y ' s fielded Si-based hightemperature electronic systems, and are regarded by the high-temperature electronics (HTE) research community as one of the key 'moving targets' for 142: GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices


components in next-generation sensing applications. Asahi Kasei Electronics in Tokyo, J a p a n , has d e v e l o p e d digital o u t p u t m a g n e t i c s e n s o r s for a p p l i c a t i o n s in electric a p p l i a n c e s , f a c t o r y a u t o m a t i o n e q u i p m e n t , automotive electronics and a variety of temperature-sensitive applications. The c o m p o u n d t h a t has t a k e n the d e v i c e s a s t e p f u r t h e r is i n d i u m a n t i m o n i d e (InSb) and with it, Asahi Kasei's Hall Effect ICs can deliver without contact and provide a stable duty cycle and a superior sensitivity of 30 gauss. The increased sensitivity means that Hall Effect ICs, with their narrow and stable dynamic range of magnetic flux, can operate in a much smaller magnetic field. In addition, the magnetic switch p o i n t remains virtually unchanged because mechanical and thermal stresses are negligible. It has b e e n inevitable that with the p e r v a s i o n of e l e c t r o n i c s systems t h r o u g h o u t the vehicle moves are being made to link these systems with serial n e t w o r k s . This serial m u l t i p l e x c o m m u n i c a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y is c o m m o n l y called m u l t i p l e x or simply, 'MUX'. MUX c o m m u n i c a t i o n is typically achieved via single wire, twisted-pair wires or plastic optical fibre. This method greatly helps to reduce the size and complexity of the vehicle's wiring harness as well as providing other benefits such as improved reliability and redundancy. O n b o a r d self-test and diagnostics are a n o t h e r area of prime concern for automotive designers: so-called 'smart diagnostics'. With present systems encompassing safety, convenience, performance, pollution, comfort, etc., and now also braking, engine management, airbags, power climate control, etc., we see t h a t f u r t h e r e x p a n s i o n i n t o n a v i g a t i o n s t a t i o n - k e e p i n g , c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , etc. will m e a n that the vehicle has a very c o m p l e x interlinked electronics system on board. This will require sophisticated test and online m o n i t o r i n g - - so-called Am I OK' testing. This will be even more important when vehicles will be required to interact with so-called 'smart highways'. One of the biggest growth areas will be in the driver information sector: instruments, navigation, etc. Other key areas of automotive electronics that will have an impact on the supply of electronic components include: 9 Vehicle security of even the most basic vehicles is a growing fraction of the vehicle's total cost. In most respects, the security measures deployed in all types of vehicle are increasingly reliant on electronics. For example, keyless entry via a hand controller based on an infrared light-emitting diode (IRLED) and detector. In fact, security has become one of the most sophisticated areas of vehicle electronics, using advanced hardware and software to thwart the thief and reassure the owner. 9 Electronic engine control systems consisting of sensing devices that continuously measure the operating conditions of the engine to provide i n c r e a s e d accuracy and adaptability in o r d e r to m i n i m i z e e x h a u s t emissions and fuel consumption while providing optimum driveability. These p r e s e n t l y use microelectronic circuitry but increased use is c o n s i d e r e d of optoelectronic devices such as fibre optics to enable remote sensing within harsh ambients. 9 Ignition systems have to provide precise control over the explosion of the injected c o m p r e s s e d air/fuel mixture. The e v o l u t i o n to i m p r o v e d Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

143


precision and reliability in the ignition system has come about due to the improvements in semiconductor devices, providing the requisite function in an adverse environment. In particular, high-voltage power transistors, bipolar analogue ICs and microcontrollers have been o p t i m i z e d to withstand the adverse u n d e r - t h e - h o o d e n v i r o n m e n t with respect to temperature and RF, etc. The industry will also require the ability to manufacture cheaper components and yet retain functionality or maybe even improve upon it, and ensure that they will last for the life span of the vehicle without malfunction.

The market value of GaAs electronic devices in the category under the generic title of 'other' is estimated to be US$82 million in 1999. This will increase to US$124 million by 2004, representing a CAAGR of 12% (see Table 5.43).

Table 5.40 World Other GaAs Electronic Discrete Devices Market (US$ Million). North America Japan Europe RoW Total

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9

4.5 4.5 4.4 4.6

5.2 5.1 5.0 5.4

6.0 5.8 5.6 6.4

6.9 6.5 6.3 7.5

7.9 7.4 7.1 8.8

15.6

18.0

20.7

23.8

27.2

31.2

Table 5.41 World Other Digital IC Market (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4

1.6 1.6 1.6 1.7

1.9 1.8 1.8 2.0

2.2 2.1 2.0 2.3

2.5 2.4 2.3 2.7

2.9 2.7 2.6 3.2

Total

5.6

6.5

7.5

8.6

9.9

11.4

Table 5.42 World Other GaAs MMIC Market (US$ Million).

144

1999

2000


14 14 14 14

Total

56


2001

2002

2003

2004

16 17 16 15

18 19 17 16

20 22 19 17

23 25 21 18

25 29 23 18

64

70

78

87

95


Table 5 . 4 3 World Other Market Total: Discretes + ICs (US$ Million). 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004


20 20 20 20

22 23 22 21

25 26 24 23

28 30 27 25

32 34 30 28

36 39 33 30

Total

80

88

98

110

124

138

There are still many more upcoming innovative wireless applications, such as RF tags, w i r e l e s s s e c u r i t y a n d r e m o t e m e t e r r e a d i n g u s i n g GaAs IC components. The applications discussed above account for the majority of d e m a n d for GaAs analogue devices. O t h e r applications a c c o u n t e d for 7% of MMIC d e m a n d and 6% of FET d e m a n d in 1995 and cover a wide range of niche applications, examples of which are given below. In high-performance instrumentation, direct digital synthesizers use G a ~ VCOs and other devices. A frequency synthesizer is a device that synthesizes a new frequency based upon a reference source. Direct Digital Synthesizers (DDS) are a fast emerging a p p r o a c h to this area that essentially c o n s t r u c t the waveform from the ground up (synthesizes the frequency) rather than combining or controlling existing oscillators. The advantages include inexpensive high resolution, fast switching and good phase noise. Microwave Landing Systems operating at C-band typically use G a ~ devices and are increasingly being deployed due to the implementation of stringent air traffic regulations. S i e m e n s Plessey Systems (SPS) is p r o d u c i n g the P-SCAN 2000, a microwave landing system for use in the UK. The P-SCAN 2000 uses active antennas, each of which is a fully filled array with one GaAs phase shifter per element. Search and Rescue T r a n s p o n d e r s (SART), which are part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, operate at X-band. GEC Marconi offers an X-band MMIC with integral T/R switch and high~ linearity VCO for low-cost SART applications. Further up the spectrum there are applications such as mm-wave radiometer imaging systems that use the propagation windows of 35, 94, 140 and 220 GHz for imaging thermal radiation from objects in space and on earth. TRW has d e m o n s t r a t e d W-band MMIC receivers for such applications. Microwave radar is used for long-range measurements and to identify moving objects. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

145


Gallium Arsenide Crystal Growth

In this chapter a background and overview of developments in the principal technological R&D and production processes for gallium arsenide (GaAs) devices is provided. The main focus is on the most i m p o r t a n t enabling technology for the p r o d u c t i o n of the p r e s e n t and future generations of microelectronic devices. This process is crystal growth and involves the following sequence: 9 9 9 9 9

bulk growth of single crystals. epitaxial growth of semiconductor single-crystal layers; or ion implantation; device fabrication, i.e. gate and contact formation, etc. packaging and test.

Bulk growth has been covered in the previous chapter; this chapter will follow the process sequence from epitaxial growth through to packaging. A l t h o u g h this is in c o m m o n with o p t o e l e c t r o n i c devices, GaAs m i c r o e l e c t r o n i c device f a b r i c a t i o n is b e c o m i n g less r e l i a n t on ion implantation than the growth of epitaxial layers to create new-generation higher performance devices that are impossible to make by ion implantation. Earlier device types comprise semiconductor materials built u p o n identical substrate materials, i.e. GaAs on GaAs, and so on, whereas virtually all of the new generation of devices require the use of other substrates. This process is termed 'heteroepitaxial' growth. The epitaxial processes that are covered in this chapter are as follows: 9 Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE). 9 Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). These are the preferred m e t h o d s for the fabrication of most of today's electronic devices. Previously, vapour phase epitaxy (VPE) was the main technology used for the mass production of metal semiconductor field effect Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

147


transistors (MESFETs), and is still used for a range of devices such as Gunn diodes and varactors, etc. Newer generations of devices such as high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and heterostructure bipolar transistors (HBTs) have been built on the use of the more precisely controlled MBE or MOVPE processes. MBE is in use to mass-produce other types of device, in particular aluminium-gallium arsenide (AIGaAs) diode lasers, whereas MOVPE is very popular for LEDs. Today, virtually all of the principal suppliers of epitaxial growth equipment manufacture and supply systems that are capable of precision growth of G a ~ and related semiconductors. Since the previous edition of the report, each s u p p l i e r has l a u n c h e d m a c h i n e s d e d i c a t e d for the m u l t i w a f e r m a s s production of these materials. In most cases this encompasses two types of reactor, each sharing common features to enable users to migrate upwards from R&D m a c h i n e s to full-scale p r o d u c t i o n . Several of these notable commercial offerings from the major players are described herein. The industry-favoured approach of ion-implantation-based fabrication of devices is, however, likely to continue for the foreseeable future. New to this report is coverage of in situ monitoring (ISM) of epitaxial growth processes. ISM has become a very important tool in the p r e p a r a t i o n and control of epilayer growth for a wide range of materials but has particular application to a wide range of semiconductors. It is expected that within a few years this technique---which is really a family of techniques---will become standard p r a c t i c e t h r o u g h o u t the e l e c t r o n i c s i n d u s t r y a n d e s p e c i a l l y in t h e manufacture of high-frequency, high-power electronic devices and, of course, many types of optoelectronic devices. GaAs is second only to silicon in terms of maturity and understanding of its properties. However, there are some fundamental issues such as defects, material constants, recombination mechanisms etc. that have yet to be fully resolved, especially for the larger d i a m e t e r wafers. At the device level, reliability and other issues such as the role of dislocations and their effects are becoming i m p o r t a n t hence the interest in alternative crystal growth techniques such as vertical gradient freeze (VGF). On the open market, manufacturers of epitaxy equipment have developed their own proprietary processes that are an essential selling point for most customers. As per tradition, these processes were developed either in-house or via collaborative projects with universities and device companies. Such process technologies, which are basically 'recipes' for specific devices, are in widescale use. There are certain patent issues - - that from Rockwell in particular that relates to the pioneering work done by H. Manasevit et al. some two decades ago - but these have not prevented widespread use. It is clear that certain devices can be produced by more than one route. For example, AIGa~-based types of field effect transistors (FETs) can be produced equally well by either MBE or MOVPE. Preferences are more subjective than technical and one company will prefer one technique because of its longer term familiarity with it. For devices such as HBTs it is not generally agreed that one technique is preferable, even though there are technical reasons for 148



MOVPE over MBE relating to incompatibility with the required phosphorus c o m p o u n d s . Several c o m p a n i e s have c h o s e n to equip their fabrication facilities with both techniques in order to be best prepared for the challenges of future market supply. Other companies rely on merchant epiwafer supply rather than having installed capacity. As a result, it is expected that neither technique will gain dominance for the next couple of years. However, by the end of the period of this report it may well t u r n o u t that MBE has lost out to MOVPE if the i n d i u m g a l l i u m phosphide (InGaP) HBT-type of device continues to gain a market share. In conclusion, the new-generation family of GaAs-based devices would likely not have been possible without the precision and versatility of the growth techniques described in this chapter. Epitaxy will likely continue to be the foundation stone for all present and following generations of microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Their importance is likely to continue to increase as even better process control and yields are established.

The materials supply tier of the GaAs industry is very well established and difficult for new entrants to gain a foothold, so strong is the presence of existing suppliers. The competitive scenario is a moving target continually being refined to offer improved substrates at ever more competitive prices. Specifications are beginning to settle down but industry-wide there exist special parameters that are unique to one or another customers. This makes for a difficult supplier market. It is not straightforward to achieve volume orders of a standard product. Not being able to p r o d u c e to one or few product specifications is in contrast to the silicon substrate industry, which has been able to achieve economies of scale and very low-priced substrates. Achieving parity is likely to remain one of the major preoccupations of the GaAs substrate business. Success is doubtful because the customer base does not equally share the interest. Pricing is a key force in the business of electronics. It is absolutely vital to be able to produce devices at commercially desirable prices. The pricing can be broken down into several stages corresponding to the fabrication process: 9 9 9 9

Substrates. Epitaxy. Device fabrication. Packaging.

The role of the substrate in these matters is a significant contributing factor. At the time of writing they are generally assumed to be as shown in Table 6.1. Also i n c l u d e d are r e p r e s e n t a t i v e p r i c e s for o t h e r c o m m e r c i a l semiconductors, for comparative purposes.


149


Table 6.1 Comparative Prices of Materials. Material Sapphire per w a f e r Silicon carbide per in 2 Gallium nitride per m m 2 GaAs (Sl), 50 m m per in 2 GaAs (Sl), 75 m m per in 2 GaAs (Sl), 1 0 0 m m per in 2 GaAs (Sl), 1 5 0 m m per in 2 GaAs (SC), 50 m m per in 2 GaAs (SC), 75 m m per in 2 GaAs (SC), 1 0 0 m m per in 2 GaAs (SC), 1 5 0 m m per in 2 For LEDs by LPE (unpolished), 5 0 m m w a f e r For LEDs by M O V P E (polished), 50 m m w a f e r SOS per cm 2 Silicon per cm 2 Indium arsenide per in 2 Indium a n t i m o n i d e per in 2

Price (US$) 35 500 600 40 25 15 17 30 25 35 N/A 12 15 50 0.5 120 120

SI = semi-insulating; SC = semiconducting; LED = light-emitting diode; LPE = liquid-phase-epitaxy; SOS = silicon-on-sapphire.

In the USA a n u m b e r of DARPA-supported p r o g r a m m e s have s u p p o r t e d 100 mm and 150 mm diameter substrate development. Efforts to improve substrate quality are in progress worldwide and are expected to lead to lower prices and higher device yield. The general consensus was that the USA had b e e n investing in t e c h n o l o g y for several years and was ahead, but the Japanese industry was now spending more and starting to catch up. Semi-insulating (SI) GaAs is grown as bulk crystals, k n o w n as ingots or boules, from which individual wafers are then prepared. Single-crystal G a ~ can be grown by controlled freezing of a melt in a boat or ampoule but, more typically, by Czochralski techniques, which allow the crystal to be grown with a free surface. The most established m e t h o d is liquid-encapsulated Czochralski (LEC). Horizontal Bridgman (HB) can also be used, but HB is not well suited for producing large SI wafers and is primarily used to grow the smaller, doped wafers used by the optoelectronics industry. Modifications of the LEC and HB methods, such as vertical gradient freeze (VGF), vertical Bridgman (VB), and vapouropressure controlled Czochralski (VCZ) are also b e i n g d e v e l o p e d . VGF in p a r t i c u l a r has e m e r g e d as a significant force in the market over the past two years.

150



Single-crystal SI GaAs is difficult to grow. Both gallium and arsenic must be purified to at least 99.99999%. The different vapour pressures of gallium and arsenic complicate the formation of Ga/~ with perfect stoichiometry. To avoid decomposition into its separate constituents, G a ~ must be grown in an overpressure of arsenic vapour. The respective advantages and disadvantages of the crystal growth techniques used in the R&D manufacture of SI G a ~ are shown in Table 6.2.

Table 6.2 Comparison of Methods for Bulk Crystal Growth of Sl GaAs. Technical features Low EPD capability EPD uniformity Length scale-up Size scale-up /n situ

monitoring

Commercial features Equipment cost Operator dependence Process maturity SI wafer price

LEC

HB/HGF

VGF

VB

VCZ

Poor

Good

Very good

Very good

Good

Poor Good

Moderate Good Poor Good

Good Good

Good

Poor

Good

Good

Good Very good Very good

Good

Good

Poor

Poor

Good

High

Low

Low

Low

High

High

Medium

Low

Low

High

Medium Medium

Low Medium

Very low N/A

Very high High Low High

EPD = etch pit density SI GaAs is also routinely subjected to post-growth ingot annealing. Annealing improves the uniformity of wafers, but because the process is difficult to control, differences from ingot to ingot and wafer to wafer can be a problem. F u r t h e r m o r e , the issue of arsenic p r e c i p i t a t i o n , w h i c h leads to nonstoichiometry and impaired SI properties, is not always satisfactorily resolved by conventional annealing. Multiwafer annealing of GaAs is more stoichiometric, whereas as-grown and ingot-annealed GaAs are arsenic rich.


151


Wafer annealing is also i m p o r t a n t for perfecting VGF materials. Semiinsulating electrical properties are established through a multi-step postgrowth annealing process developed by Freiberger and tailored specifically for this Iow-EPD material. These epiwafer-ready substrates are suitable for both MBE and MOCVD applications. Other techniques a p p e a r in the literature from time to time. These are variants of the basic traditional process. However, it is industry practice to keep the important improvements a closely guarded secret. It is a general truism that if a process change becomes common knowledge it may well have outlived its usefulness.

6.3.1 Liquid-encapsulated Czochralski In the LEC m e t h o d , GaAs is synthesized from gallium and arsenic in a pressurized and heated crucible. The melt is covered with boric oxide (BzO3) to prevent arsenic from escaping. A schematic representation of this method is given in Figure 6.1. Under computer control, a seed single-crystal on a shaft is lowered through the boric oxide cap and then raised at about 50-100 m m / h and rotated, while the crucible is rotated in the opposite direction. A cylindrical ingot is pulled from the melt, and the diameter is primarily determined by the rate of pull. LEC growth produces an SI crystal without added dopants. The key drawback of the LEC method is that the thermal gradients present during crystal growth can cause dislocations and other stress-related defects,

Figure 6.1 Schematic Representation of the LEC Method.

Rotatingshaft High pressure (argon-filled) growth chamber )ed crystal

Growing~ single crystal of GaAs v "boule 0 or 0 ingot" 0 Pyrolytic

0 0 0

0

boron

nitride

RF heating coils

Boric oxide

cap "liquid encapsulant"

Molten"~..~

GaAs

Contra rotating shaft

152



therefore it cannot produce wafers with the very low defect levels and low stress required for some applications. Recent years have seen major improvements in the quality of LEC-grown GaAs, driven largely by advances made in the elimination of residual contaminants in the starting materials. Another key area of development is to maximize the single crystal yield per ingot by increasing melt sizes, thus increasing manufacturing efticiencies. M/A-COM, for example, with support from the Title IIl Program embarked on an effort to maximize the yield of 100 mm crystals from large melts. It achieved a breakthrough with the successful growth of a 22 kg, 100 mm diameter, single-crystal GaAs boule pulled from 24 kg of melt. These ingots, which are single-crystal seed to tail, produce 400 wafers each. Modifications to the growth process could produce ingots up to 50 kg, bringing GaAs into the realm of silicon.

6.3.2 Vertical Gradient Freeze VGF is a much more recent development in commercial crystal processing. It is derived from the earliest crystal growth method, the Bridgman process. The drawback of this process is that crystals cannot be made SI owing to contamination from the quartz vessels used. These are replaced by boron nitride to prevent contamination and thus render the crystal SI. A schematic representation of the VGF method is given in Figure 6.2.


153


One of the initially touted attractions of VGF was, akin to HB, its significantly lower density of defects such as crystal delocations. These defects cause device degradation, shortened lifetime, etc., which are acutely undesirable in susceptible optoelectronic devices such as laser diodes. However, it has proved so far to be the case that electronic devices such as MMICs are less vulnerable to defects than previously thought. In common with LEC, VGF is capable of producing circular wafers requiring minimal post-growth shaping. It has also been shown to yield comparably good numbers of wafers per ingot. As integration levels grow, epitaxy becomes more widespread, substrate diameters become larger and there is increasing demand for substrates with both lower dislocation densities (EPD) and higher mechanical strength. Several methods can produce wafers with EPDs orders of magnitude lower than LEC (which ranges from 10 000 to 100 000 cm 2) and w i t h o u t the limitations of HB. The four main m e t h o d s all work by m i n i m i z i n g the temperature differentials that occur in crystal growth. The greatest present disadvantage of VGF is its price p r e m i u m over LEC, attributable mainly to the economies of scale achieved by the larger LEC suppliers. However, VGF suppliers have been making strenuous efforts to reduce this disparity by, for example, relocating production where overheads are proportionately lower. In the USA, commercialization of VGF has been pioneered by AXT. To cope with demand, additional capacity is in place at its Fremont facility together with a new plant in PR China. AXT has seen d e m a n d for VGF Iow-EPD GaAs substrates as customers have been substantially increasing ordering patterns to match higher device demand. In May, AXT announced its plan to approximately triple GaAs substrate capacity by the end of the third quarter of 2001. The expansion is aimed at relieving some of the near-term industry shortage, particularly for 150 mm substrates. In VGF growth, the polycrystal charge in a pyrolytic b o r o n nitride (pBN) crucible is heated in a multi-zone furnace. Crystal growth is initiated by melting the charge back to an appropriately oriented seed and then reducing the temperature gradient to cool the melt from the seed. The crystallization process is precisely controlled by electronically varying the t e m p e r a t u r e profile of the multi-zone furnace. Growth in low axial and radial t e m p e r a t u r e gradients is c o m b i n e d with d i a m e t e r c o n t r o l i m p o s e d by a crucible, and does not r e q u i r e a large temperature gradient to freeze the crystal quickly. This reduces the strain, and dislocations in the crystals are typically an order of magnitude lower than LEC material. The crucibles are made of pBN and chromium doping is not required. VGF has no moving parts and the temperature profile in the furnace moves the freezing point from seed to tail. It was originally developed by AT&T Bell Laboratories in the late 1970s. 154



The main drawbacks of VGF are that the sophisticated m o n i t o r i n g and feedback processes in an LEC puller are not included (because diameter control is inherent in the process). However, the simpler mechanism results in reduced capital e q u i p m e n t and labour expenses, potentially leading to lower cost wafers. The speed of crystal formation in VGF is rapidly improving: 100 m m s u b s t r a t e s have b e e n available for s o m e t i m e a n d 150 m m substrates are in development. VGF substrates from a Freiberger Compound Materials (FCM) process for 100 m m SI material became available in 2000. These substrates have guaranteed state-of-the-art structural and electrical properties coupled with at. epiwafer-ready surface. FCM also have a growth process for 150 m m diameter ingots in development. The furnace is designed to accommodate crucibles up to 360 mm long, and with a maximum length to width ratio of 2, thereby allowing growth of either 100 or 150 mm ingots. Other VGF crystal growers include Wafer Technology, but these products are principally aimed at the optoelectronics market. The VB process produces crystals with similar characteristics to VGF and is also potentially a low cost technology. In VB growth, the seed is placed at the bottom of the crucible and the assembly is then sealed. The heating zones of the furnace travel in a vertical, as opposed to horizontal, direction. Because the heaters are placed very close to the crystal, HB-like temperature gradients are obtained, giving low-stress, low-defect substrates.

6.3.3 Other Technologies 6.3. 3. 1 Horizontal Bridgman In an HB crystal growth system, pre-synthesized polycrystalline GaAs is placed in a boat with a seed single-crystal at one end. The boat and a small a m o u n t of arsenic are sealed in a quartz ampoule, which is inserted in a horizontal furnace with multiple heating elements. The elements are moved over the ampoule and crystal growth follows the temperature front, forming a solid ingot.


155


A key advantage of HB is that the shallow temperature gradient results in a very low level of defects in the crystal. But HB has several drawbacks for SI production: to produce the SI properties, silicon impurities from the quartz ampoule have to be compensated for by adding chromium, which is generally (although not always) undesirable; the growth boat is not round, and to produce round wafers is a very low yielding process; and HB is not practical for growing wafers larger than 75 mm in diameter. HB therefore has limited opportunities for further development, and for SI GaAs it is restricted to niche market applications.

6.3.3.2 Vapour-controlled Czochralski VCZ is essentially a modification of LEC. Crystal growth is performed in a gastight vessel m a i n t a i n e d at a high t e m p e r a t u r e . The heaters are located outside the vessel and the system is sealed inside a water-cooled highpressure chamber. The G a ~ seed is placed in the melt, covered with B203 and pulled up while rotating it, causing the formation of a GaAs single crystal; 100 mm diameter crystals have been grown by VCZ and 150 mm diameter wafers are in d e v e l o p m e n t . This t e c h n i q u e is being d e v e l o p e d almost exclusively by Sumitomo Electric Industries Oapan).

6. 3. 3.3 Horizontal Gradient Freeze HGF is a gradient freeze modification of conventional HB and suffers from similar limitations for SI production. It is mainly used to supply the niche market for chromium-doped wafers.

6.3. 3.4 Conclusions Features of the main crystal growth technologies are shown in Table 6.2. Commercially, LEC is by far the most established method and has the best development potential for high-volume production of larger substrates. VGF is now established as a significant commercial force, mainly due to the efforts of AXT. HB and HGF are used to supply the small market for chromiumdoped SI wafers. VB is in large-scale production for doped wafers and pilot p r o d u c t i o n for SI wafers. The VCZ t e c h n i q u e is still at the R&D stage, promoted only by Sumitomo Electric Industries. GaAs crystal growth and wafer preparation have progressed significantly over the past five years but still have a long way to go before they c o m p a r e to standard silicon operational procedures. Polishing and related processes still require much development. So-called 'epi-ready' wafers are rarely trusted to perform as such, and usually require pre-treatment. There is a lack of standardization and wafers are customized to a large degree for each user. The electrical and mechanical properties can often vary considerably from batch to batch, although process consistency and reproducibility continue to make rapid progress.

156


Ga/lium Arsenide Crystal Growth

As a semiconductor material, GaAs has several advantages over silicon, including high electron mobility and saturation velocity and a large and direct bandgap. GaAs substrates can be prepared with SI properties, which allows active devices to be isolated electrically, reduces the presence of parasitics, so improving speed and the power-delay product, and is also very useful for making bipolar devices. These properties enable the realization of ultra-fast logic, very low noise amplifiers, highly integrated analogue integrated circuits (ICs) and a wide range of other devices. However, offsetting these physical a d v a n t a g e s are several practical disadvantages compared with silicon. GaAs wafers are relatively fragile and expensive, have poor thermal conductivity and stability, and passivation is difficult. As with all compound semiconductors, stoichiometry-related defects can cause problems at many steps in the manufacturing process. Substantial progress in the quality of SI GaAs wafers, combined with considerable reductions in prices, have been key factors in enabling the commercial development of the GaAs IC industry.

6.4.1 GaAs

vs.

Silicon

G a ~ wafer sizes and prices will never match those of silicon, due to the inherent difficulties in the crystal growth of c o m p o u n d (as o p p o s e d to elemental) semiconductors and the expense of the raw materials. But the gap between GaAs and silicon crystal growth technology continues to narrow. One of GaAs's key advantages over silicon is that SI substrates can be produced, which have very small device-to-device and device-to-substrate parasitic capacitances. This arises from the fact that the intrinsic carrier concentration of GaAs is about four orders of magnitude lower than silicon, so that true SI properties are possible. Devices made on SI substrates are self-isolating, making the material ideally suited to IC fabrication. The reduced parasitics are essential for the highspeed capability and low-speed power product of digital GaAs, and lead to device isolation required to make analogue GaAs ICs. To exploit these SI properties, two main requirements must be met. First, the bulk resistivity of the substrate must be high: typically greater than 106 f~.cm. Second, this resistivity must be preserved during all subsequent processing, especially after a post-implant anneal, which is carried out at 850-950~ One of the foundations of the emergence of the semiconductor industry is the use of epitaxial layer growth. R&D is under way in an attempt to create working devices based on epilayer growth on SI substrates but this is p r o c e e d i n g at a pace that suggests that this a p p r o a c h will not be commercially significant in the timeframe of this report. It would be impractical to review all substrate materials that have been used in R&D because virtually all crystalline (and some non-crystalline) Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

157


materials have been examined over the past five years. Only the more interesting materials that have some possible commercial impact will be looked at here. In the wide-bandgap s e m i c o n d u c t o r s it has been found that FET-based devices in gallium nitride (GaN) grown on sapphire substrates suffer from negative differential o u t p u t conductance. This is attributed to the p o o r thermal conductivity of the sapphire substrate and these properties degrade microwave power gain and power performance. Workers at the University of Illinois have used the inverted MODFET to overcome this p r o b l e m and produced impressive continuous wave results. These are believed to be the result of the aluminium-gallium nitride (AIGaN) buffer layer that reduces the output conductance, which in turn improves the power gain.

6.4.2 Wafering The process, which follows directly after crystal growth, is generically known as 'wafering'. Basically, this refers to the sawing of the ingot into wafers and the polishing thereof, through to packaging and shipment. The key consideration in wafering is to ensure that the customer receives the most physically and chemically perfect surface, together with exact conformity to other specifications such as mechanical dimensions, electrical behaviour and crystalline perfection. Wafer suppliers all have ongoing process and quality control improvement programmes under way in this respect. In recent years, this process has been subjected to something approaching an international standard, via the quality conformance implicit in ISO900. As well as c e r t a i n n a t i o n a l p r o g r a m m e s , t h e r e is also an o n g o i n g international programme, u n d e r the auspices of the SEMI organization, to establish and m a i n t a i n specifications for GaAs wafers. This i m p o r t a n t initiative is being delayed by the diversity of customer requirements and by confidentiality agreements. It would greatly assist the wafer business if a common standard, comparable to that used in the silicon industry, could be agreed upon. However, the industry has yet to concur on this standard and specifications are constantly evolving. Such c o n s i d e r a t i o n s are particularly i m p o r t a n t for the 150 m m wafer presently beginning to reach the fabrication facilities. Customers often refer to silicon-like economics with respect to process yields, and it would greatly help the setting up and running of such a GaAs device manufacturing line. This is necessary in order to ensure that all participants achieve competitive cost control and profitability.

6.4.3 Aspects of Cutting The process whereby wafers are created from a single-crystal ingot usually involves some form of mechanical saw. So far, no alternative is widespread, although one Swiss company offers a slicing process based on wires. This has, however, yet to stimulate serious interest in the GaAs electronic device industry. 1,58 Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices


Cutting is usually p r e c e d e d by an X-ray crystallographic m e a s u r e m e n t to assess and set the desired 'angle-off' to the customer's specification. The cutting equipment generally used in wafer factories is an ID diamondcoated saw. In contrast to the elegant, high-tech crystal growth process, the slicing e n v i r o n m e n t is m o r e akin to a mechanical w o r k s h o p than to a semiconductor fabrication facility. Nevertheless, the necessarily high degree of p r e c i s i o n is achieved routinely, t o g e t h e r with high yields, low losses, timeliness and minimal wafer contamination or damage. After slicing, the wafers are degreased and cleaned to remove process-related contamination, such as wax. Next they are sent for 'stock removal', a wet chemistry etching process that removes several tens of microns from the front and back faces of the wafer. This is a more cost-effective route than the older method of stock removal on the polishing equipment. The thinned wafers are then polished on a planetary bed chemomechanical machine, employing mechanical abrasion coupled with a chemical etch to remove precisely and uniformly the desired thickness and to p r o d u c e a mirror-like surface. The resulting surface isparticulate-free, extremely flat and chemically stable. It is highly desirable to capture this pristine surface by some form of packaging for delivery 'as is'or 'epi-ready', so that the customer r e c e i v e s the w a f e r in j u s t - p o l i s h e d c o n d i t i o n . H o w e v e r , this is n o t s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d and m u c h w o r k c o n t i n u e s on p e r f e c t i n g this stage of production. Samples from each process batch are taken and measured using a variety of sophisticated instruments. The data serve not only as a real-time process control check but also as a process monitoring record for any subsequent customer problems. Today's wafering process is accomplished in ultraclean (Class 10 in some stages) cleanroom conditions, with minimum human operator activity and the highest possible degree of a u t o m a t i o n . However, some stages still require a 'hands-on' touch to achieve the necessary balance of throughput and yield, given the fragility of these wafers. Of course, many of these processes are proprietary and this descriptive overview c a n n o t go into detail. Wafering has r e a c h e d a high degree of sophistication in order to meet the needs of device manufacturing customers as seamlessly as possible. All this has had to be achieved with a close eye on economics, to yield as competitive a product as possible. Laser marking is now a common procedure for wafer backing. Each wafer is coded after slicing and can be tracked not only through the wafer supplier's factory but also through the device manufacturer's fabrication facility.

6.4.4 Metamorphic Crystal Growth While it shares m a n y of the p r o d u c t i o n characteristics of GaAs, indium phosphide (InP) in its present form has several shortcomings. These mainly derive from the substrate. Because it is a fairly immature technology, the Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

159


crystal quality is less than that for G a ~ . Wafers are more brittle and available in only a limited size range. Only 50 and 75 mm substrates are available and these carry a fairly high price premium (ca. US$50 per in2). By contrast, GaAs is already available in 150 mm diameters at prices as low as US$15 per in 2. So too processes such as wafer t h i n n i n g and backside p r o c e s s i n g have become mature technologies for Ga~. A new technology called m e t a m o r p h i c epitaxial layer growth is u n d e r development, which could provide a more effective route for the commercial exploitation of InP. This involves crystal growth processing, not entirely dissimilar to those already in use for the growth of InGaP HBTs or, for that matter, the various approaches for GaN devices. Basically, intermediate buffer layers are grown on GaAs substrate of, for example, 150 mm in diameter, and upon that the required InP device structure is built up. Subsequent to the conclusion of device fabrication, the GaAs substrate is thinned back and the InP device is ready for packaging. Metamorphic InP epiwafers promise the realization of commercially effective high-performance InP devices previously unattainable using existing InP substrates. There exists, therefore, a potentially large market for SI GaAs substrates in this role. Conversely, it could result in the scaling back of development and the production of equivalent large-diameter InP substrate technology..

160


Epitaxy and Device Processing of Gallium Arsenide

7.1.1 Introduction The principal epitaxial growth process technology for the development and production of compound semiconductors relies on two principal approaches: The metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) process. This is also known as OMVPE (organometaUic VPE) or metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). These terms are frequently used interchangeably but, for precision, the term MOVPE is used in this report. There are variants of the basic vapour phase epitaxy technique, such as hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE), but in the main it is MOVPE that is the principal equipment type in use. The molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique. This an ultrahigh vacuum technology that has found particular application in the production of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) and heterostructure bipolar transistor (HBT) devices based on aluminium-gallium arsenide (AIGa~). Variants of this process are u n d e r development that which rely on gas sources (GSMBE) or metal organic sources (MOMBE), plus other processes relying on special 'cracking' technology to provide phosphorus sources for the production of indium-gallium phosphide (InGaP) epiwafers. For gallium arsenide (GaAs) and related compounds, the MOVPE and MBE techniques are in widespread use. MOVPE is also the more important for the growth of wide-bandgap semiconductors such as gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SIC) whereas MBE is more important for silicon--germanium

(S Ge). Ion implantation is still the most important non-epitaxial growth technique but its application is becoming increasingly restrictive in the production of n e x t - g e n e r a t i o n transistor devices. However, such is the p r o d u c t i o n throughput ~ and hence the resultant low die c o s t - - o f ion implantation that this is still unmatched by most epitaxial processes. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

161


In this c h a p t e r the basic t e c h n i q u e s of e p i t a x y are e x a m i n e d . T h e s e techniques are illustrated by reference to examples of commercial equipment from the principal suppliers. This chapter serves to illustrate the wide range of approaches that are being d e p l o y e d by MOVPE e q u i p m e n t suppliers in the routine p r o d u c t i o n of devices. These e x a m p l e s are mainly d e v e l o p m e n t s of a basic r e a c t o r technology that has been adapted to the required growth regimes. In every example shown in this report, users of the equipment have reported successful growth of devices and are therefore finding considerable take-up by research laboratories and fabrication facilities of many device p r o d u c e r s worldwide. There are a number of characteristics of the epitaxial equipment business that are worth setting down as they help to create a picture as to the circumstances with regard to equipment provision and the operations of the suppliers.

7.1.2 Custom

vs.

Standard Equipment

In the first instance, the device companies themselves traditionally developed the equipment used in many laboratories. A combination of circumstances has led to these practices becoming less commonplace. In particular, it has become necessary to ensure that any system is fully e q u i p p e d to meet or exceed all safety regulations, so it is less c o m m o n for reactors in research laboratories to be completely 'home-built' and many are a basic apparatus that is locally modified. E q u i p m e n t suppliers were once faced with the business problems of never building the same reactor twice. There was no such thing as a 'standard system' and to some extent this is still true. However, the leaders in the business have b e e n succes~,ful in creating suitably versatile systems whereby a customer can select sF, ~cific features --- usually relating to the complexity of the materials growth that he/ she wishes to research - - from a list of options. Nevertheless, for other areas of materials research, e.g. high-temperature superconductors, very specialized reactors are still being built from scratch so to speak. There are several companies in Japan that, at a price, can build any type of epitaxy system requested by a customer, e.g. Nippon Sanso, Nissin Electric or Anelva. However, these companies are known for restricting their business within Japan. This is, for a variety of reasons, largely based on the size of the local business and the n e e d to provide extensive technical s u p p o r t for overseas clients. Conversely, although it is n o w not u n u s u a l to learn of specific sales of MOVPE or other epitaxy equipment to Japanese laboratories or companies, this has not always been the case. Unlike Japanese e q u i p m e n t suppliers, h o m e markets for o t h e r suppliers have not b e e n sufficiently large for a usefully sized business. Western companies have therefore begun in their home country and then steadily expanded their business to other regions. In all cases shown in this chapter, although these companies have strong local connections with their origins they are truly international companies and operate as such. 162



In the next section, e x a m p l e s of MOVPE e q u i p m e n t from each of the principal western suppliers are presented. In each case the background to the development of the equipment is given, along with specific characteristics and examples of which companies have selected these systems. This section is largely confined to the key aspects of equipment, but further information on the companies is to be found in Chapter 8. This section is not m e a n t to be exhaustive because, in certain cases, customers exercise the right to confidentiality and suppliers have been unable to reveal the placement of systems. This is especially pertinent in Japan and South Korea.

The particular technological r e q u i r e m e n t s related to the d e p o s i t i o n of semiconductors have resulted in the need to re-examine reactor design by all manufacturers of such equipment. As a consequence, this has created a level playing field across the entire reactor business for this application. The established epiwafer manufacturers, both captive and merchant, once again had to look at the merits of the various MOVPE reactors offered by the major suppliers. A generalised schematic of the MOVPE system is shown in Figure 7.1. Historically, the first d e v e l o p m e n t s in MOVPE were made by workers at Rockwell in the late 1960s. In particular, H.M. Manasavit and W.I. Simpson published the seminal papers on the use of metal organic precursor materials in Applied Physics Letters (1968) andJournal of the Electrochemical Society (1969). Previously, the main epitaxial growth methods in use were variants of the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) and vapour phase epitaxy (VPE) techniques. MOVPE g r e w o u t of the l a t t e r p r o c e s s as a r e s u l t of the difficulties encountered with the use of aluminium materials.

Figure 7.1. Schematic Representation of the MOVPE Method.

Gasinlets

II II II Gas mixing panel

( ~ ~

Graphite ~ = Toreactor Reactorchamber /susceptor I~ Wafer JJ o o~o o o o , ~ ~ Removableendcap '" ~ ( ~~/" J ~ .Changeover valve

Toexhaust

He:ti:g coil: '-'

,,

pu~p I treatment "scrubber"

.... = To atmosphere


163

Epitaxy and Device Processing of Gallium Arsenide .

.

.

.

.

.

.

Production of devices took a few more years, with initial results in electronic devices being reported by 1975. The earliest success with optoelectronic devices came with the growth of epitaxially grown diode lasers based on the AIGaAs alloy. MOVPE began to be established as a production technique for photocathodes in the early 1980s. The first mass production of optoelectronic devices came in the mid-1980s. These were p h o t o c a t h o d e s and solar cells, which are exclusively produced by MOVPE techniques. MOVPE has only recently become a significant contributor to the mass production of light-emitting diode (LED)-type devices. The LED industry is built u p o n the earlier epitaxy techniques such as LPE and VPE, but particularly the former. To put things in perspective, around 30 billion LEDs are manufactured every year and yet in 1994 virtually all were made by these techniques, not by MOVPE. However, MOVPE has certain advantages, such as ease of use with circular wafers that the older LPE technique normally does not. In due course, say by 2001, MOVPE may well have been developed to totally rival LPE. However, for laser diodes the situation is somewhat different. Up to 100 million laser diodes are manufactured every year and these are prepared by the three epitaxy techniques roughly in equal proportion. Long-wavelength LEDs use LPE, MOVPE and MBE, whereas AIGaAs lasers use either MOVPE or MBE. The aluminium--gaUium-indium phosphide (AIGaInP) laser types use only MOVPE. In the early 1980s, a fairly w i d e r a n g e of d i s c r e t e devices was b e i n g demonstrated by MOVPE. But for a further decade the principal production methods for devices such as Gunn diodes and metal semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) were VPE and ion implantation, respectively. The breakthrough came in the mid-1980s, with the debut of the first production machines for MBE growth of MESFETs and HEMTs, principally for the satellite TV receiver market. MOVPE e q u i p m e n t took a few m o r e years to reach c o m m e r c i a l p r o d u c t i o n status, having being the p r e f e r r e d choice for optoelectronics. Today there is much less to choose between each technique. This is largely down to the device application though even that is not clear and may d e p e n d a great deal on the p r e f e r e n c e and e x p e r i e n c e of the particular user. A principal factor in the widespread take-up of the technique is the high degree of flexibility in the design of precursor molecules. Because the growth processes are far from equilibrium, stable and metastable compounds can be grown. Almost any c o m b i n a t i o n of layers and layer s e q u e n c e s can be deposited on almost any crystalline substrate. Moreover, great progress has been made in the industrialization of MOVPE, and later in this chapter we will examine in more detail specific examples of the most popular MOVPE equipment in use today, with particular reference to the growth of Group III nitride materials. O n e of the p r i n c i p a l drivers of the i n d u s t r y is the r e f i n e m e n t in equipment and in the versatility and purity of precursor source materials, i.e. reactants. 164



Materials used in the MOVPE p r o c e s s - - substrates, source gases and carrier gases --- are all expensive and contribute substantially to the finished wafer cost. Any improvement that can reduce their consumption can help tO reduce costs. Improved alkyl efficiency and wafer loading density will ensure that the maximum use is made of a given amount of source alkyls being deposited on the substrates. Also, reducing the VIII ratio will minimize the consumption of hydride gas. The use of alternative sources that are less toxic - - such as tertiary butyl arsine (TBA) - - instead of the highly toxic arsine, is preferred for some circumstances. However, the use of TBA, etc. has a prohibitive impact on the finished wafer cost. This is likely to reduce because the TBA cost is reduced as volume use comes along, but the price margin over arsine will remain high. Yet use of TBA can assist in the reduction of capital e q u i p m e n t and maintenance. This is because it has a lower vapour pressure and is thus not needful of high-pressure gas piping, etc. In all instances, therefore, the user must take into account his/her specific requirements and balance out the often-conflicting parameters for an efficient operation and minimization of cost impact to the final product. However, most users of such equipment favour a 'belt and braces' approach. If they use TBA (only a few commercial growers are known to have used this in GaAs s e m i c o n d u c t o r s ) t h e n they also retain the full safety features previously used for arsine. Today, MOVPE machines capable of growing highly uniform layers over an area of hundreds of square inches are available - - principally for the solar cell industry, whereby GaAs is grown on germanium substrates. There are, however, many issues that need to be resolved with reference to process efficiency, yield, safety and toxic waste disposal. The successful preparation of active devices also requires the incorporation of electronic doping materials from Group IV (e.g. carbon or silicon) and Group II (e.g. beryllium or magnesium). These, like other source materials--- the socalled p r e c u r s o r s - must be of the highest quality commercially available. These are covered in the next section.

GaAs is a direct b a n d g a p s e m i c o n d u c t o r with potential applications in m i c r o e l e c t r o n i c and light e m i t t i n g / d e t e c t i n g devices. The successful fabrication of devices based on this family of III-V compounds requires highpurity source materials. Specifically: h i g h - p u r i t y (at least 99.9999%) gallium, usually in the form of an organometallic (OM) such as trimethylgaUium (TMG); plus an arsenic-containing source: arsine (ASH3) is most commonly used as source of the Group V element for growth of G a ~ (or phosphine (PH3) for InP). Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

165


Precursors of various kinds have been investigated over the past half-decade, each with particular advantages and disadvantages with respect to widebandgap semiconductor growth. Gallium is commonly in use for a fairly wide range of electronics applications (e.g. solders) and electronic materials (such as G a ~ ) and to dope silicon. The metal and its highly purified compounds are much in demand for crystal and epitaxial growth. The availability of gallium has often been cast in doubt and hence, by turn, has its compounds and device markets based on them. Unlike mainstream silicon, gallium is not plentiful and its extraction and purification etc. are periodically considered uneconomic by the handful of providers. This has led from time to time to reappraisals of the future of any devices based on gallium. It is deemed unlikely that supplies of gallium will dry up, but prices may have an adverse impact on device competitiveness. A number of companies (e.g. Recapture Metals and Eagle-Picher in the USA; III/V Reclaim in Germany) have successful operations based on recovery of valuable Ga from scrap Ga-containing compounds. It s h o u l d also be p o i n t e d o u t that r e s t r i c t i o n s in Ga s u p p l y may also adversely affect the prospects for GaAs single crystals compared with other single-crystal materials that could be considered as substrates. Aluminium, unlike Ga, is abundant. G a ~ substrates use up orders of magnitude more Ga metal than epilayers, dopants, etc. It is worth noting that o t h e r families of Ga-containing devices are also enjoying considerable market success. G a ~ is now not just very successful in electronics, such as microwave devices. These rapidly expanding markets seriously affect the Ga market (they may make ore refiners reconsider their production plans) and they may cause the price of Ga to change. Either way, this may adversely affect the manufacturing costs of GaAs-based devices at a time when great efforts are being made to make them even more competitive vs. silicon-based devices. Whatever the o u t c o m e , the l o n g - t e r m availability of Ga and Ga-based precursors is likely to have an impact on the developmental success of GaAsbased microelectronics. I n e x t r e m i s , the very success of GaAs microwave integrated circuits (ICs) and optoelectronics may prove its undoing. There may be a shortage and the whole market may be forced in new directions. Meanwhile, Ga recycling will see strong growth and further entrants or diversification into this sector may occur in due course. There is also the prevailing trend within microelectronics for 'leaner' and 'greener' manufacturing to be taken into consideration. For example, the industry has all but eliminated chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from its cleaning processes and n o w there are moves to eliminate lead from solders. Also important is the increased requirement for manufacturers to be responsible for their products 'from cradle to grave'. This has particular relevance to devices that contain potentially harmful ingredients, such as the arsenic in Ga~.

166



It is likely that Ga recovery will be extended to MOVPE exhaust products. Rather than being a nuisance, this will have higher value and hence be more economic to recycle. Gallium price increases will necessitate improved efficiency of epitaxial processes.

7.4.1 Introduction At this point the principal MOVPE and MBE reactor types with application to GaAs microelectronics are described. Since the previous edition of this report there have been some important developments in this area, while at the same time there are some things that have changed very little. On the one hand, merchant suppliers of epitaxial equipment have developed their own systems dedicated to answering the particular technological problems posed by multiwafer growth of GaAs in a commercial system available on the open m a r k e t to all c u s t o m e r s from R&D to p r o d u c t i o n . This p r o d u c t line r e p r e s e n t s a substantial i n v e s t m e n t by these c o m p a n i e s that has b e e n rewarded by remarkable sales figures over the past three years. Makers of GaAs-based MOVPE equipment and MBE systems have enjoyed some of the strongest growth rates in the epitaxy market. Another important recent business development has been the merger of three of the most important specialist players in the epitaxy equipment supply sector. AIXTRON AG has b e c o m e a major s h a r e h o l d e r in the Swedish company Epigress AB (an SiC specialist) and almost at the same time b r o u g h t the UK MOVPE e q u i p m e n t c o m p a n y T h o m a s Swan Scientific into the AIXTRON group of companies. In contrast, the leading US supplier, EMCORE Corporation, has continued to diversify into a variety of affiliated epitaxy-oriented businesses, not only Hall sensors but also wide-bandgap semiconductor materials and devices. Each of the reactor types is described, together with some examples of the customers who are presently using them. By the end of the year (2000) it is estimated that worldwide the total n u m b e r of epitaxial growth systems dedicated to GaAs will be well in excess of 100. It is not a straightforward matter to ascertain the precise n u m b e r or location of all of these systems because in many cases the customers have exercised their right for anonymity. Where information is publicly available, details of these systems are provided in the company profiles Chapter 8 and in the listing of research institutes. It is also worth reiterating that these systems are also in c o m m o n use for optoelectronic device manufacture. In the case of most machines, however, their use is exclusive to either one or the other device type. Few epitaxy machines are used for more than one type of device. Certainly, it is rare for a user to grow epilayers for optoelectronic devices on a machine set up for the p r o d u c t i o n of microelectronic devices. Perhaps towards the end of the forecast period certain special ICs will contain features common to both Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

167


opto- and microelectronic devices and will be routinely fabricated on the one all-purpose epitaxial reactor.

7.4.2 The AIXTRON Planetary TM Reactor System AIXTRON AG is based in Aachen, Germany (see Company Profile Chapcer 8) and has one of the broadest ranges of MOVPE and related equipment in the market. Nearly all are based on the p a t e n t e d Planetary Reactor* MOVPE epitaxial process originally d e v e l o p e d at the Philips LEP Laboratory at Brevannes, France, under an ESPRIT research programme. AIXTRON took out a long-term exclusive licence for the worldwide rights to manufacture the system. It has successfully further developed the basic process for a wide range of materials and scaled it up for high-capacity production machines. The AIXTRON portfolio includes a complete MOVPE line from R&D up to fullscale mass production. Overall, the AIXTRON Planetary Reactor systems are considered to have a n u m b e r of advantages which make t h e m particularly suitable for GaAs materials for electronic devices such as HEMTs and HBTs. They confer excellent interface abruptness and offer rapid heating/cooling capabili~ The AIX2600G3 cassette-to-cassette system was the w o r l d ' s first 6-inch MOVPE reactor, suitable for R&D systems for a wide range of different materials technologies. AIXTRON can supply c o m p l e t e MOVPE lines from R&D up to full-scale production, i.e. 1 x 2-inch up to 95 x 2-inch wafers, or equivalent 3-inch, 4-inch and 6-inch wafers. Examples of AIXTRON's recent G a ~ reactor sales include: 9

9

~

~

In June 2000 AIXTRON announced that it had sold its 150 ~ AIX 2600G3 m u l t i p u r p o s e MOVPE reactor, the t h i r d - g e n e r a t i o n version of the Planetary Reactor| Kopin Corp announced at the beginning of 2000 that it had acquired eight additional AIXTRON HBT production systems, which would be delivered throughout the year 2000. A follow-on announcement was made in June 2000 for another six AIXTRON HBT p r o d u c t i o n systems, these to be delivered in 2001. Altogether, this will bring Kopin's total to 22 machines, 8 capable of supporting multiple 4-inch HBT systems and 14 capable of handling multiple 6-inch HBT systems. S u m i t o m o Electric I n d u s t r i e s in Yokohama, J a p a n , p u r c h a s e d an AIX2400 multiwafer Planetary Reactor for the production of epiwafers for communication network systems devices. IQE in Wales would receive four AIX 2600G3 reactors during s u m m e r 2000, for the growth of 5 x 150 mm p s e u d o m o r p h i c HEMT (PHEMT) and HBT wafers. This, as part of its long-term purchase agreement with AIXTRON (for a total of 10 machines), will bring the total delivered to seven.

AIXTRON is also the only supplier of commercial HVPE systems for GaN, i n c l u d i n g g u a r a n t e e d g r o w t h p r o c e s s e s . In t h e w i d e - b a n d g a p 168



semiconductors, AIXTRON machines are in production for blue, green and white LEDs (e.g. at Agilent or now LumiLed). To date, the AIXTRON reactor series have achieved world-class results for the growth of wide-bandgap semiconductors. Numerous publications attest to the capability of these systems. AIXTRON was the first company offering gallium-indium nitride (GalnN) multiwafer technology and demonstrating MOVPE epitaxial growth on full 2-inch GaN and InGaN wafers. AIXTRON recently d e m o n s t r a t e d device quality GaN with excellent phospholuminesance (PL) uniformity of better than 1 nm across a 2-inch wafer and thickness uniformity typically b e t t e r t h a n 2%. Similar r e s u l t s w e r e r e p o r t e d by Meijo University using the AIX 200/4HT. Other AIXTRON epitaxy systems include a single-wafer HVPE system for Group III nitrides, a single- or multiwafer VPE system, a single-wafer LPE system for III-V and II-VI materials as well as the AIXTOX scrubbing system for the decontamination of toxic exhaust gases. The AIXTRON line of production reactors is based on a proven scaling design enabling all processes to be transferred relatively easily from one model/size to another. All systems display high h o m o g e n e i t y in film thickness and composition with excellent electrical and optical film quality. One of the most i m p o r t a n t commercially used systems is the AIX 2400 Planetary Reactor* with Gas Foil Rotation*. This system has high up-time and throughput and has proven very popular for UHB-LED mass production. The average throughput for the AIX 2400 it is up to 27 000 wafers per annum. All Planetary Reactors have one advantage in common: the radial two-flow reactors, which provide an inherent advantage for very low consumption of the speciality gases used in MOVPE. For example, in comparison with the rotating disk reactors from competitors, the material consumption (for the same a m o u n t of qualified epiwafer material in real p r o d u c t i o n mode) is lower by a factor of 4 in the AIX 2000 and 3000 reactor line. At the same time the V/III ratio is dramatically lower than in the rotating disk reactor concept. The consumption of the main carrier gas (hydrogen or nitrogen) is also much lower, and in fact many processes have already been qualified with nitrogen carrier based on a proprietary gas injection system, so that the hazard from hydrogen is also eliminated. The Planetary Reactor uses a rotating disk plate for wafer support. It uses gas-bearing technology to provide a s m o o t h rotational drive and reduce particulate contamination. The u n i q u e feature of the system is that the centrally fed radial gas streams are used for both levitation and rotation of the main support and the individual wafer platter. The hydrogen carder gas is fed through special grooves to provide rotation of the wafer carder. The rotating wafer holders are located in a support plate that will hold up to 7 x 50 mm or 5 x 75 mm diameter satellite wafers. The individual rotation of the support plate and that of the individual wafers guarantee an extremely high degree of compositional and thickness uniformity for the growth of Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

169


epilayers. This provides frictionless rotation of the wafer free from particulate generation and ensures outstanding wafer uniformity and extremely abrupt interfaces. AIXTRON's largest market is the ultrahigh brightness light-emitting diode (UHB-LED) market, where it has had considerable success with its hightemperature GaN reactors: Since 1995, AIXTRON has sold over 60 of these GaN MOCVD machines for the mass production of blue, green and white UHB-LEDs. The AIXTRON high-temperature production-scale reactors make up the world's largest UHB-LED epiwafer capacity in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the USA and Europe. AIXTRON is playing a key role in the further d e v e l o p m e n t of MOVPE equipment for manufacturing purposes and four years ago introduced the first MOVPE system with robotic cassette-to-cassette wafer handling (AIX 2400/2600G3). Of the Top 10 optoelectronic semiconductor manufacturers, seven are using AIXTRON production-scale reactors for their optoelectronic manufacturing. The G3 is one of the most p o p u l a r p r o d u c t i o n machines amongst the epiwafer and microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) production houses of the world. By summer 2000, the 150th AIX 2600G3 had been sold. The customers that can be listed are: Kopin, EPI, OMMIC, Marconi, Showa Denko, UEC, Epistar, Procomp, VPEC, Arima Optoelectronics, Epitronics and Epiworks.

7.4.3 The EMCORE TurboDisc TM Systems EMCORE Corp, based in New Jersey, USA, has focused on the T~urboDisc technology deposition equipment (see Company Profile, Chapter 8). This has proved itself both in the field with various customers worldwide and also in EMCORE's own epiwafer production facilities. Although applicable to a diverse range of devices, including wideb a n d g a p s e m i c o n d u c t o r s and solar cells, EMCORE's TurboDisc technology is said to be uniquely suited for the large-scale epitaxy p r o d u c t i o n that is r e q u i r e d by the wireless industry to m e e t the projected cost requirements needed to compete with conventional ion implantation device fabrication methods. EMCORE says that because of its unique, fundamental and proven scaleability of TurboDisc technology, growth systems range from 75 mm up to the mammoth 400 mm platter. This is claimed to be the only CVD deposition chamber in the world (silicon or c o m p o u n d semiconductor) capable of growth on a single 400 mm wafer. The TurboDisc systems are available in several platforms: ~ 170

ENTERPRISEfor volume production.



9 9

DISCOVERYfor pilot production. EXPLORERfor research.

EMCORE also offers customers the EPIMETRIC in s t t u photoreflectance system to monitor the growth rate and thickness uniformity of a broad range of materials. EMCORE has been w o r k i n g with o t h e r US agencies to develop i n s i t u m o n i t o r i n g of epitaxial growth. This is an i m p o r t a n t area of w o r k and p o t e n t i a l l y has a g r e a t i m p a c t on t h e viability of t h e system in a manufacturing environment, especially when such a system can be directly linked to real-time computer-controlled growth. It is no straightforward matter to simply add such a monitoring system to the growth chamber because special ports are n e e d e d for optical access. Thus, an in st t u monitoring system has to be part of the overall design of an MOVPE reactor. EMCORE views this as a 'paradigm shift' away from the traditional procedure of lengthy 'dummy' runs to set up the growth system as close to perfect as possible. These calibration runs are time consuming and have a great impact on the economics of mass-production processes based on MOVPE, and the growth of GaAs is no exception to this rule. The move to in situ control will avoid this procedural approach and make MOVPE a much-improved economic solution for production (see below). EMCORE has d e v e l o p e d a n d refined this t e c h n o l o g y in its own R&D laboratories, working in collaboration with other agencies such as Sandia National Laboratories. 9

9

Some years ago EMCORE, in collaboration with subcontractor M/A-COM Inc (Lowell, MA), u n d e r t o o k an R&D p r o g r a m m e to p r o v e that EMCORE's MOCVD technology is equivalent to MBE methods in the production of wafers used to fabricate compound semiconductor-based PHEMTs. Reactors had reached 51 systems worldwide. To reach this total the company had secured an additional nine systems, of which five represented multiple orders. The company declared that a single customer had no less than 11 SpectraBlue systems that are dedicated to GaN optoelectronic devices.

The well-established Enterprise E400 MOVPE system has been proved in solar cell mass production and is also popular worldwide for a range of other optoelectronic devices. It was launched in 1995 and the Enterprise system was launched in 1996. Both systems are based on the proprietary TurboDisc p r o c e s s t e c h n o l o g y . T h e s e r e a c t o r s are c a p a b l e of d e p o s i t i o n of semiconductor materials. EMCORE has achieved a n u m b e r of sales successes with the TurboDisc system in GaAs device manufacture: In mid-1999, EMCORE Corp has announced the signing of a long-term agreement with Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd (SEI) (Hyogo, Japan) to Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

171


jointly develop and produce InGaP epitaxial wafers for use as HBT devices used in digital wireless and cellular applications. These HBT wafers will be p r o d u c e d at EMCORE's Epitaxial Materials (E2M) wafer f o u n d r y in Somerset, New Jersey. SEI will market the new HBT materials in Japan. In late 1999, EMCORE a n n o u n c e d the sale of an E n t e r p r i s e 400 TurboDisc MOCVD platform to the NTT Optoelectronics Laboratories of Nippon Telephone and Telegraph of Tokyo. The E-400 EM will be used by NTT for the production of PHEMT and HBT electronic materials. Motorola a n n o u n c e d in s u m m e r 2000 that it has an a g r e e m e n t with EMCORE's Electronic Foundry Division, who will supply Motorola with two fully automated MOCVD TurboDisc production tools, epi-PHEMT process technology (to ensure compatibility between EMCORE supplied wafers and Motorola's internal production on the EMCORE tools) and orders for electronic device epiwafers. Prior to this a n n o u n c e m e n t , EMCORE was for several months already supplying production quantities of PHEMT epiwafers to Motorola. In mid-2000, EMCORE Electronic Materials Division (E2M) announced the completion of its first phase of expansion at its Somerset fabrication facility to meet increased market demand for its GaInP HBT and PHEMT products used in wireless and fibre-optic communication devices. The additional 2000 ft 2 of fabrication space will accommodate up to six more high-throughput TurboDisc epitaxial wafer platforms and allow expansion of the division's characterization capabilities. The first phase of expansion nearly doubles production capacity for 4-inch and 6-inch wafers. The company also launched a s e c o n d phase of e x p a n s i o n that w o u l d again d o u b l e the p r o d u c t i o n capacity for these products.

7.4.4 The Thomas Swan Epitor TM System MOVPE reactors manufactured by the Cambridge, UK-based Thomas Swan have a broad applicability as regards materials systems but in recent years the company has been heavily focused on the wide-bandgap semiconductors. T h o m a s Swan systems are based a r o u n d the p r o p r i e t a r y s h o w e r h e a d technology for nitride-based MOVPE (see Company Profile, Chapter 8). The showerhead technology was developed in collaboration with the IMEC r e s e a r c h g r o u p b a s e d in Belgium. Both parties have a l o n g - s t a n d i n g relationship for shared R&D; the successful Epitor range of reactors came out of this. Thomas Swan's reactors have traditionally been very popular in the R&D and pilot p r o d u c t i o n s e c t o r s b u t the n e w e s t reactor, the C l o s e - C o u p l e d Showerhead (CCS), is also aimed at multiwafer production. Thomas Swan's showerhead approach with its inherent scalability to deliver larger volumes has given the company a strong technology platform on which to grow its business. The company says that this technology can be developed to enable Thomas Swan to compete with success in multiwafer systems for GaN a.~ well as InP/Ga/~ applications. Following the success of its 3 x 2-inch GaN system, the company introduced 6 x 2-inch reactors for InP/GaAs and further expanded its GaN-related offering 172



with a 6 x 2-inch wafer reactor, a dry a m m o n i a scrubbing system and an in s i t u i n t e r f e r o m e t e r d u r i n g 1999. Also, it p l a n n e d to deliver its first 12 x 2-inch (6 x 3- or 4 x 4-inch) system for InP/GaAs in the first quarter of 2000, emphasizing the company's push to scale its products. Improvements in growth uniformity and reduction in dependence on growth conditions have included the development of improved reactor geometry. These developments mean insensitivity to such growth conditions as carrier flow, r e a c t o r p r e s s u r e and s u s c e p t o r t e m p e r a t u r e . This facilitates the optimization and leads to better run-to-run reproducibility. In collaboration with IMEC, a novel showerhead type of attachment for a vertical tube, rotating susceptor, multiwafer MOVPE reactor has b e e n made. T h o m a s Swan has traditionally w o r k e d very closely with a n u m b e r of universities, but particularly the University of Gent in Belgium, to develop new products. In the future it plans to maintain these relationships but has created its own in-house R&D unit to permit it to focus on developing systems for mainstream manufacturing. However, the announcement in 1999 of Thomas Swan moving into the AIXTRON group meant that the company w o u l d have access to that c o m p a n y ' s extensive R&D and sales/support organization worldwide.

7.4.5 The Nippon Sanso MHR-8000 System The Japanese company has developed a novel horizontal MOVPE system in which 6 x 3-inch wafers or 18 x 2-inch wafers are m o u n t e d on a 10-inch diameter susceptor. The MHR-8000 reactor has two special features: the heating system and the wafer setting. The heater unit is set above the susceptor, surrounded by a radiation shield consisting of three main parts controlled independently to achieve uniform temperature at the growing surface. A facedown setting has b e e n developed for the wafers so as to minimize t h e r m a l c o n v e c t i o n and attracting particulates. The wafers are placed downwards and source gases flow under the growth surfaces. The carbon tray that inversely holds the wafers is transported through the load-lock chamber for each run and hung on the susceptor. The wafers are rotated with the susceptor to attain uniform growth.

7.4.6 The Epigress SiGe CVD System The E u r o p e a n MOVPE company dedicated to the manufacture of crystal growth e q u i p m e n t for SiC (and also SiGe) is Sweden's Epigress AB. The announcement in 1999 of Epigress moving into the AIXTRON group meant that the company would have access to that company's extensive R&D and sales/support organization worldwide.


173


The L u n d - b a s e d c o m p a n y s u p p l i e s t w o s y s t e m s for w i d e - b a n d g a p semiconductor materials. 9

9

9

The Epigress SiC crystal growth machine, which is based on seeded sublimation growth where SiC is transported from a solid source to a seed crystal. The Epigress SiC MOVPE system, which has a single wafer capacity but can also accommodate a pair of wafers with a diameter of up to 2-inch. Separate cells are used for growing ultrapure and doped material. Epigress is also one of the licensees of the IBM SiGe ultrahigh vacuum CVD system.

These are included here for completeness. Some time ago Epigress redirected itself into SiC and SiGe epitaxial products, exiting the GaAs and InP areas. However, it does have a number of G a ~ units in the field that it continues to maintain. Epigress has a collaboration agreement with the Industrial Microelectronics Centre (IMC), Kista, Sweden, to carry out the design evaluation and process development work for the new multiwafer reactor incorporating rotation being developed for the Epigress VP508 hot-wall SiC production system. After c o m p l e t i o n of the t h e r m a l and mechanical tests to verify the e x p e c t e d performance, a version of the new reactor design will be installed in the Epigress SiC CWD system at IMC in Kista. The VP508 system for IKZ is configured and designed as a production unit including two separate reactors for un-doped and n-doped material and p-doped material, respectively. The system will be equipped with the latest version of the Epigress GUI system, which is based on an in-house developed software package called Visual Process'".

7.5.1

Introduction

M o l e c u l a r b e a m e p i t a x y (MBE) is u s e d in the f a b r i c a t i o n o f m a n y microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. MBE is especially appropriate for the fabrication of electronic devices and is a key tool in the mass production of transistors and MMICs for applications such as m o b i l e p h o n e s and satellite receivers. A generalized schematic diagram of the basic MBE configurations is shown in Figure 7.2. In today's climate of high-volume demand, the basic issue is cost per wafer. In the case of MBE systems, depreciation is only a small c o m p o n e n t of the entire epiwafer cost structure. However, the trend to lower all the total cost is irreversible. This is especially important w h e n c o n s u m e r products are driving market requirements.

174



Another key question is how demand for HBT-based devices will be met by MBE (and MOVPE) and how it will meet this challenge following on from its success in AIGaAs. The bulk of AIGa~ production is presently based on solid-source MBE. For future needs, InGaP, which is well positioned with MOVPE, will present technological challenges that are being addressed by the makers of MBE equipment and their customers. At present this situation is yet to be resolved but the outcome may well hinge on the future success of one technique v s . the other in the global marketplace. There is a consensus that MBE, continues to perform extremely well in the HBT market, as evidenced by RF Micro Devices (RFMD)'s entire HBT output being sustained by solid-source (i.e. traditional) MBE. It has been estimated that RFMD's HBT p r o d u c t i o n alone accounts for more than half of the world's total HBT market. Through the use of such methods the quality of epitaxial material grown using MBE-type systems has steadily improved to the point where layers are beginning to rival those grown by MOVPE. The group has successfully grown GaN-based e l e c t r o n i c devices such as MODFETs and a n t i c i p a t e the development of stimulated emission and perhaps even laser diodes in the future. However, the a m o u n t of effort in this area remains fairly small compared with that devoted to the growth of wide-bandgap semiconductors via MOVPE. It is also worth noting that MBE-grown GaN/AIGaN MODFETs look promising. The case for SiC is less encouraging, with proportionately less R&D under way. In GaN, Hughes Research Laboratories has addressed the issues of u n i f o r m i t y and r e p r o d u c i b i l i t y by investigating the performance and characteristics of devices using radiofrequency (RF)assisted MBE directly on sapphire. These have a performance comparable to those grown by MOVPE and GSMBE, with excellent levels of device Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

175


uniformity. Improvement in characteristics derives from MBE's level of growth control and uniformity. In the following subsections the principal MBE systems are described, giving an explanation of key distinguishing features together with (where available) examples of operators of these systems.

7.5.2 The DCA 450 DCA manufactures MBE and ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) sputtering systems and MBE c o m p o n e n t s for III-V, II-VI, SiGe and GaN epitaxial d e p o s i t i o n processes. The DCA 350 MBE (an economical research system for 50 mm substrates) and the DCA 450 MBE (a 75 mm capability suitable for research and small-scale production applications) are general-purpose machines to suit a wide range of materials or R&D though to production. The DCA 450 can also be c o n f i g u r e d for the specific g r o w t h of w i d e - b a n d g a p semiconductors. DCA Instruments is a company specializing in the design and manufacture of UHV thin-film process systems and components. The strength and success of the company lies in its unique design capabilities and its proven record of fulfilling the customer's most demanding thin-film process requirements. The E600 Cluster System is an example of the latest development on our thin-film process systems. The project required solutions for several new technical problems. The base of the custom design work was to develop a system that would perform a multi-stage UHV thin-film process, u n d e r computer control, in several different process stations with various process parameters. The DCA SGC 600 MBE system is the most advanced molecular beam epitaxy system available for the growth of SiGe, SiC and related materials. The completely new design of the growth chamber and the new deposition sources have been carefully optimized for SiGeC epitaxy. The excellent material quality obtained proves that it is possible to grow CVD-quality SiGe materials with the flexibility and accuracy of an MBE. Two substrate loading/transfer options are available---direct load lock with single substrate handling capacity or cassette loading with capacity for eight substrates.

7.5.3

Applied Epi Inc GEN2000

The St Paul, MN, USA-based company Applied Epi Inc, formerly EPI MBE Products, acquired the global MBE system business of Varian. With 14 years of MBE manufacturing experience, the company (see Company Profile, Chapter 8) is a supplier of complete systems and a wide range of accessory products that formed the basis of its first business. Applied Epi Inc recently introduced its revolutionary multiwafer production MBE system, the GEN2000. As with its other products, Applied Epi Inc has taken a fresh approach to designing production MBE systems. Instead of 176



scaling up an existing piece of e q u i p m e n t , the c o m p a n y looked for a successful model to emulate, and chose to base this on equipment and principles used in the silicon semiconductor industry. EPI modelled its system after equipment commonly used in the processing of silicon semiconductor devices, utilizing a 'cluster tool' wafer-handling system. As in the silicon semiconductor industry, the cluster tool addresses reliability and throughput. Coupled with Applied Epi's patented highcapacity SUMO and Valved Cracker designs, to maximize u p t i m e the GEN2000's combination of reliability, t h r o u g h p u t and capacity translate directly to low cost per wafer. The GEN2000 is b e i n g p r o d u c e d at A p p l i e d Epi's n e w 65 000 ft 2 manufacturing facility in St Paul, Minnesota. Applied Epi introduced the concept of material-specific effusion cells in the mid-1980s and subsequently introduced its patented SUMO and Valved Cracker designs that have become industry standards. In addition, Applied Epi has developed, and sells, a number of other important products for MBE, including electronics hardware and growth control software. If the shift towards silicon style manufacturing is as successful for the compound semiconductor industry as it was for the silicon industry, Applied Epi represents the future of production MBE. The company has system orders from companies such as epiwafer vendor IQE Plc and MMIC companies such as RF Micro Devices (one GEN2000 machine) and Filtronic Compound Semiconductors Ltd (two GEN2000 machines).

7.5.4 The Riber SA 6000 Riber SA was founded in 1964 and started by supplying the materials science community with UHV materials and components for 'home-made' epitaxial reactors. In 1978, Riber began offering to the s e m i c o n d u c t o r research institutes the first t u r n k e y MBE r e s e a r c h systems with p e r f o r m a n c e guarantees based on methodical in-house testing. During the 1980s, Riberr commercialized many successful i n n o v a t i o n s such as gas-source and multiwafer processing technologies. Today, Riber is a leading supplier of MBE products and services to the compound semiconductor industry, and offers a wide range of systems, from R&D reactors to high-volume 4 x 4-inch and 4 x 6-inch p r o d u c t i o n systems. Riber has installed over 380 MBE systems worldwide, and provides a global service network for fast maintenance and customer support. Riber is very active in advancing MBE technology, through collaborations and joint R&D projects with major partners worldwide (see Company Profile, Chapter 8). Sales of the Riber 6000 multiwafer system have been very good. Customers announced in the 1999-2000 timeframe include: TRW, which instaUed the industry's first Riber 6000 MBE system, has one of the industry's largest MBE HBT p r o d u c t i o n capabilities. At full production rate, the fully automated system processes over twice the Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

177


n u m b e r of 4-inch GaAs wafers per day possible with previous MBE systems. 9 Taiwan-based Procomp Informatics ordered two MBE 6000 reactors. 9 In July 2000 Picogiga, the merchant GaAs epiwafer supplier, o r d e r e d three more Riber 6000 machines in addition to the two that it ordered in October 1999. 9 Alpha Industries has one MBE 6000. 9 RF Micro Devices Inc has a single Riber multiwafer machine. These newer generation MBE machines can grow seven 6-inch wafers per run instead of four, which is the current standard. This will allow a 75% increase in productivity. These machines can also grow 4-inch wafers with the same gain in productivity. By mid-2000, Riber's total number of MBE 6000 reactors announced to be on order worldwide had exceeded 12, putting the company well in the lead in the multiwafer MBE system race. The n e x t - g e n e r a t i o n , h i g h - t h r o u g h p u t , fully a u t o m a t e d 4- a n d 6-inch multiwafer m a c h i n e is d e s i g n e d for today's large-scale p r o d u c t i o n of electronic and optoelectronic device structures. The unique capability of fully automated performance allows for a 24-h a day, 7-day a week operatiot~, thus minimizing the per-wafer cost of production. With 11 materials ports surrounding a large vacuum chamber where the epitaxial layers are grown, the machine is said to dwarf earlier MBE systems. The amounts of gallium, arsenic aluminium and other materials placed in the effusion cells of the Model 6000 are measured in kilograms rather than the grams of earlier machines. Riber has also been very successful with earlier generations of MBE machines, including its MBE48 and MBE49 systems: In March 2000, Riber a n n o u n c e d the sale of an MBE 49 (4 x 4-inch) production system to Global Communication Semiconductors (GCS) Inc, a GaAs semiconductor 'pure-play' foundry based in Torrance, southern California.

7.5.5 The VG Semicon V G 8 0 East Grinstead, UK-based VG Semicon has been in the business of MBE for many years (see Company Profile, Chapter 8). The company offers a wide r a n g e of MBE m a c h i n e s for R&D a n d p r o d u c t i o n of a w i d e r a n g e of semiconductors, particularly the Vl00 and V150 multiwafer high-volume production machines. The company has achieved considerable sales success with its V150, which is designed as a high-volume 4-inch or 6-inch MBE system. The platen size accommodates either 9 x 100 mm or 4 x 150 mm wafers. Depending on the version of the Vl00 u s e d for comparison, the V150 provides up to three times the 100 mm wafer throughput based on the platen size alone and four times the 150 mm throughput. 178



The V150 addresses the industry's insatiable appetite for 100 mm wafers and also the rapidly emerging 150 mm market. It was specifically designed for the PHEMT a n d HBT b u s i n e s s , b a s e d on S e m i c o n ' s k n o w l e d g e of the r e q u i r e m e n t s - - the Vl00 having already established a large market share in both of these technologies. In its m o s t c o m m o n c o n f i g u r a t i o n the system has two i n d e p e n d e n t l y operated cassette entry chambers, each of which allows eight platens to be loaded. Thus the total wafer load is 64 x 6-inch wafers or 144 x 4-inch wafers. This means that the machine's 4-inch throughput is in the region of 30 000 wafers per annum for a PHEMT process, for example. Through its design, the V150 offers significant enhancements in throughput and ease of t u r n r o u n d , i.e. h o w m u c h time it takes b e t w e e n g r o w t h campaigns to reload, clean up and bake. The V150 is designed to allow this to be done more quickly than previous generation systems such as the Vl00. A unique feature whereby the sources are loaded on a demountable base flange accomplishes this. The base flange can be lowered and retracted, which allows the user complete and easy access to the source area and, equally importantly, access to the upper chamber for easy clean-up. In this respect the V150 is a 'next generation' product and not merely a scale-up from the Vl00. It also features significant enhancements in the robotics and process hardware and software. Another key area is process stability. VG Semicon has invested great deal of d e v e l o p m e n t resources into a new range of sources called ThermoCells. These sources provide a flux stability (i.e. long-term stability of growth rate) improvement of about a factor of 10 over the previous generation of sources (from any vendor). All of the design changes come from specific knowledge of user requirements from the Vl00 user group. The V l 0 0 and V150 are very p o p u l a r a m o n g s t the epiwafer and MMIC production houses of the world. Examples of formally announced users are as follows: 9

~

International Q u a n t u m Epitaxy (IQE) placed firm orders for six, with o p t i o n s on up to two additional n e x t - g e n e r a t i o n m u l t i w a f e r MBE production systems. These orders add to the current VG Semicon V150 system that is currently in operation at IQE. The first customer for the V150 was Quantum Epitaxial Designs Inc (QED), Bethlehem, PA, USA. QED currently operates other machines, including four V100 systems. In May 1999, VG Semicon secured an order from RF Micro Devices Inc (RFMD) for one V150 MBE system. This order builds on a long-standing relationship; RFMD already has a number of Vl00 systems in production at its GaAs HBT fabrication facility claimed to be the world's largest single installation. The company also processes HBT epiwafers grown by strategic partner T R W - - work that is done on multiple V100s at TRW.


179


From the previous accounts it is clear that MBE (and MOVPE) is applicable to a wide range of semiconductors and related materials (e.g. metals). In this edition of the report coverage also includes semiconductors, which presently or in the future could c o m p e t e with G a ~ . These are SiGe and the widebandgap semiconductors SiC and GaN, all of which to a greater or lesser extent have been grown by MBE (and MOVPE). Moreover, each has been demonstrated successfully in device form, confirming the great potential that these materials have for higher frequency, higher power and more robust components (in the case of SiC and GaN) for next-generation systems.

SiGe is something of a special case because this was and continues to be an important research topic for MBE growers worldwide. However, the bulk of the materials presently being fabricated into devices rely on a more recent epitaxial deposition system, one having the characteristics of both MOVPE and MBE. This is the UHV-CVD system and was pioneered by IBM in the early 1990s. A schematic representation of this system is shown in Figure 7.3.

180



In situ m o n i t o r i n g (ISM) has received a great deal of interest in the past

c o u p l e of years and will be a critical c o m p o n e n t of MOVPE R&D and production systems for the future, especially in the growth of c o m p o u n d semiconductors. These techniques have also partially reduced the process monitoring advantages that MBE layer growth processes have had in the past. These methods are very important procedures for MBE layer growth that are not possible at MOVPE operating pressures. Several different techniques are being used and being applied to a wide range of compound semiconductor materials, including the nitrides. Because much of today's device production is based on MOVPE, ISM is very important for this branch of epitaxy. But ISM has long been a feature of MBE and this will also be covered in this section for the reason of possible future impact on the industry. Essentially, industry observers agree that optical ISM is finally coming of age and being looked at seriously for production MOVPE systems rather than being just a retrofitted accessory in a research laboratory. In summary, the reasons for this change are twofold: 9

9

The i m p r o v e m e n t in the t e c h n i q u e s , p a r t i c u l a r l y the use of interferometry, that provides information needed for a production system and is easier to implement. In other words, there is no need to build the MOVPE system around the in situ diagnostic tool. The growth of the very important Group III nitrides that are not as wellbehaved as some GaAs- and InP-based systems.

Real-time diagnostics and, later, closed-loop control in epitaxial processes are b e c o m i n g t h e p r i n c i p a l d r i v e r s for tn s t t u , r e a l - t i m e , n o n - i n v a s i v e characterization techniques. This is generally agreed to be the most costeffective promising future method for precise control of epitaxy. It stands to offer the best improvement in process yields, especially once larger diameter wafers come into common use. ISM also stands to make a major contribution to overall yields via its ability to provide timely alerts to the grower should 'process fatalities' occur. Early warning of such an occurrence will serve to avoid further wasteful processing steps being made for what will be a useless wafer. Throughout the semiconductor industry, and not just in lll-V epitaxy, optical p r o b i n g m e t h o d s are b e i n g d e v e l o p e d to m e a s u r e such p a r a m e t e r s as temperature, surface composition, layer thickness and refractive index on the wafer during growth. ISM methods can also be used to measure and control the chemical composition and flux of chemical vapour source beams used for deposition of semiconductors and other materials. Optical diagnostics have the advantage that they can be used at atmospheric pressure. They can also be used at reduced pressure even in the presence of plasmas. Because they are located outside the reactor vessel they therefore Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

181


do not interfere with the ongoing process. Also, because they have low incident energy and are non-contact, they have a minimal effect on the growing epilayer. They can be used for a variety of reactor susceptor and heater configurations so that they can be used for either fixed or a rotating wafer system. The m e a s u r e m e n t p a r a m e t e r s for which ISM control will be i m p o r t a n t include (individually or collectively): 9 Temperature measurement. 9 Flux measurement--- for chemical composition and concentration. 9 Growth / etch rates. 9 Surface composition. 9 Particulate detection. In the literature and in conference proceedings there has been a noticeable increase in interest in ISM over the past couple of years, as shown by more and more demonstrations of the technique. Notably, the well-known suppliers of e q u i p m e n t to the epitaxy market generally offer ISM systems. The rationale is that while the technique has been important for R&D for some time, it looks to become critically important for future mass-production requirements over a range of different semiconductor materials growth. This applies equally well to silicon as well as compound semiconductor processes. This goes a long way to explain the increased level of interest shown from the bigger players in the field. ISM is becoming an important market sector, due in no small part to strong customer demand. However, no ISM system can be described as an inexpensive addition to a reactor. The most appropriate viewpoint on the matter of cost is that of total 'cost-of-ownership' (COO). ISM is often emplaced because of the overall savings it will make to the operating costs of the growth system or because of the leverage it provides in the refinement of processes and new devices. In MOVPE it is not a straightforward matter to monitor directly most kinds of epitaxy process. As a result, it is not p o s s i b l e to p r o v i d e c l o s e d - l o o p controllability of the growth process. Ideally, these systems require ergonomic, cost-effective, real-time monitoring t e c h n i q u e s and c l o s e d - l o o p f e e d b a c k c o n t r o l of the epilayer growth. Preferably, this would be optical only and therefore fully compatible with all types of MOVPE epitaxial reactors presently in use and for tomorrow. To date, most MOVPE equipment suppliers have ISM available as an option. EMCORE's proprietary wafer temperature measurement system. Called 'RealTemp', it accurately determines true substrate t e m p e r a t u r e and enables epiwafer growers to improve the quality of highly sensitive materials by facilitating a more efficient, accurate and cost-effective p r o d u c t i o n p r o c e s s . It m e e t s the c h a l l e n g e s of m e a s u r i n g wafer surface t e m p e r a t u r e during the epitaxial process and is based on an 182



emissivity-corrected pyrometry tool that overcomes the inaccuracies involved in u s i n g c o n v e n t i o n a l p y r o m e t r y . This e n a b l e s users to d e t e r m i n e the t e m p e r a t u r e of wafers in a p r o d u c t i o n reactor. The i n s t r u m e n t was d e v e l o p e d jointly with Filmetrics based on R&D conducted at Sandia National Laboratories. ISM is b e c o m i n g very useful in the MOVPE growth of G r o u p III nitride epilayers. GaInN growth is not as well b e h a v e d as o t h e r III-V systems, showing anomalies such as r o u g h e n e d nucleation growth followed by a smoother GaN layer. Work undertaken in related fields such as II-VI MOVPE provides the need for more in sftu diagnostics due to the non-classical nature of much of the Group III nitride growth processes. Many of the phenomena seen now in GaN growth have been observed previously with interferometer monitoring of II-VI materials. Several nitride-based device manufacturers are monitoring the growth rate and surface morphology and checking for abnormal growth, but at present they do not use the data via any closed-loop feedback system to control growth. Today there is not the need for closed-loop feedback because the growers just need to m o n i t o r for any major excursions that might occur during the growth. However, the next logical step in the evolution of ISM is to provide closed-loop feedback control of the growth process. A n e w pan-European ISM project will have a major impact on the future development of commercial ISM. An RTD project is scheduled within the Fifth Framework programme for research, technological development and demonstration on competitive and sustainable growth. Milestones of this shared-cost, 3-year project are to combine the MOVPE with the embedded o p t i c a l a n d X-ray d i f f r a c t i o n (XRD) s e n s o r s a n d t h e n m a k e i n s ~ t u m e a s u r e m e n t s to interpret the m e a s u r e d data in terms of stoichiometry, roughness, voids, interface and surface quality, growth rate, homogeneity and doping and to feed the information back to crystal growth. In the project the partners will correlate e x s i t u data with that from the i n s t t u data to develop a closed-loop control system. Leader of the p r o g r a m m e is the MOVPE e q u i p m e n t m a n u f a c t u r e r AIXTRON AG, working closely with a fellow German company LayTec. LayTec is a commercial spin-off from the Technical University of Berlin. AIXTRON has a reactor equipped with a LayTec RAS system in its R&D laboratory so as to be able to d e m o n s t r a t e to customers all possible improvements in process control for a wide range of growth processes and materials. ISM techniques presendy under consideration include: 9 9 9

I~d spectroscopic ellipsometry (IRSE). Reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS) and reflectrometry. Raman spectroscopy (RS).

Also under consideration is the non-optical technique of XRD. However, this is less convenient and equipment cost is somewhat higher than for optical.


183


At present, optical diagnostic is the most popular ISM. Some commercial reactors have already been equipped with it. As befits a new technique, it does have certain shortcomings of which the grower must be aware. For example, an epilayer being diagnosed must reach a thickness of the same order of magnitude as the wavelength of the probing light. This test can take a long time and might cause an irreversible growth front. If the diagnostic only takes a brief time period, as in the time consumption of the reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) diagnostic in the MBE system, then more growers would like to use ISM. Also, there is the issue of possibly losing the thickness or d o p i n g uniformity across an epiwafer, particularly for those w h e r e uniformity is already less than 2%. This is because any small a p e r t u r e or clear w i n d o w could disturb the thermal distribution. The reactor vendors have to take into account this issue. In summary, commercially useful ISM must provide the following features: 9

Reduced cost and time for determination of process parameters for new MOVPE processes by at least 50%, especially for calibration runs. ~ Reduced percentage of epiwafers rejected per run. Already fairly small, this will be reduced to near-zero for commonly required structures such as detectors, vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), FETs, etc. 9 On-line monitoring and closed-loop control that are sufficiently versatile to permit the design of novel new device structures, e.g. customdesigned composition variation within a few h u n d r e d angstroms or reproducible overgrowth of structures with cap layers, etc. (MOVPE is ideal for such designs because mass flows can be controlled without thermal dead times.) 9 Increased understanding of the physical and chemical processes at the growing surface that should significantly improve the understanding of reaction kinetics. ~ Improved throughput and efficiencies in material utilization and growth times. ~ Improved overall system safety via drastic reduction in wasted source materials, particularly the toxic hydrides. 9 Improved overall yields via in situ d i a g n o s t i c s - - success of the run (or not) is currently possible only after the conclusion of the epitaxy run - to improve quality and compliance of the growth process with device specification. 9 Reduction of 'hands on' labour costs at both the calibration and growth run stage. This is particularly important to enable MOVPE to compete as effectively as possible with older techniques such as LPE that are very low cost. These t e c h n i q u e s have to be set up u s i n g e x s i t u t e c h n i q u e s such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and EMP to correlate the in s i t u data to develop a closed-loop control system. Generally, ISM systems are being offered by epitaxial equipment suppliers. The development of ISM as a practical commercial product cannot proceed in isolation. A holistic approach is necessary. In other words, to a large extent 184



ISM systems cannot be developed independently. This is because they depend on m a n y factors such as reactor type, configuration, device structure, materials system, etc. Not all merchant epiwafer suppliers presently use ISM. Such companies have highly stable p r o c e s s e s and p r o c e d u r e s and so ISM is not a b s o l u t e l y essential. However, for process refinement and device development ISM is c e r t a i n l y l o o k i n g to be i n d i s p e n s a b l e . This has a lot to do with the commercial availability of systems that are very operator-friendly and reliable, which are very important for such commercial operations. It is not unusual for an epiwafer manufacturer to be faced with the loss of an entire load of expensive wafers. Modern MOVPE can handle 8 x 3-inch wafers per r u n and each run might last several hours. Because each wafer can produce thousands of dice, a lot is at stake. Anything that can help avoid run failures will receive serious consideration from everyone in the business. ISM looks set to add significantly to the capital cost of a MOVPE reactor system but is said to be able to provide a rapid return on investment. Ideally ISM would be installed prior to purchase and then optimized by the operator in close cooperation with the system vendor. Taking all these factors into consideration it is most likely that the first systems to fully install and exploit ISM will be those that are highly optimized for the mass p r o d u c t i o n of devices. They will find most significant take-up with manufacturers of devices where capital cost is of less concern than CoO and, most importantly, cost per die. This applies most rigorously to the makers of electronic devices.

Although epitaxial growth dominates the R&D and fabrication of devices based on GaAs and related semiconductors, researchers are also developing alternative methods. The reasons for these are twofold: Cost: epitaxy can be an expensive process. Patents: alternative processes are needed so as to obviate those patented by the pioneers in the industry. In m a i n s t r e a m s e m i c o n d u c t o r s m a n y i m p o r t a n t d e v i c e s s u c h as microprocessors and memories rely on processes such as ion implantation. This t e c h n i q u e has been optimized so as to provide economics that are almost u n b e a t a b l e by any o t h e r process. The c h a l l e n g e is to develop processes with equivalent throughput and economics. At present the main thrust is to perfect the epitaxy techniques of MOVPE and MBE, but it cannot be ruled out that at some future stage the implant p r o c e s s will not be reconsidered. This particularly applies to other materials systems such as silicon-on-insulator (SOI), SiC and GaN, which are becoming more important for electronic devices. Implantation is a physical process, i.e. no chemical reactions are involved, and so in essence is a 'cold' process because it does not involve intentional Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

185


heating of the substrates. The reaction chemistry involved in epitaxial growth, however, relies on elevating the substrate to some of the highest temperatures ever used in the field. Such a 'thermal budget' does not come cheap and is proving a major obstacle in the route to cost-competitive devices. It would be a major achievement if the industry could adopt cheaper processes such as implantation and this could have a great impact on the market acceptability of next-generation devices. In the USA, Implant Sciences, Wakefield, MA, demonstrated in May 1998 the first gallium nitride blue LED created by ion implantation. Implant Sciences developed a procedure for implanting magnesium and silicon into adjacent regions of a GaN film that makes this diode s t r u c t u r e possible. However, the LED was created using a film of GaN grown by MOVPE. After implantation, the sample is a n n e a l e d to activate the dopants.

Ion i m p l a n t a t i o n is w i d e l y u s e d t h r o u g h o u t i n d u s t r y as p a r t of the technology for fabricating electronic devices and integrated circuits. Its use is due to several important advantages that it has over other doping techniques. For example, the concentration of dopant atoms in the semiconductor can be controlled and varied between wide limits. A schematic r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of the ion implantation m e t h o d is shown in Figure 7.4.

~

Figure 7.4. Schematic Representation of the Ion Implantation method.

Ion selector

lon beam

Accelerator

I J,

,

I

u I ~Scan

i 'l

ion I ~ource

186

Wafer


'

=~ plates

,..I-

1

Pump

I

Class 10

lmplanted

wafer

receiving cassette Wafer load mechanism Input

cassette

work station


Also, the t e c h n i q u e enables the d o p i n g to be p e r f o r m e d uniformly and reproducibly over large areas, and by varying the energy of the incident ion beam it is possible to vary its penetration into the semiconductor. Hence, the distribution of carriers with depth can be modified easily. With the aid of a suitable mask, it is also possible to implant selective areas to form, for example, the source and drain contact regions of a FET. Thus ion implantation has enabled ICs to be fabricated in G a ~ with better yields, better controllability and improved reproducibility compared with the use of epitaxy. This is certainly so for silicon ICs, but for GaAs the use of ion implantation had a troubled gestation. Nevertheless, these problems were overcome and the technique is a key stage in the production of many millions of devices per annum. For example, being a compound, GaAs decomposes at the temperatures required to remove radiation damage and to activate electrically the implanted ions. This problem still requires an ideal solution, although many groups have developed adequate methods to prevent dissociation during annealing. The technique of ion implantation entails the b o m b a r d m e n t of a material with high-velocity, positively charged ions produced in a source held at a high DC potential. After extraction from the source, the beam is mass analysed and allowed to accelerate to the target (sample) that is at earth potential. When the ions impinge on the target, the majority penetrate some distance and slow down by random interaction with the nuclei and electrons of the target. The ions come to rest at a depth that is a function of the ion energy and of the mass and atomic number of both ion and target atoms. Perhaps the main disadvantage of ion implantation is the structural set damage caused to the substrate due to the dissipation of energy by the incoming ion. The amount of damage depends on factors such as the mass and energy of the ion--- the heavier the ion, the greater the damage. In the extreme a high dose of a heavy mass ion can produce the a m o r p h o u s or finely crystalline layer. To remove this damage, annealing is required. This not only repairs the lattice but provides the energy required to return the atoms to the correct lattice sites and for the implanted ions to act as dopants. The p o s t - i m p l a n t a t i o n a n n e a l o n c e p o s e d s e r i o u s p r o b l e m s to the application of ion implantation to device fabrication, because GaAs readily d e c o m p o s e s above 640~ It was f o u n d in the early days that thin-film dielectrics such as SiO 2 and Si3N4 were able to suppress the decomposition of the GaAs and allow the electrical activation of implanted ions to occur. Recently, rapid thermal annealing (see below) has been used successfully to limit the diffusional broadening of profiles that occurs during long time anneals in a furnace. In this way it is possible to implant higher doses and obtain a higher peak hole concentration. In addition it is important that various parts of an IC are electrically isolated. As the c o m p l e x i t y of ICs increases, so it is n e c e s s a r y to place circuit Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

187


c o m p o n e n t s closer together, making a d e q u a t e electrical isolation m o r e difficult. To obtain the required isolation selectively created, high-resistivity layers are made using ion implantation, e.g. using protons that create defects that compensate both p- and n-type G a ~ . In today's GaAs fabrication facilities, implantation is steadily making way for epitaxial processes. Nevertheless, such is the high yield from m o d e r n implantation t e c h n i q u e s that this will be the preferred r o u t e w h e r e v e r possible. The problem is that implantation can only provide a limited range of electronic devices. Both types of electrically active dopant can be prepared routinely by implantation but in terms of depth and also the lateral spread of these dopants device structure engineering is fairly limited. This is in contrast to the epitaxial growth of m a n y - - possibly several dozen --- thin or thick layers so as to build up very complex microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Implantation will continue to be important in device fabrication, not for the preparation of active layers but for the isolation between devices. This is particularly important for HBT devices.

7.11.1 Introduction In this section the important key process steps that are required in order to turn the epiwafer into functioning devices are described. Important steps in the d e v e l o p m e n t of these steps are overviewed and some recent results shown. The section also includes descriptions of the limitations of present process t e c h n i q u e s and h o w to deal with r e m a i n i n g p r o b l e m s in the perfection of wide-bandgap semiconductor devices, such as etch chemistries, formation of efficient electrical contacts, etc. Dielectric deposition is restricted by the sensitivity of the ohmic and Schottl~ contacts to high t e m p e r a t u r e s following their respective formation. Also important is the reduction of pinhole density in these layers particularly when the layers are thin. If the dielectric is used to separate first- and secondlevel metals then the step coverage of the dielectric is important to avoid short-circuits at crossovers. For this reason polyimide is often used because it not only has a low dielectric constant (3.5) but is also deposited to a typical thickness of I mm in contrast to 2000 ~ for silicon nitride. Airbridge formation uses a thick photoresist process, followed by sputtering and overplating. For higher frequency circuits, two additional steps need to be controlled carefully ~ wafer thinning and etched via fabrication. The wafer needs to be thinned and metallized on the back to provide either a m i c r o s t r i p g r o u n d or a c o n t r o l l e d parasitic image p l a n e for l u m p e d components. G a ~ can be thinned down to 100 m m by a combination of lapping and chemomechanical polishing. The baseline technology for vias is a combination of wet chemistry and reactive ion etching to fabricate via holes through G a ~ wafers. 188



GaAs is an excellent material for FETs and Schottky diodes. Because it can also be a low loss dielectric in its semi-insulating form, it has become the basic material for microwave integrated circuits w h e r e both active and passive elements are combined on the same chip. The passive elements take the form of either distributed or lumped elements. The two most popular transmission lines used on GaAs to date are the microstrip and the coplanar waveguide. Of these two, the microstrip has b e e n the most e x p l o i t e d medium because the advantage put forward for the coplanar waveguide that of accessible g r o u n d planes on the top surface of the chip--- is only useful for simple circuits. With the advent of 'via' technology, the microstrip is much more flexible. Lumped elements also produce more circuit design flexibility, provided that the equivalent circuits of these components (i.e. the component parasitics and loss) can be modelled accurately. In certain cases (e.g. where the chip needs to be thin for thermal dissipation reasons) the loss factor of these l u m p e d c o m p o n e n t s can be low. Much of the early work on MMICs used lumped elements to gain their advantages in broadband circuits. Today, more and more effort is being put into novel passive and active circuits to allow higher levels of integration to be achieved. This section of the c h a p t e r discusses the design of active and passive c o m p o n e n t s that are of great importance for high-performance, high-frequency MMICs.

7.11.2 Rapid Thermal Annealing of Semiconductors Another key step in the mass production of G a ~ device process technology was the successful utilization of annealing processes. Most G a ~ devices have in c o m m o n the fact that they all must have electrically active regions. These regions, which are prepared either by implant or epitaxy, have to be made electrically active via a subsequent thermal treatment called annealing. As described earlier, this thermal treatment is a critical measure of the quality of the substrate. The substrate must retain its electrical characteristics, i.e. resistivity and mobility, throughout processing but it is most important that it survive the first anneal. As with ion implantation, where annealing is a routine process step, this t r e a t m e n t also improves the crystal s t r u c t u r e of the wafer by removing defects, etc. Early on in the development of Gags and other devices, mixed results were too frequently obtained when trying to activate the N-region via a conventional furnace anneal. This furnace process, being derived from diffusion processing in the silicon industry, was less appropriate for GaAs owing to the dissociation tendency of the arsenic at anneal temperatures. While the electrical qualities of substrates were being improved over the past two decades, the alternative anneal techniques were also being developed. Most importantly was the commercial d e v e l o p m e n t of the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Today RTA, or more generally speaking R T P - - rapid thermal p r o c e s s i n g - - is in widespread use throughout the semiconductor industry, including G a ~ and silicon. The essence of the process is that it is rapid. Not only is the duration of the actual thermal processing much briefer but so also is the total time taken Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

189


f r o m w a f e r l o a d i n g to w a f e r r e t r i e v a l , w h i c h is o n l y a f e w m i n u t e s . Conventional furnace anneals used to require as much as an h o u r p e r wafer. Other advantages of the RTA process are: 9

It is very cost-effective - - RTA is very efficient in terms of energy usage (it is basically a high-intensity flashlamp that is on for only a few moments). ~ It is c o m p a c t --- a cassette-to-cassette RTA system o c c u p i e s m u c h less r o o m that most o t h e r e q u i p m e n t in a typical s e m i c o n d u c t o r fabrication facility and some models are truly 'desktop' in appearance. 9 It is a uniform process that fully activates the d o p a n t through the entire structure and yields little variation across the wafer and from run to run. 9 It is a m i n i m a l i m p a c t process in that it d o e s not adversely affect any other part of the device structure. 9 It is essentially free of side effects, although some care needs to be taken to e n s u r e that the w a f e r e x p e r i e n c e s n o d i m e n s i o n a l d i s t o r t i o n , i.e. warpage or crystallographic slip. 9 It is safe and easily operated via a standard p r o g r a m m e or process recipe. Since its inception in the 1980s, RTA technology has seen n u m e r o u s process refinements and i m p r o v e m e n t s . These include the ability to process even larger numbers of larger diameter wafers, automatically delivering even better uniformity of thermal treatment. Furthermore, virtually every GaAs fabrication facility has at least one RTA station that not only performs implant activation but also contact alloying. It is likely that RTA will further establish itself as a highly useful, low CoO process in all future fabs. This will also be the case w h e n n e x t - g e n e r a t i o n devices begin to come on stream. RTA has already b e c o m e an indispensable anneal tool in the SiGe and SOI devices and the latest high brightness GaN/ SiC LEDs and diode lasers a n d will u n d o u b t e d l y p e r f o r m a similar role for microelectronic devices based on these materials.

7.1 1.3 Etching of Compound Semiconductors In the last 10 years there has b e e n a t r e m e n d o u s increase in the complexity of s t r u c t u r e s f a b r i c a t e d o n GaAs. T h r o u g h o u t this p e r i o d w e t c h e m i c a l etching has been the technique most widely employed in device fabrication. The need to interconnect a n u m b e r of separate elements to form a circuit has resulted in the relatively limited use of so-called 'dry' processing techniques. For these processes the species used to pattern the surface are provided by the gas phase s u r r o u n d i n g the wafer, hence avoiding the need for the wafer to come into contact with either water or any other solvent. Because of both the wide range of device and circuit type that can be realized using GaAs, and the variety of deposited layers that must be patterned o n the surface of the wafer, t h e r e are m a n y r e p o r t e d processes for achieving the desired structures. For obtaining patterns of metal layers that contact the GaAs surface in critical areas the float-off technique is used universally. It involves exposing a pattern in positive p h o t o r e s i s t , d e p o s i t i n g m e t a l a n d t h e n r e m o v i n g the m e t a l covering the u n e x p o s e d region using a suitable organic solvent to dissolve 190



the photoresist. By careful control of the resist process and of the metal thicknesses used, a clean replication of the required metal pattern can be achieved and plasma ashing can build up oxide layers on the surface of the GaAs and so consume carefully tailored active device layers. Etching techniques fall into two basic categories: 'Wet' chemical etching, i.e. aqueous or molten solutions of reagents. 'Dry' chemical etching, i.e. the use of plasmas or ion beams and related techniques at low pressure. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages, d e p e n d i n g on the particular material and device application. Throughout the semiconductor industry both techniques have their standard recipes and p r o c e d u r e s as applied to R&D and production. However, the technique that has become the most popular for mainstream semiconductor device fabrication is dry etching. The dry processing systems have the greatest applicability for the much less chemically reactive GaN and related materials. But, to a lesser or greater extent, most of the commercial etch systems have required the development of new processes, so as to be utilized for wide-bandgap semiconductors. After this period of development, most of the suppliers of the e q u i p m e n t have systems dedicated to wideb a n d g a p materials. As a result, m a n y such m a c h i n e s are n o w in fairly common use in the fabrication facilities of the principal players in the field. Wet chemical etching has a place in the fabrication of devices based on widebandgap semiconductors, even though it is not always readily adapted to the production line. The key features of wet processing are as follows: 9 9 9 9

Low damage. Low complexity. Low cost. Fairly slow high etch rates.

There is a fairly large knowledge base on the wet etching of wide-bandgap s e m i c o n d u c t o r s . R e c e n t d e v e l o p m e n t s in w e t e t c h i n g i n c l u d e the d e m o n s t r a t i o n of p h o t o e l e c t r o c h e m i c a l (PEC) wet etching, which has resulted in improved, higher etch rates for GaN. The PEC process is based on photogenerated electron-hole pairs (these are created by illuminating the sample with UV radiation) to enhance oxidation and reduction reactions in an e l e c t r o c h e m i c a l cell. It p r o c e e d s via surface o x i d a t i o n followed by dissolution in aqueous solutions. The technique has been investigated by a number of research groups around the world and is proving popular as an evaluation of dislocation density in n-GaN materials. Wet processing techniques have certain fundamental limitations that are e n c o u n t e r e d in the fabrication of devices o n GaAs silicon or any o t h e r semiconductor material. These are: The inability to tailor the wall profile of the etched feature or to control the degree of etch anisotropy. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

191


9 The difficulty in controlling dimensions at features of I mm or less. 9 The lack of uniformity across whole wafers. 9 The effect of bubble formation during etching, which further degrades uniformity. All of these drawbacks can be o v e r c o m e by o p t i m i z e d dry p r o c e s s i n g techniques. It is significant that the rapid i m p r o v e m e n t s in yield and complexity in silicon circuits have been achieved over recent years as dry processing techniques have been more widely employed. In dry processing the following techniques are of importance: 9 9

CAIBE--- chemical-assisted ion beam etching. ECR---electron cyclotron resonance. 9 ICP-RIE-- inductively-coupled plasma reactive ion etching. 9 Ion milling. 9 LE4 - - low-energy electron-enhanced etching. 9 RIBE--- reactive ion beam etching. 9 RIE - - reactive ion etching. Each of these methods has specific plus and minus points, depending on the chosen type of wide-bandgap semiconductor. Today, not unlike the situation for o t h e r III-V materials, the i n d u s t r y has s e t t l e d o n c h l o r i n e - b a s e d chemistries. Preferred techniques centre on the ion-assisted processes such as PIE and CMBE. The RIE approach uses a halogen gas at low pressure with RF energy to create an energetic etch environment. The technique can provide good etch rates with high selectivity and hence sharp structural profiles but has the a d v e r s e effect of i n t r o d u c i n g ion d a m a g e t h a t may d e g r a d e d e v i c e performance. In CAIBE, an ion beam is directed onto a sample in a reactive gas ambient. The ion energy, b e a m c u r r e n t and the flow of the reactive gas can be controlled, therefore, the physical and chemical etching components can be controlled independendy. The higher etch rates desirable for higher p r o d u c t i o n t h r o u g h p u t can be obtained by boosting the plasma density available in the RIE by use of ECR and ICP. This improved performance is accompanied by improved surface morphology and workers are obtaining even higher etch rates via novel chemistries. ICP is attracting interest owing to the ease with which it can be scaled-up. In essence, a dry p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n i q u e is d e f i n e d as one in which the reactants are supplied from the gas phase s u r r o u n d i n g the wafer. Such t e c h n i q u e s can be u s e d for both etching and d e p o s i t i o n of materials, although only the former will be considered here. These processes take place at reduced pressure of various levels, depending on the process involved. Inevitably the equipment used takes on the basic form of a reaction chamber, a gas supply system and a pumping system. Initially such systems tended to be home-built, but there are now a n u m b e r of commercial suppliers who 19:2 Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices


manufacture small flexible systems ideally suited for research into processes for the etching of compound semiconductor device structures. The term 'dry etching' covers a wide spectrum of different process types. At one extreme are the purely physical processes, such as ion sputtering or ion beam etching, and at the other is the largely chemical approach of plasma etching. Ion sputtering or ion beam etching uses the kinetic energy of an inert gas ion to physically r e m o v e material. The b e a m of ions is g e n e r a t e d in a g u n assembly consisting of a suitable electrode and source of inert gas atoms. The g u n is a r r a n g e d so that the beam is directed t o w a r d s the sample to be etched. By mounting the sample in a relatively high vacuum, relatively little scattering of the ion beam occurs and a good removal rate of material can be achieved. Tailoring of the wall profile can only be achieved by geometrical factors. Selectivity is purely determined by sputter yield, and the technique is very prone to introducing ion damage if a sensitive material such as GaAs is etched. In contrast, plasma etching is basicaUy a chemical approach that uses the free radical and ion species generated in an RF plasma to etch materials. The most common equipment for this process is a barrel reactor. The chamber is cylindrical, with two curved RF electrodes mounted external to the chamber. The sample is mounted along the central axis of the chamber. A major weakness of the plasma etching process is the fact that etching is basically isotropic, or controlled by the same factors that control wet etching. A similar configuration to the parallel plate plasma etching mode can also result in a mixed physical/chemical etching process. By powering the lower electrode on which the sample is m o u n t e d , a significant self-bias can be generated, particularly at pressures below 100 mTorr. This produces a degree of anisotropy in the etching process because of ion acceleration across this potential. This process is generally referred to as reactive ion etching. Another process that combines the chemical and physical aspects of dry etching (RIBE), is reactive ion beam etching, which is also referred to as chemically assisted ion beam etching. These processes use a reactive chemical added to the inert gas beam. This additive can be introduced either in the ion gun or by flooding the wafer whilst the ion beam is bombarding it. Both RIE and RIBE offer the greatest potential for establishing processes that best exploit the possible advantages offered by dry etching.


193


Company Profiles

This chapter contains an alphabetical listing of profiles of major merchant manufacturers of gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates, devices and related equipment. In this chapter the companies presently active in the commercial supply of materials and devices based on GaAs and related semiconductors are profiled. The term 'wafer' used herein is a collective description that includes not only bare substrates but also epitaxial wafers ('epiwafers'). There are presently around a dozen suppliers of substrates active worldwide. There are also about the same number of epiwafer suppliers. It is in the latter area of business that companies are most active with respect to new entrants. There has hardly been any change in the complement of substrate suppliers in the past decade, whereas this period has seen quite a number of debuts of epiwafer suppliers. Included in these new entrants are a mix of companies from university d e p a r t m e n t spin-offs and e q u i p m e n t vendors supplying limited numbers of test wafers to full-scale start-up businesses. Given the strong growth in the epiwafer area and existing shortage of supply it is likely that the next few years will see further expansion. It is unlikely, however, that there will be further additional substrate companies, which in itself is odd given that the wafer boom also requires an additional supply of material. It is likely that this has something to do with the close contractual arrangements popular at these tiers of the industry. Manufacturers of G a ~ wafers are not restricted to supplying electronic device c o m p a n i e s . Many of t h e s e w a f e r s u p p l i e r s are also active in t h e optoelectronics business. This market sector is comparable in size to that of the electronics sector but is almost exclusively based on discrete devices rather than on integrated circuits (ICs). In terms of geography, the key players in the wafer business are located in the three main regions: Europe, Japan and North America. However, there are a few additional suppliers in the Rest of the World (ROW) region, particularly in South-east Asia. The coverage is focused on the principal suppliers of semi-insulating (SI) wafer products, i.e. SI G a ~ substrates and SI epiwafers. Treatment of each Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

195

Company Profiles

company is commensurate with their leadership status and smaller scale wafer producers receive proportionately smaller coverage. Additional to this edition is the inclusion of suppliers of competitive products such as silicongermanium (SiGe) and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers.

Agilent Technologies Inc 395 Page Mill Road Palo Alto CA 94304 Us Tel: + 1 415 857 1501

Agilent Technologies is the new name of Hewlett-Packard's semiconductor operations. Hewlett-Packard (H-P) announced its strategic realignment into two companies in March 1999, and Agilent was launched on 28 July 1999. Agilent Technologies, which employs 42 000 people, was a wholly owned subsidiary of H-P until November 1999, when the world's largest initial public offering (IPO) was launched: 72 million shares at US$30 per share. H-P will divest the rest of its interest in Agilent by mid-2000, distributing its shares throughout the HoP shareholders. Agilent is a diversified technology company consisting of H-P's test and measurement, semiconductor products, chemical analysis and healthcare solutions businesses. The company reported fiscal year (fiscal year) 1999 r e v e n u e s of US$8.3 billion, an increase of 5% over 1998's figure of US$8 billion. Agilent is the world leader in terms of compound semiconductors, owing to its strong positions in both the light emitting diode (LED) and wireless components markets. It is a leading supplier of semiconductor components, m o d u l e s and a s s e m b l i e s for h i g h - p e r f o r m a n c e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s infrastructure, computing devices and mobile information appliances.

R&D Agilent T e c h n o l o g i e s ' R&D e x p e n d i t u r e for fiscal year 1999 was US$997 million, as o p p o s e d to US$948 million in 1998. The c o m p a n y spends between 10% and 12% per annum on R&D. The Agilent Technologies Laboratories (ATL), Palo Alto, CA, were formerly part of Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. ATL conducts applied research in: electronics, medical and analytical measurements; biotechnology; photonic and solid-state materials and components; and measurement systems and solutions.

Products In 1999 the company introduced the ATF-34143, the first in a new family of GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors (PHEMTs). The ATF34143 features 0.5 dB noise figure, + 14 dBm third-order input intercept point and 17.5 dB gain at 2 GHz, 4 V, 60 mA. The new transistor is optimized for 0.9-2.5 G Hz cellular personal communication service (PCS) base station low-noise amplifiers (LNAs). The field effect transistor (FET) also can be used in many other applications in the 450 MHz to 10 GHz frequency range. This ultralow-noise transistor has a gate width of 800/.Lm and is supplied in the 196


Company Profiles

2 m m x 2 m m SOT-343 surface m o u n t plastic package, providing thermal resistance of 25~ It also announced the MGA-72543 GaAs PHEMT monolithic radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) amplifier in the ultrasmall, four-lead SOT-343 package. This LNA/driver is targeted specifically to meet the d e m a n d i n g performance requirements of code-division multiple access (CDMA) handsets in the cellular and PCS bands. The MGA-72543 was the first release of H-P's new CDMA dual-band chipset. The c o m p a n y ' s HMMC-5034 is a GaAs micowave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier for applications such as mmW point-to-point and point-to-multipoint wireless communications systems, including cellular infrastructure, broadband wireless access and European MVDS. The HMMC5034 is d e s i g n e d to o p e r a t e in the 3 7 - 4 2 . 5 GHz range. At 40 GHz, it provides + 23 dBm of output power at 1 dB gain compression and 8 dB of small-signal gain from a small, easy-to-use device; the device was designed to be driven by the HMMC-5040, a 2 0 - 4 0 GHz MMIC amplifier, to provide improved linearity or power boosts of 3 dB or more. Agilent introduced two GaAs Schottky-barrier diode chips for 20-50 G Hz cellular infrastructure and broadband wireless transceiver modules. The chips feature low junction capacitance (typically 40 fF/diode), low series resistance (typically 3 ff~) and excellent cutoff frequency. They also have large bond pads, making them suitable for either wire-bond or flip-chip assembly: 9

9

The HSCH-9501 is a high-performance mm-wave series pair diode in a tee configuration that can be used as a sub-harmonically pumped mixer or frequency multiplier in microwave- and mm-wave transceivers. The HSCH-9551 is a high-performance mm-wave anti-parallel pair diode that can be u s e d as a b a l a n c e d m i x e r or f r e q u e n c y m u l t i p l i e r in microwave- and mm-wave transceivers.

Table 8.1 Agilent Technologies Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Revenue Net income Working capital Total assets R&D

1999

1998

8331 512 1857 5444 997

7952 257 1476 4987 948


197

Company Profiles

AIXTRON AG Kackertstrasse 15-17 52072 Aachen Gemumy Tel: +49 241 8909-0

AIXTRON AG was founded in 1983. It is a world leading supplier of epitaxial reactors for R&D and mass production of microelectronic, optoelectronic and other devices. It has sold more than 350 reactors worldwide. Employing 300 people worldwide, with a service, sales and distribution n e t w o r k in 15 c o u n t r i e s , AIXTRON also p r o v i d e s a d v a n c e d p r o c e s s d e v e l o p m e n t a g r e e m e n t s and c o n s u l t i n g . AIXTRON is the largest manufacturer of MOVPE systems in Europe and has achieved a large market share abroad. The company has a wholly owned subsidiary in the USA, AIXTRON Inc of Buffalo Grove, IL. The company reported fiscal year 1999 sales of ~84.7 million, an increase of 53% on the previous year's figure of ~55.2 million. Europe accounted for 26% of 1999 net sales, Asia, 39%, and USA, 35%. 25% of AIXTRON's products are used for tele-/datacommunication applications. In the last quarter of 1999, the company had already received orders for the year 2000, including Long Term Purchase Agreements (LTPAs) valued at more than US$70 million. In September 1999, AIXTRON signed an agreement to acquire from Thomas Swan & Co Ltd the equipment and service business of the Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment Division, for an undisclosed amount. This division produces equipment for the production of semiconductors near Cambridge, UK, and distributes them worldwide. In October 1999, AIXTRON announced that it had agreed, for an undisclosed a m o u n t , to a c q u i r e a 70% c o n t r o l l i n g i n t e r e s t in o n e of its f o r m e r competitors, Epigress AB, of Lund, Sweden. Epigress, the international

198


Company Profiles

e q u i p m e n t m a n u f a c t u r e r that specializes in c o m p o u n d s e m i c o n d u c t o r materials such as silicon carbide (SIC) and SiGe, will c o n t i n u e with its existing management and will collaborate with AIXTRON in areas such as R&D, services and logistics.

R&D AIXTRON invests 6%-8% of net sales in R&D. The company's Application Laboratory in Aachen is involved in many collaborative projects with research centres and industrial partners worldwide. AIXTRON is involved in several EU and government-funded R&D projects, such as the EC BRITE/EURAM Project RAINBOW for Ga-In-In-N multiwafer sources.

Facilities Phase I of AIXTRON's new facility at Herzogenrath was completed in the first quarter of 2000. The facility will be built in three phases on a 10 000 m 2 site and will ultimately achieve a 10-fold increase in capacity. This increases AIXTRON's maximum annual output capacity to 300 metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) systems, with a high-aspect cleanroom in which 52 machines can be assembled, tested and qualified in parallel. The first machine to be produced in the new fabrication facility, an AIX2600G3 for 5 x 6-inch PHEMT and heterostructure bipolar transistor (HBT) wafers was completed and shipped in June 2000 to IQE, UK. Once production was transferred to the new fabrication facility, AIXTRON's original f a b r i c a t i o n facility will h o u s e R&D activities a n d speciality equipment. The company holds DIN ISO 9001 certification. AIXTRON Inc has extended its operation with an office in Pasadena. AIXTRON also has service centres in Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

Products The entire AIXTRON MOVPE e q u i p m e n t range is based on the p a t e n t e d Planetary Reactor | MOVPE epitaxial deposition process originally developed at the Philips LEP Laboratory at Brevannes, France, under an ESPRIT research p r o g r a m m e . AIXTRON took out a l o n g - t e r m exclusive licence for the worldwide rights to manufacture the system. It has successfully further developed the basic process for a wide range of materials and scaled it up for high capacity production machines. The AIX2600G3 cassette-to-cassette system was the w o r l d ' s first 6-inch MOVPE reactor, suitable for R&D systems for a wide range of different materials technologies. AIXTRON can supply c o m p l e t e MOVPE lines from R&D up to full-scale production, i.e. I x 2-inch up to 95 x 2-inch wafers, or equivalent 3-inch, 4-inch and 6-inch wafers. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

199

Company Profiles

Examples of AIXTRON's recent GaAs reactor sales include: 9

In J u n e 2000, AIXTRON a n n o u n c e d that it had sold its 150th AIX 2600G3 multipurpose MOVPE reactor, the third-generation version of the Plantary Reactor TM . ~ The Ecole Polytechnique F~d~rale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland o r d e r e d an AIX 200 MOVPE reactor for growth of GaAs- and indium phosphide (InP)-based materials. EPFL will use the reactor for research on low-dimensional quantum nanostructures and various laser devices. 9 Kopin Corp announced, at the beginning of the year, that it had acquired eight additional AIXTRON HBT p r o d u c t i o n systems, which would be delivered t h r o u g h o u t the year 2000. A follow-on a n n o u n c e m e n t was made in June 2000 for another six AIXTRON HBT production systems, these to be delivered in 2001. Altogether, this will bring Kopin's total to 22 machines, eight capable of supporting multiple 4-inch HBT systems and 14 capable of handling multiple 6-inch HBT systems. ~ S u m i t o m o Electric I n d u s t r i e s in Yokohama, J a p a n , p u r c h a s e d an AIX2400 multiwafer Planetary Reactor for the production of epiwafers for communication network systems devices. ~ IQE in Wales will receive four AIX 2600G3 reactors during summer 2000, which, as part of its LTPAwith AIXTRON (for a total of 10 machines, see below), will bring the total delivered to seven.

Alliances AIXTRON has several LTPAs with key customers such as Cardiff, Wales-based IQE Plc, the merchant epiwafer company. The stated arrangement provides AIXTRON with confirmed future e q u i p m e n t sales as IQE expands, while offering a manufacturing support for other clients via IQE (who also gains through new clients via AIXTRON and a closer relationship that up to then had no precedent in this industry). Another LTPAhas been signed with Kopin (Taunton, MA, USA), manufacturing GaAs HBT epiwafers.

Table 8.2 AIXTRON AG Financial Highlights (E; Million). Net sales Net income R&D

Alpha Industries Inc 20 Sylvan Road PO Box 1044 Woburn, MA 01801 USA Tel: +1 781 935-5150

200

1999

1998

84.7 10.4 6.0

55.2 5.4 3.5

Alpha Industries designs and m a n u f a c t u r e s GaAs ICs, silicon and GaAs discrete semiconductors and ceramic products for cellular telephones, PCS, global positioning systems, mobile radio and specialized wireless equipment. It reported net sales of US$184.7 million for fiscal year 2000, an increase of 46% over fiscal year 1999's figure ofUS$126.3 million. Alpha's first quarter 2000 sales w e r e US$56.9 million, which is an increase of 66% over the corresponding quarter in fiscal year 1999.


Company Profiles

The company has three business segments: the Wireless Semiconductor segment ( p r o d u c i n g GaAs ICs and other s e m i c o n d u c t o r s for wireless telephone handsets); the application specific products segment (producing GaAs and silicon devices to satellite, instrumentation, defence and other c o m m u n i c a t i o n s markets); and the ceramic products segment (which provides technical ceramic products for wireless telephony infrastructure and other wireless markets). In February 2000 The company acquired the privately-held Network Device Inc of Sunnyvale, CA, USA, a GaAs IC design and fabrication company that specializes in HBTs. The stock-for-stock transaction is valued at approximately US$106.2 million. Network Device's GaAs indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) HBT process is production-ready, already producing PHEMTs and metal semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs); its fabrication facility has also become a second source for some ofAlpha's radiofrequency (RF) ICs. Alpha has close ties with Motorola and is a leading manufacturer of GaAs MMIC switches for handsets--- its products are included in the majority of Motorola's digital handset platforms.

R&D Alpha I n d u s t r i e s ' R&D e x p e n d i t u r e for fiscal year 2000 a m o u n t e d to US$20.7 million, as opposed to 1999's figure of US$12.9 million.

Facilities The company has two facilities, its own fabrication facility at Woburn and its newly acquired Network Device plant in Sunnyvale, CA. in September 1999, Alpha completed the first phase of a major expansion programme that upgraded and expanded the available cleanroom space by fourfold at its GaAs fabrication facility in Woburn. The US$12 million second stage of the expansion is under way and has been accelerated (scheduled for completion in summer 2000) to accommodate increased demand for RFICs. All of the new equipment, and much of the existing equipment, is 6-inch


201

Company Profiles

wafer compatible, Alpha has increased automation within the fabrication facility and has reduced line width to 0.4/~m or less. The intention is that it will, w h e n necessary, be able to convert to 6-inch p r o d u c t i o n with the minimum of outlay.

Products The c o m p a n y ' s W i r e l e s s S e m i c o n d u c t o r Division r e p o r t e d sales of US$118.8 million (up 80% on fiscal year 1999) for fiscal year 2000. Alpha Industries' GaAs ICs are used in Motorola's V3688 GSM mobile phone handset. The Alpha components are a highly integrated, multifunction GaAs IC PHEMT switch and a high- e~ciency 3 V GaAs power amplifier. Alpha also supplies components for Motorola's CDMA StarTac digital wireless telephone. Alpha stated that it has more GaAs control devices in the CDMA StarTac p l a t f o r m s t h a n it has ever had in any o t h e r p h o n e . The n e w generation of multi-band, multi-mode wireless handsets need two to three times as many control products as older phones. Alpha has a GaAs power amplifier built into the 3Corn Palm VII T, connected organizer which helps the wireless Internet device to obtain weeks of battery life using two triple A batteries. As a result of its technology alliance with Network Device and Infinesse, Alpha in September 1999 introduced the AP 126-89 (the first product in its new family of GaAs HBT ICs), a low-voltage, high-efficiency linear p o w e r amplifier for use in PCS CDMA digital wireless handsets. Alpha a n n o u n c e d in March 2000 that it had entered into multiple supply agreements with its second-largest customer, Ericsson, and was shipping r e c o r d n u m b e r s of its a d v a n c e d GaAs RF IC s w i t c h e s a n d d i s c r e t e semiconductors. The company also produces some silicon devices, an example of which is its SMS3925-079 40 V, 0.6 pF RF Schottky diode for detector applications. Alpha a n n o u n c e d in July 2000 that several of its market-leading GaAs IC switches and control devices have been chosen by Adaptive Broadband Corp for their high-speed b r o a d b a n d and wireless local-area n e t w o r k (LAN) systems. The Alpha products allow Adaptive Broadband to use bandwidth more efficiently in its high-data-rate wireless solutions operating in the 2.45.8 GHz frequency range. Alpha's GaAs MMIC IC switches for high-data-rate wireless and b r o a d b a n d applications provide system designers with the lowest insertion loss and highest isolation available in the market today, allowing lower power consumption, higher data rates and more efficient network design.

Alliances In February 1999 Alpha Industries announced an alliance with Infinesse Corp (Los Angeles, CA), a leading independent developer of G a ~ HBT ICs, and 202


Company Profiles

with Network Device Inc (which was subsequently acquired by Alpha in early 2000) to d e v e l o p and m a n u f a c t u r e GaAs HBT ICs for high-volume, commercial applications, including wireless telephony Alpha announced in November 1999 that it had an agreement with Ericsson to develop multi-chip modules for leading-edge digital wireless telephone standards, including EDGE and other future highly linear applications. The modules will help this new third-generation standard to achieve extremely high data transmission rates while remaining compatible with today's digital standards. The company is also a member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

Table 8.3 Alpha Industries Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). 2000 Net sales Net Income/(Ioss) Working capital Total assets

ANADIGICS Inc 35 Technology Drive Warren NJ 07059 USA Tel: + 1 908 669 5000

184.7 24.4 30.9 259.1

,,

1999

1998

1997

1996

126.3 21.5 42.7 106.7

116.9 10.3 26.1 76.9

85.3 (1 5.6) 18.4 65.3

96.9 3.8 32.7 75.4

ANADIGICS Inc, founded in 1985, is a leading supplier of wireless and broadband communications products. Its major customers include Ericsson, General instruments, Motorola, Nortel and Scientific Atlanta. For the year ending December 1999, the company reported net sales of US$131.2 million, an increase of 52% on fiscal year 1998's figure of US$86.1 million.

R&D R&D e x p e n s e s for fiscal year 1999 i n c r e a s e d by a l m o s t 150% to US$55.3 million, as opposed to US$19.8 million in fiscal year 1998. The


203

Company Profiles

company has been awarded a total of 19 patents and has a n o t h e r three pending. It employs 100 engineers in research and development. The company announced in October 1999 that it had developed HBT devices using 6-inch wafers (as a result of its alliance with Global Communications Semiconductors).

Facilities ANADIGICS announced in January 2000 that it would expand its 6-inch G a ~ production facility (which contains 12 000 ft 2 of Class 100 cleanroom and only began p r o d u c t i o n in July 1999), doubling the current p r o d u c t i o n capabili~ Scheduled for completion by summer 2000, the US$10 million expansion includes the development of additional Class 10 cleanroom space and e q u i p m e n t installation within its existing InGaP HBT, PHEMT and MESFET manufacturing facility. The company has held ISO9001 certification since 1993.

Products During 1999, the company shipped more than 1 million GaAs quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) tuner ICs for implementation in Motorola's cable modem products. ANADIGICS' DOCSIS-compliant 64/256 QAM chipset performs the functions of a double-conversion cable television tuner, features industry-leading linearity and noise figure and delivers a more superior biterror-rate than discrete single or double conversion solutions over a wide dynamic range. The company announced in March 2000 that it had shipped production volumes of multi-band power amplifiers for use in Ericsson's T18d dual-band wireless phones, which feature digital fax/data and full graphic di,~play capabilities. E r i c s s o n ' s T18d is the third T-class p l a t f o r m to utilize ANADIGICS' patented multiband technology, which enabled operation in digital advanced mobile phone system (DAMPS) 900 MHz and time-division multiple access (TDMA) 1900 MHz bands using one power amplifier. ANADIGICS in March 2000 announced that it had developed a 12-channel metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector array for use in 2x Fibre Channel, and Infiniband datacommunication networks capable of data rates up to 3.125 Gb/s per channel. The devices, which integrate a lx12 array of p h o t o d e t e c t o r s on a single GaAs substrate, o p e r a t e at 850 nm with a polarity-muff independent architecture. The MSM technology integrates all 12 channels on a single die, conforms to the 250 tzm pitch fibre ribbon cables and displays superior cross-talk isolation while targeting responsivity in excess of 0.4 The company also produces a line of integrated single-pole four-throw (SP4T) antenna switches with internal decoders. The innovative 3 V PHEMT switches simplify digital and analogue multi-mode, multiband cellular handset designs by integrating logic control and RF band and mode selection in a small, lowcost plastic package. The switches include the AWS5509S17 tri-band SP4T 204


Compan y Profiles

switch for GSM, digital communication service (DCS), and PCS operation and the AWS5510S20 dual-band SP4T switch for AMPS/TDMA 800 and AMPS 1900 handset applications. By utilizing its 6-inch PHEMT manufacturing technology, ANADIGICS has expanded its range of control devices with the introduction of a new family of low-cost PHEMT switches that meet the performance requirements of nextgeneration multi-band GSM handsets. The family includes the AWS5505 (a transfer switch with a single-pole d o u b l e - t h r o w SPDT), AWS5507 and AWS5512 transfer switches and AWS5508 SP4T. ANADIGICS announced in February 2000 that it has received an order for more than 10 million RF switches and had begun production shipments to Motorola, one of the largest US-based manufacturers of wireless handsets. The AWS5504S14 and AWS5506S14 single-supply 3 V RF switches are used in an 800-MHz digital CDMMAMPS dual-mode phone. ANADIGICS in December 1999 introduced two new RFICs that enable lighter, smaller multi-mode, multi-band handsets. The AWD5101S4 driver amplifier and the AWT4502S4 power amplifier were designed for wireless handset applications, offering 3 V operation, a small footprint and 50 Ohm input/ output matching. Another product recently manufactured by ANADIGICS is its InGaP HBT power amplifiers. It shipped its first high-efficiency 3 V InGaP HBT power amplifier samples to major wireless handset manufacturers at the beginning of 2000, with volume production scheduled for the third quarter of 2000. The c o m p a n y has built u p o n its experience in high-speed GaAs transimpedance amplifers (TIAs) to offer two types of packaged optical receivers for the gigabit E t h e r n e t and Fibre C h a n n e l systems serving the data communications market. The first type is an integrated positive intrinsic negative (PIN) photodetector and preamplifier for long-wavelength (13001550 nm) operation. The second type, for short-wavelength (850 nm) applications, is an integrated MSM photodetector and preamplifier. Having the MSM p h o t o d e t e c t o r and preamplifier integrated on the same die p r o d u c e s high performance with a large optically active area detector (100/zm 2) that facilitates optical alignment.

Alliances The company joined the Bluetooth Special Interest Group in December 1998 and confirmed its support of the consortium's development effort for a wireless connectivity standard. As previously mentioned in the R&D Section, ANADIGICS entered into an alliance to d e v e l o p HBT t e c h n o l o g y with Global C o m m u n i c a t i o n s Semiconductors Inc in 1999. Under the terms of the agreement, once ANADIGICS had established its own internal HBT source, GCS became a second-source supplier of HBT wafers.


205

Company Profiles

ANADIGICS and TEMIC Semiconductors announced an agreement in August 1999 under which the two companies will share information regarding SiGe process technology and RFIC design.

Table 8.4 ANADIGICS Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) R&D Total assets

Apex Co Ltd 128 Chuckbuk-ri Namyi-myun Chongwon-kun Chungbuk Korea Tel: +43 260 2O0O

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

131.2 2.6 55.3 317.6

86.1 (9.6) 19.8 154.1

102.5 15.3 16.8 168.1

68.9 12.0 12.0 87.0

51.5 7.3 11.7 66.3

Advanced Process Equipment System (Apex) Co Ltd was founded in 1991 to produce MOVPE systems for the mainstream silicon semiconductor industry to prepare films of Ta205, barium-strontium titanate (BST), lead-zirconium titanate (PZT), and Cu epitaxial growth. In 1997 the company established a GaAs epiwafer production division. It produced its first GaAs epiwafer in 1998. Apex produces MESFETs, singledelta-doped PHEMTs and double-delta-doped PHEMTs. Apex will also supply HBT epiwafer structures during 2000. Also in 1997, Apex began selling MOVPE equipment for III-V applications. The company has participated in many research alliances for the development of MOVPE equipment, particularly with Samsung and LG Electronics. It has also undertaken research to develop Ta20 ~ MOVPE e q u i p m e n t for mass production and has an ongoing project for BST MOVPE equipment. APEX has three patents pertaining to the construction of MOVPE equipment, with another five applied for. In 1998, Apex supplied Ta205 chemical vapour deposition (CVD) equipment for next-generation memory components to Hyundai Electronics.

Applied Epi Inc 4900 Constellation Drive St. Paul MN55127 UC~ Tel.. +1 651 482-0800

206

Applied Epi Inc is the new name of EPI MBE Products Group, a privately owned company that was formed in 1986. The company announced its name change in July 2000. The company has a broad product line ranging from accessories to complete multiwafer d e p o s i t i o n machines. It claims to be the leading supplier worldwide of effusion cells and related equipment for the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) industry, with more than 3000 effusion cells and crackers


Company Profiles

delivered to more than 350 different facilities. These sources are in use in virtually every type of commercially available MBE system, as well as many custom systems. In 1999, Applied Epi launched the GEN2000, the world's first cluster tool mulitwafer MBE production machine. The company has great hopes for this machine and its successors, having already received orders from several leading GaAs companies for it.

Facilities The company's new 75 000 ft 2 manufacturing facility (although still located in St Paul), accommodates its product-specific assembly areas, internal welding and machining shops and e x p a n d e d effusion cell and system p r o d u c t i o n areas. In J u n e 2000 Applied Epi p u r c h a s e d an additional 871 000 ft 2 of surrounding land for future expansion. Applied Epi Inc has sales and service offices in the USA (in May 2000 it opened an office in Santa Clara, CA) and the UK and also has a network of distributors in India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and France.

Products Applied Epi launched the world's first commercial phosphorus cracker in 1991 and then its own full MBE system in 1994, the 1040P. It introduced the concept of material-specific effusion cells in mid-1998, following by its SUMOO and Valved Cracker designs, which are now industry standards. In 1999, the company launched its 7 x 6-inch capable GEN2000. It has taken a fresh approach to designing production MBE systems, instead of scaling-up existing equipment the company decided to emulate equipment successfully used in the silicon industry and introduced its Cluster Tool wafer-handling system. The cluster tool addresses reliability and throughput. Combining this with Applied Epi's patented high-capacity Group III SUMOO sources and Valved Group V sources maximizes uptime. The combination of reliability, t h r o u g h p u t and capacity translates directly to what is claimed to be the lowest per-wafer cost in the indust~. Other features of the GEN2000 include a 50 kg arsenic cell and 10 kg gallium cell, facilitating what the company claims will be the longest uptime in the industry, in excess of 300 days/year depending on system configuration. The system can be loaded with 182 6-inch wafers in the standard configuration (more than twice that of competitors' systems) and can be operated in a batch mode. The cluster tool also allows the flexibility to increase the loading capability by adding additional storage capacity. In addition to MBE components and related software, Applied Epi offers a complete line of MBE systems designed for both research and production. The 930 MBE System is configured for research applications, facilitating substrates up to 3 inches in diameter, has a nine-source capacity and is suitable for III-V and II-VI compounds.


207

Company Profiles

Other products include the GEN II MBE System, which has a p r o d u c t i o n capability, serves substrates up to 3 inches in diameter and has an eightsource capacity. The MOD GEN II is an MBE system (available with either 3-inch or 4-inch capabilities), popular for optoelectronic materials including GaAs and a l u m i n i u m - g a l l i u m arsenide (AIGaAs); the 620 MBE System accommodates horizontal substrates up to 3 inches in diameter and has a six-source capacity but is also expandable. The GEN II was originated by Varian in the 1980s. In 1991 Intevac was created after a buy-out of three of Varian's divisions, including the MBE operation. The Intevac company, with all its MBE products in the field and spares support, became part of EPI MBE Products in 1994. This is ironic because EPI MBE Products was originally founded as a business to provide an alternative to Varian for spares and special equipment for the very large US GENII user base. EPI MBE Products also purchased SVT (formerly the PerkinElmer MBE Division). Applied Epi's atomic hydrogen source can be used during growth to promote two-dimensional epitaxial growth of G a ~ at T = 350~ An atomic hydrogen backpressure of--6x10 6 Torr is used to create surfactant that modifies the surface energy of the GaAs growth surface. The atomic hydrogen source is available as a dual-use model, in that it can be used also as an injector for use with gases such as CBr 4. The company has developed a leak-free RF plasma nitrogen source for use in MBE, the UNI-Bulb T,. This design utilizes state-of-the-art RF technology and incorporates an oxide-free, all-pBN (pyrolytic boron nitride), one-piece design that prevents N 2 from leaking into the growth environment.

Atmel Corp 2325 Orchard Parkway San Jose CA 95131 UX~ Tel: + 1 408 441 0311

F o u n d e d in 1984 and employing 4200 people, Atmel designs, develops, manufactures and markets high-performance non-volatile memory and logic ICs for telecommunications, computer, consumer vehicles and industrial equipment used in producing improved electronic systems. Atmel is a major manufacturer of non-volatile memories. Incorporated within Atmel is the s e m i c o n d u c t o r business of the former TEMIC, The TEMIC IC division specializes in RF, SiGe, space and satellite, a n a l o g u e and mixed-signal capabilities targeted towards the telecommunications, automotive and consumer markets. In the y e a r - e n d i n g D e c e m b e r 1999 Atmel r e p o r t e d n e t sales of US$1.3 billion, as opposed to 1998's figure of US$1.1 billion. Geographic sales were attributed as follows: North America 34%; Europe 31%; AsiaPacific 27%; Japan 8%. TEMIC's net revenues for external customers in fiscal year 1999 a m o u n t e d to US$275.3 million (an increase of 15% on 1998's figure of US$238.4 million). TEMIC accounted for 21% of Atmel's fiscal year 1999 revenues.

208


Company Profiles

In May 2000 Atmel announced that it had completed its acquisition of the s e m i c o n d u c t o r o p e r a t i o n of France's Thomson-CSF. The p u r c h a s e of Thomson-CSF Semiconducteurs Specifique (TCS), Saint-Egreve, France, is i n t e n d e d to boost Atmel's capabilities in wireless and c o n s u m e r chip applications as well as further increase the company's European presence. TCS specializes in a variety of ICs including charge-coupled devices (CCDs,) RFICs, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and SiGe devices.

R&D The company spent US$194 million on research and development during fiscal year 1999, as opposed to US$175 million during 1998. It employs 750 people in R&D. TEMIC Semiconductors and Alcatel are partners in the 'GIGA-CHIPS' project within the European MEDEA progrmnme regarding SiGe circuits for 40 Gbit/s optical transmission systems.

Products TEMIC Semiconductors in May 2000 released two new dual-gain LNAs m a n u f a c t u r e d in SiGe technology. The IC TST0950 can be used for conventional superhetero-dyne or direct-conversion receivers in 925 MHz to 960 MHz GSM mobile phones and ISM applications whilst the TST0951 is designed for DCS and PCS mobile phone applications in of 1800 MHz to 2 GHz frequency range. Other products include: 9

9

In October 1998 TEMIC announced its U7004B, the industry's first SiGe front-end IC U7004B for cordless digital-enhanced cordless telephone (DECT) applications. In March 1999 TEMIC introduced the industry's first 3 V SiGe power amplifier for GSM mobile phones. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

209

Company Profiles

9 In June 2000 TEMIC launched an SiGe integrated RF front-end IC (including an LNA and power amplifier for the radio part of Bluetooth systems. ~ The U7004B f r o n t - e n d IC is a m o n o l i t h i c GaAs Tx/Rx with p o w e r amplifier, LNA and antenna switch. It is designed for use in the 839952 MHz CT2 band.

Alliances In August 1999 ANADIGICS AND TEMIC announced an agreement to share SiGe process technology and RF IC design. TEMIC has been researching into SiGe for several years and operates a 6-inch SiGe wafer fabrication facility in Heilbronn, Germany, and ANADIGICS brings its RFIC expertise to the partnership. TEMIC and M/A-COM announced in August 1999 an agreement whereby they would joindy design and manufacture SiGe products for telecommunications. Under the terms of the agreement, the two partners will jointly design and manufacture SiGe-based components and RF ICs for high-volume, commercial applications such as wireless telephony, wireless local-area network (WIAN) and wireless local loop (WLL). In July 2000 Atmel and RFMD announced an agreement to provide reference designs based on the IEEE802.1 lb, 11 Mb/s WLAN standard. The reference designs use RFMD's 2.4 GHz chipset and Atmel's family of Fast-VirtualNetTM ARM| MACs (Media Access Controllers - AT76C502, AT76C503 and AT76C510), which run the network protocol and provide a variety of interfaces to the host platform. Together, the companies are providing complete reference designs to qualified customers, including schematics, layout files and Bill of Materials (BOM). In August 2000 Atmel and Motorola announced a licensing agreement that will enable the two companies to provide a reliable supply of RF bipolar/ complementary metal oxide semiconductors (BiCMOS), producing RFICs for low-voltage portable wireless applications. The licensed technology has a 0.35/.~m feature size and a negative-positive-negative (NPN) transition frequency ~ of 28 GHz. Under the terms of the agreement, Motorola will share its BiCMOS technology with Atmel. This will enable Atmel immediately to provide wireless original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with products designed in a process that is fully mask-compatible with Motorola's advanced 0.35 gzm RF BiCMOS technology.

Table 8.5 Atmel Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million).

210

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

Net sales 1330.1 Net income/(Ioss) 53.4 R&D 193.8 Total assets 2014.9

1111.1 (50.0) 274.8 1962.7

958.3 1.8 137.9 2833.0

1070.3 201.7 110.2 1455.9

634.2 113.7 69.8 919.6


Company Profiles

Atomergic Chemetals Corp 71 Carolyn Boulevard Farmtngdale NY 11735 USA Tel: + 1 631 694 9000

Atomergic Chemetals Corp (ATRAMET) is a Russian-American venture that supplies a range of III-V and II-VI materials, all of which are manufactured in Russia. In addition to GaAs, ATRAMET's product line includes GaSb, InAs, InSb and InP in 2-inch and 3-inch d i a m e t e r s , and a n u m b e r of II-VI compounds. ATRAMET offers a wide range of materials for electronics, i n c l u d i n g semiconductors and laser and electro-optic non-linear crystals. The crystals are characterized to ensure a high degree of perfection and freedom from absorbing impurities. Dopants can be added to these semiconductor and electro-optic materials to obtain whatever necessary properties are desired. The c o m p a n y uses a variety of m e t h o d s ranging from l o w - t e m p e r a t u r e aqueous solution growth techniques to very high temperature Czochralski (modified Cz), Stepanov, Bridgman, float zone, flux, vapour growth and light focus techniques, etc. In addition to a regular line of standard crystals, it can also supply custom crystals for unique scientific applications. The new modified Czochralski growth (method modified liquid-encapsulated Czochralski MLEC) for production of GaAs wafers offers electronic wafers that have lower etch pit density (EPD) levels than traditional liquid-encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) growth. ATRAMET have o p t i m i z e d a crystal growth technique that has similarities to horizontal Bridgman (HB) and vertical gradient freeze (VGF), but had unique properties of its own: 9

9 9

Advanced ~reless Semiconductor Co No. 6 Da-Lt 1st Road Tainan Science-Based Park, Hstn-Sht Tainan County 744 Taiwan Tel: +886 8 505 0999

The EPD distribution over the cross-section in the MLEC crystals is less than in HB crystals. At the same average EPD, the EPD value in the centre of the MLEC wafer is lower than in the HB crystals, but at the periphery it is higher. The difference across the centre and the periphery may exceed 10-fold in some cases. In the MLEC crystals the c o m p e n s a t i o n rate of d o n o r Si impurity is higher. MLEC wafers are slightly less strong than traditional HB wafers; this problem is being investigated.

Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Co (AWSC) is located in the Tainan Sciencebased Industrial Park in Southern Taiwan. The company has a 57 000 ft 2 facility that houses a 9000 ft 2 Class 100 cleanroom and a 6500 ft 2 Class 10 cleanroom for backside and testing. This facility, Fab 1A, processes 400-600 wafer starts/week. During the second half of 2000, the company will begin construction of a n o t h e r facility (Fab 1B), which, at full production, will increase AWSC's capacity to 1200 wafers starts/week.


211

Company Profiles

AWSC intends to become the premier low-cost GaAs HBT foundry. Its MOVPE epitaxial HBT technology utilizes a non-self-aligned process with an AIGaAs/ InGaP emitter and carbon-doped base layer material. The 12-mask layer process has a TaN thin-film resistor, plasma-excited chemical v a p o u r deposition (PECVD) Si3N4 capacitor and passivation and two-level Au-based metal. The process uses 4-inch GaAs HBT wafers with 12 mask layers to complete MMICs. This process provides: HBT, base-collector diode, thin-film resistor, MIM capacitor, inductor and transmission line for MMIC design. It uses gold metal for interconnection. AWSC and Conexant announced a long-term wafer agreement in April 2000. The deal specifies that Conexant would have a guaranteed 30 000 wafer starts/year, which will increase their capacity by 30%.

American Xtal Technology 4311 Solar Way Fremont, CA 94538 USA Tel: +1 510 683 5900

American Xtal Technology (AXT) is a developer and supplier of a growing range of compound semiconductor substrates. Its portfolio now includes silicon carbide and indium phosphide. It is also researching into gallium nitride. However, its main focuses are GaAs and germanium. Formed in 1987, AXT specializes in the supply of semiconductor wafers. The company reported fiscal year 1999 revenues of US$81.5 million, as opposed to 1998's figure ofUS$43.3 million.

R&D AXT's R&D expenditure for fiscal year 1999 was US$3.1 million, as opposed to US$ 2.5 million for fiscal year 1998. The company's R&D projects include research into the d e v e l o p m e n t of GaN and high-purity GaAs epitaxy

212


Company Profiles

substrates. It also funds part of its R&D t h r o u g h contracts with the US government and customer-funded research contracts. In 1994 the company became a member of the US Government's Defense Production Act (DPA) Title 1]1Program. A requirement of the programme was for AXT to demonstrate the quality of its semi-insulating GaAs substrates by qualifying the substrates with major users of GaAs. Additionally, AXT was required to expand its total wafer production capacity to 0.8 Msi (--5 Mcm 2) per year. During the course of the Title III Program, AXT also fulfilled the requirement to expand its sales of SI GaAs substrates to more than 350 ksi per year. The company began manufacturing VGF-grown InP substrates with support from a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programme and IR&D. In 1997, AXT was one of the contractors awarded a DPA ]3tie HI Office Program for improving the quality of semi-insulating InP substrates and scaling up production to more than 50 ksi per year. Under this programme, TRW is a s u b c o n t r a c t o r to AXT carrying out analytical studies of the material and comparing it with other materials.

Facilities AXT has a state-of-the-art facility in Fremont, CA, which includes 80 000 ft2 of production space and houses the company's proprietary VGF crystal growth o p e r a t i o n (Phase I, 50 000 ft 2, was c o m p l e t e d in 1996 and Phase II, an additional 30 000 ft z, was completed in 1998). Phase II is used mainly for n e w p r o d u c t development, such as GaP and InP. During 1998, AXT also purchased an additional 58 000 ft 2 facility in Fremont. The company holds ISO 9002 certification. AXT announced plans for a wafer fabrication facility in Beijing, China (the country of origin of its founders, the Young family). The company purchased a 30 000 ft 2 facility (which may in the future be increased to 60 000 ft 2) in a major tax-free industrial park. Operations began in the second quarter of 1999. All manufacturing operations (apart from the VGF operation, which remains at Freemont), will take place at the n e w facility in Beijing. The company expects to receive ISO 9002 certification for the new facility by the end of 1999.

Products The company claims to produce the industry's lowest defect semi-insulating and semiconducting GaAs and InP wafers. The crystals are grown in-house using the VGF process. It has been developing GaP and GaN substrates, which will mean that AXT's product line will cover the entire spectrum of substrates for opto- and electronic applications. AXT's p r o d u c t r a n g e i n c l u d e s the m a n u f a c t u r e of 2- to 6-inch GaAs substrates. It also produces 2-, 3- and 4-inch InP substrates. A direct consequence of the low defect density in VGF GaAs is the increased mechanical strength of the material. Wafers with a high dislocation density Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

213

Company Profiles

can easily form microcracks where the discolations coalesce. An almost linear increase in wafer frace strength, with decreasing dislocation density, has been found. High mechanical strength is obviously desirable, because it results in reduced wafer breakage during volume processing. It also allows the use of thin wafers during processing, eliminating the thinning steps often required for devices.

Alliances In June 1999 AXT announced that it has entered into an agreement with Inner Mongolia Mining and Nanjing Germanium to mine germanium in Xilin Gol League, 250 miles from Beijing, China. Inner Mongolia Mining owns the mine property and Nanjing Germanium is one of China's largest germanium refiners. The agreement, which supplements AXT's source of supply, gives the three partners exclusive rights to the germanium for 25 years. AXT also has the right to p u r c h a s e refined g e r m a n i u m from the joint v e n t u r e at competitive prices.

Table 8.6 AXT Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Total revenue Net income Working capital R&D Total assets

Caswell Technology Caswell Towcester Northa mp tonsh tre NN12 8EQ UK Tel: +44 1327 350581

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

81.5 0.2 39.7 3.1 114.6

43.3 6.3 41.1 2.5 75.0

25.3 3.3 14.2 1.3 30.6

16.2 2.0 5.5 0.6 17.4

14.5 2.7 3.8 0.4 11.3

CasweU Technology is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marconi Plc. Originally the Allen Clarke Research Centre of Plessey Ltd, Caswell became part of the GEC-Marconi Group of companies in the 1980s (following the takeover of Plessey by GEC and S i e m e n s ) and was r e n a m e d Marconi Materials Technology, which was changed in 2000 to its trading name of Caswell Technology. The company produces devices for the merchant market as well as supplying the Marconi Group. Caswell was the only truly indigenous GaAs device manufacturing facility in the UK until the recent advent of Filtronic Compound Semiconductor.

R&D Caswell has an ongoing R&D programme incorporating participation in national, European and collaborative projects. These include collaborations with substrate and epiwafer companies as well as other research institutes and universities. Collaborations listed cover numerous ESPRIT, ESPI~C and BRIT-EUP,AM projects. It launched the world's first G a ~ FET in 1970.

214


Company Profiles

Facilities Caswell Technology offers three services for MMIC users whereby they can purchase its range of standard products, use the GaAs foundry to fabricate their own designs, or use Caswell's design team to design, fabricate and test a custom MMIC to their specifications. Caswell also designs and assembles MMICs into complete modules and sub-assemblies. The company's foundry service (which was launched in 1985) provides a MMIC process with two basic options: 9

9

F20, employing 0.5/zm gate length MESFETs with standard depletion mode, recessed gate transistors and through-substrate vias for use to 20 GHz. F20 offers both switch/medium p o w e r and standard gain implants. H40, employing 0.25/~m gate length low-noise PHEMT technology with mushroom gate techniques for use to frequencies in excess of 40 GHz.

Caswell is developing new enhancements, including H100 0.1/zm PHEMTs (for applications up to 100 GHz), H40P power HEMT process, B20 HBT high-speed digital/small-signal analogue process and B20P HBT high-power

analogue process.

Products As well as its 0.5/~m gate Ga/~ MESFET and 0.25/zm gate PHEMT processes and MMIC design, layout and A&T, Caswell also offers an GaInP/GaAs HBT process, 6-inch wafer processing, reactive ion etching (RIE) through GaAs vias, dielectric encapsulation and NiCr, implanted resistors and RF testing to 50GHz. Products include: G a ~ FET MMIC amplifiers to 18 GHz, HEMT MMIC LNAs to 42 GHz, HEMT power amplifiers to 42 GHz, HBT Darlington amplifiers DC-8 GHz, MMIC switches to 20 GHz, switched attenuator MMICs, wireless c o m m u n i c a t i o n transceiver MMICs, w i r e l e s s c o m m u n i c a t i o n p o w e r amplifiers, MMIC transceiver for synthetic aperture radar transmitter (SART) and switch driver ASICs. Examples include: 9

The P35-5114-000-200 LNA for the 2 0 - 3 2 GHz f r e q u e n c y range, featuring 21 dB typical gain, 2.2/2.2 dB typical noise figure and 48 mA current. The P35-51 millimetre-wave (mm-wave) family also includes a range of driver and power amplifiers. 9 The P35-4721-200-000 GaAs MMIC power amplifier has 24 dB typical gain and is manufactured using Caswell's F20 MESFET MMIC process. Suitable for wireless applications in the 5-6 GHz bandwidth (especially HIPERIAN), the three-stage amp requires 5 V power supplies. 9 The P35-4103-000-200 high-performance monolithic broadband amp o p e r a t i n g in the 0 . 5 - 3 . 5 GHz f r e q u e n c y r a n g e is s u i t a b l e for t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , i n s t r u m e n t a t i o n and e l e c t r o n i c warfare applications. It features self-biased operating for 5 V power supply, 11 dB gain and 19 dBm output power.


215

Company Profiles

Celeritek Inc 3236 Scott Boulevard Santa Clara CA 95054 USA Tel: + 1 408 986 5060

Celeritek Inc, which was founded in 1984, was originally involved in GaAsbased high-frequency wireless h a r d w a r e manufacturing. It has since broadened its portfolio: its semiconductor product line includes GaAs RF ICs for cellular and PCS handsets, wireless local loop subscriber units and base station applications, whereas the wireless subsystem product line includes subsystems and components for microwave radios and very small aperture terminals (VSAT). The company also manufactures products for defence e l e c t r o n i c s for a p p l i c a t i o n s such as missile g u i d a n c e , e l e c t r o n i c countermeasures and communications satellites. Celeritek's major customers include Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung and Qualcomm. During fiscal year 2000, Motorola was Celeritek's largest customer, accounting for 15% of sales. Approximately 50% of sales are attributed to the Defence Segment, with Semiconductor 26% and Radio Satellite 24%. Celeritek reported net sales for the financial year-ending March 2000 of US$48.2 million, an increase of 17% on 1999's figure of US$41.1 million. It employs 340 people worldwide. It is a leading supplier of 3 V power amplifiers to the CDMA digital mobile phone handset market. In March 2000, the company announced that it had received US$6.4 million worth of orders for 3 V CDMA power amplifiers packaged in leadless chip carrier packages for wireless handsets. This follows on from another order worth US$8.5 million that was announced the month previously. Celeritek's CDMA power amplifiers are currently used in a number of leading platforms, including the Motorola StarTAC'".

R&D C e l e r i t e k ' s R&D e x p e n d i t u r e for fiscal year 2000 a m o u n t e d to US$6.7 million, as o p p o s e d to US$5.9 million in 1999; 55 p e o p l e are employed in R&D.

216


Company Profiles

Celeritek holds 16 design wins for its TrueTriangle family of InGaP HBT modules. The company opened a design centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1998. It concentrates on the design of RF ICs for handset and microwave- and mmwave applications. At the end of 1999, Celeritek a n n o u n c e d that it would o p e n a n o t h e r design centre in the UK, this time at Lincoln, and was also recruiting more engineers for its Belfast operation. The Lincoln design centre will h o u s e offices and l a b o r a t o r y facilities for use in the design and development of subsystem products; engineers will design transceivers for mm-wave radio applications.

Facilities The c o m p a n y ' s state-of-the-art, high-volume manufacturing facility was opened in 1998. Celeritek has its own proprietary processes for the wafer fabrication of GaAs p r o d u c t s with g e o m e t r y ' s as small as 0.25/~m. The company's current lithography process, using stepper-based, i-line, phaseshift technology, enables it to produce very fine line width devices in volume with proven production methods.

Products Celeritek's GaAs RF ICs and high-frequency radio transceiver subsystems and components operate in the high RF range of 800 MHz to 1 GHz and in the microwave frequency range of 1-40 GHz. Celeritek designs and develops products using MESFET, pHEMT and HBT GaAs p r o c e s s e s tailored to s u p p o r t high-capacity b r o a d b a n d wireless a p p l i c a t i o n s . C e l e r i t e k claims that its pHEMT a n d MESFET p r o c e s s t e c h n o l o g i e s are s i m p l e r a n d m o r e r e l i a b l e t h a n s o m e c o m p e t i n g t e c h n o l o g i e s , but are able to match precisely the p r o c e s s and even a particular circuit design to maximize product performance. In summer 1999 Celeritek announced the availability of its Triniti DX Pro TM 'TRUE' 3 V PCS power amplifier in a 4 x 4 mm, leadless plastic package that uses less than 30% of the circuit board space of conventional SO-8 devices. Celeritek's new packaging design was specifically developed to meet the requirement for smaller and lower cost packaging of power amplifiers for wireless handsets. The CMM1530-LC is a linear power amplifier for use in PCS handsets and wireless local loop subscriber units that operate in the 1.85-1.91 GHz range. Typical features include operation as low as 3.0 V, 32 dB gain at operating output, 38% linear power added efticiency, + 30 dBm output power (IS-136 TDMA mode) and + 28.5 dBm output power (IS-98 CDMA mode). At the b e g i n n i n g of 2000, Celeritek a n n o u n c e d availability of the first m e m b e r of its WideFiber TM p r o d u c t family, the CMM3020-BD, a driver amplifier for external fibre-optic m o d u l a t o r s targeting high-bandwidth 10 Gb/s a p p l i c a t i o n s . P r o d u c e d using the c o m p a n y ' s high-frequency, sub-0.25/~m stepper-based PHEMT process, it is suitable for external Lithium Niobate modulators. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

217

Company Profiles

At the end of 1999, Celeritek a n n o u n c e d availability of its InGaP HBT process for low voltage (3 V), linear power amplifiers. A family of InGaP HBT amplifier modules packaged in low-cost 6-mm 2, 50 W matched modules called 'TrueTriangle' were introduced in 2000. The TrueTriangle products are low-voltage (3 V), linear, efficient power amplifiers that provide handset manufacturers with a low-cost, space-efficient solution.

Table 8.7 Celeritek Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R&D Total assets

CACKLtd Sandricka 30 966 81 Zarnovica Slovakia Tel: +421 858 681 2141

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

48.2 (6.8) 41.9 6.7 63.7

41.1 (7.5) 23.3 5.9 40.2

56.3 4.0 29.8 5.4 48.4

45.5 3.7 26.4 4.3 41.2

37.7 2.3 22.7 3.8 33.9

CMK Ltd was f o u n d e d in the 1970s and since the 1980s has g r o w n polycrystals and single crystals by LEC. The company reported a turnover for fiscal year 1999 of US$1.7 billion (as opposed to US$1.2 billion for fiscal year 1998) and employs 40 people. CMK produces 2-, 3- and 4-inch semi-insulating GaAs wafers and is also a supplier of poly-Ga~ wafers for epitaxy purposes. Wafers can be doped with Si, Te, Zn and S. The 4-inch wafer p r o d u c t i o n began in May 2000 and employs VGF. CMK's production capacity for 2-inch and 3-inch wafers is 3000/month and 500/month, respectively. The company is also able to reclaim gallium from waste/scrap GaKs material; it recycles GaAs scraps and refines Ga up to 7N (99.9% wt).

Conexant Systems Inc 4311 Jamboree Road Newport Beach CA 92660-3095 USA Tel: + 1 949 483 4600

218

Conexant Systems is a leading supplier of GaAs MMICs. The company was created when Rockwell International spun-off its semiconductor systems business to shareowners in December 1998. Conexant is the world's largest independent company, focused exclusively on providing semiconductor products for communications electronics and employs more than 7000 people worldwide. With more than 30 years of experience in developing analogue modem technology, the company leverages its expertise in mixedsignal processing and communications technology to deliver integrated systems and semiconductor products for a broad range of communications applications. The company has five business segments: Personal Computing, Personal Imaging, Wireless Communications, Digital Infotainment and Network Access.


Company Profiles

Conexant reported fiscal year 1999 sales of US$1.4 billion, as opposed to US$1.2 billion in fiscal year 1998. In January 2000 Conexant Systems announced that it had acquired Oak Technology Ltd, Bristol, UK (the wireless broadband business unit of Oak Technology Inc) for approximately US$25 million in a cash and stock transaction. Oak Technology Limited is a leading developer of broadband wireless communications technology for digital terrestrial TV applications. Oak Technology Ltd produced the algorithms, architecture and systems engineering expertise for the world's first single-chip 2K~K coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM) demodulator/decoder. In the same month Conexant also acquired Microcosm Communications (also of Bristol, UK), a manufacturer of optical networking components, for approximately US$128 million in stock. In April 2000, Philsar Semiconductor Inc of Ottawa, Canada, a privately held developer of RF semiconductor solutions for personal wireless connectivity, including emerging standards such as Bluetooth and RF components for third-generation (3G) digital cellular handsets, was acquired by Conexant in a stock-for-stock transaction. Philsar will become part of Conexant's Wireless Communications Division.

R&D Conexant spent US$310 million on R&D during fiscal year 1999, as opposed to US$342.4 million in 1998. Newbury Park, CA, USA, is concerned with GaAs products manufacturing; it was originally established as an R&D and military products GaAs centre and has been in continuous operation since 1985. Converted to a manufacturing facility in 1996 (to supply the growing wireless products markets), it is now in high volume production, using MESFET, HBT (both digital and power amplifier) processes in a Class 10, 6100 ft2 cleanroom. Conexant broadened its GaAs work in OC-48 (2.5 Gbit) and OC- 192 (10 Gbit) synchronous optical n e t w o r k (SONET) physical-layer products, including t r a n s i m p e d a n c e amplifiers (TIAs), clock- and data-recovery chips, laser drivers and mux-demux parts.

Facilities The company has a 4-inch fabrication facility at Newbury Park that includes 6100 ft2 of Class 10 cleanroom. Conexant also has a foundry deal with AWSC of Taiwan for 30 000/year HBT wafers (see AIliances). In January 2000 Conexant announced that it had developed an enhanced SiGe process that will significantly reduce the p o w e r r e q u i r e m e n t s of s e m i c o n d u c t o r products used in wireless and high-speed networking applications. (The company augmented its proven 0.35/zm BiCMOS process with SiGe epitaxy and deep-trench process modules. Power efficiency has been improved by tailoring the SiGe epitaxy process, and through aggressive lateral scaling of the bipolar transistors using advanced photolithography Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

219

Company Profiles

e q u i p m e n t ) . C o n e x a n t b e g a n m a n u f a c t u r i n g n e w SiGe-based communications semiconductor devices at its Newport Beach fabrication facility and expects to release a family of these products by mid-2000 (the only other company to have an SiGe BiCMOS process in volume production is IBM). It will initially manufacture RFICs for wireless handsets and advanced wireless communications terminals. A higher-frequency version of the SiGe process technology will also be released into production by mid-2000 for use in m a n u f a c t u r i n g OC-192 SONET devices for h i g h - s p e e d fibre-optic networking equipment.

Products The Wireless Communications Division, u n d e r which Conexant's GaAs activities are registered, accounted for US$266.6 million in fiscal year 1999 (or 19% of sales). In early 1999 C o n e x a n t a n n o u n c e d the i n d u s t r y ' s first successful commercialization of a new family of laminate and ceramic-based multichip module (MCM) packages for wireless applications. This technology allows the integration of complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS), bipolar and GaAs die as well as embedded passive and surface-mount technology components into a single, small-form-factor package. In February 1999 Conexant introduced two RF modules for CDMA digital cellular phones: the Jade module provides a highly integrated transmit/ receive subsystem for PCS solutions; and the Opal module is designed for cellular CDMA/AMPS handsets. The modules provide low-cost, low-power, transmit and receive solutions for baseband analogue processors that feature industry-standard intermediate frequency (IF) interfaces. Both devices s u p p o r t an IF interface and i n c l u d e all m a t c h i n g circuits, allowing manufacturers to rapidly design new handsets, as well as quickly and easily redesigning existing handsets. In July 1999 Conexant earned full-type approval for a complete dual-band system solution for GSM digital cellular handsets. Until then, most GSM handset manufacturers had to source c o m p o n e n t s and software from multiple vendors, creating difficult system integration and time-to-market challenges. Conexant's offering was the first of its kind to provide digital cellular phone manufacturers with a comprehensive antenna-to-microphone solution from a single supplier to support both the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz GSM communications bands. Samsung Electronics was the first customer for Conexant's dual-band GSM solution, which has since been incorporated into several new handset models. Ericsson also uses Conexant's dual-band GSM power amplifiers (which Conexant provides in volume) in its next-generation digital cellular phones. In February 2000 Conexant introduced its SmartPA technology, which will provide handset designers with a convenient, single-chip solution for giving consumers up to triple the battery life possible with current handset designs. Conexant embedded the SmartPA technology in a new family of CDMA power amplifiers that began general sampling in the second quarter of 2000, with volume production scheduled for the second half of the year. The SmartPA 220


Company Profiles

t e c h n o l o g y re-architects the p o w e r - m a n a g e m e n t circuitry in a p o w e r amplifier, partitioning it and using innovative switching techniques so that a mobile handset's power consumption can be optimized at various power levels. The SmartPA architecture is particularly effective at low power ranges where handsets operate 90% of the time. Conexant's power amplifiers will also be compatible with the current generation of baseband devices, giving designers m a x i m u m flexibility for developing a wide variety of handset designs.

Alliances Conexant Systems announced in April 2000 that it had signed a multi-year agreement with the Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company (AWSC) of Taiwan that guarantees the company capacity for an additional 30 000 GaAs HBT wafer starts annuall~ Production will commence in the fourth quarter of 2000, increasing Conexant's access to at least 30% more capacity for a total of more than 12 000 starts annually, including both internal and external resources (compared with 15 000 a year ago ). Conexant has also signed a US$150 million wafer supply agreement with TSMC for guaranteed future capacity.

Table 8.8 Conexant Systems Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R&D Total assets

Dowa Mining Co Ltd New Materials Dfvtsion Semiconductor Department 8-2, Marunouchi 1Chome Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100.8282 Japan Tel: + 81 3 3201 1067

1999

1998

1444.1 (3.2) 604.5 310.0 1842.0

1200.2 (440.2) 256.7 342.4 1418.5

Dowa Mining Co Ltd was founded in 1884. Today, it is a vertically integrated, value-added high-purity and related products manufacturer employing 1400 people. The company reported fiscal year 1999 net sales o f u billion (US$2.1 billion), a 15% reduction on 1998's figure o f u billion. This was owing to less demand for electric wire, rolled copper products and die casts, combined with falling base metal prices in international markets. The company supplies higher purity gallium, indium, antimony, zinc, copper and magnesium. Dowa Mining claims to have a 40% share of the Japanese market for gallium and 27% of the overseas market. It is the world's biggest supplier of gallium.

R&D Research and development expenditure for fiscal year 1999 a m o u n t e d to u billion (US$24 million). Achievements for Dowa Mining's research


221

Company Profiles

division include a world first in that it accomplished 6N of both magnesium and silver.

Facilities Dowa Mining began production of gallium at the Kosaka plant in 1973. The company began construction of its new factory in Akita City in 1998 (Dowa spent u billion on new facilities during 1999). The factory began operations in early 2000 and has the largest production capacity (100 tonnes/ year) for ultrapure gallium in the world.

Products As well as supplying gallium, Dowa Mining produces 2-, 3-, 4- and 6-inch G a ~ and indium wafers grown by LEC as well as VGF semiconducting (SC) wafers for mobile c o m m u n i c a t i o n s applications. Epi-ready wafers are available on request for MOVPE and MBE. The company also produces AIGaAs LEDs.

Alliances The company is a member of a measurement testing 'Round-Robin' formed by Japanese companies involved in GaAs p r o d u c t i o n (See Agreements, Section 10.3).

Table 8.9 Dowa Mining Co Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Total assets

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

250.5 3.5 330.7

294.9 5.1 351.3

288.7 9.7 341.2

267.1 2.3 336.0

256.6 (1.7) 328.2


Company Profiles

EMCORE Corp 394 Elizabeth Avenue Somerset, NJ USA Tel: + 1 908 271 9090

From its founding as a specialist epitaxy e q u i p m e n t manufacturer in the 1980s, EMCORE has become a vertically integrated company specializing in the design and p r o d u c t i o n of MOVPE reactors and associated process t e c h n o l o g y and devices. It has sales offices, affiliate c o m p a n i e s and distributors worldwide. The company is an industry leader in the provision of MOVPE systems for the R&D and mass production of advanced devices such as HEMTs, HBTs and blue-emitting GaN and SiC LEDs. EMCORE r e p o r t e d fiscal year 1999 net sales of US$58.3 million, a 33% increase on fiscal year 1998's figure of US$43.8 million. Its R&D expenditure amounted to US$20.7 million (US$16.5 million in 1998). The EMCORE Electronic Materials (EZM) division provides foundry services, including offering III-V-based epitaxial wafers. EMCORE is one of the world's largest producers of epitaxial wafers (grown on its proprietary TurboDisc reactors), currently running in excess of 1 million in 2 per annum.

R&D FEMCORE supplies MOVPE R&D and p r o d u c t i o n tools to many of the world's leading device companies. The company also works in concert with customers to develop device technology, e.g. Motorola (see below). EMCORE in collaboration with subcontractor M/A-COM, Inc. (Lowell, MA), made public the results of a research programme that proves conclusively that EMCORE's MOVPE technology is equivalent to MBE methods in the p r o d u c t i o n of wafers used to fabricate c o m p o u n d semiconductor-based PHEMTs. Results of the p r o g r a m m e , p e r f o r m e d u n d e r a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program for the US Air Force, produced


223

Company Profiles

the desired 35 GHz power PHEMT MMIC devices, which operated well and reliably 0.5 W. By solving various technical hurdles during the effort, the research team estimated that the overall cost of m a n u f a c t u r i n g PHEMT MMICs c o u l d n o w be r e d u c e d by as m u c h as 30% by u s i n g MOVPE technolog~ EMCORE Research and Applications (ERA) Laboratory, which develops i m p r o v e m e n t s in MOVPE r e a c t o r design and state-of-the-art m a t e r i a l technology, works closely with several universities, including University of Illinois, MIT, Rutgers, Stevens Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Texas. There is a collaborative technology agreement with the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, involving extensive R&D to optimize reactor growth parameters in III-Vs. These collaborations also help to provide opportunities for local inspection and assessment of the EMCORE systems. In some cases this can also involve trial depositions and device assessment. Projects in the ERA Laboratory include the development of improved reactor design, modelling and testing of fluid flows, and heater designs for reliability and temperature uniformity. The ERA Laboratory runs reactors on various m a t e r i a l c o m b i n a t i o n s , c o v e r i n g the e n t i r e s p e c t r u m of c o m p o u n d s e m i c o n d u c t o r systems. The ERA L a b o r a t o r y also w o r k s d i r e c t l y in collaboration with TurboDisc customers, assisting in the optimization of growth conditions for their production needs, as well as helping to develop completely new advanced material systems. An example of current successes achieved in the ERA Laboratory is proving the equivalency of MOVPE technology with MBE for GaInAs-based PHEMTs--the result of which is a 30% reduction in MMIC manufacturing costs.

Facilities In July 2000 EMCORE announced that it had completed its second phase of expansion at its Somerset, NJ, manufacturing facility and has moved its corporate offices to a new facility located nearby. The expansion of the Somerset manufacturing facility significantly increases production capacity for EMCORE's existing photonics, RF materials, devices and MOVPE tool product lines, and enables the company to develop new product lines. Phase I was completed earlier in 2000, which doubled production capacity for InGaP HBTs and PHEMTs. Phase II extends the facility by 7000 ft2 and will enable electronic material p r o d u c t i o n capacity to be q u a d r u p l e d , with the a d d i t i o n of 10 n e w Enterprise Electronic Materials MOVPE production tools, bringing the total n u m b e r to 18. Capacity has been expanded to a potential 360 000 6-inch wafers/year. EMCORE's principal divisions are as follows: EaM. EMCORE is one of the world's largest producers of epitaxial wafers, currently running in excess of 1 million in 2 per annum. Its epitaxial wafer 224


Company Profiles

foundry is the EMCORE Electronic Materials (EZM) division. EZM provides its customers with the finest compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers to help meet their critical time-to-market needs for products and devices. E2M manufactures epiwafers on several different TurboDisc reactors; state-of-the-art characterization equipment is available to guarantee the quality of all wafers shipped. Extensive care is taken to protect the customers' intellectual property and confidentiality. Epitaxial s t r u c t u r e s can be g r o w n a c c o r d i n g to the c u s t o m e r ' s specifications and design, developed on their own. TurboDisc reactors, or they can be developed under contract with the assistance of the ERA Laboratory. The E2M division currently processes more epitaxial wafers than any other merchant epiwafer supplier in the world. The bottleneck in reaching true production levels of epitaxial-based devices always resides in the wafer processing, because the bulk of the fabrication process is accomplished in MOVPE reactors. EMCORE's EZM wafer foundry services have the flexibility needed quickly to ramp-up production when a customer's time-to-market pressures increase. EMCORE can provide high volumes of 4-inch PHEMT epiwafers in high yield. EMCORE has been supplying Motorola's CS-1 fabrication facility with p r o d u c t i o n quantities of PHEMT epiwafers. EMCORE is also ramping up the supply of 6-inch PHEMT wafers. EPV. Not only does EMCORE manufacture high-volume production tools for solar cells but the division EMCORE PhotoVoltaics (EPV) provides advanced MOVPE device products for applications in the space industry. Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, EPV operates from a 50 000 ft 2 facility to accommodate the high-volume production of InGaP/GaAs and InGaP/GaAs/Ge solar cells. The Albuquerque facility was awarded ISO 9001 certification in December 1999, a year after it opened. MODE. MicroOptical Devices (MODE) is a part of EMCORE. Founded in 1995 by pioneers in vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology, MODE was acquired by EMCORE in December 1997 for approximately US$30 million in shares and c o m m o n stock. MODE's microlasers and optical subsystems provide design, performance and significant cost advantages over their technical predecessors, such as edge-emitting solid-state lasers. MODE has a Class 1000 cleanroom. In 1998, its manufacturing capacity was tripled by the addition of 20 000 ft 2 of cleanroom, reliability, and test facilities. Pegasus. As well as its principal interest in device R&D and manufacture, EMCORE also operates a number of other high-technology business activities. These include the Pegasus foundry for supporting clients with epiwafer r e q u i r e m e n t from R&D to v o l u m e p r o d u c t i o n . Pegasus specializes in the mass production of semiconductor magneto resistors Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

225

Company Profiles

based on indium antimonide for the automotive industry. This is derived from t e c h n o l o g y licenced from General Motors, which has b e e n a customer of Pegasus since 1997.

Products EMCORE Corp, based in New Jersey, USA, has focused on the TurboDisc technology deposition equipment. This has proven itself both in the field with various customers worldwide and also in EMCORE's own epiwafer production facilities. While applicable to a diverse range of devices, including wide-bandgap semiconductors and solar cells, EMCORE's TurboDisc technology is said to be u n i q u e l y suited for the large-scale epitaxy p r o d u c t i o n that is r e q u i r e d by the w i r e l e s s i n d u s t r y to m e e t the p r o j e c t e d cost requirements needed to compete with conventional ion implantation device fabrication methods. EMCORE says that because of its unique, fundamental and proven scaleability of TurboDisc technology, growth systems range from 75 mm up to the m a m m o t h 400 m m platter. This is claimed to be the only CWD chamber in the world (silicon or c o m p o u n d semiconductor) capable of growth on a single 400 mm wafer. The TurboDisc systems are available in several platforms: 9 9 9

ENTERPRISEfor volume production. DISCOVERYfor pilot production. EXPLORERfor research.

EMCORE also offers c u s t o m e r s the EPIMETRIC in s i t u photoreflectance system to monitor the growth rate and thickness uniformity of a broad range of materials.

Alliances In January 1999, GE Lighting and EMCORE Corp announced the formation of a new joint venture GELcore LLC, which will target the market for 'white light' LEDs. GE Lighting is the majority s h a r e h o l d e r with 51% of stock. GELcore will develop and market LEDs as r e p l a c e m e n t s for m i n i a t u r e automotive, compact fluorescent, halogen and traditional incandescent lighting. The company expects to introduce its first commercial product during the latter half of 1999, producing LEDs at a facility in Tampa, FL, USA. EMCORE also has a joint venture with Uniroyal Technologies called Uniroyal Optoelectronics LLC, which included a transfer of technology. EMCORE supplied the venture with three reactors for the manufacture of blue and green LEDs. Uniroyal owns 6% of EMCORE's Convertible Preferred Stock. In November 1998, the company and Optek Technology Inc (a packager and distributor of optoelectronic de~ces including sensors) formed Emtek, a joint

226


Company Profiles

venture to market an expanded line of magnetoresistive (MR) sensors for automotive and related industries. It also has a licence agreement with General Motors for Hall sensors based on III-V compound semiconductors (EMCORE acts as a foundry for General Motors for the m a s s - p r o d u c t i o n of a n t i m o n i d e sensors for automotive applications). In late 1999, EMCORE announced the sale of an Enterprise 400 TurboDisc | MOVPE platform to the NTT O p t o e l e c t r o n i c s Laboratories of N i p p o n Telephone and Telegraph of Tokyo. The E-400 will be used by NTT for the p r o d u c t i o n of PHEMT and HBT electronic materials. NTT manufactures DoCoMo cell phones. M o t o r o l a a n n o u n c e d in s u m m e r 2000 that it has an a g r e e m e n t with EMCORE's Electronic Foundry Division, who will supply Motorola with two fully a u t o m a t e d MOVPE TurboDisc p r o d u c t i o n tools, epiwafer PHEMT process technology (to ensure compatibility between EMCORE supplied wafers and Motorola's internal production on the EMCORE tools) as well as orders for electronic device epiwafers. Prior to this announcement, EMCORE was for several months already supplying production quantities of PHEMT epiwafers to Motorola. AMP Inc and EMCORE have a long-term strategic alliance to develop and produce VCSELs for the AMP line of fibre-optic communication products. EMCORE systems are presently being used in laboratories and fabrication facilities w o r l d w i d e for the R&D a n d p r o d u c t i o n of m a t e r i a l s for optoelectronic and electronic devices: green and blue LEDs, UV detectors and various high-frequency/high-temperature devices. In May 1999 S u m i t o m o Electric Industries and EMCORE a n n o u n c e d an agreement to jointly develop and produce InGaP epitaxial wafers for use as HBT devices in digital wireless and cellular applications. These advanced compound semiconductor HBT wafers will be produced at the wafer foundry in S o m e r s e t , NJ, USA, and s h i p m e n t s b e g a n in the s u m m e r of 1999. Sumitomo markets the new HBT materials in Japan.

Table 8.10 EMCORE Corp Financial Highlights (US$ million). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R&D

1999

1998

1997

1996

58.3 (22.7) (2.0) 20.7

43.8 (36.4) (2.0) 16.5

47.8 (5.6) 12.2 9.0

27.8 (3.2) 1.2 5.4


227

Company Profiles

Endwave Corp 321 Soquel Way Sunnyvale CA 94086 U~ Tel + 1 408 737 7300

Endwave (which, as Endgate, was founded in 1992 to develop low-cost IC technology for high-volume commercial use in Teledesic's global network of low-earth-orbit satellites) was formed by the merger of Endgate and TRW Milliwave. It is a leading s u p p l i e r of RF s u b s y s t e m s for mm-wave and broadband wireless access systems.

Facilities Endwave headquarters are in Sunnyvale, CA, with additional manufacturing facilities in Santa Clara and Diamond Springs.

Products Endwave is a provider of 'first-mile' b r o a d b a n d engines for powering ebusiness gateways. Its p r o d u c t s are u s e d in p o i n t - t o - p o i n t , point-tomultipoint, cellular backhaul and wireless fibre systems and are provided at various levels of integration depending u p o n the customers' needs. They include amplifiers, frequency converters and multipiers, antennas, integrated transceivers and complete outdoor units. The company's patented multichip integrated circuit (MCIC) or 'flip-chip' technology enables Endwave to design circuits that use smaller amounts of GaAs, have fewer bond wires that require manual tuning and are well suited for high-volume automated assembly A MCIC is a multi-function ceramic circuit that is fabricated using a number

of individual semiconductor devices. Circuits, about the size of a paper clip, include all the mm-wave functions necessary for c o m p l e t e oscillators, transmitters or receivers. MCICs are Endwave's key building blocks. They form the basis for higher level assemblies and offer significant cost and performance i m p r o v e m e n t s over MMICs or conventional chip and wire technologies. Compared with traditional circuit technologies, the flip-chip MCIC is more reproducible and reliable than chip and wire versions and less costly than an MMIC unit. The company has more than 20 patents covering RF circuit and specialized antenna design. At the b e g i n n i n g of the y e a r E n d w a v e a n n o u n c e d availability of its WavShapr'" base station antennas. These provide a performance that easily satisfies all the North American requirements and significantly exceeds the m o r e s t r i n g e n t E u r o p e a n p o i n t - t o - m u l t i p o i n t (PTMP) s e c t o r a n t e n n a r e g u l a t i o n (EN301 215-2, Class CS-2) and are d e s i g n e d for first-mile b r o a d b a n d wireless I n t e r n e t access and t h i r d - g e n e r a t i o n (3G) cellular backhaul systems. When combined with Endwave's integrated transceivers, incorporating its Flip-Chip T, technology, the WavShapr antennas enable the world's highest-performance broadband, PTMP wireless access systems. Available in 24-, 26-, 28- and 38-GHz models, WavShapr offers a n u m b e r of advanced antenna pattern features matched by competitive designs. Features include flat horizontal radiation pattern, rapid azimuth p a t t e r n roll-off, ultralow crosspol pattern and controlled vertical pattern. 228


Compan y Profiles

In February 2000 Endwave announced its AllegrA ram-wave transceiver, the industry's first broadband mm-wave transceiver to feature a frequencyindependent standard design, making it possible quickly to mass produce a variety of broadband wireless access radios to meet customer needs. Available in frequencies of 21-40 GHz, it features 20 dBm output power and 7 dB noise figure. When combined with Endwave's patented GemFire", FlatFire and WavShapr ram-wave antennas, these systems enable the proliferation of broadband wireless Internet access systems by reducing system costs and lengthy design cycles. TM

TM

Eptchem Ltd Power Road Bromborough Wtrral Merseyside L62 3QF UK Tel: +44 151 334 2774

Epichem Ltd (which was formed in 1983) manufactures a range of high-purity chemicals and gases used mainly in the electronics and glass-coatings industries. It also has a US sales and manufacturing operation, Epichem Inc in Haverhill, MA (a metal organics facility that was opened in 1997) and another sales office in Pennsylvania. Epichem Ltd is also establishing a dedicated precursor research facility at the University of Salford, UK. Employing the most stringent quality procedures, including TQM and ISO 9000/14,000, the Haverhill plant features the latest in computerized order tracking, cylinder preparation and treatment, manufacturing and purification, transfiU, analytical instrumentation and disposal. Advanced statistical process control/statistical quality control (SPC/SQC) programmes and cutting edge analytical equipment allow statistical verification of low metallic impurities and organic contaminant levels. Epichem's main product offering is a line of ultrahigh-purity metal organic chemicals. Owing to proprietary adduct purification techniques, its facilities yield volatile compounds of AI, Ga, In, As, P, Zn, Fe, Mg, Sb, N, Te and Cd with purities unmatched in the industry. The metal organics are used in the growth of thin films of compound semiconductors such as GaAs and InP. A wide range of electronic and optoelectronic devices are made from these materials, including LEDs, lasers, detectors and solar cells. Epichem is a world leader in the supply of Group III alkyl compounds used in combination with ammonia for Group III nitride growth. Epichem provides ultrahigh-purity grades of chemicals for nitride growth (such as tertiary butylamine) and doping (such as bis(cyclopentadienyl) magnesium). The c o m p a n y also manufactures chemicals used to grow thin films of d i a m o n d and silicon carbide, h i g h - t e m p e r a t u r e s u p e r c o n d u c t o r s and optomagnetic materials. It is developing alternative nitrogen precursor source materials for MOVPE of Group III nitrides. These are intended to replace the ammonia gas popularly used but have major shortcomings. Epichem is working to develop singlesource precursor materials to achieve significantly lower growth temperatures and III/V ratios. This will also have other benefits, not only for doping and


229

Company Profiles

substrate options but also for environment benefits from more efficient reaction processes. Advanced SPC/SQC programmes and cutting edge analytical equipment allow statistical verification of low metallic impurities and organic contaminant levels. Epichem has reported Group III nitride and related work done in collaboration with academic research groups, particularly with the University of Sheffield, UK, with whom it is a partner in the Rainbow Scheme for research into precursors and d o p a n t s such as Me3AINH3, Me3GaNH 3 and MezGaNH 2. Internally, it is developing lower oxygen precursors such as trimethyl indium (TMI), trimethyl arsenide (TMA) and trimethyl gallium (TMG). It has reported work on the use of ammonia substitutes such as hydrazine for d e p o s i t i o n of GaN and AIN at m u c h l o w e r g r o w t h t e m p e r a t u r e s . Dimethylhydrazine (DMH) has also been used to grow cubic GaN on G a ~ at lower temperatures (--600~ and III/V ratios (160:1) than with ammonia. However, both hydrazine and DMH are not only toxic but also unstable. The less-toxic, more-stable phenylhydrazine has been tried but this has too low a vapour pressure for optimal use with MOVPE. Epichem's work on alternative Group III precursors includes trimethylamine, and good AIGaN epilayers on sapphire have been grown. Furthermore, it is working on so-called single-source precursors that combine AI and N, e.g. Me3AINH3. Results have been mixed but GaN films have been grown at lower temperatures as this work continues. Epichem has also collaborated with the Defence Research Agency (DRA), Malvern, UK, in the d e v e l o p m e n t of low-oxygen p r e c u r s o r materials. Specifically, Epichem has established a link between oxygen contamination in chemical beam epitaxy (CBE)-grown AIGaAs and traces of oxygen-based solvents in the precursor's manufacture. This has enabled the development of an alternative manufacturing process using amine-based solvents and improved product. Epichem belongs to various research projects, including SICOIN, RAINBOW, Widegap CP~, Admiral and CONFORM.

Epitronics Corp 550 WestJuanita Avenue Mesa AZ 85210 USA Tel: + 1 480 668 4000

230

Epitronics Corp is a division of the US$196.3 million Advanced Technology Materials Inc (ATMI). The Epitronics division includes the former ATMI Diamond Electronics Division and epitaxial thin-film manufacturer Lawrence Semiconductor (which was acquired in 1997). Epitronics is a familiar name within the GaAs epiwafer sector; under ATMI management the company is expanding its services to become a 'one-stop shop' for advanced semiconductor wafers. It was the first to provide GaN


Company Profiles

epiwafer expertise to the open merchant market and became the second source of merchant 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC starting wafers.

R&D ATMI spent US$18.4 million on R&D in fiscal year 1999, as o p p o s e d to US$16.6 million in 1998. Epitronics' parent company, ATMI, announced in July 2000 that its patent on a new technology for reducing the risks associated with the storage and delivery of hazardous process materials had been allowed. The technology has been incorporated in ATMI's VAC (vacuum actuated cylinder), which extends the use of subatmospheric pressure and reduced super-atmospheric pressure delivery to pyrophoric, corrosive and other hazardous gases used in CVD and etch processes in the semiconductor industry. ATMI is now sampling the product into several of these applications. TM

Facilities Epitronics' 15 000 ft2 Phoenix facility specializes in AIGaAs and InGaAP HBT structures for HBTs and also offers PHEMT and FET structures. Products obtained through distribution agreements such as with Nippon Steel Corp for SIMOX (separation by implanted oxygen) enhance the product line.

Products Epitronics' lll-V Division provides III-V epitaxial products used in wireless communications, satellites and optoelectronics. Its major products include electronic devices, including AlGa/ks and InGaP HBTs. It also supplies a wide range of custom epitaxial structures, including solar cells, Hall sensors, waveguides, varactors, PINs, HEMTs and FETs. Epitronics has a Silicon Division in Mesa, AZ, which provides silicon epitaxial services for thin-film growth of single layers, on buried layers and patterns and advanced device structures on wafers up to 8 inches. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

231

Company Profiles

A leading developer of advanced semiconductor thin film processes and s e m i c o n d u c t o r m a t e r i a l s and a l e a d i n g p r o v i d e r of p o i n t - o f - u s e environmental e q u i p m e n t to the global s e m i c o n d u c t o r industry, ATMI develops p r o d u c t s on and a r o u n d its p r o p r i e t a r y and p a t e n t e d CVD technologies. ATMI offers a broad line of compound semiconductor wafers and epitaxy. Customer device requirements for wireless and optoelectronics products b e c o m e c u s t o m and s e m i - c u s t o m InGaP, AIGaAs and GaAs epitaxial structures. HBT structures with InGaP alloy emitters are ATMI's latest product, producing more reliable device performance in new wireless systems applications. Epitronics is exploring new markets by developing a thick GaAs-on-GaAs process. Its distribution of Nippon Steel SIMOX is focused on low-powerelectronics CMOS designs for portable computing and wireless handsets. The product line supports customers' advanced semiconductor wafer needs at each stage of their p r o d u c t life cycle; R&D (SIC, GaN), productization (SIMOX), commercial insertions and volume production (III-V epi). In April 1997, Epitronics announced that it had begun shipments of 100 mm AIGaAs HBT wafers to selected customers. HBT-based components have features that can offer higher performance at lower cost in systems for a broad range of wireless applications, and can be realized in a variety of material systems. Epitronics added to its technical staff and invested in advanced characterization tools in order for it to support customers' growing needs in this area.

Alliances Applied Materials and Epitronics announced in March 1999 that they would cooperate to demonstrate SiGe epitaxial processes to chipmakers using Applied Materials' Epi Centura | system in a production environment. Under the guidance of Applied Materials and Epitronics technologists, the goal of this 'virtual fabrication facility' was to provide cost-effective, enhanced service and information to both c o m p a n i e s and their customers. For smaller chipmakers who cannot support an internal epiwafer facility, the cooperative arrangement lets them access SiGe epiwafer technology using the most advanced process equipment. Epitronics also uses the Epi Centura system to manufacture SiGe epiwafers for customers. ATMI has had many partnerships (beginning with Millipore in purifiers for CVD) and now, with nearly a d o z e n m a j o r p a r t n e r s w h o s p a n the semiconductor industry, the company also has partnerships with Candescent Technology Corp (formerly known as Silicon Video), IBM, TI and Micron for commercialization of leading-edge thin-film technologies. ATMI also works closely with Lucent Technologies on barium s t r o n t i u m titanate (BST) capacitors and with Infineon on BST-based non-volatile memories. ATMI has a joint development programme with Candescent Technologies Corp (CTC), developing and manufacturing cold cathodes for thin cathode ray tubes (CRTs). 232


Company Profiles

Table 8.1 1 ATMI Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Total revenue Net income Working capital R&D Total assets

Filtronic Solid State 3251 Olcott Street Santa Clara CA 95054-3095 USa Tel: + 1 408 562 2832

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

196.3 10.5 121.2 18.4 232.6

165.1 4.9 103.9 16.6 208.7

192.0 6.4 48.9 14.3 153.5

154.4 13.1 37.1 12.3 125.9

116.0 8.4 35.1 7.9 105.5

Filtronic Solid State is a wholly o w n e d subsidiary of the s million Filtronic Plc, which employs 2 400 people worldwide. Filtronic Solid State (formerly Litton Solid State, which was acquired by Filtronic Plc in 1998 for US$43 million) is a vertically integrated manufacturer of microwave/mm-wave semiconductors, components and multifunction assemblies (at frequencies up to 140 GHz) for the wireless, satellite communications (SATCOM), local multipoint distribution services (LMDS) and mm-wave markets, as well as military and space applications.

Facilities The c o m p a n y holds ISO 9001 certification and received ISO 14001 environmental certification in summer 2000. Filtronic provides a foundry service at its 3-inch, 5520 m 2 GaAs fabrication facility in Santa Clara, which incorporates: MBE single hetero and double hetero PHEMT structures, 0.25/~m electron beam lithography, tantalum nitride resistor (50 W per square), metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor (300 pF/mm2), silicon nitride passivation, air-bridges, substrate vias, final thickness (> 100/20 mm). The advanced foundry provides I n G a ~ pHEMT MMICs for high performance applications up to 40 GHz, whilst the standard foundry service includes both a low-noise and a medium-power process.


233

Company Profiles

In 1999 Filtronic Plc acquired Fujitsu's disused Newton Aycliffe, Durham, UK, DRAM facility for s million. Filtronic plans to spend s million on the facility over the next five years. The 310 000 ft 2 facility contains a 100 000 ft 2 Class 10 cleanroom for the manufacture of 6-inch GaAs wafers for sale as discrete semiconductors and for incorporation into proprietary-designed integrated products developed for the mobile cellular handset and wireless infrastructure markets. The company ordered an automated Bede DI (double crystal X-ray diffraction) system for its new fabrication facility and intends to purchase an automated Bede Fab 200 in the future for higher throughput. Approximately 60% of equipment in the fabrication facility is good-quality used equipment purchased from Fujitsu. In August 2000 Filtronic will receive the first of two EPI MBE GEN2000 multi-wafer MBE machines that take 7 x 6-inch wafers each. Filtronic achieved GaAs ICs on 6-inch wafers at Newton Aycliffe in March 2000, just six m o n t h s after buying the former silicon fabrication facility. Initially, the fabrication facility will only use 40% of the cleanroom area to process 50 000 6-inch wafers/year but will have the ultimate capacity to manufacture 150 0 0 0 - 1 8 0 000 wafers/year. In addition to manufacturing PHEMTs, Filtronic intends to include enhancement-mode PHEMTs and HBTs for mobile telecommunication applications. The company recently ordered several Electroglas probers, especially for fragile and very thin wafers, for both of its plants.

Products The company has built a series of p r o d u c t families that o p e r a t e in the microwave/mm-wave frequency ranges, including commercial single-function mm-wave c o m p o n e n t s / a s s e m b l i e s . Filtronic has m o r e than 20 years of experience in the design of microwave components for the military, space and SATCOM markets. It produces SATCOM solid-state amplifiers, converters, and travelling-wave tube (TWO linearizers at the C, X, Ku and Ka frequency bands. The company claims that its PHEMT devices provide higher linearity than traditional MESFETs or o t h e r PHEMT devices. Filtronic Solid State also produces transceivers for short- and medium-haul communication links and manufactures mm-wave transceivers in high-volume production. Filtronic Solid State products include GaAs power amplifiers, LNAs and predrivers. Examples of Filtronic's recent products include: 9

The LP750 0.5 W PHEMT, suitable for wireless/mm-wave applications covering the 900 MHz to 35 GHz range. Features include high gain and efficiency: (11 dB single side gain (SSG) and 55% power-added efficiency (PAE) at 18 GHz). The device can also be operated as a high dynamic range LNA for PCS/ceUular applications with noise figure performance of < 1.0 dB and an on top of intercept (OTOI) of +40 dBm. The device is available in die form. 9 The company's LPV1500 PHEMT, with high gain and e~ciency (9.5 dB SSG and 50% PAE at 18 GHz). Available in die form, at 18 GHz, P-ldB compression exceeds + 3 dBm with third-order intercept levels > +44 dBm.

234


Company Profiles

Fretberger Compound Materials GmbH Am Junger LOwe Schacht 5 D-09599 Fretberg Germany Tel: +49 3731 280 0

Freiberger Compound Materials GmbH (FCM) began as the GaAs division of VEB Spurenmetalle Freiberg, which was founded in 1957. Following the unification of Germany, the c o m p a n y was r e s t r u c t u r e d as Freiberger Elektronikwerkstoffe GmbH (FEW), and in 1991 acquired Wacker's GaAs business. In 1995, FEW was privatized and split into three s e p a r a t e companies; FEW's GaAs division became FCM. It employs 175 people and reported sales figures for fiscal year 1999 of approximately US$30 million. Freiberger's largest shareholder is Israeli company Federmann Enterprises. Freiberger is the largest GaAs substrate manufacturer in Europe and has a larger than 20% share of the world market. It has a subsidiary Freiberger Compound Materials USA Inc (FCM USA) in Doylestown, PA, which has an agreement with French company InPact (a manufacturer of InP wafers), whereby FCM USA markets InPact's InP wafers in the USA and Canada.

R&D The company began researching into 6-inch wafers in 1994 and has since that time invested more than US$45 million in new facilities and equipment to enable high-volume production. Freiberger's research and development work on 6-inch GaAs dates back to 1994, and more than US$40 million has been invested in new facilities and equipment for high-volume production of large-diameter substrates. Freiberger started development of a low-temperature-gradient VGF crystal growth process for 100 mm semi-insulating GaAs in 1998. This process has matured to the state where today it has been introduced into regular mass production (see below). The company has research agreements with several German universities, including: Fraunhofer-GeseUschart, Freiberg; University of Erlangen; University of Mtinster; University of Frankfurt-Main; ZFW G6ttingen; and Bergakademie Freiberg.

Facilities Since the company was privatized in 1995, it has invested US$45 million in its n e w p r o d u c t i o n and a d m i n i s t r a t i o n facility. It h o l d s ISO 9000 certification. Freiberger is constructing a brand new facility emphasizing 150 mm SI LEC wafers. US$50 million has been invested in 'Fab 2' as the first stage of a bigger project, with planned funding up to US$155 million overall, depending on market demand. Freiberger has reported results for 6-inch wafers comparable to and partially better than those for its 4-inch wafers. Freiberger will have tripled its output for 6-inch wafers by early 2001. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

235

Company Profiles

Products Freiberger manufactures 3-, 4- and 6-inch SI GaAs wafers. It is one of the top suppliers of volume, high-quality 6-inch GaAs substrates. It also produces 3-inch SC LEC GaAs wafers and 4-inch SI and SC VGF-grown GaAs. Freiberger has extensive experience in preparing epitaxy-ready substrates for both MBE and MOVPE applications. Freiberger produces very large GaAs boules yielding more than lO0-high quality 6-inch wafers. The crystals are grown by a standard LEC process, expanding the company's expertise in 4-inch growth technology. Typically, 9-inch pBN crucibles and either pre-synthesized ingots or the direct synthesis technique with charges of up to 20 kg are used as starting material. The c o m p a n y uses a n e w g e n e r a t i o n of p u l l e r s e q u i p p e d with a fully computerized process and diameter control system. In Summer 2000, Freiberger announced a production-ready process fox VGF substrates. Substrates with g u a r a n t e e d state-of-the-art structural and electrical properties coupled with our epitaxy-ready surface are now in full production. Freiberger also has a growth process for 150 mm diameter ingots in development. By the use of computer-modelling techniques, Freiberger developed a lowtemperature gradient VGF furnace specifically for the growth of low EPD GaAs crystals. The furnace is designed to accommodate crucibles up to 360 mm long, and with a maximum length to width ratio of 2, thereby allowing growth of either 100 mm or 150 mm diameter ingots. Semi-insulating electrical properties are established through a multi-step post-growth annealing process developed in-house.

Fujitsu Quantum Devices Ltd 1000 Kamisukiahara Showa-cho Nakakomagun Yamanashi 409-3883 Japan. Tel: + 81 552 75 4411

Fujitsu Quantum Devices Ltd (FQD) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd. Established in 1984 to specialize in the manufacture of c o m p o u n d semiconductors, it began volume production of GaAs FETs in 1977. Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor Inc (FCSI) is the San Jose, CA, USA-based sales, marketing and design centre (R&D) arm of FQD. It serves as a distributor of microwave and lightwave GaAs-based semiconductor products utilized in the communications industry. Fujitsu Ltd reported net sales ofu billion (US$49.6 billion) for the year-ending March 2000, as opposed to u billion in fiscal year 1999. The Electronic Devices Segment (which includes FQD) reported fiscal year 2000 sales of u billion (US$5.4 billion). In G a ~ discrete devices, Fujitsu Ltd has almost 50% of the merchant market for mobile p h o n e p o w e r FET modules and low-noise HEMTs for direct broadcast satellite (DBS)-T~. It ships up to 10 million GaAs MMICs/month from Japan and claims to be the leader in the world DBS set-top box market.

236


Company Profiles

It is also the only Japanese company with a significant commitment to verylarge-scale integration (VLSI) digital GaAs p r o d u c t i o n , both captive and merchant.

R&D Fujitsu Ltd's R&D expenditure for fiscal year 2000 was u opposed to u billion for fiscal year 1999.

billion, as

Fujitsu developed one of the first GaAs FETs in 1973 (which was used in a microwave radio link system in 1976). The company was also a front-runner in the development of digital ICs using GaAs for high-speed compounds for the tele- and datacommunications markets; it introduced a Ga/Ls digital IC for a 2.5 Gb/s t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n system in 1987. A n o t h e r first was the introduction of HEMTs in 1980.

Facilities FQD's GaAs facility in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan (one of the world's largest facilities dedicated to GaAs) was c o m p l e t e d in 1991. Prior to that time, Fujitsu Ltd manufactured G a ~ devices at its Aizu factory.

Products Fujitsu Ltd offers a standard line of digital ICs for SONET, fibre channel, gigabit Ethemet and other gigabit applications. The company also uses G a ~ t e c h n o l o g y to design and m a n u f a c t u r e gate-array application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and customer-specific integrated circuits (CSICs). It m a n u f a c t u r e s a c o m p l e t e r a n g e o f m i c r o w a v e FETs for use in communications and radar systems. These applications include cellular and wireless p h o n e and LAN systems, terrestrial radio, satellites and satellite systems, phased-array radar and DBS receivers.


237

Company Profiles

FCSI in D e c e m b e r 1998 a n n o u n c e d a b r o a d n e w p r o d u c t line of 50 W internally matched G a ~ power FETs, the FLM-F Series, which uses enhanced performance power FET technology Over 40 new devices were inttxxiuced with a frequency range of 3-15 GHz, specifically tuned for 'L, C, S, X and Ku' radiolink and base station frequency bands. They are manufactured in P ldB power levels from < 1 W (30 dBm) to over 35 W(>45 dBm), with IP3 better than -44 dBc measured at 10 dB below P ldB levels. Minimum guaranteed GldB Gain ranges from 9.0 dB for frequencies under 6 GHz to 5 dB at 15 GHz. The FLL1200IU-2A 120 W GaAs FET employs a push pull design, offering ease of matching, greater consistency and a broader bandwidth for highpower L-band amplifiers. This product is targeted to reduce the size and complexity of highly linear, high-power-base station transmitting amplifiers. It offers high gain, long-term reliability and ease of use. FQD developed a GaAs FET power amplifier for wireless-CDMA stations and an HEMT MMIC p o w e r a m p l i f i e r for q u a s i - m m - w a v e s a t e l l i t e communications systems, which it claims have 10% greater efficiency and lower power consumption than conventional devices: 9

The FET was designed for wireless-CDMA applications. The impurity density of the channel was raised by one digit to increase the current density per gate, and the gate-drain distance was optimized to provide a sufficient breakdown voltage. The device requires 35% less operating current to achieve the same output power and distortion characteristics as conventional depression-mode FETs used as power devices. 9 The HEMT realized the efficiency (at a frequency of 18 GHz and an accessory gain of 8.5 dB) of 68% at 225 mW output by optimizing the gate length and recess length; the MMIC for power amplification was developed from this discrete HEMT.

Alliances In September 1999 FQD and Lucent Technologies announced an agreement to produce a common design for detector devices used in receiver systems for gigabit rate optical c o m m u n i c a t i o n s . FQD a n d L u c e n t have r e a c h e d a g r e e m e n t for a c o m m o n physical d e s i g n for the o u t l i n e a n d PIN arrangement of the devices; devices p r o d u c e d by the two companies are mechanically interchangeable. FQD licensed Vitesse's FURY products in 1992 and developed its own GG series with up to 250 000 gates.

Table 8.12 Fujitsu Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion).

238

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

Net sales 5255.1 Net income/(Ioss) 42.7 Working capital 523.0 R&D 401.1

5243.0 (13.6) 642.9 395.1

4985.4 5.6 532.4 387.1

4503.5 46.1 415.3 352.8

3762.0 63.1 468.0 346.4


Company Profiles

Furukawa Electric Ltd Compound Semiconductor Department 6,1, Marunouchi 2-Chome Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo 100 Japan Tel: + 81 3 3286-3219

Furukawa Electric Ltd is a large vertically integrated supplier of a diverse range of microelectronic and optoelectronic materials and components. These products include G a ~ epitaxial wafers and substrates. The GaAs operations of Furukawa Electric Ltd include manufacturing of materials for internal use but the c o m p a n y also markets and sells these through its international network of offices and distributors. Furukawa Electric Ltd has developed many products ranging from compound semiconductors to complete devices. It also provides various related products such as reflow ovens and heat pipes essential for cooling microprocessors.

R&D The company has also developed MBE growth capabilities. For example, it has published work in the application of gas source MBE to long-wavelength semiconductor diode lasers. It is a m e m b e r of the SiC Hard Electronics programme for microelectronic devices based on silicon carbide.

Facilities Furukawa Electric Ltd has its own SI LEC GaAs production facility. This is now used primarily as a captive source of substrates for its in-house epitaxy operations. Currently it has little p r e s e n c e in the m e r c h a n t market for substrates. Furukawa Electric Ltd has set up its own manufacturing capability for GaAs MOVPE epiwafers. Applications for these p r o d u c t s include micro- and optoelectronics. Devices include MESFETs and HBTs. The technology for these facilities was largely developed in-house. The MOVPE reactors in use by Furukawa Electric Ltd are largely designed and built in-house rather than offthe-shelf equipment from merchant vendors. This, says the company, enables it to optimize the growth conditions and yield of epiwafers. However, in the present business climate it may be somewhat lagging behind the state of the art available to its competitors.

Alliances It has made a clear commitment to the optoelectronics marketplace though its subsidiary FITEL, which recently merged with JDS-Uniphase. The company is a member of a measurement testing 'Round-Robin' formed by J a p a n e s e companies involved in GaAs p r o d u c t i o n (See Agreements, Section 10.3).


239

Company Profiles

Global C o m m u n i c a t i o n Semiconductors Inc 23155 K a s h i w a Court Torrance CA 90505 U~ Tel: + 1 3 1 0 5 3 0 5 8 9 0

Global Communication Semiconductors Inc (GCS), which was founded in 1997, specializes in HBT (AIGaAs/GaAs and lnGaP/GaAs systems) and HFET foundry services to the microwave, optoelectronics and mm-wave industries for applications in telecommunications and high-speed networking.

Facilities The company has a 38 000 ft 2 facility in Torrance, CA, which includes a 7000 ft 2 cleanroom. In January 2000 it gained ISO 9002 certification. GCS produces 6000 MBE wafers/year. In March 2000, GCS placed an order with Riber for one of its MBE 49 (4 x 4-inch) production systems.

Products GCS offers foundry processes that include: GaAs-based HBT for high-volume wireless applications (up to 12 GHz); G a ~ based MESFET (to 20 GHz) and PHEMT (up to 40 GHz) for high-frequency, high-performance applications, as well as diode devices for the commercial optoelectronics market. GCS also offers a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter foundry service for handset applications. The Materials Group specializes in high-volume epitaxial manufacturing using MBE. It produces GaAs PHEMTs, MESFETs, sensors and detectors on 2-inch to 6-inch wafers for a p p l i c a t i o n s such as microwave, mm-wave and optoelectronics. PHEMT wafers are fabricated using AIGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs epiwafer-material that is grown in-house. The company developed a proprietary wax-free mounting technique used during wafer thinning. This technique allows the wafer to be removed from the carrier at room temperature, thus reducing wafer breakage and increasing line yield.

Alliances In July 2000 GCS a n n o u n c e d that it had c o m p l e t e d a f o u n d r y supply agreement with Standford Microdevices (SMDI) to develop high-performance RFICs for telecommunication infi'astructure equipment used in the delivery of wireless and broadband wireline services. Under the terms of the agreement, GCS will provide SMDI with a high-volume 4-inch InGaP/Ga~ HBT wafer supply, with all products designed by SMDI at its design centres in Long Beach, CA, Dallas, TX, and Ottawa, Canada. SMDI has recently completed engineering evaluation testing of a family of high-linearity amplifiers manufactured by GCS. Additional InGaP/GaAs products are in development and will extend the range of SMDI products to be manufactured by GCS.

240


Company Profiles

ANADIGICS has an agreement (which began in July 1999) with GCS for capacity as part of a non-exclusive l o n g - t e r m a g r e e m e n t . Under the agreement, GCS provides ANADIGICS with 4-inch GaAs HBT fully processed wafers, with all products designed and 100% tested at the ANADIGICS facility in Warren, NJ. Once ANADIGICS' 6-inch internal HBT line was operational, GCS became a second-source company for HBT wafers.

8.25 GIGA A/S GIGA A/S Mtleparken 22 DK-2740 Skovlunde Denmark Tel: +45 70 10 10 62

Established in 1988, GIGA A/S is an i n t e g r a t e d device m a n u f a c t u r e r , producing high-speed ICs such as clock and data recoveries, laser drivers, multiplexers, etc. at data rates ranging from 155 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s. Its products target the tele- datacommunictions and video markets. In March 2000, GIGIA A/S was acquired by Intel Corp for approximately US$1.25 billion and has become an Intel subsidiary, being part of that company's Network Communications Group. GIGA A/S reported a fiscal year 1999 turnover of DKrl90 million (US$27.9 million). The company employs around 100 people (the majority in Denmark) and has subsidiaries in Germany, Greece and the USA. It also has a sales office in the UK.

Facilities GIGA does not produce its own GaAs wafers and has a supply agreement with Vitesse Semiconductor for G a ~ wafers. It does, however, have in-house IC test and assembly facilities and optoelectronic wafer manufacturing facilities, producing high-speed lasers.


241

Company Profiles

Products GIGA is a leading supplier of OC-48 (2.5 Gb/s) and OC-192 (10 Gb/s) products for tele- and datacommunication applications, based on intellectual property (IP), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and SONET/synchronous digital hyerarchy (SDH) transmission standards. The GD 19902 is an amplifier designed for automatic gain control (AGC) with high input overload and high gain, intended for use in high-bandwidth applications such as 10 Gb/s STM-64/OC-192 receiver front-ends. Gain is controlled from -3 dB to + 20 dB through the AGC input. The device provides on-chip peak detect circuitry as well as monitors on the output DC levels for balancing the outputs. The differential inputs can be used with a singleended as well as a true differential input signal. The GD 19902 is DC coupled. In April 2000 the company announced the completion of its 10 Gb/s line card solution for STM-64/OC-192 SDH/SONET transmissions systems with the introduction of the GD30001 (a 10 Gb/s forward-error-correction single-chip transceiver) and the GD32003 (STM-64/OC-192 section and line-termination single-chip transceiver). The chipset also includes a TIA (the GD 19906), the GD19902 AGC amplifier, the G D 1 6 5 8 8 1(0.7 Gb/s CDR with 1:16 deserializer), the GD16589 16:1 serializer with CMU and the GD19901 (a laser modulator driver). GIGA also produces devices using silicon bipolar technology: GD16555B is a 5.2 V, 10 Gb/s transmitter chip for use in SDH STM-64 and SONET OC-192 optical communication systems and is manufactured using a silicon bipolar process. The GD16555B integrates all the main functions of the transmitter (clock generation, phase-locked loop (PLL) circuits and multiplexer) in a single monolithic IC. Hence, only an external loop filter is required. The GD16555B multiplexes a 16-bit parallel 622 Mb/s interface into a serial 9.9553-Gb/s data stream. The output of the MUX stage is retimed by the 10 GHz clock and the current mode logic (CML) output driver has internal 50 W termination resistors.

Hexawave Inc 2 Prosperity Road II 1st Floor Hsinchu Taiwan ROC Tel: +886 3 577 0512

242

Hexawave Inc was founded in 1991 and was the first G a ~ MMIC foundry in Taiwan. Its portfolio ranges from circuit design, circuit fabrication and testing to final p r o d u c t packaging. Besides GaAs IC fabrication, Hexawave also has a complete assembly line for RF modules, such as downconverters, power modules and wireless transceivers.


Company Profiles

R&D The company spends approximately 10% of net sales each year on research and development. Hexawave has successfully developed the following products for commercial applications in the past: 900 MHz p o w e r modules, L, S and C band power modules, C-band high-power amplifiers, S-band and Ku-band low-noise downconverter modules and RF MMIC switches.

Facih'ties Hexawave's US$30 million, 35 000 ft2 production facility (which includes an IC fabrication facility and RF module manufacturing plant) was until recently the only GaAs fabrication facility in Asia outside Japan, although it now has competition from other Taiwanese start-ups such as WIN Semiconductor and AWSC. Hexawave holds ISO 9002 certification.

Products The c o m p a n y ' s products include GaAs p o w e r FETs, GaAs MMICs, p o w e r modules and wireless transceivers that can be used for cellular, PCN, wireless LAN, wireless local loop and MMDS applications. Hexawave is currently one of the major suppliers in the world of L-band power modules and MMDS downconverters. Examples of its product line include: 9 9 9 9

Hitachi Cable Ltd Chtyoda Building 2-1-2 Marunouchi Chtyoda-ku Tokyo 100 Japan Tel: +81 3 5252 3686

The HWL23NPB--- a 3 V L-band medium-power GaAs FET for 900 MHz/ 1900 MHz cellular and wireless applications. The HWS2101 --- a DC 2.5-GHz, 29 dBm MMIC switch. The HWP1720-6-- a 3.3 V, 33 dBm, 1700 MHz - 2 GHz power amplifier for PCS and DECT applications. The HWL27NPB-- a 1.9 GHz, L-band plastic-packaged power GaAs FET.

Hitachi Cable Ltd is a vertically integrated c o m p a n y within the Hitachi Group. Its products range from SI and SC GaAs substrates through epiwafers to Hall sensor devices It manufactures 3- and 4-inch GaAs epiwafers by MOVPE. Epiwafer products include HEMTs, PHEMTs, double hetero PHEMTs, FETs and HBTs. Hitachi Cable's net sales decreased by 6% to u billion (US$3.4 billion) in fiscal year 2000, mostly due to a d o w n t u r n in d e m a n d for its mainstay p r o d u c t s (wires, cables and c o p p e r p r o d u c t s ) . D u r i n g 1999 Hitachi Cable b e g a n to d e - e m p h a s i z e these t r a d i t i o n a l p r o d u c t s in favour of Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

243

Company Profiles

electronics-related products, such as wavelength division multiplex (WDM) and optical submarine cables.

Facilities Hitachi Cable's new GaAs fabrication facility (Fab 2 at the Takasago Works in Ibaraki Prefecture) b e g a n p r o d u c t i o n in S e p t e m b e r 1999. This facility produces HB and LPE wafers as well as LEC-grown substrates and MOVPE wafers. Phase I (which is now complete) was the construction of a threestorey building adjacent to the existing facility, containing 13 500 m 2 of cleanroom. Hitachi Cable's expansion focuses on: MOVPE wafers for high frequency devices such as MESFETs, PHEMTs, double hetero PHEMTs and HBT. Current Capacity of 8000 4-inch w a f e r s / m o n t h will i n c r e a s e in s t a g e 2 to 12 000 4-inch wafers/month, and with future migration to 5- and 6-inch wafers. In LEC substrates, current capacity of 20 000 w a f e r s / m o n t h will increase to up to 30 000 wafers/month on 5- and 6-inch wafers. The company then a n n o u n c e d in February 2000 that it w o u l d begin the u billion, Phase II expansion of Fab 2. This is scheduled for completion by November 2000, increasing substrate capacity to 30 000 wafers/month and epiwafers to 16 000 wafers/month. D e m a n d for SI GaAs substrates and epitaxial wafers used for microwave devices in mobile communications such as cellular p h o n e s and plated heat sink (PHS) is the reason for Hitachi's continuing expansion of its fabrication facility.

Products Hitachi Cable's G a ~ products include: "

244

3-, 4- and 6-inch SI LEC-grown GaAs wafers s u i t a b l e for b o t h ion implantation and epitaxial growth. 9 AIGa~ emitter HBT epiwafers grown by MOVPE.


Company Profiles

Semiconducting GaAs single-crystal wafers suitable for epitaxial growth (LPE, MOVPE and MBE). Hall sensors--- from crystal to final product. Hitachi claims that it has developed a process to produce Hall sensors that are 1.5 times more sensitive than the standard product.

Alliances The company is a member of a measurement testing 'Round-Robin' formed by Japanese companies involved in G a ~ production (see Agreements, Section 10.3).

Table 8.13 Hitachi Group Financial Highlights (u Billion). .

.

Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R& D Total assets

Hitachi Ltd 6 Kanda Surugadai 4-chome Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 10Z Japan Tel: +81 3 2851111

.

2000 .

8001 17 59 432 4004

.

1999 .

7977 (337) 2105 497 4149

.

1998 .

8417 3 2196 511 3877

.

1997

1996

8523 88 2412 504 3616

8124 142 2477 494 3361

Founded in 1910, Hitachi Ltd is one of the world's largest electronic and electrical equipment manufacturers. It produces computers, semiconductors, household appliances, power generating equipment and industrial machinery. In the year-ending March 2000, Hitachi reported net sales ofu billion (US$75.5 billion), as opposed to 1999's figure ofu billion. Hitachi has a leading share in the RF power module market for GSM standard mobile phones. GaAs products are manufactured by Hitachi Semiconductor, which is part of the Semiconductors & Integrated Circuits Division, recently created by Hitachi when it restructured its business groups in 1999.

R&D Hitachi's expenditure on R&D for the year-ending March 2000 amounted to u b i l l i o n (or 5% of net sales), as o p p o s e d to 1999's figure of u billion. Hitachi has many R&D establishments. Digital research is conducted at the Device Development Centre, whereas research into both digital and discrete devices is carried out at the Central Research Laboratories Hitachi is conducting research into reducing the size of HBTs.

Facilities GaAs products are manufactured at the Takasaki fabrication facility in Gumma Prefecture, Japan. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

245

Company Profiles

Products Hitachi manufactures MMICs, G a ~ devices and discrete devices. Hitachi announced in October 1999 the immediate availability of its SONETcompatible, next-generation 10 Gb/s fibre-optic modules for long-haul and short-haul signal transmission applications, such as telecommunications and data n e t w o r k systems. This t e c h n o l o g y p r o v i d e s u l t r a h i g h - b a n d w i d t h connectivity and allows telecommunication network systems to operate four times faster than the t h e n c u r r e n t 2.5 Gb/s capacity systems. Hitachi's 10 Gb/s SONET/SDH offerings include fully-integrated, high-performance transmitters and receivers for short-reach (2 kin), intermediate-reach (20 kin) and long-reach (40 kin) operating distances using a 1550 nm wavelength. All receivers include InGaAs PIN p h o t o d i o d e receivers with clock recovery for ease-of-use and lower voltage. Examples of Hitachi's GaAs products include: 9

H A 1 5 5 1 1 1 - - a 3 V, RF/IF IC for 900-MHz a n d 1 8 0 0 - M H z GSM applications. 9 The HD 155171 ~ a 3 V, power amplifier o u t p u t power control IC that features an operational amplifier and on-chip power detector. ~ The HA22012 - - a 3 V, GaAs LNA MMIC for PHS featuring a low noise of 1.9 dB and a high power gain of 13.5 dB. 9 HA22033 - - a 2.7 V, GaAs LNA for PDC applications featuring a low noise of 1.4 dB and a high power gain of 14 dB. 9 Hitachi's 2SK2685 - - a GaAs HEMT UHF LNA that features a low noise of 0.83 dB and a high associated gain of 17 dB. 9 The 3SK309- a N-channel dual-gate MESFET UHF RF amplifier featuring a 1.5 - 3 V low noise figure of 1.25 dB and a high power gain of 21 dB.

Alliances In March 2000 Hitachi announced that it had extended its existing licensing agreement with QUALCOMM. The CDMA agreement has been e x t e n d e d to 246


Company Profiles

allow QUALCOMM a licence to develop, manufacture and sell infrastructure and subscriber equipment for all modes of the third-generation CDMA standard, including Multi-Carrier (MC), formerly cdma2000, and Direct Spread (DS), formerly W-CDM2L

Table 8 . 1 4 Hitachi Group Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R&D Total assets

Hittite Microwave Corp 12 Elizabeth Drive Chelmsford MA 01824 UX4 Tel: + 1 978 250 3343

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

8001 17 59 432 4004

7977 (337) 2105 497 4149

8417 3 2196 511 3877

8523 88 2412 504 3616

8124 142 2477 494 3361

Hittite Microwave (which was founded in 1985) designs and manufactures RF to mm-wave MMICs for wireless communications, space and military applications. The company offers cost-effective products for cellular/PCS to highly integrated chipsets for digital radio and VSAT applications, covering DC to 40 GHz.

Facilities The company's 34 000 ft 2 design, assembly and test facility in Chelmsford, MA, has a Class 10000 and Class 100000 cleanroom. Test capabilities range from DC to 50 GHz, including automated and semi-automated testing/ handling of MMIC products. It also has a design centre for standard and custom MMICs, microwave and ram-wave sub-assemblies. Hittite's custom analogue and mixed-signal MMIC design experience includes MESFET, HBT, PHEMT, and BiCMOS IC fabrication processes. Custom projects include microwave and mm-wave design to 40 GHz RF/IF processing and digital signal processing (DSP). Hittite holds ISO 9001 certification.

Products Hittite Microwave is a designer and manufacturer of MMICs and MMIC assemblies for microwave, RF and mm-wave applications. The standard MMIC product line consists of over 90 GaAs MMIC die and packaged die products coveting DC to 40 GHz. Its standard and custom products support a wide range of wireless and wired communications applications. Products supplied cover switches, attenuators, amplifiers, frequency multipliers, mixers, modulators and prescalers. Examples of Hittite's products include: The HMC83 17-40 GHz medium power amplifier, which features 2 l dB of gain and 26 dBm of output power at 3.5 V. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

247

Company Profiles

9 The HMC294 sub-harmonic mixer, which uses the frequency range of 2540 GHz and produces 20 dBm of output power. 9 The HMC121C8 voltage-variable attenuator, using DC-10 GHz, 12 dB of gain and 14 dBm of output power at 3-4 V. 9 The HMC282, a 3 6 - 4 0 GHz LNA with 26 dB of gain and 25 dBm of output power at 3.5 V.

Alliances In June 1999 Hittite Microwave and UMS announced an agreement where HMC added to its surface m o u n t technology (SMT) ball grid array (BGA) packaged mm-wave MMIC product by utilizing a selected United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS) MMIC die. The products address point-to-point/ multipoint local multipoint distribution services (LMDS), VSAT/USAT and lowearth orbit/medium-earth orbit (LEO/MEO) satellite t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n applications and complement the MMIC standard product offerings of both companies.

Honorwell Technology Center 10 701 Lyndale Avenue South Bloomington MN 55420 USA Tel: + 1 612 956 4741

Honeywell Inc is a leading provider of control technologies for buildings, homes, industry, space and aviation. It reported net sales of US$23.7 billion in fiscal year 1999, as o p p o s e d to US$23.6 billion in 1998, and employs 120 000 people worldwide.

R&D Research and d e v e l o p m e n t for the p a r e n t c o m p a n y a m o u n t e d to US$ 1.7 billion for fiscal year 1999, as o p p o s e d to US$1.4 billion in fiscal year 1998. With regard to GaAs technology, the company has been involved in many research collaborations for its CHFET (complementary heterostructure field

248


Company Profiles

effect transistor) p r o c e s s technology. It has also b e e n involved in the exploitation of silicon-on-insulator (SOD-based devices for the aerospace and petrochemical industries for a number of years.

Facilities The c o m p a n y manufactures GaAs devices at its fabrication facility at the Honeywell Technology Center in Bloomington, MN (which contains 7000 ft 2 of Class 100 and 10 000 ft 2 of Class 10 cleanroom). Honeywell produces 4-inch wafers with statistical process control and IC complexity up to 5000 gates. It uses both MBE and MOVPE for special film growth. Honeywell's Solid State Electronics Center (SSEC), Plymouth, MN, develops and manufacturers high-performance ICs, sensors and electronic components for a variety of military, space and commercial applications. It a n n o u n c e d in July 2000 that the SSEC would offer RF microwave wafer foundry capability for wireless communications and high-speed fibre-optic network applications up to 3.5 GHz. The main benefit to customers is a higher level of integration resulting in lower costs through SOI technology. Honeywell's proven SOI microwave CMOS process eliminates many of the limitations of standard bulk CMOS technology and extends the operating frequency range for a given gate length. Designers will be able to create custom SOI MMICs manufactured on Honeywell's SOI microwave CMOS process.

Products H o n e y w e l l offers a f o u n d r y service f r o m the T e c h n o l o g y C e n t e r in Bloomington. Towards the end of 2000 and utilizing its SOI process, Honeywell intends to i n t r o d u c e a n e w line of integrated RF switch and a t t e n u a t o r p r o d u c t s targeted at low-power cellular, PCS, GSM and 3G base-stations, and handset applications in the 900 M H z - 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Honeywell's CHFET technology is an advanced GaAs-based IC technology that offers up to fourfold higher speed and sixfold lower power than silicon CMOS. It also features inherent radiation hardness and high-performance photodetectors for integrated optoelectronic applications. Originally developed for the US Defense Department, CHFET is now available to the merchant market, offering such capabilities as: 9

High switching speed (multi-GHz) and analogue b a n d w i d t h (ft N 40 GHz). 9 CMOS-like design flexibility (complementary N and P-channel FETs). 9 Integrated photodetector for GHz optoelectronics. 9 Radiation tolerance (10 a rads, 1015 neutrons/cm 2, 1013 protons/cm 2, single event upse 0. 9 Wide operating temperatures (4 K to 400~ 9 Multi-function integration (digital, analogue, photonics, power, RF). Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

249

Company Profiles

Table 8.15 Honeywell Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Billion). Net sales Net income R&D Total assets

Infi'neon Technologies AG PO Box 800949 D-81541 Munich Getmu~ny Tel: +49 89 234 21143

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

23.7 1.5 1.7 23.5

23.6 1.9 1.4 22.7

22.5 1.6 1.1 20.1

21.3 1.4 0.9 18.3

21.1 1.2 0.9 17.5

Infineon Technologies AG (formerly Siemens Semiconductor, which was spunoff from its parent in April 1999 and renamed Infineon) was, until spring 2000, a wholly owned company of the DM134 billion Siemens AG. However, Infineon was part-floated on the Frankfurt and New York Stock Exchanges in March 2000, accruing a net profit of more than ~ 5 5 0 million for the company, although Siemens still retains a share in Infineon. It is the world's eighth largest merchant semiconductor manufacturer and employs nearly 26 000 people. Infineon reported sales for fiscal year 1999 of DM8.3 billion (US$4.5 billion), an increase of 23% on 1998's figure of DM6.7 billion.

R&D Infineon's R&D expenses for fiscal year 1999 amounted to DM1.6 billion, almost 16% of the DM10.2 billion (DM9.1 billion in 1998) that Siemens AG spent for that year. The company has been a member of the Bluetooth Consortium since October 1998. It is working on developing its own products, with BlueMoon I (a single-chip baseband, Linkmanager and human--computer interface (HCI) FW single-chip RF transceiver and optional p o w e r amplifier) scheduled for production in the third quarter of 2000. Researchers at Erlangen are conducting R&D into monocrystalline silicon carbide with the aim of producing SiC wafers (at Freitronics GmbH--- an Infineon/FEW [the Israeli-owned GaAs substrate supplier] subsidiary) for merchant production of bipolar and Schottky diodes, MOSFETs and junction FETs. SiC components have a higher bandgap and can withstand much higher temperatures (up to 600~ and voltages than silicon. Researchers in Munich announced several breakthroughs in June 2000. They have obtained the highest yet (20 GHz) frequency for a dual module SiGe prescaler (with a supply voltage of 2.3 V) for HIPERIAN applications. The company also announced that it had developed an extremely low-noise Si-based amplifier: 1.1 dB with a gain of 28 dBm at 1.9 GHz, and 2.5 dB with a gain of 16.6 dB at 10 GHz. Other results included two world records in power amplifiers (manufactured using silicon bipolar technology) for the 900 MHz and 1.9 GHz mobile communications frequency bands.

250


Company Profiles

Facih'ties Infineon's high-volume production facility in Munich processed 80 million 4-inch GaAs wafers in 1998. The transition from 4-inch wafers to 6-inch commenced in 1999 and Infineon become operational with its H95, 6-inch GaAs fabrication facility in Regensburg in 2000 (this was formerly a dynamic random access memory facility). The facility has a 1200 m 2 GaAs cleanroom with room for future expansion. This 6-inch GaAs fabrication facility is the first of its kind in Europe and only the third in the world. It will also be the first to produce both analogue and digital devices. All MESFET, HEMT and HBT processes will be transferred to 6-inch processing from 4-inch. The planned tool set in the line is o r i e n t e d to a capacity of 1000 wafer starts/ week in Phase I, with up to 2000 wafer starts/week in Phase II. The electrical specification for Infineon's 6-inch wafers is identical to its qualified 4-inch specification. Infineon's SiGe bipolar facilities are also concentrated in Regensburg. The company holds ISO 9001 certification and provides foundry services for volume production quantities. Infineon employs its proprietary Double Implantation One Metallization (DIOM) process for MESFET products, which ensures good conformity and yield as well as reliability. It also has facilities in Dresden (Germany), Wilmington (DE, USA), Malacca, Malaysia and Singapore.

Products The c o m p a n y is the largest volume p r o d u c e r of GaAs devices in Europe, producing MMICs for mobile communications and discrete HEMTs and FETs. I n f i n e o n ' s p r e d e c e s s o r , S i e m e n s S e m i c o n d u c t o r , p r o d u c e d the first commercially available G a ~ MMIC in 1981. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

251

Company Profiles

In May 1999 Infineon introduced a new generation of RF ICs designed for mobile applications. Fully compliant with CDMA, TDMA, PCS and GSM standards, the new product family included single and dual PLL frequency synthesizers, universal and dual-band RF-mixer/modulators and a series of LNAs. Examples of Infineon's range of MMICs include: 9 9

9 9

9 9

The CGY59W LNA for mobile communications applications (PCN, DCT, GSM) in 2.7 - 6 V systems for a frequency range of 200 MHz - 2.5 GHz. The CMY91 m i x e r with i n t e g r a t e d IF a m p l i f i e r for m o b i l e communications, featuring a 0.8 - 2.5 GHz frequency range, very low power consumption (1 mA) and an operating range of 2 . 7 - 6 V. The CGY180 PA for DECT and PC applications--- fully integrated threestage amplifier with a voltage operating range of 2.7 - 6 V. The CMY200 ultralinear downconverter, 1200 - 40 MHz a n d 3 - 6 V o p e r a t i n g range. The chip is fully passivated and features all-gold metallization. The CMY210 up/downconverter for PCS or cellular applications, 0.52.5 GHz and 25 dBm output. The T458B power amplifier/driver-- a four-stage PHEMT MMIC for radio link applications that features 22 dB of gain.

Infineon produces harmonic mixers, two-stage medium power amplifiers and voltage c o n t r o l oscillators for: 7 5 - 1 1 0 GHz, W-band applications; 1724 G Hz, K-band power amplifier/driver MMICs; power amplifier MMICs for 27-40 GHz, Ka-band; and transmit upconverters/receive downconverters and power amplifiers for S-band, 2-4 GHz applications. In July 1999 the company introduced its first SiGe RF transistor, the BFP620 for CDMA and WLAN applications. Infineon's 70 GHz SiGe process was used to give the BFP620 the best RF characteristics, featuring a noise figure of 0.65 dB at 1.8 GHz. The BFP620 was, at the time, unique in the world of bipolar transistors, thus making it competitive in LNAs or voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) where previously GaAs devices were the only alternative.

Table 8 . 1 6 Infineon Technologies AG Financial Highlights (DM Billion), Net sales Net income R&D Total assets

252

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

134.1 3.6 10.2 1 20.3

117.7 0.9 9.1 112.0

106.9 2.6 8.1 98.1

94.2 3.0 7.3 87.5

88.8 2.1 7.3 82.0


Company Profiles

Intelligent Epitaxy Technology 201 E. Arapaho Road Suite 200 Richardson TX 75081 USA Tel: + 1 972 234 0068

Intelligent Epitaxy Technology (InteUiEPI) is a major MBE wafer supplier. The company's Richardson, TX fabrication facility houses two Riber49 4 x 4-inch multiwafer MBE systems and a Riber MBE6000 system that will be in use in late 2000. IntelliEPI has ordered two additional multiwafer 6-inch MBE systems scheduled for delivery by mid-2001, thereby tripling production capacity. The company is MBE equipped with solid P-source and CBr4 source for InGaP, InP, and C-doped G a ~ . Real-time sensor monitoring minimizes the number of calibration runs and eliminates system drift, enabling low cost epiwafergrowth with high yield. The company produces PHEMTs, HBTs, resistance transfer transistors (RTIg), quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs), and lasers on GaAs and InP substrates. IntelliEPI uses its proprietary MBE growth monitoring (real-time g r o w t h sensors) to m a n u f a c t u r e epiwafers for wireless and satellite communication applications. Products include: 9

9 9 9 9 9 ~

IQE Plc Pascal Close Cypress Drive St MeUons Cardiff Wales CF3 0EG UK Tel: +44 2920 839400

Double pulse-doped InGaAs channel PHEMTs with or without AlAs etchstop; advanced PHEMTs with composition variations in buffer layers, channels, and etch-stops (InGaP); InP-based PHEMTs; low-cost PHEMTs with improved buffers. Epitaxy-based HFETs and MESFETs. Standard Be-doped AIGaKs/Ga~ HBTs; C-doped AIGaAs/GaAs HBTs using CBr4 doping source in MBE. Standard G a ~ MESFETs to replace ion-implanted MESFETs. HFETswith AIGa~ barrier layers. Advanced MESFETs with InGaAs, etch-stop and improved buffers. GaAs-based multiple QWIPs.

International Quantum Epitaxy (IQE) was formed in 1999 after the merger of two companies, the Cardiff, Wales-based Epitaxial Products International (EPI) and the Bethlehem, PA, USA-based Quantum Epitaxial Designs (QED). In June 2000, EPI became IQE Plc, whereas QED changed its name to IQE Inc. IQE r e p o r t e d a t u r n o v e r for the y e a r - e n d i n g D e c e m b e r 1999 of s million (US$31 million), an increase of 20% over the previous year's figure of s million. Net Income for fiscal year 1999 was s million; this reflects charges attributed to the merger of the two companies. The Cardiff operation is one of the world's leading merchant suppliers of custom III-V epiwafer structures. It has one of the b r o a d e s t p r o d u c t


253

Company Profiles

portfolios of any i n d e p e n d e n t epiwafer supplier. IQE in Bethlehem is a world-leading merchant supplier of MBE epitaxial wafers.

R&D IQE allocated s

million to R&D during fiscal year 1999.

The company is involved in several North American and European R&D projects, including: the Brite-EuRam project for optimization of GaInP HBT reliability; an IST project to develop InGaAs/InP strain-balanced quantum well (QW) structures for thermophotovoltaic cells for electric vehicle range extension; an IR&D project to develop low- and high-volume M-free InGaP Schottky PHEMT wafer technology; an ARL c o n t r a c t to o p t i m i z e the properties of metamorphic HEMT wafers; and a NASA SBIR-II project to develop GaAs-based multiple QW devices.

Facilities The company holds ISO 9002 certification for its two epiwafer manufacturing facilities. IQE announced in December 1999 that it had placed firm orders for six (with an option for an additional two) next-generation multiwafer MBE production systems for 6-inch wafers. The order was split between the two leading equipment manufacturers, VG Semicon and Riber, in order to cater for customers who prefer specific manufacturing systems. IQE Inc The Bethlehem, PA facility placed an order in February 2000 with VG Semicon for five V150 production MBE systems. It already had five Vl00 systems and one V150 in production; the V150 enabled it to become the first merchant epiwafer supplier to ship production quantities of 6-inch epiwafers. IQE has b e e n qualified by t h r e e of the l e a d i n g o p t o e l e c t r o n i c manufacturers in North America for its multiwafer telecommunication products, which are used in high-speed fibre optic systems. IQE Plc IQE Cardiff completed a facility expansion in 1999 that increased the total manufacturing area to approximately 40 000 ft 2 and is capable of housing a total of 16 MOVPE production reactors. The expansion allows IQE to increase capacity for high-volume epiwafer requirements to address rapidly expanding markets for high-brightness LED, solar cell, HBT and PHEMT applications. IQE is also developing an in-house GaN epiwafer capability, having recently acquired a dedicated AIXTRON MOVPE reactor for this purpose. It a n n o u n c e d in June 200 that it took delivery of four additional AIXTRON AIX 600G3 MOVPE systems (part of the long-term purchase agreement that exists between the two companies). The new reactors will be used for the growth of A1-Ga-In-As-P structures for a large variety 254


Company Profiles

of products, including HBTs, PHEMTs, VCSELs, visible lasers and longwavelength components. Once the new AIXTRON G3 systems are up and running, all products that have been grown on the existing first- and second-generation (AIX 2000 and AIX 2400, respectively) reactors will be transferred to the new platforms. IQE's InGaP and AIGaAs HBT products for both 4-inch and 6-inch wafers have already been transferred, enabling higher throughput and shortened cycle times.

Products IQE Cardiff's product lines are restricted to epiwafers only; it does not manufacture any kind of device. Epiwafers are supplied on a custom basis for telecommunications lasers, LEDs and detectors, AIGaAs lasers for CD-ROM and high-power applications, visible lasers for digital versatile disk (DVD), laser pointers, barcode scanners and laser printers. IQE is also a worldwide merchant epiwafer supplier for VCSELs (at infrared and visible wavelengths), for short-haul fibre links, CD-ROM and other key applications. IQE Bethlehem is a world-leading merchant supplier of MBE wafers (in 3-, 4and 6-inch sizes) consisting of GaAs, AIGaAs and InGaAs on GaAs and InP substrates for MESFETs, HEMTs, PHEMTs, HBTs, lasers and QWIPs. These epiwafers are utilized in wireless and satellite communication, wireless cable, direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television, radar, automotive and infrared sensor applications. The combined strengths of the two companies create the world's leading 'pure play' merchant epiwafer supplier, maintaining its focus on providing custom epitaxy products and services. IQE received its first volume production order for 6-inch MBE wafers in early 2000. Initial results from the qualification p r o g r a m m e s are scheduled for December 2000. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

255

Company Profiles

Alliances AIXTRON and IQE Cardiff have a long-term purchase agreement, whereby IQE is contracted to buy a total of ten AIXTRON reactors (currently, seven have been delivered). The two companies also operate a Customer Support Agreement, allowing customers to benefit from the independent supply of both wafers and reactors from two leading 'pure play' companies in this field, utilizing the same production platform.

Japan Energy Corp 10-1, Toranomon 2-chome Minato-ku Tokyo 105-8407 Japan Tel: +81 35 573 6592

Japan Energy Corp (which was founded in 1905) has 210 subsidiaries and 92 affiliates, including the world's leading producer of non-ferrous metals. The Compound Semiconductor division is a leading producer of InP substrates and high-purity metals such as indium, cadmium and tellurium. It is also a supplier of GaAs epiwafers, as well as o p t o e l e c t r o n i c devices such as detectors. The company also markets its products through its well-known brand name: ACROTEC. Japan Energy recently a n n o u n c e d that it had exited the GaAs substrate market. They are a manufacturer and global supplier of high-purity sputter targets for semiconductor processing. Japan Energy Group reported net sales for the year-ending March 2000 of u billion, as opposed to u billion in fiscal year 1999.

Facilities The company has a manufacturing plant in Isohara, Japan, as well as another facility at its North American subsidiary NIMTEC Inc in Chandler, AZ. Technology is transferred to the Chandler plant from Isohara.

256


Company Profiles

Products J a p a n Energy supplies both MBE and MOVPE GaAs epiwafers. O t h e r materials manufactured by the company include: 9 9 9

Single crystals: InP (dopant: none, Sn, S, Zn, Fe), CdTe and CdZnTe. Source materials: InP polycrystalline. High-purity metals: In (7N, 6N), Cd (7N, 6N), Te (7N, 6N) and Cu (6N).

Japan Energy also manufacture cadmium - mercury teUuride (CMT) wafers and X-ray detectors.


Table 8.17 Japan Energy Group Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Total assets

Koptn Corp 695 Myles Standish Boulevard Taunton MA 02780 UX4 Tel: + 1 508 824 6696

2000

1999

1941.6 (42.3) 1925.8

1727.9 17.7 1 571.7

Kopin was founded in 1984 by a group of scientists and engineers led by Dr John Fan from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), from w h o m Kopin licenced its wafer-engineering technology. It began producing HBT transistor wafers in 1995. Today, it is the w o r l d ' s leading s u p p l i e r of advanced HBT transistor wafers.

R&D Research and development expenditure for fiscal year 1999 amounted to US$2.5 million, as o p p o s e d to US$3.7 million in fiscal year 1998. This includes expenses incurred in support of internal development programmes and programmes funded by agencies of the US government. The company holds more than 125 patents for technological breakthroughs in devices, wafers and flat panel display technology.

Facilities Kopin Corp announced at the beginning of the year that it had acquired eight additional AIXTRON HBT production systems (doubling it present capacity), w h i c h w o u l d be d e l i v e r e d t h r o u g h o u t the year 2000. A f o l l o w - o n a n n o u n c e m e n t was made in June 2000 for a n o t h e r six AIXTRON HBT production systems, these to be delivered in 2001. Altogether, this will bring


257

Company Profiles

Kopin's total to 22 machines: eight capable of supporting multiple 4-inch HBT systems and 14 capable of handling multiple 6-inch HBT systems. When up and running, these new machines will enable Kopin to increase its 4-inch transistor capacity by 33% to more than 400 000 wafers/year, and its 6-inch capacity by 67% to 200 000 wafers/year.

Products The company develops and manufactures application-specific epitaxial wafer m a t e r i a l s ( g r o w n by MOVPE) for a d v a n c e d s e m i c o n d u c t o r c i r c u i t applications. The company is a leading supplier of carbon-doped HBT wafer materials and supports volume production of 3-, 4- and 6-inch wafers; during the year 2000 its p r o d u c t i o n capacity will a p p r o a c h 100 000 4-inch and 50 000 6-inch wafers/year. The company's major customer for GaAs HBT wafers is Rockwell International. Kopin's HBT transistor is a vertical device that delivers outstanding frequency performance, high efficiency and excellent signal linearity in a cost-effective package. Unlike traditional circuit manufacturing in which the devices are created in the circuit company's wafer fabrication facility, Kopin delivers fully grown transistors to circuit manufacturers prior to wafer fabrication, growing the high-performance transistors, layer by layer, on a GaAs substrate prior to shipment to the circuit manufacturer. The transistors' DC and RF properties are determined by the vertical dimensions of these transistor layers and are controlled by Kopin's growth process. These transistors are then shipped to circuit manufacturers, where they are delineated and interconnected to form high-performance ICs. Owing to the vertical nature of the Kopin HBT, the die or chip can be very small. This enables customers to pack many HBT circuits onto a wafer. This high die count, combined with the simpler, higher yield HBT process, enables circuit companies to generate many circuits and more revenue from each processed wafer. 2,58 GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

Company Profiles

Table 8.18 Kopin Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million). 1999 Net sale Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R&D Total assets

Litton Atrtron 200 East Hanover Avenue Morris Plains NJ 07950 USA Tel: + 1 201 539 5500

38.7 0.8 106.5 7.2 145.1

1998 26.9

(3.0)

39.3 9.7 61.9

1997 16.4

(6.3)

21.5 10.4 43.4

1996 11.7

(21.6)

27.7 16.3 53.8

1995 7.2

(9.0)

44.7 15.6 76.2

Litton Airtron is part of the Electronic Components and Materials Division of the US$4.8 billion Litton Systems Inc, which employs almost 35 000 people worldwide. Litton Airtron began manufacturing GaAs wafers in 1982 and is not only the leading supplier of GaAs wafers but has also recently begun to supply GaN and SiC.

R&D The p a r e n t c o m p a n y ' s R&D costs for fiscal year 1999 a m o u n t e d to US$315.6 million, as opposed to US$233.8 million in fiscal year 1998. Litton (along with AXT and M/A-COM) was a member of the now-completed US Government Title III Program on 4-inch SI GaAs wafers, which began in 1994.

Facilities Litton Airtron completed a plant expansion in 1998, which allowed it to volume manufacture 6-inch GaKs wafers, as well as incorporate a total quality management process. The company holds ISO 9002 certification.


259

Company Profiles

Products Litton Airtron offers 2-, 3-, 4- and 6-inch SI LEC GaAs wafers for ion implant, epitaxial, MBE and MOVPE applications. Its former sister company Litton Solid State, which manufactured devices, was sold to Filtronic Plc in 1998 for US$43 million (see Filtronic Solid State). The company also offers its Ready for EpiT" surface treatment (which lowers the c o n c e n t r a t i o n of surface impurities and provides increased surface passivation) in all wafer sizes.

Table 8.19 Litton Systems Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net sales Net income Working capital R&D Total assets

M/A-COM Inc 1011 Pawtucket Blvd PO B o x 3295 Lowell MA 01853-3295 USA Tel: + 1 9 78 442 5 0 0 0

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

4827.5 1 20.6 292.6 315.6 4199.9

4399.9 181.4 162.6 233.8 4049.8

4175.5 162.0 121.2 241.8 3519.7

3611.5 1 50.9 68.8 217.0 3431.4

331 9.7 1 35.0 130.1 227.1 2559.6

M/A-COM Inc (the RF device manufacturing division), which was founded in 1950, is a unit of the US$22.5 billion Tyco International Ltd. M/A-COM e m p l o y s m o r e than 3300 p e o p l e and is a l e a d i n g s u p p l i e r of RF a n d microwave ICs and IP n e t w o r k s for wireless t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s and defence-related applications. Its products include semiconductor devices, RF ICs, RF microwave and mm-wave passive and control devices, antennas, Subsystems and systems. In March 2000 M/A-COM announced that it had completed the acquisition (for an undisclosed sum) of GaAsTEK, a business unit of ITT Industries Inc that is located in Roanoke, VA, USA. M/A-COM's parent, Tyco, also recently bought Laser Diode Inc to add to its microelectronics division. The terms of this purchase were not disclosed. Under the Tyco umbrella organization is the sister division that manufactures GaAs substrates--- see Section 8.38.

Facilities M/A-COM has GaAs fabs in Lowell, MA, Colorado Springs, CO, and the newly acquired GaAsTEK fabrication facility in Roanoke, VA. The company employs four different G a ~ processes, including MESFET and PHEMT In total, M/A-COM has 125 000 ft 2 of cleanroom space. This was added to by the J u n e 2000 a n n o u n c e m e n t b e t w e e n S a n d e r s a n d M/A-COM of an agreement whereby M/A-COM doubles its capacity. Under the terms of this agreement, M/A-COM will use existing capacity and equipment at Sanders' Microelectronics Center in Nashua. The facility and equipment at the Center

2.60 GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

Company Profiles

(which contains a 13 000 ft2 cleanroom) will be modified to meet M/A-COM's process needs, thus dramatically reducing the typical time to bring a 6-inch GaAs wafer line to full operation. M/A-COM will manufacture MMICs on 6-inch G a ~ wafers for wireless telecommunications applications and Sanders will continue to manufacture MMICs there for the aerospace and defence markets. M/A-COM's products will be in volume production on the 6-inch line during the first half of 2001. M/A-COM's new GaAs-based E/D mode semiconductor IC process has been installed at the Colorado Springs and Roanoke fabrication facilities and first p r o d u c t s are in v o l u m e p r o d u c t i o n . T h e E/D p r o c e s s f e a t u r e s two enhancement and depletion mode FETs, which offer more than 50% lower current consumption compared with SiGe BiCMOS products and feature as F T of 25 GHz ,an Fmin of 0.3 dB, an associated gain of 16 dB at 2 GHz and a third-order intercept (IP3) efficiency of 7.5.

Products M/A-COM has one of the broadest and best-established lines of RF GaAs discrete devices and MMICs. These include amplifiers, attenuators, switches, Schottky diodes and tramistors. Recent examples of these products are as follows: M/A-COM i n t r o d u c e d its AT-266, a 1-bit, 10 dB GaAs MMIC digital attenuator designed to adjust RF signal levels in wireless systems. The AT-266 MMIC digital attenuator is suited for products requiring high a t t e n u a t i o n accuracy, very low p o w e r c o n s u m p t i o n a n d low intermodulation distortion. The AT-266 is also ideal for use in gain and level control circuits in wireless telephony, wireless LAN equipment and GPS receivers. 9 M/A-COM's family of DC 3-GHz GaAs FET MMIC switches with integral ASIC drivers provide a high-performance, single plastic package solution that reduces board space, c o m p o n e n t count and time to market. The switches in this family are MCMs containing GaAs FET MMIC RF chips a n d silicon CMOS ASIC driver chips. The p r o d u c t family contains absorptive SPST, SPDT, SP3T and SP4T switches. All devices have integral drivers that accept either t r a n s i s t o r - transistor logic (TTL) or CMOS compatible control signals. The product family was developed to provide a single p a c k a g e i n t e g r a t e d s o l u t i o n for a p p l i c a t i o n s with signal switching requirements. The integration of GaAs RF MMIC and ASIC driver chips allows this product family to offer higher integration and performance at a lower cost. 9 The company announced in May 1999 the AT-226-- a 4-bit, 15 dB GaAs MMIC digital attenuator in a low-cost TSSOP-16 surface m o u n t plastic package. Key attributes of the AT-226 include: CMOS compatibility, single, positive control voltages and high attenuation accuracy. The AT226 is designed to adjust RF signal levels in wireless systems. 9 M/A-COM a n n o u n c e d the MA4E2038--- a GaAs beam lead Schottky barrier diode that features a high cut-off frequency and low capacitance, allowing use through mm-wave frequencies up to 100 GHz. The device is a m e m b e r of the family that i n c l u d e s the MA4E2037 single, the MA4E2039 anti-parallel pair and the MA4E2040 series tee Schottky diodes. Manufactured using MOVPE, and compared with silicon Schottky

9


261

Company Profiles

diodes with equivalent capacitance, the MA4E2038 GaAs Schottlo] diode has better electron mobility for lower series resistance, resulting in lower noise figure and lower conversion loss.

Alliances In August 1999 TEMIC and M/A-COM announced an agreement whereby they would jointly design and manufacture SiGe products for telecommunications. Under the terms of the agreement, the two partners will jointly design and manufacture SiGe-based components and RF ICs for high-volume, commercial applications such as wireless telephony, WIAN and WLL.

M/A-COM III-V Materials Group 100 Chelmsford Street Lowell MA 01851 USA Tel: +1 978 656 2630

M/A-COM III-V Materials G r o u p is a wholly o w n e d s u b s i d i a r y of the US$22.5 billion Tyco International. It supplies SI GaAs substrates in 3-inch, 4-inch and 6-inch d i a m e t e r s , with 3-inch and 4-inch InP s u b s t r a t e s in development (see below). The Group's sister company, M/A-COM Inc. is an RF device manufacturer--- see Section 8.37. M/A-COM was the first merchant supplier of undoped SI GaAs and is one of the top five companies worldwide. It developed the technology in 1979 and began marketing the product in 1981. M/A-COM III-V Materials G r o u p was a participant in the Title III GaAs Materials Program on the manufacture of bulk, SI InP substrates and is now nearing completion. The company is producing single-crystal 3 kg ingots for 3-inch diameter SI InP, plus single-crystal 6 kg ingots for 4-inch diameter SI InP. M/A-COM is presently sampling 3-inch and 4-inch InP substrates to a number of MOVPE and MBE laboratories worldwide. The company has Class 100 and Class 10 cleanrooms at its facility in Lowell and holds ISO 9001 certification. It currently operates high-pressure LEC (HPLEC) systems yielding 3-inch, 4-inch and 6-inch diameter crystals, and has the capacity needed for future expansion to meet any future requirements. In spring 2000 M/A-COM Materials Group was joined by fellow US materials supplier Laser Diode Inc (which complements the Materials Group because it is focussed on opto markets, solar cells in particular). M/A-COM is unusual in that it is one of the few w e s t e r n suppliers that is vertically integrated. The companies have close ties with its sister division, which manufactures GaAs microelectronic devices. The latter is also able to purchase its requirements from the merchant market, however. M/A-COM III-V Materials Group used to be dedicated to the manufacture of SI GaAs onl?~ In recent years it has been developing equivalent InP substrates so as to best serve the incipient market for SI InP for higher frequency devices.

262


Compa n y Profiles

Much of M/A-COM's success in 6-inch SI LEC GaAs is attributable to its participation in the Title III Program (which was c o n c l u d e d in the late 1990s). It was amongst the first to sample production-quality 6-inch SI LEC Ga~. Fellow participants included AXT Inc and Litton Airtron. This programme was intended to ensure that the USA had local capability in what is regarded as a strategic resource, namely 6-inch GaAs. This yielded a world-leading process and secured the commercial future of the participants. Moreover, it cemented the g o o d relationship they have with fellow North American leaders in epiwafer and device manufacturing. In turn, these became amongst the first to present results from devices manufactured on the larger diameter material. Other R&D activities include the development of larger weight crystals. This has enabled M/A-COM to p r o d u c e crystals yielding a much higher wafer count. The company is among the top three suppliers in SI LEC GaAs. It is a primary supplier to many of the leading North American epiwafer and devices houses and also a leading supplier to such companies in Europe.

Matsushita Electronics Corp Semiconductor Group 1-1 Satwat-cho Takatsuki-shi Osaka 569-1193, Japan. Tel: + 81 726 82 5521

Matsushita Electronics Corp is a subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd (MEI), which was founded in 1918 and is a worldwide leader in the e l e c t r o n i c s industry. Its p r o d u c t s are m a r k e t e d u n d e r w e l l - k n o w n international brand names such as Panasonic, Technics, National and Quasar. MEI r e p o r t e d net sales of u billion (US$68.9 billion) for the yearending March 2000, a decrease of 5% over 1999's figure of~r7640.1 billion.

R&D The c o m p a n y ' s R&D e x p e n s e s for fiscal y e a r 2000 a m o u n t e d to u billion (US$5 billion), as opposed to u billion in fiscal year 1999. In 1996, Matsushita and Motorola introduced the first commercial use of 'fatigue free' non-volatile iron random access memory (FeRAM) in the world: a read/write RFID (identification) smart card, the precursor of a series of chips aimed at the access control and stored value financial transaction cards. In 1994, Matsushita won the product of the year award in Japan for being the first company in the world to introduce low-power GaAs MMICs with on-chip ferroelectric capacitors. This product line is used primarily in PCS p h o n e s (PHS in J a p a n ) as f r o n t - e n d m i c r o w a v e a m p l i f i e r s , mixers, switches, etc

Facih'ties Matsushita Electronic C o m p o n e n t s Ltd has a factory for G a ~ and bipolar devices at Bizen in the Okayama Prefecture of Japan. Products manufactured include GaAs discrete HEMTs, MMIC mixers and G a ~ Hall Effect sensors.


263

Company Profiles

Products Panasonic's RF c o m p o n e n t s span the frequency range 50 M H z - 2.5 GHz, supporting all major wireless applications. It supplies both applicationspecific s t a n d a r d a n d c u s t o m RF p r o d u c t solutions, RF m o d u l e s , PLL synthesizer modules, VCOs, hybrid (passive) RF devices (Baluns, directional couplers, dividers), dielectric b a n d p a s s filters and a n t e n n a duplexers, antenna elements and units (for GPS). In May 1999 Matsushita a n n o u n c e d volume production (15 million units/ m o n t h ) of its EXB24AT chip a t t e n u a t o r for applications such as mobile phones, car navigation systems and RF modules. The ENW1-7-S RF unit is a transmitter and demodulation module for weak radio wave applications, such as data transmission equipment and wireless remote control. It features a 300-322 MHz receive frequency range, a 5 V power supply and can be custom specified. The CRM3000 series are high-performance modules with built-in RF, IF and power circuitry for applications such as CDMA terminals, PCs and PC card and data transfer devices. It features a power supply voltage of 3.3 - 4.2 V and 24 dBm (CDMA) and 28 dBm (AMPS) output levels. Matsushita developed a four-type wide-band, high-power, high-efficiency GaAs power amplifier series with low distortion. It is suited to base stations for next-generation, 2 GHz frequency-band cellular phones that process image and data communications as well as voice. The four types of newly developed G a ~ powr amplifiers for base stations are: 9 9 ~ ~

A 5 W driver with 30 dB gain A 20 W driver with 30 dB gain A 60 W main power amplifier with 10 dB gain A 120 W main power amplifier with 10 dB gain.

2.64 GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

Company Profiles

The driver and main power amplifiers can be combined to accommodate various base stations. Operating in the 1 . 9 - 2.2 GHz frequency range and employing an ultrahigh breakdown-voltage device structure, a highly reliable m o u n t i n g technology with low thermal resistance and a low-loss p o w e r d i v i d e r / c o m b i n e r circuit technology, these GaAs FETs were in volume production in late 1999. Matsushita has an impressive cordless phone product line to which it added its PHP (personal handy phone) unit, which can be used interchangeably as a cordless t e l e p h o n e in the home, or in an office private branch exchange (PBX) environment, as well as a PCN hand-held unit for accessing p h o n e points. Each PHP has its own telephone number, and PHP units are able to communicate with each other directly (bypassing the terrestrial network) w h e n within range of each other. PHP units o p e r a t e at 1.9 GHz using a 300 kHz channel spacing, TDMA and pi/4 shifted q u a d r a t u r e phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation. Speech coding is 32 kbit/s adaptive pulse code m o d u l a t i o n (ADPCM). The RF section o u t p u t s 10 mW and uses GaAs technology. Matsushita's SR-8171 DVD-ROM drive unit contains a GaAs semiconductor laser that operates at a wavelength of 658 +_ 8 nm and has 0.8 mW of output power.

Alliances Matsushita is a m e m b e r of the Bluetooth Consortium and has developed surface-mounted wireless modules compliant with the Bluetooth standard. In early 2000, Matsushita Electronic Components, Mitel Semiconductor and Philsar S e m i c o n d u c t o r a n n o u n c e d a joint d e v e l o p m e n t a g r e e m e n t for Bluetooth-compliant low-power-consumption wireless modules; Matsushita's contribution will be to develop a wireless module and peripheral software. The company also has an alliance with QUALCOMM that dates from February 1999 to develop CDMA wireless modules; first products were developed in Spring 2000.

Table 8 . 2 0 MEI Financial Highlights (u Billion). .

.

.

.

.

Net sales Net income/(Ioss) R&D Total assets .

.

.

2000

1999

7299.4 99.7 525.6 7686.9

7640.1 93.6 500.0 7938.2

.

.

.

7890.7 137.9 480.5 8563.5 .

1997

1996

7675.9 (56.9) 434.9 8695.9

6794.9 90.5 399.7 8011.8


265

Company Profiles

MBE Technology Pte Ltd 14 Science Park Drive No. 04-03 Singapore Science Park Singapore 118226 Tel: +65 7735211

MBE Technology was founded in 1993 and is the largest i n d e p e n d e n t merchant MBE wafer vendor in South-east Asia. It offers a full range of GaAs electronic structures, including HEMT, PHEMT, MESFET and HBT. Other products include optoelectronics devices such as high-brightness LEDs and infrared detectors. In April 2000 Leong Hin Holdings, a construction equipment and rental company, announced that it had acquired a US$3.3 million (30%) stake in MBE Technology. The investment will allow MBE Technology to begin its entry into the area of p r o d u c i n g epiwafers for DBS TV and wireless telecommunications applications.

R&D The company currently has two Riber 32P systems, which it uses for research and development. MBE Technology has ongoing projects for continued development of power and low-noise devices, digital and analogue discrete devices and ICs, and microwave, mm-wave and optoelectronic devices.

Facilities MBE Technology employs Riber's MBE49 and Epineat systems in its fabrication facility within its Class 10/100 cleanroom. In 2000 MBE Technology bought two River 6000 multiwafer systems, the first delivered in April 2000 and the second in October. The company also has an option for a third Riber machine for early in 2001. Many of its large orders for 4-inch wafers will be converted by the company to 6-inch before the end of this year; MBE Technology will triple capacity by the end of 2000.

Products MBE Technology supplies heterostructure wafers on GaAs and InP for a wide variety of device structures, such as MESFET, PHEMT, HBT, lasers and photodetectors on 6-inch, 4-inch, 3-inch and 2-inch wafer sizes. The company's wafers have surpassed the industry standard uniformity in terms of thickness, alloy composition and doping across the entire wafer, as well as high wafer-to-wafer reproducibility. MBE Technology also provides a purely custom epiwafer service whereby customer design requirements are met according to substrate, structure and other specifications.

266


Company Profiles

Micro Wave Sys 6033 W. Century Boulevard Ste 1200 Los Angeles CA 90045-6410 USA Tel: + 1 310 642-0250

Micro Wave Sys was formerly the HBT RFIC business of Infinesse Corp, which was acquired by the US$185 million Microsemi Corp in March 2000 and renamed. For financial year 1999, 11% of Microsemi's sales were attributed to RF/microwave applications. Microsemi Corp has established a design centre for its Micro Wave Sys division, which will focus on RFICs for mobile communications. It provides in-house process engineering, test and assembly. In July 2000 the company announced that it has released its first G a ~ RFIC products: two general-purpose InGaP HBT gain blocks for mobile phone, base station, cable modem and wireless LAN applications. The first products of this MWS 11-GB1 family were designed as easily cascadable 50 W internally matched gain blocks in a MOVPE-based InGaP/GaAs HBT RFIC fabrication process and it is claimed that they have 15% greater p o w e r o u t p u t than current competing devices. Applications include IF and RF amplification in 3-5 V wireless/wired voice and data communication products and broadband test equipment. 9 9

The MWS11-GB11-Xl offers D C - 5 GHz bandwidth with 16 dB small signal gain and 19 dBm linear power output at 5 V. The MWS11-GB12-Xl offers DC - 6 GHz with 17 dBm linear output at 5V.

Future p r o d u c t s s c h e d u l e d by Micro Wave Sys include LNAs and p o w e r amplifiers for second- through to third-generation systems, implementing CDMA, GSM and W-CDMA with advanced module packaging technology. By Autumn 2000 the company intends to release its first gain block series in the more competitive SOT-23-5 lead plastic package, plus a new proprietary, high-performance plastic package called Gigamite". The Gigamite package is designed to handle up to 19 dBm and up to 6 GHz and will offer lower cost plastic packaging with competitive performance to ceramic packages.

MicroWave Technology Inc 4268 Solar Way Fremont CA 94538 UX4 Tel: + 1 510 651 6700

MicroWave Technology Inc (MwT) was f o u n d e d in 1982. Employing 80 people, the company is a merchant manufacturer of discrete GaAs FETs using a proprietary vapour phase epitaxial process.

Facilities MwT has a GaKs fabrication facility and a hybrid chip and wire microwave IC m a n u f a c t u r i n g facility. The c o m p a n y uses MOVPE and 0.25/~m process technology.


267

Company Profiles

Products MwT's GaAs FETs are highly linear, low-phase noise devices with p o w e r outputs ranging from 10 mW to 5 W. Sold as either chips or in packages, the devices are commonly used in the amplification of signals from 100 MHz to 40 GHz for wireless telecommunication applications. Recent, very high frequency offerings aimed at b r o a d b a n d access markets include highly efficient, ultralinear, power PHEMTS (+ 38 dBm IP3 for 2 W of DC p o w e r in a balanced m o d u l e ) and ultralow phase noise GaAs FETs (-118 dBc at 100 kHz offset in a 17.5 GHz + 15 dBm DRO). By the use of thin-film hybrid microcircuit construction, MwT also produces and markets various standard modular amplifier products to 26 GHz. By capitalizing on the low intermodulation distortion characteristics of MwT's GaAs FETs, the company has produced a line of small internally matched modular surface-mount transmit and receive amplifier modules aimed at m u l t i c a r r i e r a n d / o r digitally m o d u l a t e d ( h i g h l i n e a r i t y ) w i r e l e s s telecommunications systems. Principal applications are as receiver front ends and as driver or picocell output amplifiers in cellular, PCS and wireless local loop (WLL) base station transmission at 0.9, 1.9, 2.5 and 3.5 Ghz. 9 The MPS-172208-85 is a narrowband, self-biased GaAs FET amplifier d e s i g n e d for digital c o m m u n i c a t i o n s applications w h e r e excellent linearity is required. It features 38 dBm of output power and 13 dB of typical gain. Applications include driver stages for DCS-1800, PCS-1900, PHS and DECT systems. The amplifier is directly connected to a 50 W microstrip circuit without additional matching elements. 9 The MPS-0808A9-85 is a low-noise, high d y n a m i c r a n g e amplifier designed for ultralinear receiver applications in the 806 - 849 MHz range. The circuit is matched to 50 W and employs a single-stage GaAs FET with internal matching to provide a 1.1 dB noise figure, combined with an extremely high IP3 of + 36 dBm. Typical applications are base station receivers, t o w e r - m o u n t e d LNAs, smart a n t e n n a systems and receiver multi-couplers. 9 The MPS-082509-85/86 is a broadband, self-biased GaAs FET amplifier for digital communication applications, which features 36 dBm output power and 12 dB gain. Typical applications for this device include driver stages for AMPS, TACS, NMT, IS-95, PDC and GSM systems. It is also useful for a microcell or picocell o u t p u t stage. The device may be c o n n e c t e d directly to a 50 W microstrip circuit w i t h o u t additional matching elements.

268


Company Profiles

Mttsubtsht Electric Corp Mitsubishi Electric Corp was founded in 1921 and is one of the world's leading electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers. For the yearMttsubisht Denkt e n d i n g March 2000, Mitsubishi r e p o r t e d net sales of u billion Building (US$25.6 b i l l i o n ) , a 1% r e d u c t i o n on fiscal y e a r 1999's figure of 2-3 Marunouchi u billion. However, it did return to profitability for the first time in 2-chome three years, posting a net income figure of u billion. GaAs devices are Chiyoda-ku m a n u f a c t u r e d in Japan but supplied to the m e r c h a n t market t h r o u g h Tokyo 100 subsidiary companies (e.g. Mitsubishi Electronics America) throughout the Japan. world, including the USA and Europe. Tel: +81 3 3218 2111 The company has four operational divisions: Information, Telecommunication and Electronic Systems and Devices (which includes GaAs devices); Heavy Machinery; Industrial Products and Automation Equipment; Consumer and Other Products. The Information, Telecommunication and Electronic Systems and Devices accounted for 40% of fiscal year 2000's net sales. Mitsubishi Electric is a major player in GaAs microwave discrete electronics, offering a broad range of G a ~ FETs (from low noise to high power) and internally matched FETs (C-band to Ku-band). MMIC products are focused on power amplifiers for mobile communications.

R&D Mitsubishi has 16 R&D centres that employ 4000 people. The Electro-Optics and Microwave Systems Laboratory is located in the Kamakura region of Japan. There is also the Optoelectronic and Microwave Devices Laboratory of the Semiconductor Group, which is responsible for the development of III-V compound semiconductor devices such as G a ~ ICs and laser diodes.

Facilities The c o m p a n y has s e m i c o n d u c t o r facilities in J a p a n at Saijo, Itami, Kumamoto, Nagano and Tokyo, with overseas facilities in Alsdorf (Germany), Durham (NC, USA) and Beijing (China). GaAs devices are manufactured at Kita-Itame, which holds both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification. This is believed to be based on 4-inch wafer processing via implant and epitaxial growth.

Products Mitsubishi offers a wide range of MMICs for mobile communications and GaAs FETs. Products include a series of broad and narrow L- and S- band power GaAs FETs for PCN, GSM/DCS1800 and video applications. It also produces other cellphone components such as SAW filters and some silicon RF devices. Mitsubishi announced in June 1999 the MGF4951 and MGF4952 low-noise HEMTs in one of the industry's smallest packages. These were followed in June 2000 by the announcement of volume production of two new additions Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

269

Company Profiles

to t h e l o w - n o i s e HEMT family t h a t b o o s t g a i n by 1.5 dB at K-band frequencies compared with its previous-generation low-noise HEMTs:

9 The MGF4953A l o w - n o i s e HEMT t a r g e t s t h e first s t a g e of LNA applications with its 13.5 dB typical associated gain and 0.40 dB typical noise figure at 12 GHz. 9 The second and following stages are well served by the MGF4954A lownoise HEMT, featuring the same high gain but with a slightly relaxed noise figure of 0.60 dB. The company announced a high-efficiency three-stage GaAs FET RF power amplifier module for Wideband CDMA cellular handset applications for the 1.92 - 1.98 GHz o p e r a t i n g range. The FA01391 amplifier features a high power-added efficiency of 42%, combined with a low 3.5 V operating voltage and low idle drain current (Idq) of 80 mA (typical) to extend the lithium-ion battery life. The device enables high-speed data and Internet communications applications. It maintains 445 mW of o u t p u t p o w e r (26.5 dBm) with a linearity o f - 3 8 dBc at ACP5 (adjacent channel leakage power ratio at 5 MHz) and - 4 8 dBc at ACP10 (adjacent channel leakage power ratio at 10 MHz); volume production is scheduled for 2001. Mitsubishi in June 2000 announced four new GaAs FETs for base station and satellite communications power amplifiers. The new devices feature HFET technology, which enables significantly higher power levels in GaAs devices than previously. The technology incorporates a n u m b e r of improvements, including the use of a new heterostructure epitaxial technology, adoption of a T-shaped gate structure and the e m p l o y m e n t of a new gate metallization system. The resulting device produces 160 W of output power at S-band (an increase of 130 W compared with previous-generation devices) and paves the way for even higher power devices in the future. The four new devices are: The MGFS52V2122 - - a 160 W, push-pull configuration power transistor for use in W-CDMA base stations operating in the 2.1 - 2.2 GHz range (S band). Typical output power (P2dB) is 52 dBm and typical power gain is 11 dB at 2.12 GHz. 2.70


Company Profiles

9

9

9

The MGFS48V2527 --- a 60 W, push-pull configuration power transistor for use in MMDS transmitters operating in the 2.5 - 2.7 GHz range (S band). Typical output power at P2dB is 48 dBm and typical GLP is 10 dB across the band. The MGFL48V1920--- a 60 W, push-pull configuration power transistor for use in PCS base stations operating in the 1.9 - 2.0 GHz range (L band). Typical o u t p u t p o w e r at P2dB is 48 dBm and typical GLP is 11.5 dB across the band. The M G F C 4 7 V 5 8 6 4 - - a 50 W, s i n g l e - e n d e d , i n t e r n a l l y m a t c h e d configuration power transistor i n t e n d e d for use in solid-state p o w e r amplifiers for VSAT applications operating in the 5 . 8 - 6.4 GHz range (C band). Typical o u t p u t p o w e r at P2dB is 47 dBm and typical GLP is 9.5 dB across the band.

In s u m m e r 2000 Mitsubishi announced three solid-state power amplifiers (the MAl183-1, MAl185 a n d MAl165-1) that offer high p o w e r , high efficiency, h i g h gain a n d w i d e b a n d w i d t h for w i r e l e s s base s t a t i o n applications. The amplifiers range from a 25 W multicarrier unit for base stations supporting emerging packet-based, third-generation UMTS, W-CDMA and CDMA2000 communications, to 15- and 20 W single-carrier CDMA units d e s i g n e d for base s t a t i o n s that s u p p o r t digital PCS c e l l u l a r h a n d s e t communications.

Alliances Mitsubishi and Intel announced in May 2000 an agreement to co-develop a cellular chipset for the 3G wireless technology market. The two companies will work together to develop and market the new chipset and associated software as Japan deploys 3G wireless technology. The two partners also intend to expand their joint development effort to other geographic regions using the same platform architecture. The company is a member of a measurement testing 'Round-Robin' formed by J a p a n e s e c o m p a n i e s involved in GaAs p r o d u c t i o n (See Agreements, Section 10.3).

Table 8.21 Mitsubishi Group Financial Highlights (u Billion). 2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

Net sales 3774.2 Net income/(Ioss) 24.8 Fixed assets 868.8 Working capital 371.2

3794.0 (44.5) 907.4 380.6

3801.3 (105.9) 939.2 359.4

3725.2 8.5 874.6 442.7

3511.4 59.2 812.1 396.5


271

Company Profiles

Motorola Inc CS-1 Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector 2100 East Elliot Road Tempe AZ 85284 Us Tel: + 1 480 413 3840

M o t o r o l a ' s C o m p o u n d S e m i c o n d u c t o r 1 (CS-1)facility is p a r t of the Semiconductor Products Group of the US$30.9 billion Motorola Inc CS-1 has the capabilities to mass produce MESFET, PHEMT and HBT-based MMICs for a wide range of standard components, including power amplifiers, switches and LNAs. In 1999, CS-1 made a commitment to become one of the major players on the merchant MMIC market. In so doing it will become less dependent on captive supply and is setting up one of the world's best-equipped fabrication facilities.

R&D The company spent US$3.4 billion on research and development during fiscal year 1999. This was opposed to US$2.9 billion for fiscal year 1998. Motorola uses both internal and extemaUy funded R&D. Motorola CS-1 has recently c o m p l e t e d a three-phase internally f u n d e d development and validation of a 6-inch manufacturing process for epiwafer and implant. It was able to show that RF results for 4-inch and 6-inch are identical, with epiwafer equally encouraging. The Semiconductor Products Sector has eight R&D establishments in the USA (the Core Technologies Laboratory is involved in developments in GaAs, packaging and reliability), as well as facilities at Sendai (Japan) and Moscow and St Petersburg (Russia). Motorola's Government and Space Technology Group is a subcontractor to the University of Michigan's project for an a r e a - i n t e r c o n n e c t e d CGaAs microprocessor unit (MPU) (to p r o d u c e a radhard MPU for military and commercial satellite systems). The company has a research alliance concentrating on SiGe:C technology with Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP), Germany. The first product was released in April 2000 (see Products below).

Facilities CS-1 announced in June 2000 that it had completed full conversation from 4-inch to 6-inch wafers, three months ahead of schedule. Motorola clain,s that this is now the largest RF GaAs facility in the world; total die output capacity has been tripled to 4500 wafers/week. This is now one of the world's first fabrication facilities to be fully operational exclusively for 6-inch wafers. The company is unlikely to ever be capacity limited, having obsolescent silicon facilities close by for future expansion. The company uses epiwafer and implant-based processing with internal MOVPE. CS-1 is one of the first GaAs MMIC m a n u f a c t u r e r s to c o m m i t exclusively to MOVPE technology. 2:72 GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

Company Profiles

Motorola announced in May 2000 that it has an agreement with EMCORE's Electronic Foundry Division for EMCORE to supply two fully a u t o m a t e d MOVPE TurboDisc production tools, epiwafer PHEMT process technology (to ensure compatibility b e t w e e n EMCORE supplied wafers and Motorola's internal production on the EMCORE tools) and well as orders for electronic device epiwafers. Prior to this a n n o u n c e m e n t , EMCORE was for several m o n t h s already supplying p r o d u c t i o n quantities of PHEMT epiwafers to Motorola.

Products Motorola's line of GaAs products includes: HBTs, PHEMTs and implanted MESFETs for integrated RF power amplifiers, solid-state antenna switches and low-noise amplifiers in cell phones, mixer/exciter and power amplifier devices in cell phones, base stations, two-way radios and industrial, scientific and medical band applications. In October 1999 Motorola announced the MRFIC1859 - - a new GaAs dualband p o w e r amplifier chip that integrates both 900 MHz and 1800 MHz amplifiers on the same chip, together with a negative voltage generator. The new unit meets all 3.6 V GSM p e r f o r m a n c e requirements. The device is capable of providing a peak output power of 3 W and is designed to be used in 2 W GSM900 cellular phones. It also introduced the MRFIC1818-- an 1800 MHz GaAs integrated power amplifier (IPA) designed for applications such as the Pan European digital 1 W DCS1800 handheld radios. The IPA is specified for 33 dBm of output a p o w e r with a p o w e r gain of over 30 dB from a 4.8 V supply. With minor tuning changes, the MRFIC1818 can also be used for PCSl900 as well as PCS CDMA. This is achieved by using Motorola's planar GaAs MESFET process. The MRFC161856 is two integrated three-stage power amplifiers utilizing PHEMT process technology. Using a 3.6 V power supply, frequency ranges for TDMA and AMPS applications are 824-849 MHz, or 1850-1910 MHz for PCS TDMA applications. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

273

Company Profiles

Motorola's MRFIC1813 1.9 GHz GaAs u p c o n v e r t e r has b e e n d e s i g n e d primarily for use in wireless PCS applications such as DECT, Japan's PHS and emerging North American systems. The MRFIC1813 is also applicable to 2.4 G Hz in s i t u m o n i t o r i n g (ISM) e q u i p m e n t . The device c o m b i n e s a balanced upmixer and a transmit exciter amplifier in a low-cost TSSOP-16 package. Minimal off-chip matching is required while allowing for maximum flexibility and efficiency. Together with other devices from the MRFIC180X or the MRFIC240X series, this GaAs IC family offers the complete transmit and receive functions (less local oscillator and filters) needed for a typical 1.8 GHz cordless telephone or 2.4 GHz ISM band equipment. The MRFIC1501 GaAs 1.6 GHz two-stage LNA is suitable for GPS and L-band satellite receiver applications for the 1 - 2 GHz frequency range. It features 18 dB of typical gain at VDD= 5 V. The design also uses Motorola's low-cost self-aligned MESFET process to ensure repeatable characteristics at minimal cost. The MRFIC0910 GaAs RF IPA for 2 W GSM 900 handheld radios features an RF input power of 3 dBm, an RF output power of 35.3 dBm (typical) and an efficiency of 53%. Motorola announced in April 2000 that its Semiconductor Products Sector successfully integrated a 0.35 ~m SiGe m o d u l e into its high-performance BiCMOS process technology platform. This is the first result, after only 9 months, of the joint work between Motorola's Digital DNA Laboratories t e c h n o l o g y t e a m a n d G e r m a n y ' s I n n o v a t i o n s for High P e r f o r m a n c e Microelectronics (formerly known as the Institute for Semiconductor Physics). Motorola d e m o n s t r a t e d i n t e g r a t e d HBTs in its RF BiCMOS flow, with performances of 50 GHz and 90 GHz forf~ andfma~, respectively, at half the current of traditional SiGe transistors. The addition of carbon provides better manufacturing latitude and a reduced noise figure.

Alliances Motorola has an agreement to supply GaAs Schottky wafers to Omnirel. Motorola a n n o u n c e d in O c t o b e r 1999 that it w o u l d acquire a majority interest in short-range connectivity specialist Digianswer for an undisclosed a m o u n t . U n d e r the terms of the a g r e e m e n t , D i g i a n s w e r will p r o v i d e Motorola with its Bluetooth wireless t e c h n o l o g y and will co-develop a HomeRF offering. Motorola will embed Digianswer's Bluetooth technology into its DigitalDNA TM product portfolio for wireless connectivity, portable computing and home networking platforms. In December 1999 Motorola joined the Bluetooth Promoter Group (other members include the five founding companies of the Bluetooth Special Interest G r o u p - - Ericsson, IBM Corp, Intel Corp, Nokia and T o s h i b a - along with 3Corn, Lucent and Microsoft). The charter of the Promoter group is to lead the efforts of the Bluetooth SIG by creating a forum for enhancing the Bluetooth specification and providing a vehicle for interoperability testing.

274


Company Profiles

Motorola and EMCORE have an agreement for reactors and epiwafer PHEMT technology (see Factlttes). Motorola has an alliance with Motorola Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics to produce devices using SiGe technology (see Products ~x~ve). Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia announced in April 2000 that they would form a joint effort to develop an open and common industry framework for secure mobile electronic transactions. In August 2000 Atmel and Motorola announced a licensing agreement that will enable the two companies to provide a reliable supply of RF BiCMOS, producing RFICs for low-voltage portable wireless applications. The licensed technology has a 0.35/~m feature size and an NPN transition frequency (ft) of 28 GHz. Under the terms of the agreement, Motorola will share its BiCMOS technology with Atmel. This will enable Atmel to immediately provide wireless OEMs with p r o d u c t s d e s i g n e d in a process that is fully maskcompatible with Motorola's advanced 0.35/~m RF BiCMOS technology.

Table 8 . 2 2 Motorola Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Billion). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R&D Total assets

Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd Nagaokakyo-Shi Kyoto 617 Japan Tel: +81 77 586 8541

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

30.9 0.8 4.1 3.4 37.3

29.4 (1.0) 2.1 2.9 28.7

29.8 1.2 4.2 2.7 27.3

28.0 1.2 3.3 2.4 24.1

27.0 2.0 2.7 2.2 22.7

Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd, founded in 1944, is an integrated electronic c o m p o n e n t s manufacturer with 47 subsidiaries worldwide. Its products include a broad range of functional ceramics and a diverse range of electronic components that exploit the electrical properties of ceramic materials. The c o m p a n y r e p o r t e d fiscal y e a r 2 0 0 0 n e t sales of u billion (US$4.3 billion), an increase of 25% over fiscal year 1999's figure of u billion. M u r a t a has a n n o u n c e d p l a n s to b u i l d on its s t r o n g p o s i t i o n in the manufacturing of a wide range of components for mobile communications and wireless applications. However, although such plans include additional capabilities in passive components such as SAW filters and chip capacitors, its plans with regard to gallium arsenide have yet to be made clear. The company has also announced its intention to become a major player in Bluetooth and this technology is important but in the long term is more likely to be based on silicon CMOS rather than gallium arsenide.


275

Company Profiles

The c o m p a n y designs and manufactures GaAs MMICs that o p e r a t e in the 2.4 - to 5 GHz f r e q u e n c y r a n g e . It also p r o d u c e s SAW filters for PCS, CDMA800 and AMPS applications.

R&D Murata Manufacturing invests a p p r o x i m a t e l y 7% of net sales p e r year in research and development; in fiscal year 2000, this amounted to u billion, as opposed to u billion in fiscal year 1999. Murata has a 10 000 M2 GaAs R&D facility in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

Products Murata p r o d u c e s GaAs MESFETs and MMICs, particularly for WLAN and Bluetooth applications. The majority of its product is for captive use, but it does also supply the merchant market. Examples of Murata products: 9

The XMFP series of GaAs power FETs have high p o w e r output, excellent linear p o w e r gain and are for use in C-band p o w e r amplifiers u p to 6 GHz, such as wireless communication base stations (GSM, DCS, PCS, ISM). 9 The XMFS series of small-signal FETs feature low noise figures a n d excellent associated gain. These devices are suitable for low noise applications up to 6 GH 3, such as WLAN, WLL, DBS tuners, GPS, LNA or oscillator circuits. 9 The XF2400PF-SO2501 is a 3 V,, 23 dBm, 25 dB p o w e r gain GaAs MMIC for 2.4 GHz ~ and Bluetooth applications. 9 The XF5060PA-SO250 is a 3 V, 5.2 - 5.8 G H z , 12 dB p o w e r gain, 22.5 dBm power amplifier for ~ applications. 9 The XMFP2-M3 MESFET p o w e r transistor features 15 dB gain, 25 dBm output power (at 1.9 GHz) and is suitable for use as a power amplifier in mobile/cordless phone handsets such as GSM, DECT, PHS and PDC. 9 The XM2400LB is a small-signal LNA with an input and o u t p u t internal matching circuit. It features low power consumption (3 V / 4.5 mA) and a

276


Company Profiles

low noise of 1.9 dB. The XM2400LB is suitable for use as an LNA or driver amplifier for WLAN and other ISM2400 applications.

Table 8.23 Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income R&D Total assets

NEC Corp 9-1, Setran 2-Chome Otsu Shiga 520 Japan Tel: +81 775 3 7 7690

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

459.1 61.6 29.0 755.2

367.0 38.9 26.0 662.1

362.3 39.4 24.1 684.1

194.2 32.6 22.8 649.5

180.9 37.2 20.6 617.9

NEC C o r p , w h i c h was f o u n d e d in 1899, is a l e a d i n g s u p p l i e r of communications systems and equipment, computers, industrial electronic systems and electronic devices. The company reported fiscal year 2000 net sales ofu billion (US$48.5 billion), a 5% increase on 1999's figure of u billion. The NEC RF and Microwave division manufactures low-noise GaAs FETs, p o w e r GaAs FETs, MMICs and MCMs. It also produces silicon microwave devices, including power silicon transistors, silicon MMICs and silicon signal transistors. The company also produces optoelectronic devices.

R&D NEC's research and development expenditure for fiscal year 2000 amounted to u billion, as opposed to u billion for fiscal year 1999. NEC's Kansai Electronics Laboratory has successfully demonstrated 76-GHz MMICs for automotive radar systems. Containing both a transmitter and receiver MMIC, the 0.18/~m AIGaAs/InGaAs pseudomorphic heterojunction field effect transistor (PM-HJFET) was modelled by the distributed circuit for precise design at mm-wave frequencies. The large signal characteristics were designed by introducing a newly developed in-house non-linear FET model. The developed MMICs were in good agreement with the simulated data and indicated the output power of more than 12.9 dBm and the conversion gain of-3.4 dB. Researchers in the C o m p o u n d Semiconductor Device Division at Kansai in 1999 announced that they had developed a high-power heterojunction GaAs switch IC (SWIC) for GSM phones. It featured a high handling power of 4 W and a low c o n t r o l l e d voltage of 3 V. By optimizing the structure of the recessed gate, the substrate epitaxial layer and multi-gate FET SW circuits, the SWIC exhibited high linearity of a Pin-Put with P ldB (Pin) of more than 38 dBm, an insertion loss of less than 0.6 dB and an isolation of more than 22 dB in a wideband frequency range of 0.5 - 2.0 GHz.


277

Company Profiles

Researchers from NEC's Fundamental Research Laboratory reported work on a microscopic defect study in semiconductor nanostructures. They noted that the presence of Ga-interstitial defects in a 50 nm-thick GaAs layer within AIGaAs/GaAs heterostructures is successfully revealed by optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). The electronically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) t e c h n i q u e tested on the same h e t e r o s t r u c t u r e also provides a comparable spatial selectivity based on the phase shift change under different illumination conditions. This phase shift analysis is also shown to be useful for the EDMR study of defects in device structures.

Facilities The Shiga fabrication facility includes 3- and 4-inch lines for GaAs FET and IC products. The fabrication facility was recently expanded and has the capacity to produce more than 3000 4-inch wafers/week. California Eastern Laboratories, Santa Clara, CA, USA, is NEC's North American supplier.

Products NEC produces GaAs power modules and MMICs for mobile communications; it developed the first power amplifier MMIC to use HFETs on a commercial basis. Products include low-noise and power GaAs FETs, GaAs MMICs for VSATs, DBS and mobile communications, and high-speed digital mediumscale integration/large-scale integration (MSIA~I) logic. Examples of NEC's G a ~ product line include: 9 The NE32100 2 V, 4 - 18 GHz general p u r p o s e HJ-FET IC, featuring 13.5 dB gain. ~ The NE6500496, 10 V, 2.3 GHz, 35 dBm output power power amplifier for L and S-band applications. 9 The NEZ1414-2E, 9 V, 14 - 14.5 GHz, 34 dBm o u t p u t power power amplifier for Ku-band applications. 278


Company Profiles

9

The NE6510379A, 3 W, 35 dBm output, 13 dB linear gain, L-band power HJ-FET for m i d d l e p o w e r t r a n s m i t t e r a p p l i c a t i o n s for m o b i l e communications. 9 The NEZ1011-2E 2-W, X- and Ku-band power GaAs MESFET, which has internal input and output matching that guarantees performance with a 50 W external circuit. The NEZ1011-2E features 34 dB output power and 8.5-dB linear gain. 9 The NE4210S01 2-V, 4 - 18 GHz, 0.5 dB noise figure, 13 dB gain JH-FET, LNA DBS downconverter. 9 The 1280 series of HJ-FET K-band m e d i u m p o w e r amplifiers for telecommunications applications up to 30 GHz featuring 5 V, 18.7 GHz, K-band medium power amplifiers with 21.5 - 27.5 dBm output power. NEC also produces silicon bipolar products, an example of which is the NEL2012F03-24, 24 V, L-band p o w e r b i p o l a r t r a n s i s t o r o p e r a t i n g at 1970 MHz.

Table 8 . 2 4 NEC Corp Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) R&D Total assets

Okt Semiconductor 785 N. Mary Avenue Sunnyvale CA 94086-2909 USa Tel: + 1 408 720 1900

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

4991 10 315 4609

4759 (158) 346 5046

4901 41 381 5075

4948 92 349 4941

4397 77 299 4978

Oki Semiconductor, which was founded in 1977, is a division of Oki America, which in turn is a subsidiary of parent company Oki Electric Industries Ltd who reported fiscal year 2000 net sales of u billion, a reduction of 0.5% on 1999's figure of u billion. Oki Semiconductor designs and markets a b r o a d line of a d v a n c e d ICs for the t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , a u t o m o t i v e , computer and consumer product applications. In July 2000 Oki created an independent division for the communications market, by realigning R&D and sales into three i n d e p e n d e n t operating divisions: Optical C o m p o n e n t s , Silicon S o l u t i o n s and Research and Development. The Optical C o m p o n e n t s Division focuses on optical data communications products, including Oki's laser products and 10 Gb/s GaAs ICs a n d c o m p o n e n t s . It also p r o d u c e s s e m i c o n d u c t o r lasers a n d photodiodes, including an InGaAs avalanche photodiode, GaAs FETs and MMICs for use in satellite mobile communications and CDMA equipment.

Facilities Oki holds ISO 9000 certification for its manufacturing facilities in Japan and Thailand. It's J a p a n e s e fabrication facility, Oki Electric Ltd, is based in Hachioji.


279

Company Profiles

Products Oki's GaAs products include 10 Gb/s GaAs ICs and GaAs FETs and MMICs for use in satellite m o b i l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s and CDMA e q u i p m e n t . It also p r o d u c e s s e m i c o n d u c t o r lasers and p h o t o d i o d e s , i n c l u d i n g an InGaAs avalanche photodiode. Oki's 10 GHz logic devices are m a n u f a c t u r e d using a 0.2/~m ion-implant process, which is similar to Oki's 0.5 ~ m telecommunications process. The 0.2 ~ m process, however, uses a phase-shifting edge line (PEL) masking method for gate fabrication. Gold-based, three-level metal interconnections are used for high density and shorter wiring paths. Layers 1 and 2 are signal lines whereas layer 3 is formed by electroplating and is used for g r o u n d or p o w e r supply lines because of its lower resistance. An o p t i o n b u r i e d 'p' channel structure is adopted for reducing short channel effects.

Table 8.25 Oki GaAs Logic Processes. Basic FET process

Basic gate circuit

Gate length (l~m)

ft (GHz)

Gate delays (ps)

MESFET

DCFL / SBFL

0.5

30

25

MESFET

DCFL/SBFL

< 0.2

60

9

P (inverted) HEMT

DCFL / SBFL

0.2

> 60

7

Analogue

0.2

> 60

-

P BP-

MESFET

Application

< 2.4Gb/s standard cell > 1 2Gb/s hand-routed logic > 20Gb/s l o w - d e n s i t y logic Analogue amplifier

DCFL: direct-coupled FET logic; SBFL: source-coupled FET logic. Examples of Oki's 10 GHz devices include: 9 9 9 9

The KGL4201 - - a 2 V, 2.4 W, 10 GHz 8:1 m u l t i p l e x e r for 10 Gb/s communications links; it merges eight 1.25 Gb/s data steams. The KGL4202 - - a 2 V, 3.2 W, demultiplexer. The GHDD4411 - - a 1.5 V, 0.6 W, OR/NOR circuit designed to function in 10 Gb/s high-speed communications serial bit streams. The GHDD4414 --- a 1.5 V, 1 W, decision circuit designed to strip data from high-speed serial bit streams in 10 Gb/s communications links.

In February 2000 Oki Semiconductor announced three GaAs devices for OC192 networking applications. The KGL4221 16:1 multiplexer and KGL4222 1:16 demultiplexer are manufactured using Oki's 0.2/zm-gate-length GaAs MESFET process and operate at up to 12.5 GHz. The KGL4217 is a limiting amplifier featuring a p o w e r c o n s u m p t i o n of 250 mW at 2 V and a p o w e r dissipation of 0.25 W. It was the i n d u s t r y ' s first 2 V device of its kind in p r o d u c t i o n , and r e d u c e s total p o w e r c o n s u m p t i o n by as m u c h as half compared with other then current devices.

280


Company Profiles

The KGF1522 is a high-performance GaAs FET small-signal amplifier for the L-band, which features a guaranteed fixed matching circuit of 3 V at 1.9 GHz and 4.5 dBm of output power. The KGF1191 3 V, two-stage small-signal amplifier operates in the UHF to L-band and features a linear gain of 24 dB. Oki's KGF1262 UHF-band medium power amplifier features a high gain of 15 dB at 1.9 GHz and is used for applications such as a transmitter driver amplifier for PHS phones of more than the 1.5 GHz band.

Alliances Oki is a m e m b e r of the B l u e t o o t h C o n s o r t i u m ; in J u n e it released the ML7050LA CMOS-based RF t r a n s c e i v e r LSI a n d ML7051LA b a s e b a n d controller, which comply to Bluetooth specifications and have announced the future release of an RF transceiver LSI for mobile phones.

Table 8 . 2 6 Oki Electric Industries Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income/(Ioss)

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

669.8 1.1

673.2 (47.4)

764.6 (8.1)

732.2 3.2

848.3 24.7


281

Company Profiles

OMMIC 22 Avenue Descartes B.P. 11 94453 LimeilBrevannes CEDEX France Tel: +33 1 45106731

OMMIC is the n e w trading name of the former Philips Microwave Limeil (PML). OMMIC offers a range of products for optical fibre communications, base stations and point-to-point and point-to-multipoint communications. Employing 80 people at Limeil, OMMIC also supplies foundry services and epitaxial wafers to the open market. OMMIC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Philips Electronics Group and will build on PML's position in the R&D and m a n u f a c t u r e of GaAs semiconductor devices. As OMMIC, the new company becomes self-reliant with enhanced flexibility to fulfil its plans in expanding further in specialized applications, primarily with high-frequency devices and systems for the telecommunications market.

R&D OMMIC is d e v e l o p i n g n e w t e c h n i q u e s for epitaxial wafer p r o d u c t i o n , advanced PHEMT and MHEMT technologies as well as innovative circuits for 40 Gb/s and new-generation wireless standards. PML developed and constructed the world's first Planetary MOVPE reactor for GaAs epitaxy in 1986. In 1988 it established the world record of QuantumHall resistance standards, and in 1999 it released the world's lowest noise figure, commercially available 10 Gb/s TIA.

Facilities OMMIC supplies 4-inch and 6-inch wafers to the merchant market. It has an AIXTRON AIX2600G3 multiwafer reactor. The company is certified to ISO 9001.

282


Company Profiles

Products PML in 1998 announced the availability of an IEEE 802.11-compliant chipset for the wireless LAN market (developed as the result of an agreement with Lucent Microelectronics). It was the first wireless LAN chipset to merge antenna, radio and baseband capabilities into an integrated solution suitable for pulse-code-modulated circuit-integrated assembly (PCMCIA) applications. C o n t a i n i n g t h r e e n e w chips, the SA1630, SA2410 and SA2420, it also included the previously released Philips UMA1021 synthesizer. The chipset contains both GaAs and silicon components; the GaAs element is the Philips SA2410 2.45 GHz RF power amplifier and transmitter/receiver switch. It is an amplifier designed for the ISM band and wireless LAN applications. The SA2410 uses an o n - c h i p 4 GHz o s c i l l a t o r to g e n e r a t e negative bias, eliminating the need for a negative power supply. It operates from 3 to 5.5 V and consumes 125 mA with an output of 18.5 dB.

Alliances OMMIC has an agreement with TriQuint, whereby OMMIC has access to additional capacity in exchange for supplying Triquint with MOVPE epitaxybased wafer requirements. Philips is a member of the pan-European 'EuroGa~' project.

Table 8.27 Royal Philips Electronics Group Financial Highlights (~ Million). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Total assets

Oxford Instruments P l a s m a Technology North E n d Yatton Avon BS19 4AP UK Tel: + 44 1934 8 7 6444

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

31459 1799 29496

30459 6053 28153

29658 2602 23322

27094 (268) 21907

25259 1143 20981

Oxford I n s t r u m e n t s Plasma Technology (OIPT) is part of the Oxford Instruments Group, who reported fiscal year 2000 turnover of s million (as opposed to s million in fiscal year 1999). OIPT is a leading supplier of plasma and ion beam processing equipment. Its products range from small stand-alone units aimed at the R&D market to fully clustered cassette-tocassette platforms for high-throughput production processing.

R&D Oxford Instruments' research and development expenditure for fiscal year 2000 was s million, a reduction of 8% on fiscal year 1999's figure of s 12.5 million. OIPT has close collaborative links with both academia and industry and attributes much of its success to joint ventures into leading edge projects such as high-density plasma etching of III-V materials, dry etching of GaN Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

283

Company Profiles

a n d r e l a t e d c o m p o u n d s a n d dry e t c h i n g for a d v a n c e d p h o t o m a s k manufacture.

Facilities The company maintains a 4000 m 2 factory with on-site manufacturing and two cleanrooms/laboratories for demonstration purposes. The Applications L a b o r a t o r y is e q u i p p e d with the latest systems a n d has facilities for demonstrating inductively coupled plasma (ICP), reactive ion etching (RIE) or plasma excitation (PE) m o d e etching, PECVD of low stress layers and ion beam etching, sputter deposition and chemically assisted ion beam etching.

Products The Plasmalab range consists of seven models covering all major plasma technologies, including ICP and RIE; the IonFab range consists of two models coveting ion beam etching, chemically assisted ion beam etching and ion beam and ion-assisted sputter deposition: 9

~

~

9

9

9

~

284

The Plasmalab System 100 is available in single or m u l t i - c h a m b e r formats. A m o d u l a r c l u s t e r tool, it is m a n u f a c t u r i n g e q u i p m e n t s e m i c o n d u c t o r control (MESC) compatible and accepts wafers from 3-inch to 8-inch diameter. RIE, PE, dual-frequency PECVD, electron cydotron resonance (ECR) and ICP options are supported. Plasmalab 80 Plus is the company's smallest open-loaded plasma tool. A range of 170-, 200- and 240-mm lower electrodes is available, with heating up to 700~ and cooling to -150~ P l a s m a l a b ~ E t c h is a v a r i a n t of the P l a s m a l a b 80 Plus, s p e c i a l l y configured for failure analysis. It features computer-switchable isotropic/ anisotropic etching and integration of the end-point detection system into the PC Plus control software. The P l a s m a l a b 800 Plus is a l a r g e - c a p a c i t y o p e n - l o a d e d s y s t e m configurable for RIE, PE and PECVD. 380- and 460-mm electrodes offer a high capacity of up to 12 x 4-inch wafers. Plasmalab System 90 Plus is a small-batch load-locked RIE/PECVD system suitable for compound semiconductor processing. The 275 mm electrode allows 4 x 4-inch wafers to be accommodated, and adequate capacity is available for handling wafers bonded to support discs. A cassette loading option makes the Plasmalab System 90 Plus an ideal production tool. The Plasmalab PRS 900 is a barrel etch system suitable for photoresist stripping, descumming or surface treatment of plastics. Combined RF and downstream microwave plasma excitation deliver a high ashing rate with low damage, even for implanted resists. Capacity is 100 x 6-inch or 50 x 8-inch wafers. The Plasmalab System 400 is a sputter deposition system for use with up to four RF and/or DC magnetrons. The rotating, electrically heated and RF-powerable substrate table accepts wafers from 2-inch to 8-inch diameter. Rapid changeover between wafer sizes is achieved in about an h o u r by simply c h a n g i n g the wafer s u p p o r t pads and the i n t e r n a l shielding. The System 400 is suitable for a research or p r o t o t y p i n g environment.


Compan y Profiles

The Plasmalab System 100 is the company's major p r o d u c t and has been supplied worldwide to such as Infineon and the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany: In March 1999 OIPT introduced its Plasmalab/zEtch 300 dedicated failure analysis tool, which is based on the established Plasmalab 800 Plus and has been specifically developed for in-line 12-inch wafer deprocessing. The system features computer-switchable PE/RIE modes and integration of the laser endpoint detection system into the PC control software. It is fully capable of r e m o v i n g passivation layers causing the m i n i m u m of d a m a g e and the anisotropic removal of intermetal dielectrics for full defect location and identification.

Ptcogiga Place Marcel Rebuffat Parc de Wllejust 91971 Courtaboeuf 7 Cedex France Tel: +33 1 69 31 61 00

Picogiga, which was founded in 1985, is the leading merchant v e n d o r of GaAs and InP MBE wafers. It r e p o r t e d a t u r n o v e r for fiscal year 1999 of ~11.1 million (an increase of 12% over the previous year), of which wireless products accounted for 58%. Picogiga's largest market is the USA, which accounted for 69% of sales, followed by Japan with 14%.

R&D Picogiga has pioneered several industry standards. It was: 9 9 9 9

The first to use MBE for growing G a ~ . The first to promote the use of multiwafer MBE machines for production. The first to produce 4-inch MBE wafers. The first to use double-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis for quality control.

Facilities Picogiga has its fabrication facility in France running at full capacity. Picogiga originally leased a facility in Les Ulis that contained a 3000 ft 2 cleanroom. The company rapidly outgrew this facility and in 1996, as the result of its IPO was able to construct a new facili W in Villejust. This 33 000 ft 2 plant contains a 9000 ft z cleanroom, with room for expansion (which is currently u n d e r way), having the potential to double the cleanroom area. Picogiga has several multi-wafer reactors in place (Riber and VG Semicon) which are either in mass p r o d u c t i o n or dedicated to specialized products; Picogiga has the world's largest GaAs MBE production facility. It has recently purchased 8000 m 2 of land adjacent to its present facility and will build an additional fabrication facility, construction of which begins at the end of 2000. Picogiga has upgraded its quality control equipment for the existing fabrication facility. Picogiga ordered three more 6-inch MBE reactors from Riber in July 2000 (in addition to the two it o r d e r e d in late 1999). These new-generation MBE Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

285

Company Profiles

machines can grow seven 6-inch wafers per run instead of four, allowing for a 75% increase in productivity. The machines can also grow 4-inch wafers with the same gain in productivity, enabling Picogiga to double its production capacity by the end of 2001. With the addition of the new MBE machines (which will be installed in the existing fabrication facility), Picogiga's production capacity will be doubled at the end of 2001, compared with 2000. Picogiga also has sales offices in the USA and distributors worldwide. At the e n d of 1999 it a n n o u n c e d two n e w s u p p l i e r s : Mi-Net in the UK and Marketech in Taiwan.

Products Picogiga produces 3-, 4- and 6-inch G a ~ and InP MBE wafers.

Procomp Informatics Ltd IF, No. 54, Park Avenue II Science-Based Industrial Park Hsin-Chu Taiwan 300 ROC Tel: +886 3 577 3727

Procomp Informatics Ltd was founded in 1991 and is a major GaAs merchant epiwafer supplier. It has two divisions: C o m p o u n d Semiconductors and Computer Business (mostly motherboards and palm PCs). Employing 400 people, Procomp r e p o r t e d a fiscal year 1999 turnover of approximately US$90 million, as opposed to US$ 56 million in fiscal year 1998. Besides its 16 570 m z facility in Hsin-Chu (which contains Class 100 and Class 1000 cleanrooms), Procomp has sales offices in Germany, Austria, The N e t h e r l a n d s and the USA. The c o m p a n y holds ISO 9001 certification. Procomp has three multiwafer MBE systems and has a production capability of 3000 - 4000 pcs epiwafers per month. The Compound Semiconductor Division was established in 1996; Procomp grew its first epiwafer in 1997. The company specializes in providing GaAs epiwafers for high performance semiconductor applications. Procomp has both MBE and MOVPE multiwafer systems. It is also a partner worldwide for both MBE and MOVPE production techniques and has extensive experience in microwave and optoelectronic epiwafers, grown by both MBE and MOVPE technologies. Procomp produces 2-, 3-, 4- and 6-inch wafers for MESFETs, HEMTs, HBTs and PHEMTs.

286


Company Profiles

Raytheon RF Components 362 Lowell Street Andover MA 01810 tr~ Tel: + 1 978 684 8538

Raytheon RF Components (RFFC), is part of Raytheon Co's Commercial Electronics Group. The c o m p a n y ' s name was changed from Raytheon Microelectronics to Raytheon RF Components in 1999. The parent company r e p o r t e d fiscal year 1999 sales of US$19.8 billion, as o p p o s e d to US$19.4 billion in fiscal year 1998 and employs 105 300 people worldwide. Raytheon acquired the Defense Systems and Electronics Group of Texas Instruments in 1997 for US$2.96 billion. However, to avoid a monopoly situation with regard to the GaAs technology, it was agreed that Raytheon must divest itself of the Texas Instruments MMIC operation. This it duly did, by retaining its own MMIC capabilities and selling the Texas Instruments MMIC business in early 1988 to TriQuint Semiconductor. Raytheon also has the right to licence Texas Instruments' MMIC technology for use in future product applications.

Facilities RFFC's fabrication facility is located in Andover, MA. The US$150 million, 246 000 ft 2 facility was opened in 1988. It produces fully assembled and tested microwave circuits for use in commercial wireless products, satellitebased communication systems and advanced military radar.

Products Raytheon produces PHEMT and HBT components for mobile phones. It develops and manufactures GaAs MMICs, cellular power amplifiers and base station components, mm-wave radio links, transmit and receive modules and semiconductor devices. Raytheon began shipping volume quantities of its GaAs HBT power amplifiers for cellular phones at the beginning of 2000.


287

Company Profiles

The company announced in June 2000 that it had begun volume production of its RMPA09500-58 and RMPA1900-58 base station amplifiers. Raytheon developed a Ka-band metamorphic HEMT LNA featuring a 1.4 dB noise figure, 24 dB gain and 15 mW DC power consumption fabricated on a low-cost GaAs substrate. The metamorphic solid-state device structure provides the ability to tailor the device p e r f o r m a n c e in o r d e r to meet p e r f o r m a n c e r e q u i r e m e n t s for a e r o s p a c e a n d t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s applications. The RMLA29000 LNA for mm-wave c o m m u n i c a t i o n s o p e r a t e s in the 27-30 GHz rage. The mm-wave circuit is a GaAs MMIC 4-stage amplifier utilizing Raytheon's 0.15 lzm-gate-length PHEMT process. It typically features 28 dB gain and 2 dB noise figure.

Alliances Raytheon has an o n g o i n g licence for Texas I n s t r u m e n t s ' GaAs MMIC technology for use in future product applications.

Table 8.28 Raytheon Co's Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net sales Net income Total assets

RF Micro Devices Inc 7625 Thorndike R o a d Greensboro NC 2 7409 USA Tel: + 1 33 6 664 1233

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

19841 404 28110

19419 844 28232

13593 511 28520

12257 757 11358

11836 795 9999

RFMD (founded in 1990), began as a 'fabless' semiconductor company whose manufacturing was taken care of by its original partner, TRW. TRW is still RFMD's largest shareholder, with approximately 15% of shares. RFMD designs, develops, manufactures and markets proprietary RFICs for wireless communications applications such as cellular and PCS phones, cordless phones, wireless LANs, wireless local loop handsets, industrial radios, wireless security systems and remote meter readers. The company offers a broad array of products, including: amplifiers, mixers, modulators/ demodulators, single-chip receivers, transmitters and transceivers. RF Micro Devices is capable of designing RFICs commercially in GaAs HBT, GaAs MESFET and silicon process technologies (including SiGe HBT). Its major customer's include: Nokia (the largest, accounting for 59% of RFMD's 2000 revenues), Ericsson, LG Info, NEC, Samsung, QUALCOMM and Motorola. For the y e a r - e n d i n g March 2000, RFMD r e p o r t e d r e v e n u e s of US$288.9 million (an increase of 53% on fiscal year 1999's figure of US$152.1 million). Sales of GaAs HBTs accounted for 89% of fiscal year 2000 revenues.

288


Company Profiles

RFMD a n n o u n c e d in December 1999 that it had shipped its 50 millionth CDMA product.

R&D R e s e a r c h a n d d e v e l o p m e n t e x p e n d i t u r e for fiscal y e a r 2000 was US$33.3 million, as opposed to US$14.3 million during 1999. The company o p e n e d US design centres in California, Cedar Rapids (Iowa) and Boston (MA) during 1999, with another centre in Phoenix (AZ) in Spring 2000.

Facilities RFMD began as a 'fabless' semiconductor operation and still sources some of its HBT MMIC requirements (approximately 70 million chips in 1999) from its original partner, TRW. RFMD holds ISO 9001 certification. In June 1999 RFMD o p e n e d its 28 000 ft 2 EPI Manufacturing Facility in Greensboro. Phase II of the centre (when built) will account for a further 20 000 ft 2, which will t h e n make it the w o r l d ' s largest MBE fabrication facility. It is dedicated to the production of epiwafers using GaAs HBT and is capable of processing up to 2000 4-inch wafers/week. RFMD transferred its MBE process from its original fabrication facility (which has a 16 300 ft 2 cleanroom) to the new Centre. The EPI Manufacturing Facility will cope with b o t h c u r r e n t and n e x t - g e n e r a t i o n MBE t e c h n o l o g i e s ( e q u i p p e d with multiwafer MBE systems, including the 6-inch wafer-capable VG Semicon V150 system), and houses each MBE reactor in its own separate room with dedicated environmental controls per reactor. In S e p t e m b e r 1999, the c o m p a n y b e g a n c o n s t r u c t i o n of its n e w US$140 million 128 000 ft2 GaAs HBT fabrication facility, which is being built close to the existing facility at its h e a d q u a r t e r s in Greensboro. The new facility will be built in two stages: Phase I (which is scheduled for operation by end December 2000) will be capable of producing 60 000 4-inch wafers/ Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

289

Company Profiles

year; Phase II is scheduled for completion a year later and it is intended that this will bring production capacity to 210 000 4-inch equivalent wafers/year, or quadrupling the company's capacity. The company holds ISO 9001 certification. It was also able to triple its production test capacity during 1999. Optimum Technology Matching TM is a process established by RFMD so as to ensure ideal matching of design solution to customer system application needs. The company uses TRW's GaAs HBT process to fabricate its MMICs, either at its own or within TRW's fabrication facility.

Products RFMD in December 1999 introduced its RF2153 high-power, high-efficiency 1900-MHz CDMA/TDMA/PACS 3 V linear power amplifier. Designed for use as the final RF amplifier in the 1710 - 1910 MHz band applications, the RF2153 is suitable for h a n d h e l d digital PCS e q u i p m e n t (CDMA/TDMA), spread spectrum systems, PACS handsets and PACS base stations. Manufactured using an advanced GaAs HBT process, the RF2153 delivers 29 dB linear output power and 30 dB linear gain. The device's frequency response can be optimized for linear performance, resulting in 33% linear efficiency CDMA and 40% linear efficiency TDMA. In the same month, RFMD also announced the RF2365, a new 3 V LNA for digital cellular applications including DCS GSM, PCS CDMA, PCS TDMA and 2.4 GHz systems. Manufactured using GaAs HBT and RFMD's O p t i m u m Technology Matching'M, the device's attributes include a high dynamic range d e s i g n e d for the f r o n t - e n d of digital cellular a p p l i c a t i o n s at PCS/DCS frequencies; it is engineered to amplify low-level signals with minimum noise contribution while operating in newly deployed digital subscriber units. Operating at 1.6 dB noise figure at 1850 MHz and 1.75 dB noise figure at 2450 MHz, the RF2365 features 18 dB gain at PCS/DCS, 15.5 dB gain at 2.45 GHz and external bias control. The RF2459, w h i c h was i n t r o d u c e d at the e n d of 1999, is a 3 V PCS downconverter (manufactured using GaAs HBT process technology) for 1 5 0 0 2500 MHz band usage, suitable for applications such as PCS, PHS and WLAN (CDMA/TDMA/DCS 1900 PCS systems and PHS 1500/WLAN 2400 systems). It can also be used as a general-purpose downconverter or included in micro-cell PCS base stations and portable battery-powered equipment. Containing a double-balanced Gilbert cell mixer and a balanced IF output, the mixer's high third-order intercept point makes it ideal for digital cellular applications. The RF2189 is a 3 V 2.5 GHz linear power amplifier for use as the final RF amplifier in 2.5 GHz spread spectrum transmitters. It features a 20-dB small signal gain and is suitable for the 1800 M H z - 2.5 GHz frequency range. Another example of RFMD's amplifiers made using its GaAs HBT process is the RF2117 400 MHz for applications such as 3.6 V analogue handsets and 290


Company Profiles

400 MHz industrial radios. The device features a 33 dB small signal gain, more than 50% efficiency and up to 2 W of output power. It operates from a single 3 V or 5.5 V power suppl)~ In April 2000 Motorola placed orders with RFMD for three GaAs HBT ICs: the RF2138 PA, which allows for extended battery life and longer talk time; RF2361 and RF2442 LNAs with very high dynamic ranges, designed for digital cellular applications. The iDEN i2000~" digital world phone operates on GSM networks in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and iDEN networks, and is targeted at business users. In June 2000 RFMD introduced the RF 2172, a GaAs HBT RF power amplifier for h i g h - p o w e r Bluetooth applications. It features an o u t p u t p o w e r of + 23 dBm at 2.5 GHz, supplying sufficient overhead to cope with loss in the channel filter, and achieves + 20dBm at the antenna, the maximum allowed by the B l u e t o o t h specification. The IC o p e r a t e s efficiently in both the 2.4 GHz and the 900-MHz ISM bands, and is ideal for Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum systems. RFMD announced in August 2000 that it had received a multimillion-dollar production order to supply power amplifiers for Sanyo's latest dual-band CDMA PCS handset. RFMD had already began volume shipments of its 3 V G a ~ HBT power amplifiers. Sanyo is one of the leading suppliers of CDMA p h o n e s and RFMD anticipates that Sanyo will b e c o m e one if its Top 10 customers. RFMD r e c e n t l y began to m a n u f a c t u r e devices using silicon Bi-CMOS. Fommples of which include: 9 The RF2938 low-cost, 3-V, highly integrated RF/IF transceiver for 2.4 GHz ISM band applications such as wireless LAN and wireless modems, which features a second, on-chip 2.4 GHz upconverter. 9 The RF2968 low-cost transceiver (with a receive sensitivity of-80 dBm and t r a n s m i t p o w e r up to + 4 d B m ) , which c o n f o r m s to B l u e t o o t h specifications.

Agreements RFMD has licence agreements with its original partner, TRW (who has a 10% shareholding in RFMD), which allow RFMD royalty-free, worldwide licences with respect to certain of TRW's existing and future GaAs HBT patent rights a n d MBE p r o c e s s p a t e n t rights, i n c l u d i n g e x p e r t i s e a n d t e c h n i c a l information. The agreement was expanded in 1999 to allow RFMD to supply GaAs HBT for commercial coaxial and other non-fibre wire applications, including the broadband wired market. Products serving this fast-growing market include cable television distribution amplifiers, cable modems, digital television converters and television tuners, both analogue and digital. In June 1999, RFMD and Ericsson Mobile Communications announced that they had entered into an agreement to design specific solutions for Ericsson's third-generation terminal platforms, including wireless CDMA. RFMD also has an agreement with Nokia, for which it runs a dedicated product line. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

291

Company Profiles

RFMD and IBM announced in October 1999 that they had agreed to jointly develop RFICs for next-generation cell phones, based on IBM's SiGe process technology. This collaborative relationship is intended to reduce the number of chips in wireless handsets over time, shortening time-to-market for manufacturers and resulting in smaller phones that use less power whilst extending battery life. RFMD also has a 'Master Purchase Agreement' with IBM for silicon RFICs (using IBM's a d v a n c e d Blue Logic p r o c e s s technology). TM

RFMD and UbiNetics Ltd (the technology venture of PA Consulting Group) announced in September 1999 a preliminary agreement to jointly develop RF c o m p o n e n t s for 3G wireless mobile terminals and share design and development knowledge in W-CDMA and GSM. Under the arrangement, the two companies will combine UbiNetics' expertise in 3G technology and in software and systems integration, t o g e t h e r with RFMD's expertise in developing RF chipsets. Atmel and RFMD in July 2000 announced an agreement to provide reference designs based on the IEEE802.11b, 11 Mb/s wireless LAN standard. The reference designs use RFMD's 2.4 GHz chipset and Atmel's family of FastVirtualNetTM ARM| MACs (Media Access Controllers - - AT76C502, AT76C503 and AT76C510), which run the network protocol and provide a variety of interfaces to the host platform. Together, the companies are providing complete reference designs to qualified customers, including schematics, layout files and bill of materials (BOM).

Table 8.29 RFMD Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net revenue Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R&D Total assets

Riber SA 133 Blvd National RueilMalmaison 92305 France Tel: +33 147089250

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

288.9 50.1 142.3 33.3 340.6

152.1 19.6 167.9 14.3 275.8

44.1 (0.5) 34.2 8.8 93.4

27.9 1.7 7.3 6.2 36.3

8.2 5.2 7.9 4.2 13.2

Riber, founded in 1964, has more than 30 years of experience in the ultrahigh vacuum field and its applications, concentrating its activities on MBE. One of the largest MBE/chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) manufacturers, the company offers a complete range of single- and multiwafer systems for research, development and production of III-V (GaAs, InP, GaN), II-V (ZnSe, MCT) and SiGe epilayers. It supplies a complete range of effusion cells for Riber and competing systems, as well as laser ablation deposition systems. Riber sells its systems worldwide, with 50% of fiscal year 1999's sales attributed to the USA, 20% to Europe and the remaining 30% to Asia-Pacific. In 1978, Riber began offering the first turnkey MBE research systems to semiconductor research institutes and it followed this during the 1980s with

292


Company Profiles

the c o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n of m a n y i n n o v a t i o n s such as g a s - s o u r c e a n d multiwafer processing technologies. In response to the growing need for high-volume microwave components, Riber has increased production capacity and expanded its facilities in Rueil Malmaison. New assembly and test equipment is now in use, which allows Riber to double its MBE6000 production capacity for 2000 as compared with 1999. An additional 1000 m 2 is available, which Riber plans to use for future expansion of the existing facility to meet expected future increases in demand.

Products Riber designs and manufactures ultrahigh vacuum deposition systems that perform solid-source MBE and gas-source MBE of advanced c o m p o u n d materials on one single 1-inch substrate for R&D and up to multiple 6-inch substrates for production. In addition to MBE systems, Riber also produces a range of MBE-relatedcomponents, including effusion cells up to 6000 cc capacity, valved crackers, gas flow c o n t r o l systems and valved injectors, c o m p u t e r i z e d p r o c e s s controllers, etc. System hardware c o m p o n e n t s include source flanges, heaters, shutters and cooling panels. Riber's MBE systems include the MBE32 for up to 3-inch wafers and the EPINEAT for both III-V and II-VI 3-inch wafers. Several versions of the Riber MBE32/CBE32 3-inch single-wafer systems exist, adapted to the specific requirements of III-V and II-VI epitaxy. The system is also e q u i p p e d with state-of-the-art gas regulation equipment developed for the III-V CBE field. The systems frequently include analytical instruments such as eUipsometers or STM apparatus. For silicon-germanium alloys, Riber produces the SIVA32 for 3-inch wafers and the SIVA45 for 6-inch. The MBE49 system is a multi 4-inch system for the production of PHEMTs, HEMTs, MESFETs, HBTs and lasers. It can be configured for either 3 x 4-inch or 4 x 4-inch wafer production. In March 2000 Riber announced that it had sold an MBE49 4 x 4-inch production system to the GCS foundry in California. O n e of the c o m p a n y ' s m o s t r e c e n t s y s t e m s is the MBE6000, for the m a n u f a c t u r e of 3 x 6-inch III-V materials. This n e x t - g e n e r a t i o n , highthroughput, fully automated 4-inch and 6-inch (and 9 x 4-inch) multiwafer reactor is designed for large-scale production of electronic and optoelectronic device s t r u c t u r e s such as PHEMTs, HBTs, MESFETs and lasers. Its fully a u t o m a t e d p e r f o r m a n c e allows for 24 h o u r s a day, seven days a w e e k operation, thus minimizing the per-wafer cost of production. In S e p t e m b e r 1999, TRW installed the semiconductor industry's first Riber MBE6000 system, which at full capacity will double the amount of 4-inch GaAs wafers/day over standard systems. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

293

Company Profiles

9 Alpha Industries also has an MBE6000, as does P r o c o m p (who has ordered several more). Riber has also received orders from US customers who remain anonymous, owing to disclosure agreements. Riber did state, however, that 50% of its orders for the MBE6000 machine are from new customers. 9 RFMDhave also ordered an MBE6000. 9 In July 2000 Picogiga announced that it had ordered three 6-inch Riber machines (bringing its total number of 6-inch machines to four). In late 2000 Riber introduced the MBE7000 7 x 6-inch wafer system. The launch customer was French epiwafer supplier, Picogiga. Riber claims to have an 80% share of the new-generation MBE production market. Its main competitors are VG Semicon's V150 machine and Applied Epi Inc's GEN2000 machine.

Sanders Microwave, Space & Mission Electronics 65 Sptt Brook Road Nashua NH 03061-0868 UC~ Tel: + 1 603 885 7550

At the time of w r i t i n g , S a n d e r s is still a s u b s i d i a r y c o m p a n y of the US$25 billion Lockheed Martin Corp. However, in July 2000 Lockheed Martin announced that it had reached a definitive agreement for BAE Systems North America to acquire Lockheed's Aerospace Electronics Systems business (which includes Sanders) for US$1.67 billion in cash. BAE Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Plc of Farnborough, UK. The deal is scheduled for completion before the end of 2000. Besides its microwave business, Sanders (which was founded in 1951 and employs 4200 people) is a producer of: aircraft self-protection systems and tactical surveillance and intelligence systems for the military; mission and space electronics; infrared imaging, and a u t o m a t e d mission p l a n n i n g systems.

Facilities Sanders' Microelectronics Center (MEC) in Nashua includes a 13 000 ft 2 cleanroom. MEC was established in 1996 and specializes in high-performance microwave and ram-wave MMICs, modules and subsystems operating at frequencies from below 1 to above 100 GHz. In addition to serving internal Lockheed Martin needs, its capabilities are available to the merchant market and g o v e r n m e n t agencies. The c o m p a n y ' s capabilities include MESFET, 0.25 ~m and 0.15 ~ m PHEMT and 0.1 ~ m PHEMT and 0.1/~m InP HEMT/ MHEMT under development. In June 2000 Sanders and M/A-COM announced an agreement under which M/A-COM will add production of MMICs at Sanders' MEC facility in Nashua. This was to guarantee M/A-COM additional 6-inch wafer capacity for 2001. The facility will be used to support products developed by both companies for the wireless and aerospace markets. The agreement allows Sanders to continue developing and producing MMICs to support its aerospace and

294


Company Profiles

defence customers while benefiting from the advantages of a high-volume production fabrication facili~ Under the Cooperative Support and Technical Assistance Agreement, M/A-COM will manufacture MMICs on 6-inch GaAs wafers at Sanders' MEC facility for wireless telecommunications applications, while Sanders continues to manufacture MMICs at the same facility for the aerospace and defence markets.

Products Sanders offers mm-wave MMIC wafer fabrication and custom design services for LMDS, digital point-point radio, VSAT, automotive, military and space. MMIC standard product includes 6 - 18 GHz phase shifters, Ka-band highpower amplifiers and LNAs. Examples of Sanders' products m a n u f a c t u r e d using its 0.15/~m PHEMT process include: 9

The SGLN-07014-CC - - a three-stage LNA designed for high gain (26 dB) and low noise figure (2.5 dB) for applications covering 2 7 - 33 GHz. 9 The SGPA-07010-CC - - a two-stage MMIC p o w e r amplifier for use in linear VSAT and LMDS applications, providing an output power of 2 W typical at 1 dB of gain compression. 9 The SGDA-07008-CC - - a two-stage MMIC amplifier for use as a driver stage in linear digital radio applications, providing an output power of 0.2 W typical at I dB of gain compression. 9 The SGPA-07018-CC --- a two-stage MMIC p o w e r amplifier for use in linear LMDS base station applications, providing an o u t p u t power of 1.75 W typical at I dB of gain compression. 9 The SGLN-07004-CC-- a two-stage balanced low-noise MMIC amplifier with a 2.5 dB typical noise figure across 2 6 - 40 GHz. The SGLN-07004CC is suitable for receiver front-end applications in LMDS systems, t e r r e s t r i a l w i r e l e s s s y s t e m s at 28 GHz a n d 38 GHz a n d satellite transponders at 28 GHz.

Sanyo Electric Co Ltd 1-1.1 Sakata Oimumtr Ouragum Gumma Prefecture Japan Tel: +81 276 61 8314

Sanyo Electric, which was founded in 1947, is an international manufacturer of a diversified range of electronic products. Sanyo Electric reported fiscal year 2000 net sales o f u billion (US$18.3 billion), a 7% increase on fiscal year 1999's figure ofu billion. S a n y o ' s GaAs d i v i s i o n p r o d u c e s MESFETs, MMICs for m o b i l e communications, Schottky barrier diodes and varactor diodes. Sanyo is one of the leading suppliers of CDMA phones. Sanyo's American semiconductor operation offers a complete line of ICs, and select specialized large-scale IC products. Its facilities include the Sanyo Semiconductor Technology Center in Rochelle Park (New Jersey), an R&D establishment in Silicon Valley, as well as o t h e r sites in San Diego (CA), Arlington Heights (IL) and Boston (MA). Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

295

Company Profiles

Products Sanyo's GaAs product line includes RFICs for mobile communications and MESFETs. Examples of products that it manufactures include: 9

9 9

The SPM3251 1.9 GHz, 25 dBm, a n t e n n a switch MMIC that features a 0.7 dB insertion loss. The SPM0103A 1.9 GHz LNA MMIC that features a 1.1 dB noise figure. The SPM3052 1.65 GHz local switch MMIC with 30 dB isolation loss. The SPM2001 Driver amplifier MMIC that operates at 1.9 GHz and has a 2.6 dB noise figure.

In September 1999 Sanyo introduced its ultra miniature GaAs switch MMIC for m o b i l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s a p p l i c a t i o n s : the SPM3203. O p e r a t i n g at 0.9 GHz with 21 dB of isolation and 0.55 dB of insertion loss, this switch is available in a 2 x 2.1 x 0.9 mm package. In O c t o b e r 1999 Sanyo a n n o u n c e d that it h a d d e v e l o p e d the w o r l d ' s smallest, ultrathin CDMA portable phone, which w o u l d be available in the year 2000. It weighs 57g and is 9.9 mm thick. This 800 MHz b a n d CDMA phone employs a three-chip IC structure that includes a newly developed RF IC in the internal circuitry (shrinking the IC size by 70% compared with that of existing ICs) and a circuitry structure with only a six-level substrate, singlesurface m o u n t i n g . The p h o n e uses Sanyo's o w n 3 . 2 - m m - t h i c k lithium polymer battery. In May 2000 the company released its SPM3204 Bluetooth switch MMIC, a 2.4 GHz ISM band device. The device achieves the industry's lowest class insertion loss of 0.65 dB in the 2.4 GHz ISM band with an isolation of 18 dB. The SPM3204 is p r o v i d e d in a 2 x 2.1 x 0.9 m m 3 package, the industry's smallest package for an RFIC switch.

296


Company Profiles

Alliances In August 2000, Sanyo placed a multimillion-dollar production order with RFMD who will supply 3 V GaAs HBT power amplifiers for Sanyo's dual-band CDMA PCS handset.

Table 8.30 Sanyo Electric Co Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income/(Ioss) Total assets

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996*

1940.4 21.7 2706.1

1818.2 (25.9) 2662.5

1866.4 12.3 2641.9

1793.0 17.7 2518.1

513.4 (3.7) 2462.3

*'Financial Year" 1996 was of only four months' duration, bringing Sanyo in line with the majority ofJapanese companies whose financial years end in March.

Sharp Corp 22-22 Nagatke-cho Abeno-ku Osaka 545 Japan Tel: +81 6 625 3007

Sharp Corp was founded in 1912, and today is a leading manufacturer of c o n s u m e r electronics, h o m e appliances, i n f o r m a t i o n e q u i p m e n t and electronic components. The company reported fiscal year 2000 net sales of u billion (US$17.7 billion), an increase of 6% on fiscal year 1999's figure of u 1745.5 billion. Sharp is a leading manufacturer of tuners, modulators, demodulators and other consumer-oriented RF products. The company is also a leader in optoelectronic technologies, sourcing more opto/power devices used worldwide than any other manufacturer. In 1998 Sharp c r e a t e d a n e w US m i c r o e l e c t r o n i c s g r o u p in Camas, Washington: Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas (SMA).

Products Sharp's GaAs device production mainly serves c o n s u m e r electronics and c o m m u n i c a t i o n s markets. It offers FETs and MMICs for DBS-TV, mobile communications and wireless IANs. The majority of its GaAs products are for captive use and can be found in Sharp products such as electronic tuners, FM demodulator satellite tuners, low noise blocks and modulators. In December 1999 Sharp introduced an RF front-end, including diversity antenna and demodulator, for DECT phones in GAP standard that can run on 2.4 V (two NiCd cells), drawing only 300 mA of peak current. Extended DECT frequency ranges such as South America and China, as well as DECT in the 2.4 GHz band are also supported. In addition to the front-end for Siemens' chipsets, there is also a variant for Philips' chipsets available. The RF unit is only 31 mm x 41.5 mm and 4.5 mm


297

Company Profiles

thin, which for the first time allows the construction a DECT wireless phone the size of a mobile phone. Sharp also had direct sequence spread spectrum in the 2.4 GHz ISM band in three possible channels either conforming to IEEE802.11 with 2 Mb/s or including a special Sharp coding with full Ethemet speed of 10 Mb/s. Sharp also announced a process that offers 23 channels at 2 Mb/s that can be paralleled up to the full 46 Mb/s. This technology offers new possibilities when very high data transfer rates are required or when many devices have to be wireless linked i n d e p e n d e n t l y in a small area, e.g. w i r e l e s s - c o n n e c t e d surveillance cameras, sending picture, sound and data sequentially in data packets only 20 ms long. xXrtreless technology not only makes the cameras easy to install but also makes t h e m more secure against sabotage. The n e w components can run on 3.3 V, needing only 10 mA in sleep mode. They are suitable for notebook PC cards as well as for building into complete terminals. Other products include: The LT family of taped-type Hall devices for digital camera, DVD and mini-disc applications that have operating temperatures o f - 2 0 to 125~ The BSIH1UP108L/208L--- a low-noise block downconverter used in combination with an antenna for Ku-band. This converter can receive both left- and r i g h t - h a n d circularly p o l a r i z e d signals by electrical switching. It features a receiving frequency range of 12.2 - 12.7 GHz, local oscillation frequency of 11.25 GHz, nominal output impedance of 75 W, and supply voltage of 11.8 - 19 V. Applications include satellite dishes.

Table 8.31 Sharp Corp Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income Total assets

298

92 0 0 0

' 1999"'

:1998

1997

1996

1854.8 28.1 1987.4

1745.5 4.6 2021.9

1790.5 24.8 2084.2

1790.6 48.5 2048.8

1650.7 45.3 2009.0


Company Profiles

Showa Denko 13-9 Shtba Dtamon l~:home Minato-ku

Showa Denko is part of the Fuyo Group of Japan. The company's main products include petrochemicals, aluminium products, electronic equipment and inorganic materials such as ceramics and carbons.

Tokyo 105

The c o m p a n y r e p o r t e d fiscal year 1999 net sales of u billion (US$6.5 billion), a 10% reduction as opposed to u billion in fiscal year 1998. It employs 12 500 people.

Japan Tel: +81 3 5470 3503

Showa Denko's advanced products include InP and GaAs wafers for use in the manufacture of devices for optoelectonics, GaP and GaAIAs LED materials for a wide range of applications. Products include: ~

GaAs, Polyo and single-crystal (undoped, Cr doped); MOVPE wafers; ionimplanted wafers; liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) GaAIAs/GaAs; LPE GaP. 9 InP,poly and single-crystal (S, Sn, Zn, Fe doped, undoped). 9 III-V compound LED materials; GaP, GaAs epiwafers and chips; GaAIAs (single hetero, double hetero) epiwafers and chips. 9 ALUCOSINK: copper alumina c o m p o u n d substrates for high-power semiconductor modules.



299

Company Profiles

SiGe Microsystems Inc 2680 Queensview Drive Ottawa Ontario Canada K2B 8J9 Tel: + 1 613 820-9244

Privately held Silicon Germanium Microsystems Inc (SiGe Microsystems Inc) was founded in 1996, beginning as a spin-off from the National Research Council of Canada. SiGe Microsystems originally provided an SiGe epitaxy service but has since become an RF semiconductor company, incorporating its o w n design team. The c o m p a n y has recently o p e n e d a sales office in Cupertino, CA, USA. SiGe Microsystems is a 'fabless' semiconductor company; it offers a silicong e r m a n i u m epitaxy service and p r o c e s s - d e v e l o p m e n t services to major semiconductor fabrication facilities that will partner with the company to meet its future IC p r o d u c t i o n requirements. However, since mid-1999 it began offering a range of RFICs, including p o w e r amplifiers and o t h e r p r o d u c t s for Bluetooth. These devices are m a n u f a c t u r e d via a process agreement with external vendors. The company also provides design and epitaxial process services to other semiconductor device companies for the manufacture of SiGe devices. These include Maxim Integrated Products and others that remain proprietary. SiGe Microsystems has launched its first products aimed at the Bluetooth and LMDS markets. It also produces a range of low-phase-noise static frequency dividers and low-phase-noise transistors. Examples of the company's products: 9

In summer 1999, SiGe Microsystems introduced its second-generation Bluetooth power amplifier. The SiGe-enhanced power amplifier boosts Class II Bluetooth radios to power Class I: 100-m range applications. The PA2423M p o w e r amplifier features low c u r r e n t (160 mA total, including the bias network current) and better than 45% power-added efficiency. It produces + 23.5 dBm with 20 dB of gain and includes power down plus output power control pins. SiGe Microsystems uses a typical single supply voltage of 2.7 - 3.6 V and operates with up to 6 V applied during battery charging. 9 In June 2000 SiGe Microsystems introduced its next-generation Class 1 Bluetooth power amplifier, the smallest device of its kind in the world. The new power amplifier addresses the rapidly growing need for smaller w i r e l e s s devices w h i l e m a i n t a i n i n g high levels of p e r f o r m a n c e : + 22.5 dBm for the 2.4 - 2.5 GHz ISM band. Its +22.5 dBm o u t p u t power capability can accommodate up to 2.5 dBm of switch and filter loss, thus attaining the Class 1 Bluetooth specification of + 20 dBm of output. The power amplifier is a low-current device operating at 83 mA and + 20 dBm. The PA2423F includes built-in ramping circuitry and lowcurrent output power control. Its silicon-germanium structure provides high thermal conductivity, resulting in a low junction temperature. 9 The company's PA2423MB two-stage power amplifier operates from a single 3.3 V s u p p l y a n d d e l i v e r s an o u t p u t p o w e r g r e a t e r t h a n +22.7 dBm for the 2.4 - 2.5 GHz ISM band. Its + 2 2 . 7 dBm o u t p u t p o w e r allows for 20 dBm of p o w e r transmitted at the antenna. The

300


Company Profiles

p o w e r amplifier is a l o w - c u r r e n t device o p e r a t i n g at 88 mA and + 20 dBm. The PA2423MB includes output power control. Its silicongermanium structure provides high thermal conductivity, resulting in a low junction temperature.

Sony Corp 4-14-1 Asahi-cho Atsugi-shi Kanagawa 243 Japan Tel: +81 462 30 5111

Sony Corp, founded in 1946, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of semiconductors, video and audio equipment, televisions, displays, computers and i n f o r m a t i o n . r e l a t e d p r o d u c t s . The Sony g r o u p c o m p r i s e s 1080 consolidated subsidiaries. For the year-ending March 2000, the company reported net sales of u billion (US$63.1 billion), a reduction of 1.7% from 1999's figure of u billion. The Electronic Components segment reported fiscal year 2000 sales ofu billion (US$41 billion or 66% of Sony Corp's net sales). Sony Corp a n n o u n c e d that, with effect from 1 August 2000, it would establish the Semiconductor Network Company (SNC), which will develop system LSIs and other core products.

R&D Sony Corp's R&D expenses for fiscal year 2000 amounted to u (US$3.7 billion), as opposed to u billion in fiscal year 1999.

billion

In July 1999 Sony announced a reorganization of its wireless phone business o p e r a t i o n s worldwide. Sony d i s c o n t i n u e d its e n g i n e e r i n g , sales and marketing teams for wireless phones in North America, and concentrated instead on R&D for next-generation telecommunications technology. The c o m p a n y a n n o u n c e d that it would focus its wireless business activity, including its CDMA business in Asia, Oceania and Europe but would retain its US-based R&D team developing 'cdma2000' technology and would increase its R&D for W-CDMA technology.


301

Company Profiles

Facilities Sony Semiconductor's 4-inch fabrication facility in Atsugi manufactures FETs, HEMTs and MMICs. The company also has a G a ~ line at the Shiroishi plant.

Products Sony m a n u f a c t u r e s a w i d e r a n g e of GaAs p r o d u c t s for telecommunications market. It also produces silicon bipolar devices.

the

Examples of the company's products include: In April 1999 Sony announced its CXG1081TN, a receiver dual-band mixer MMIC that was manufactured using Sony's GaAs J-FET process. Featuring a high conversion gain, low noise and low distortion, it has an inverter circuit incorporating a one-control-pin scheme and utilizes a 2.7 V power supply. Applications include 800 MHz Japanese digital cellular phones (PDC). The CSG1068N high-power antenna switch is suitable for dual band GSM h a n d s e t applications. O n e a n t e n n a can be r o u t e d to either of the two transmitter or two receiver ports. Manufactured using Sony's GaAs JFET technology, the device features a lower insertion loss of O.5 dB at 900 MHz, or 0.65 dB at 1.8 GHz. The 3SK165A N-channel dual-gate GaAs MESFET for UHF-band low-noise (1.2 dB at 800 MHz) applications is suitable for use in UHF-band amplifiers, mixers or oscillators. It features a high gain of 20 dB at 800 MHz. The CXG1034TN Rx mixer MMIC was designed using Sony's GaAs JFET technology. It features low distortion (IP3 - 1.5 dB), 3 V power supply, RF, local oscillator i n p u t m a t c h i n g circuit and is suitable for PHS system applications. The SGM2014AM is a 5 V, low-noise (1.5 dB at 900 MHz) G a ~ MESFET for UHF RF amplifier, mixer and oscillator applications. It features a low-crossmodulation, built-in gate protection diode.

Table 8.33 Sony Corp Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income R&D Total assets

302

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

6686.7 1 21.8 394.5 6807.2

6804.2 179.0 375.3 6299.1

6761.0 222.1 318.0 6403.0

5658.3 139.5 282.6 5680.2

4586.7 54.3 257.3 5045.7


Company Profiles

Stanford Microdevices

(SMDO 726 Palomar Avenue Sunnyvale CA 94086 USA Tel: + 1 408 616 5400

Stanford Microdevices (SMDI) was founded in 1992. It is a leading supplier of RFICs for the wireless and wireline telecommunications markets. Products include power modules, LNAs, high-linearity gain blocks, modulators and mixers. The company completed its initial public offering of common stock in May 2000, selling a total of 4.6 million shares at an offering price of US$12.00 per share.

Facilities Manufacturing takes place at SMDI's fabrication facility in Sunnyvale, CA. It also has design centres throughout the USA and Canada.

Products SMDI e m p l o y s GaAs HBT, HFET, LDMOS, MESFET, PHEMT a n d SiGe technologies. Examples of Stanford's G a ~ FET and MMIC product line include: 9

The SXT-289-- a 1700-2500 MHz power amplifier featuring GaAs HBT technology. This high-efficiency G a ~ HBT MMIC is fabricated using MBE and is suitable for PCs and cellular systems applications. 9 The SPF-2086TK--- a 0.1-4 GHz low-noise PHEMT GaAs FET utilizing 0.25/.~m long by 300 ~ m wide Schottky barrier gates. It features as output power of + 20 dBm at P ldB and is suitable for use as an LNA for cellular, PCS, CDPD, wireless data and SONET applications. 9 The Standford's SHF-0186 --- a DC 12 GHz, 0.5 W AIGaAs/GaAs FET m a n u f a c t u r e d as a driver for higher p o w e r applications. It features 0.5 ~m gate lengths with a total gate periphery of 1200/~m. 9 The SGA-1163 --- a DC 6 GHz SiGe HBT cascadable gain block. It has a two-stage design fabricated using an SiGe HBT 50 GHz F T process, featuring a 1/~m emitter with V o > 7 V. Applications include as buffer amplifiers in oscillators covering cellular, ISM and narrowband PCS.

In J u n e 2000 it i n t r o d u c e d four new high-gain b r o a d - b a n d amplifiers designed for base station applications in PCS, cellular and ISM frequency bands. Models SGA-35, SGA-45, SGA-55 and SGA-65 are SiGe HBT RFIC amplifiers with small signal gain as high as 24 dB typical at 900 MHz and they achieve excellent noise figures with high linearity for applications from DC to 4 GHz. The RFICs are two-stage designs that are fabricated using the latest SiGe HBT 50 GHz F T process and utilize a Darlington pair topology with resistive feedback for broad-band performance as well as stability over a wide temperature range.


303

Company Profiles

Alliances Stanford Microdevices a n n o u n c e d in July 2000 that it had c o m p l e t e d a foundry supply agreement with Global Communication Semiconductor (GCS) to develop high-performance RFICs for telecommunication infrastructure equipment used in the delivery of wireless and broad-band wireline services. Under the terms of the agreement, GCS will provide SMDI with a highvolume 4-inch InGaP/Ga/~ HBT wafer supply, with all products designed by SMDI at its design centres in Long Beach (CA), Dallas (TX) and Ottawa (Canada). SMDI has recently completed engineering evaluation testing of a family of highlinearity amplifiers manufactured by GCS. Additional InGaP/GaAs products are in development and will extend the range of SMDI products to be manufactured by GCS.

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd 1-1-1 Koya-kita Itami Hyogo 664 Japan Tel.. +81 727 72 2281

Sumitomo Electric Industries (SED was founded in 1897 as a manufacturer of bare copper wire. Today, its product line includes supplying III-V materials. Sumitomo Metal Mining also manufactures SI GaAs, SC GaAs and SI GaP wafers. SEI a n n o u n c e d net sales for fiscal year 2000 of u billion, which is an increase of 2% over 1999's figure of u billiot~, and employs more than 63 000 people.

R&D SEI conducts research into crystal growth e.g. 6-inch and 4-inch InP wafers. The company also has been developing other III V materials such as GaN substrates. Via the three-temperature horizontal Bridgeman growth method and the vapour-pressure-controlled (VCZ) Czochralski methods, SEI has produced high-quality GaAs substrates with r e d u c e d crystal defects. It has also successfully grown multiple-layer thin films using organometallic vapour phase epitaxy (OMVPE). For more than 20 years SEI has been a leader in the development of superhigh-pressure diamond synthesis processes. It has successfully marketed acoustic diamond resonators, using the world's first diamonds created by low-temperature vapour-phase synthesis. The c o m p a n y also conducts research into high-frequency filters and diamond semiconductors. An example of SEI's diamond product developments is a SAW filter utilizing polycrystaUine diamonds. The result is what it claims is the world's smallest 2.5 GHz retiming filter for optical fibre communications systems. Owing to the layered structures of silicon dioxide and zinc oxide, diamonds have excellent properties with regard to temperature deviation and phase slope. The filter was applied to SEI's 2.5 Gb/s optical receiver module, enabling operations within a temperature range of-45~ to 80~ 304


Company Profiles

Facilities SEI has 4-inch manufacturing facilities in Japan at Itami. It also manufactures c o m p o u n d s e m i c o n d u c t o r s u b s t r a t e s a n d epiwafers at Kobe. SEI first installed a VG Semicon (5 x 3-inch or 3 x 4-inch) MBE system in January 1996. SEI recently took delivery at its Itami Works of an EMCORE Discovery 180 MOVPE system, which will be used to grow advanced long-wavelength IR InGaAsP compound semiconductor materials for the production of advanced laser diodes and optical detectors. In early 1998 SEI began operating a second MBE system to manufacture large-diameter GaAs epiwafers for applications such as mobile phones, cellular phones and satellites. It is a high-throughput machine with a 4-inch multiwafer charge system and an automated transport system.

Products SEI is a l e a d i n g m a n u f a c t u r e r of GaAs a n d InP. It typifies a n u m b e r of vertically integrated corporations in its manufacture of products from basic wafers and source materials through to systems. In this way it controls and refines product design and development all within its Japanese factories. In addition, it markets and sells its wafer and source material products on the merchant market. SEI was one of the pioneers of the merchant epitaxial wafer business in the 1970s and the company is currently one of the top five companies in the field worldwide. It is one of the leading merchant suppliers of MBE epiwafers in Japan. SEI began production of I n G a ~ P epiwafers grown by MOVPE in 1995. SEI manufactures: *

3- and 4-inch C-controlled LEC GaAs.


305

Company Profiles

9 9 9 9 9

4- and 6-inch C-controlled VB GaAs. 4-inch Cr-doped LEC GaAs. 2-, 3- and 4-inch Fe-doped InP. 2-, 3- and 4-inch Fe-doped VCZ InP. It also manufactures SC GaAs for optoelectronic applications, polycrystal GaAs and GaSb single crystals.

SEI announced in August 2000 that it had developed diamond base packages for high-power s e m i c o n d u c t o r devices. By incorporating CVD diamond, whose thermal conductivity is between three and five times higher than copper, the diamond base package features a 30-50% higher power amplifier compared with conventional metal packages and a 30-50% size reduction. SEI has also developed diamond base packages that are 40% smaller than standard packages for applications such as LD drivers (GaAs ICs) for 2.5 Gb/s optical communications. Shipments will commence at the end of 2000. The company produces a range of power amplifier modules for use in mobile and WLL base station applications. The family includes 800 MHz and 1.5 GHz PDC/GSM/AMPS for cellular phones and 1.9 GHz PHS and wideband CDMA. It also provides semi-custom power amplifier modules based on its standard products, with short lead times. It supplies a semi-custom product for up to 2.5 GHz and an output power of 45 dBm.

Alliances In May 1999 SEI and EMCORE announced an agreement to jointly develop and produce InGaP epitaxial wafers for use as HBT devices in digital wireless and cellular applications. These advanced c o m p o u n d semiconductor HBT wafers will be produced at EMCORE's Epitaxial Materials (E2M) wafer foundry in Somerset, NJ, USA, and shipments began in the s u m m e r of 1999. SEI markets the new HBT materials in Japan. The company is a member of a measurement testing 'Round-Robin' formed by Japanese companies involved in GaAs production (see Agreements, Section 10.3). Its sister company, Sumitomo Metal Mining, is also a m e m b e r of the consortium.

Table 8 . 3 4 Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd Financial Highlights (u Billion). Net sales Net income Total assets

306

20000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1308.6 23.6 1495.0

1281.1 20.3 1494.6

1297.1 33.1 1429.0

1263.0 32.2 1369.0

1160.8 28.1 1 247.2


Company Profiles

Surface Technology Systems Ltd Imperial Park Newport NPIO 8uJ UK Tel: + 44 1633 652400

Surface Technology Systems (STS) is a s u p p l i e r of specialist etch and deposition processes and equipment to production and R&D customers in the c o m p o u n d semiconductor, MEMS, optoelectronic and thin-film head industries. The company reported fiscal year 1999 sales of US$37 million, an increase of 7% on fiscal year 1998's figure of US$34.6 million. It has a wide product range covering ICP, RIE, XeFz and PECWD technologies. STS is a major s u p p l i e r of d e e p silicon etch process t e c h n o l o g y via its Advanced Silicon Etch (ASE| process. STS pioneered the use of high-density plasma reactors during the 1980s.

Products Systems provided include: 9 9 9 9 9

GaAs via hole etch. ICP system for GaAs process. InP etch. Multiplex atmospheric cassette system (MACS). Multiplex range.

The STS GaAs via hole etch process is for volume p r o d u c t i o n of MMIC devices. The STS platform is a true cluster format based around a central sixport core. The system uses industry standard Brooks robotics and vacuum cassette handlers (VCH). It also produces an ICP system for GaN processing, which includes a fast etch rate in excess of I ~m/mm in pure material, allied with anisotropic, smooth and clean etch profiles. The Multiplex Atmospheric Cassette System (MACS) is a cost-effective cassette-to-cassette upgrade for STS' Multiplex range of vacuum load-locked plasma etch and deposition systems. By combining the in-vacuum wafer exchange of the Multiplex Carousel load-lock with an atmospheric robot and cassette, the MACS offers the same t h r o u g h p u t as a conventional singlechamber vacuum cassette loaded system but at a lower cost. The MACS is also field-upgradeable, so that a manually loaded system can be initially purchased for R&D or pilot production, and subsequently upgraded to full cassette-to-cassette operation as product volumes ramp up. The Multiplex range combines a single wafer or batch vacuum loadlock with one of STS' etch or deposition plasma sources to produce a platform for both R&D and pilot production applications. This versatile product is designed to allow the simple integration of electrostatic or mechanical wafer clamping, laser or optical end p o i n t detection and single or multiwafer handling capability. The systems are configured with a carousel loadlock as standard allowing 4 x 3-inch, 3 x 100 mm, 2 x 150 mm and 2 x 200 mm wafers or substrate carriers up to 240 mm in diameter to be used.


307

Company Profiles

For the plasma etching of InP, STS offers two approaches of chlorinated chemistries and mixtures of a hydrocarbon (HC) and H 2. Smooth, anisotropic etching of InP has been demonstrated with relatively high etch rates using STS' HC/H 2 based process. The process lends itself to both shallow smooth structures and to the etching of deeper features such as 12/zm InP-GaInAsGaAsInP-InP heterostructures.

Tegal Corp 2201 S. McDowell Boulevard Petaluma CA 94954-6903 USA Tel: + 1 70 7 763 5600

Founded in 1972, and at one time a subsidiary of Motorola, Tegal Corp is a leading manufacturer of plasma etch systems. The company has more than 3500 platforms in use worldwide. Customers include ABB Semiconductor AG, NEC, Samsung, Bosch, Nortel Networks, Seiko Epson, Fuji Film, Oki, STM, Hyundai/LG Semiconductor, Read Rite, Sony, Matsushita, RFMD, Tesla, Motorola, TRW,Winbond and WIN Semiconductor. Tegal reported fiscal year 2000 revenue of US$26.4 million, a reduction of 9% on fiscal year 1999's figure of US$29 million. It employs 184 employees.

R&D Research and development expenditure for fiscal year 2000 amounted to US$10 million (or 38% of sales), as opposed to US$9.6 million in fiscal year 1999. Tegal holds 68 patents worldwide, with a further 20 applications pending.

Products The company designs and builds two families of advanced plasma etch tools for a wide range of process applications. The 6500 Series systems are used in the most demanding semiconductor fabrication processes and are designed to etch feature sizes of O.18/zm. The 900 Series systems are widely used by s e m i c o n d u c t o r and r e l a t e d electronic device m a n u f a c t u r e r s for less demanding applications where value and performance are ke~ The company developed and marketed the advanced 6500 Series system for sub-0.35 mm fabrication applications. Tegal's plasma etch systems are used to expose s e m i c o n d u c t o r wafers and related s u b s t r a t e s to a plasma c o m p o s e d of a reactive gas. The excited gas molecules t h e n etch the substrate, removing selected portions of the layer underlying the patterned photoresist layer. The 6500 Series has a patented dual-frequency HRetechnology for submicron critical etch applications, providing etch capability for 'hard-to-etch' materials such as platinum, iridium, PZT and BST. 9

9

308

In S e p t e m b e r 1999, Tegal a n n o u n c e d the 6550 S p e c t r a for magnetoresistive/giant magnetoresistive (MR/GMR) thin-film head fabrication. The 6510 system was introduced as an advanced etcher for fine-line gate structures in polysilicon and tungsten silicide.


TM

Company Profiles

9 With the 6520 product, Tegal also introduced its patented etch-rinsestrip-rinse (ERSR) process sequence, which is also offered as an option on the 6510, 6540 and 6550 systems. This is able to eliminate post-etch corrosive damage caused by the by-products of etching metals and some other materials. This feature is pertinent for the communications and data storage industries that depend on the utilization of III-V materials, including G a ~ , InP and FeN. 9 The 6540 system is a critical enabler for etching new materials such as platinum, iridium and BST. 9 The recently introduced Tegal 6550 Spectra Plasma Etch System is for MR/GMR thin-film head devices. Manufacturers who adopt plasma etch can benefit from being able to use any kind of alloy for the magnetic layers, any kind of dielectric for the gap and etching the gap without the need for e x t e n d e d over-etching for residue removal. The Ironman'M tested cluster platform design incorporated on all 6500 systems allows for either single- or dual-chamber integrated etch processing of wafers up to 200 m m in d i a m e t e r . Each c h a m b e r can be c o n f i g u r e d to r u n independent processes, allowing for flexibility, minimizing downtime and maximizing wafer throughput. 9 Tegal's 900 Series e t c h e r s are s y s t e m s a i m e d at l e s s - d e m a n d i n g semiconductor applications such as pad, zero-layer, non-selective nitride, backside and planarization. Adept at handling both round and square substrates, the 900 Series systems deliver highly reliable, repeatable results in etching a variety of films used to manufacture semiconductors, telecommunications and optoelectronic devices, flat panel displays and thin-film magnetic heads. Approximately 1300 of the 900 Series systems have been installed worldwide. The 900G Series has been configured with special sensors and e l e c t r o d e designs to address the u n i q u e d e m a n d s of GaAs production. Scalable from 3- to 6-inch wafers, the 900G Series is one of the most flexible automated cassette-to-cassette transports available for GaAs substrates. In July 2000 Tegal introduced the i900 Series system, the most advanced of the company's non-critical etch family of tools. The i900 Series features a new graphical interface and touch screen as well as a PC-based operating system. The tool is capable of on-line and off-line data logging for analysis via CD, diskette and on-screen diagnostics. Storage capacity is limited only by the user's hard drive potential. Other features include unlimited plasma recipes, improved transport t h r o u g h newly designed m o t o r drivers and flexible software for future upgrades.

Table 8 . 3 5 Tegal Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million), Net revenue Net income/(Ioss) Total assets

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

26.4 (12.6) 35.6

29.0 (15.1) 39.7

41.5 (5.5) 55.1

57.4 3.1 63.5

62.0 5.6 64.7


309

Company Profiles

Teledyne Electronic Technologies Microwave Components 1274 Terra Bella Avenue Mountain View CA 94043 USA Tel: + 1 650 962-6944

Teledyne Electronic Technologies (TET) is a subsidiary company of Teledyne Technologies Inc, which until it was spun-off in late 1999 was part of Allegheny Teledyne Inc. TET manufactures products for the communications, aerospace, defence, aviation and instrumentation markets. It has over 35 years of experience as a leader in the design, development and manufacture of microwave components. TET's product line includes MMIC power amplifiers, electromechanical switches, aluminium and injection-moulded plastic filters, integrated assemblies, bulk acoustic wave delay devices, ferrites and travelling-wave tubes. Teledyne Techologies r e p o r t e d net sales for fiscal year 1999 of US$803.4 million, as opposed to US$780.4 million in fiscal year 1998.

Facilities The c o m p a n y ' s Microwave Electronic C o m p o n e n t s o p e r a t i o n has a 100 000 ft 2 facility in Mountain View, CA, and a 75 000 ft 2 facility at Rancho Cordova, CA, (for the manufacture of travelling-wave tubes). TET holds ISO 90001 certification. TET is investing for future growth through the development of advanced millimetric components for next-generation broadband, high-speed satellite and terrestrial telecommunications systems.

Products TET manufactures a family of MMIC power amplifiers which feature high gain and excellent linearity. The company also manufactures filters for cellular base stations and complete microwave subsystems.

310


Company Profiles

Examples of TET's microwave products include: 9

The TAEI030 - - a 2.4 GHz ISM b a n d p o w e r amplifier featuring a 1 W saturated output power, a 28.5 dBm minimum linear output power and a 25 dB minimum small signal gain. 9 The TAG1035 --- a 5.8 - 6.4 GHz GaAs MMIC for C-band SATCOM and VSAT applications. The device features a 20 dB small signal gain and a 26 dBm minimum output power. 9 The TBQ3018 GaAs MMIC - - a four-stage PHEMT, 1 W, power amplifier for Ku-band VSAT applications. It features a 35 dB small signal gain and a 7 dB noise figure. ~ T h e CRR-53 s w i t c h - - a DC 2 6 . 5 G H z b r o a d b a n d SPDT electromechanical coaxial switch designed to route or switch microwave signals from a c o m m o n input to either of two outputs. Characteristic impedance is 50 W. 9 CT-58 - - an internally terminated DC 26.5 GHz, broad band multithrow electromechanical coaxial switch.

Alliances The c o m p a n y a n n o u n c e d in May 2000 that it h a d s i g n e d a m u l t i - y e a r a g r e e m e n t for MMIC p o w e r amplifiers. H u g h e s N e t w o r k Systems will p u r c h a s e T e l e d y n e ' s Ku-band GaAs MMIC p o w e r amplifiers for use in broadband VSAT and DirecPC | systems.

Table 8.36 Teledyne Technologies Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net sales Net income Total assets

TLC Precision Wafer Technology 1411 West River Road North Minneapolis MN55411 USA Tel: + 1 612 341 2795

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

803.4 49.0 317.4

780.4 48.7 250.8

756.6 41.6 255.4

716.4 40.7 253.0

680.5 30.9 234.3

TLC Precision Wafer Technology (TLC), is a privately o w n e d company that provides high-technology products, including III-V epitaxial wafers, MMIC circuits a n d m o d u l e s (5 G H z - 77 GHz), as well as services i n c l u d i n g research, development and testing to government and commercial customers worldwide. The c o m p a n y p r o d u c e s 3-inch GaAs and InP wafers with either latticematched or lattice-engineered construction. FET structures available include: MESFET, JFET, MISFET, CHFET, HFET, p o w e r PHEMT and HBT. It supplies AIGaAs/GaAs for HBTs and HEMTs. TLC also produces GaAs epi-on-diamond and GaAs-on-silicon wafers. Examples of TLC's MMICs for telecommunications applications include:


311

Company Profiles

9 9 9 9 9 9

Toshiba Microelectronics Center 1, Komukai Toshiba-cho Saiwaku Kawasaki 210 Japan Tel: +81 44 549 2658

The TLCA02981 --- a m e d i u m - p o w e r and high-gain 20-34 GHz, 20 dB gain, 23 dBm output power amplifier. The TLCP03981 --- a 20-77 GHz amplifier/2 x multiplier featuring 12 dB gain and 10 dBm (at 77 GHz) output power. The TLCO05981 - - 27-33 GHz, 16 dBm oscillator and varactor diode. The TLCO4981---a 25-27 GHz, 16 dBm, oscillator (ILO). The TLCM01981 --- a 16--44 GHz up- and downconverter mixer. TLCDO2981 - - a 29-32/58-65 GHz Ka- to V-band MMIC doubler.

Toshiba Corp, which was f o u n d e d in 1875, is one of the w o r l d ' s leading electronics groups comprising 321 subsidiary companies. It r e p o r t e d net sales o f u billion (US$54.2 billion) in the year to 31 March 2000, an increase of 8% on the previous year's figure o f u billion. The company has restructured its divisions and now comprises five business segments: Information and Communication Systems; Electronic Devices and Materials; Power and Industrial Systems; C o n s u m e r Products, and Services and Other. Toshiba employs 198 000 p e o p l e w o r l d w i d e . The Electronic D e v i c e s s e g m e n t a c c o u n t e d for 23% of sales in fiscal y e a r 2 0 0 0 (US$13.9 billion).

R&D Toshiba's R&D expenditure for fiscal year 2000 a m o u n t e d to u (US$3.2 billion), as opposed to u billion in fiscal year 1999.

billion

GaAs r e s e a r c h is c a r r i e d out at The I n f o r m a t i o n a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n s E n g i n e e r i n g L a b o r a t o r y in J a p a n , as well as The T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Research Laboratory (TRL) in Bristol, UK, which develops next-generation digital cellular telephone technologies and related intellectual property. TRL directs its work to the control and signal processing technologies necessary for digital cellular p h o n e s and related chipsets. It also develops advanced telecommunications technologies in such areas as wireless access technology.

312


Company Profiles

Facilities The Kawasaki Microelectronics C e n t e r facility in Kanagawa Prefecture contains a 3-inch and 4-inch GaAs fabrication facility.

Products Toshiba focuses on power devices. Products include medium-power GaAs FETs, L- and S-band GaAs MMICs, p o w e r GaAs FETs, internally matched power GaAs FETs, low-distortion internally matched power GaAs FETs and high-efficiency and low-distortion G a ~ FETs. In March 2000 the company announced that it had developed an RF GaAs HBT MMIC power amplifier, the TG2013F. The TG2013F GaAs HBT PA is suitable for applications in 1.9 GHz PCS and CDMA systems. It offers a high o u t p u t p o w e r of 29 dBmW, a single power supply of 3.6 V, a high gain of 24 dB, efficiency to 30% and a low voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of less than three (with a low VSWR, the device transmits more power rather than reflecting it, therefore making it more efficient). In J u n e 2000 Toshiba i n t r o d u c e d its n e w S-band GaAs MMIC with a frequency range of 3 . 4 - 3.8 GHz. Designated the TMD3438-1, Toshiba's new MMIC p o w e r amplifier provides a reliable, cost-effective s o l u t i o n for broadband WLL subscriber applications. The device is internally matched to 5 0 W, which reduces part count and lowers tuning costs. Its lower thermal resistance and larger footprint for thermal dispersion further simplify the design process. The TMD3438-1 features the high RF output power (29 dBm) and high power gain (29 dB) needed to support the growing bandwidths of e m e r g i n g wireless applications, it also d e m o n s t r a t e s the high linearity required for the more complicated, vector-oriented modulation schemes characteristic of many WIs applications. In J u n e 2000 Toshiba also a n n o u n c e d its TG2011F RF GaAs HBT MMIC power amplifier for the 900 MHz band for CDMA applications. The TG2011F offers a high o u t p u t power of 27 dBm, a high power gain of 28 dB and a Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

313

Company Profiles

single p o w e r s u p p l y of 3.4 V. With a high total efficiency of 34%, the TG2011F features a low level of p o w e r c o n s u m p t i o n , which ultimately results in longer talk-time for phone handset users. The device is a GaAs HBT power amplifier with a bias circuit, thereby providing better linearity than a silicon device and enabling designers to achieve high output power for a wide range of input power levels. An exclusive feature of Toshiba's TG2011F is the internal gain control amplifier, which prevents the final stage of the power amplifier from going into overdrive, thereby reducing the likelihood of damage to the device. In addition, the temperature compensation circuit prevents the final stage of the PA from breaking down due to overheating. These features enable Toshiba to lower system and manufacturing costs by simplifying the design process and reducing the number of parts. In the same month, Toshiba announced its new series of internally matched C-band GaAs FETs. Spanning the 4 W - 25 W power range, the new UL (Ultra Linear) series offers improved linearity and higher gain over Toshiba's existing line-up of internally m a t c h e d C-band GaAs FETs, allowing customers to achieve better system performance at lower price points to meet market demand. Toshiba's UL series of devices provide 1 dB higher gain and 2 dB higher linearity over the company's existing line-up of internally matched Cband GaAs FETs. These advancements reduce the n u m b e r of FET stages required for completed power amplifiers, while improving the bit error rate for whole communication systems. Toshiba has expanded its current line-up of 4 W, 8 W and 16 W devices by adding 6 W, 12 W and 25 W C-band Power GaAs FETs to the UL series for the 5.9 - 6.4 GHz range. The UL series is based on refinements to Toshiba's GaAs MESFET process technologies, along with a new device structure utilizing a PHS at the source contact.

Table 8.37 Toshiba Corp Financial Highlights (u Billion). .

Net sales Net income/(Ioss) R&D Total assets

Trikon Technologies Inc Ringland Way Newport South Wales NP18 2TA UK Tel: +44 1633 414000

2000 .

5749.4 (28.0) 334.4 5702.2

.

.

1999 .

5300.9 (13.9) 316.7 6023.6

.

1998 .

5458.5 7.3 322.9 6062.1

.

1997

1996

5521.9 67.1 332.6 5809.3

5192.3 90.4 314.8 5560.5

.

.

Trikon Technologies Inc is a developer and manufacturer of processing e q u i p m e n t p r i m a r i l y for the f o r m a t i o n of i n t e r c o n n e c t layers on semiconductor wafers. Trikon provides etch, PVD and CVD manufactaring systems. In 1995, the c o m p a n y (which was originally called Plasma & Materials Technologies Inc) effected an IPO. In 1996 it acquired Electrotech Ltd and Electrotech Equipments Ltd for a combination of stock and cash equalling US$145.7 million, and in 1997 c h a n g e d its n a m e to Trikon Technologies Inc. Trikon t e c h n o l o g i e s r e p o r t e d a fiscal y e a r 1999 t o t a l r e v e n u e s of US$50.5 million, which is an increase of 32% on fiscal year 1998's figure of

314


Compan y Profiles

US$38.1 million, and employs 333 people. Trikon's major customers include Infineon, TriQuint and OMMIC.

R&D R&D e x p e n d i t u r e for fiscal year 1999 a m o u n t e d to US$6.5 million, as opposed to US$8.1 million in fiscal year 1998. The company currently holds 11 patents in the USA, three in both the UK and Taiwan and one patent in Germany, France, Italy and The Netherlands. It also has 98 patent applications pending.

Facilities Trikon maintains a 110 000 ft2 manufacturing facility in Newport, Wales. The company holds ISO 9000 certification. The company is headquartered in Newport, Wales and also has wholly owned subsidiaries in the USA,Japan, Germany, France and South Korea.

Products Trikon's products include the Planar 200 | Flowiill | (for silicon applications) for advanced dielectric deposition, Sigma | for advanced metal deposition, including Forceflll layers, and MORI" high-density plasma etchers. Trikon's Omega is a one or two-chamber plasma etch system available with MORI, ICP and other etch technologies. Features of the Omega etch system include: hardware/process flexibility and high mean time between cleans (MTBC), mean time between failures (MTBF) and uptime. Chamber options are 200 mm down to 3-inch, ICP and plasma enhanced reactive ion etch (PERIE). The MORI Omega etch system has been designed to address the special requirements of high density plasma etch while minimizing the space utilized in the cleanroom.


315

Company Profiles

Trikon's Sigma p r o d u c t is a s p u t t e r i n g machine with multiple p r o c e s s chambers. This product deposits a very thin uniform layer of interconnect metal on the w h o l e surface of the s e m i c o n d u c t o r wafer. S u b s e q u e n t l i t h o g r a p h y a n d e t c h i n g t u r n s this layer into an i n t r i c a t e p a t t e r n of interconnect wiring on the many individual semiconductor devices, each a complex and integrated functioning circuit. Trikon's strategy is to offer semiconductor manufacturers who are currently using 0.8 - 1.0 ~ m design rules a way to avoid the a d o p t i o n of CVD tungsten. The c o m p a n y offers system configurations that bridge the gap from non-hole-fUl technology, at approximately 1.0/~m, to the adoption of Trikon's Forcefill (which has been developed to extend Trikon's standard Sigma metallization product capability into the sub 0.25-/~m market). Trikon Technologies in April 2000 introduced its new Planar fxP TM cluster tool for CVD. The J'xP offers a complete dielectric r o a d m a p to 0.1 m m production on a single product platform. It uses Trikon's Flowfili and Low K Flowfill technologies for s t a n d a r d and low-K IMD dielectrics, e n a b l i n g manufacturers to migrate to more advanced design rules and higher speed devices without changing hardware. 9

9

9

9

~

9

9 9

316

In April 2000 Trikon announced that it had received an order from a new GaAs facility in Asia that will manufacture wireless devices. The order is for a Sigma PVD system for front and back-side metallization, a Delta for PECVD SiN passivation and Omega ICP etch systems for both front-side thin-film and through-wafer plasma etching. In July 2000 Trikon announced the introduction of its ionized physical vapour deposition (i-PVD) module that extends the use of alI-PVD liner solutions to sub-150-nm design rules. A leading North American c o m m u n i c a t i o n s c o m p a n y o r d e r e d eight plasma etch and PECVD systems for optoelectronics device manufacture on InP wafers. In November 1999 Infineon placed an additional order for a Sigma 200 PVD cluster tool (Infineon also o r d e r e d a Sigma PVD cluster tool in February 1999 for advanced processing of silicon nitride, tungsten and tungsten silicicle layers). Delivery and installation at its Munich facility was completed by the end of that year. TriQuint placed a repeat order in April 1999 for a MORI etch system and its first order for a Trikon Sigma PVD cluster tool, which will be used to deposit a three-layer metal stack structure. TriQuint followed this in March 2000 by ordering additional Sigma PVD and MORI plasma etch cluster tools for the production of wireless devices on G a ~ wafers. In July 2000 Trikon announced that it had received an order for nine of its systems from a European 'Top 10' semiconductor manufacturer. The order includes two Sigma .fxP PVD systems for aluminium and barrier metaUization and seven Omega* etch systems for aluminium, polysilicon and oxide plasma etching. Silterra, Malaysia, placed an order for Trikon's Low K FlowfiU system. In April 2000 LSI Logic placed an order for Trikon's Planar fxP Low K FlowfiU and MORI Omega plasma etcher for use in LSI's advanced CMOS process technologies.


Company Profiles

Alliances The company has licensed its MORI*Mtechnologies to Applied Materials and Lain Research. Applied Materials also licenses Trikon's Forcefill PVD technologo,.

Table 8.38 Trikon Technologies Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). 1999

1998

Total Revenues

50.5

38.1

R&D Total assets

6.5 57.3

8.1 55.8

Net income/(Ioss)

TrlQutnt Semiconductor Inc 2300 NE Brookwood Parkway Hillsboro OR 97124 USA Tel." + 1 503 615 9000

4.6

8.1

1997 85.1

(99.3)

17.0 79.9

1996

1995

42.2

21.3

10.1 183.2

4.6 59.3

(94.5)

118

TriQuint Semiconductor is a leading worldwide supplier of a broad range of high-performance Gab~ ICs, spanning the RF and mm-wave frequency ranges and employing analogue and mixed-signal circuit designs. They are used in wireless communications, telecommunications, data communications and aerospace systems. Employing 800 people, TriQuint announced a net revenue of US$163.7 million in fiscal year 1999, an increase of 68% on 1998's figure of US$111.6 million.

R&D Research and development expenses for fiscal year 1999 were US$22 million, as opposed to US$19 million for 1998.

Facilities TriQuint's two operations, in Oregon and Texas, are both certified to ISO 9001. In April 2000 TriQuint completed the expansion of its wafer fabrication facility in Hillsboro, OR, creating an additional 35% increase in cleanroom within the existing manufacturing complex. This will be used for increased production of 4-inch wafers (0.5 -0.7/xm geometries) and future conversion to 6-inch. This additional space allows TriQuint to continue its production ramp, qualify the 6-inch process and install the capacity to produce 6-inch wafers. The Hillsboro fabrication facility is all cassette-to-cassette automated production (not single-wafer production). The existing Texas operation runs 0.5/xm MESFETs for amplifier applications, 0.25/~m and 0.5/~m PHEMTs for high-power and high-frequency applications and HBT and VPIN for signal control devices. The c o m p a n y a n n o u n c e d in May 2000 that it w o u l d purchase Micron Technology's Richardson, TX dynamic r a n d o m access memory (DRAM) Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

317

Company Profiles

fabrication facility. This will provide TriQuint with increased cleanroom space for future expansion as well as a site for its current Texas facilities, which are presently located in a leased Texas Instruments facility (but will move to the new Micron site w h e n the Texas I n s t r u m e n t s lease expires). The DRAM f a b r i c a t i o n facility was a c q u i r e d by Micron w h e n it t o o k o v e r Texas Instruments' m e m o r y business in 1988. This 38-acre site is 4 miles from TriQuint's existing Texas operations, has a 48 500 ft 2 Class 1 cleanroom, 10 000 ft 2 of Class 100 cleanroom and 80 000 ft 2 of office space. The move will enable TriQuint to provide 6-inch manufacturing of all high-volume processes in both Oregon and Texas in 2001.

Products TriQuint offers both standard and customer-specific p r o d u c t s as well as foundry services. Customers who take advantage of its foundry service include Ericsson, Motorola, Lucent and QUALCOMM. In March 2000 TriQuint Semiconductor released a four-RFIC set of CDMA receive chain ICs, packaged in small SOT23-8 packages, which will allow handset designers true tri-mode CDMA (IS-95 standard) operation. The devices, all operating with single 3 V supplies, consist of two LNAs and two downconvert mixers (each in cellular or PCS frequencies). In J u n e 2000 T r i Q u i n t i n t r o d u c e d a c o m p a n i o n p a i r of RFIC CDMA downconvert mixers to complement its recently released LNAs: the TQ5132 RFA/mixer, d e s i g n e d specifically for cellular b a n d CDMA/AMPS receive applications; and the TQ5633 RFA/mixer, designed for PCS band CDMA receive applications; both conform to the IS-95 and AMPS standards. These new devices have been designed to be used with multiple TriQuint LNA ICs: the TQ5132 with either the TQ3131 or TQ3132 LNAs and the TQ5633 with either the TQ3631 or TQ3632 LNAs. When used as a pair, the RFA/mixers provide tri-mode operation in the 800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands. The company released an RF transmit solution for dual-band CDMA handsets. The chipset comprises a driver amplifier (the TQ7M51) and PCS and cellular 318


Company Profiles

band p o w e r amplifiers, (TQ7631 and TQ7131, respectively), which are manufactured using TriQuint's InGaP HBT process: The TQ7M51 driver amplifier has a typical adjacent channel power (ACP) performance of-60 dBc and an Alternate Channel Power (ALT) of-75 dBc. The PldB point of the amplifier is rated at 13 dBm min and the amplifier has a stepped gain control with a 30 dB dynamic range. The TQ7131 cellular band CDMA amplifier and TQ7631 PCS band CDMA amplifier have typical CDMA efficiencies of 35% and AMPS efficiencies of 45%. Typical gain of the amplifier is 29 dB (28 dB for TQ7631). To improve efficiency at lower power levels, the Quiescent current can be switched from the high power setting of 120 mA (used when the power output of the amplifier is + 28.5 dBm) to a lower power setting of 60 mA (used when the power output is + 10.0 dBm).

Alliances Triquint and ACCO formed an alliance in September 1999 utilizing ACCO's third-party design resources in conjunction with TriQuint's GaKs IC foundry service, thereby providing a European turnkey presence for custom RF ICs.

Table 8.39 TriQuint Semiconductor Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net revenues Net income/(Ioss) Working capital R&D Total assets

TRW Inc 1900 R i c h m o n d R o a d Cleveland OH 44124-3760 USA Tel: + 1 3 1 0 814 5749

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

163.7 25.00 217.7 22.0 340.0

111.6 (4.0) 44.5 19.0 141.3

71.4 6.9 35.2 11.5 121.4

59.5 6.3 37.6 10.9 107.6

45.9 3.1 65.5 9.2 94.0

TRW Inc (which was founded in 1916) is an international company providing advanced technology products and services worldwide. The company began development of GaAs HBTs in the late 1980s u n d e r the US government's Microwave and Millimetre-Wave Monolithic Integrated Circuit programme. Employing more than 122 300 people worldwide, TRW Inc reported fiscal year 1999 sales of US$17 billion as opposed to US$11.9 billion in fiscal year 1998. Exports made up 45% of sales, with US G o v e r n m e n t / d e f e n c e accounting for 25% and 30% for the domestic market.

R&D TRW Inc as a whole spent US$2168 million on R&D during fiscal year 1999, as opposed to US$2143 million for the previous year. In D e c e m b e r 1999 r e s e a r c h e r s at TRW a n n o u n c e d that they had demonstrated the world's fastest digital IC (manufactured using InP HBT), a frequency divider operating at a clock frequency of 69 GHz. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

319

Company Profiles

Facilities TRW Telecom Products' GaAs foundry in Redondo Beach, CA, processes commercial volumes (more than 1.4 million/week) of HBT and HEMT MMICs. TRW offers prototyping and production contracts for its 0.15/~m PHEMT and 2/~m HBT processes. It will fabricate from the customer's design, or provide end-to-end design, manufacture and test, allowing access to TRW's database of more than 3000 device models. TRW's production line shares 75% of the individual process steps for both HBTs and HEMTs, increasing efficiency and minimizing duplication of equipment. TRW was RFMD Inc's original partner and provided foundry services for RFMD when it began as a design house. TRW still provides RFMD with approximately 70 million chips/year. In September 1999, TRW installed the semiconductor industry's first Riber 6000 MBE system, which at full capacity will double the amount of 4-inch GaAs wafers/day over standard systems.

Products TRW's product line includes: standard MMICs including power amplifiers, LNAs and mixers; MMIC-based modules such as Multichip MMIC power amplifiers and mm-wave integrated transceivers used in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint broadband systems; and foundry services, prototyping and production contracts for PHEMT and HBT processes. TRW's HEMT technology ensues from its experience with mm-wave systems, making for an opportune intersection with the development of commercial broadband telecommunications operating at frequencies above 15 GHz (for example, LMDS is beginning to provide wireless broadband Internet access in US cities).

320


Company Profiles

Transceivers for broadband access and cellular backhaul are only two of the applications for TRW's mmowave GaAs HBT and HEMT chips. TRW produces GaAs MMICs for its space and defence programmes. High-performance GaAs, for e x a m p l e , is a critical t e c h n o l o g y for the Ka-band (20/30 GHz) communications payloads for satellites of the Astrolink system. The global Astrolink system expects to begin providing broadband services in 2003. TRW GaAs also goes into military mm-wave systems for space and defence. TRW's AMAD-7, a high-speed, monolithic 4-bit, 2.5 GHz analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) (which is intended for military/industrial applications), is a member of TRW's Advanced Monolithic ADC series of monolithic G a ~ HBT converters designed for use in communication systems, digital oscilloscopes, direct RF downconversion and radar warning/guidance systems. In 1998 TRW introduced four high-power and one m e d i u m - p o w e r GaAs multichip power amplifier modules (operating in the 2 7 - 31 GHz and 3 7 40 GHz frequency ranges) for applications in LMDS systems, point-to-point radios and VSATs for Kaoband satellite communications. At the end of 1998 TRW added seven mm-wave GaAs MMIC mixers to its MDB17 family of commercial t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s products. The MMIC mixers (which included double balance and image-rejection mixers) operate in the 1 9 - 64 GHz frequency range and are suitable for applications such as broadband receivers, transmitters and point-to-point and multipoint radio systems. The vertical structure of TRW's HBT Schottky diode mixers makes it possible to deliver low conversion loss, high port-to-port isolation and minimal MMIC-to-MMIC variation.

Alliances In 1996 TRW furnished RFMD with a licence to use the TRW AIGaAs HBT process for applications below 10 GHz for cellular and PCS handset markets. In 1999 the licensing agreement was e x p a n d e d to allow RFMD to supply GaAs HBTs for commercial coaxial and other non-fibre wire applications, including the broadband wired market. In March 2000, TRW a n n o u n c e d the m e r g e r of its TRW Milliwave Inc subsidiary (a plant for high-volume automated manufacture of transceiver modules) with Endgate Corp, a leading provider of 'first mile' broadband engines for p o w e r i n g e-business gateways. The m e r g e r creates a new company, Endwave Corp, that is expected to become a leading supplier of broadband access equipment, including specialized antennas, transceivers and Outdoor Units that transmit and receive radio signals, and serve as the "engines of b r o a d b a n d wireless I n t e r n e t access systems and cellular backhaul". The merger also includes a supply a g r e e m e n t guaranteeing Endwave access to TRW G a ~ MMICs. Fully MMIC-integrated transceivers in a single c o m p a c t unit (roughly 10 x 10 x 1.25 cm in size) contain all the necessary RF, digital, and power electronics. The transceivers provide highp e r f o r m a n c e over a range of mm-wave frequencies, with the i n h e r e n t reliability of MMIC fabrication. TRW has had a strategic a g r e e m e n t with US design c o m p a n y Multilink Technology since 1997; TRW fabricates Multilink's proprietary designs using Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

321

Company Profiles

TRW GaAs and InP wafer technology. TRW also holds a minority interest in Multilink, which is a privately owned company.

Table 8.40 TRW Inc Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net sales Net Income/(Ioss) Working capital R& D Total assets

Unaxis 10050 16th St. North St Petersburg FL 33716 USA Tel: + 1 813 577 4999

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

16969 495 (1530) 2168 18266

11886 477 (317) 2143 7340

10831 (47) (284) 2146 6410

9857 480 624 1997 5899

9568 446 317 1891 5670

Swiss company Oerlikon-Btihrle Holding AG (which acquired US company Plasma-Therm in February 2000 for approximately US$150 million) changed its name in April 2000 to Unaxis. Balzers Plasma Systems (BPS), Balzers Thin Films and Balzers Materials are also part of the Unaxis Group. Unaxis reported fiscal year 1999 sales of SFr2.9 billion. The f o r m e r Plasma-Therm (which was f o u n d e d in 1975) d e s i g n s , manufactures, supports and markets thin-film etching and PECVD systems. Employing 170 people, it serves the telecommunications, data storage, photomasking and microsystems markets. Net sales for fiscal year 1999 were approximately US$41 million. The company is the world's leading supplier of plasma processing equipment for MMICs and supplies customers such as Filtronic, Motorola and RFMD.

Products The Shuttlelock system is suitable for R&D and pilot production. Both deposition and etching technologies can be incorporated into this single platform, allowing for a large n u m b e r of processes to be p e r f o r m e d . Applications integrated on the Shuttlelock system for the telecommunications and sensors market are divided into a number of areas, including MMIC manufacture, telecommunications/optoelectronic devices and MEMS. The Shuttlelock features GaAs via etching, frontside etching, InP etching and SiN deposition. The Versalock is a field-proven cluster platform that integrates BPS' leadingedge plasma etching and deposition technologies. Available configurations range from simple parallel plate RIE etchers to high-density ICP process m o d u l e s . A p p l i c a t i o n s i n t e g r a t e d on the Versalock s y s t e m for the telecommunications and sensors market are divided into a number of areas, including MMICs, MEMs and telecommunications/optoelectronic devices. Versalock applications include GaAs via etching, frontside etching, InP etching and SiN deposition. The 700 Series system offers large-area p r o c e s s i n g for telecommunications/optoelectronic applications. It provides batch

322


Company Profiles

9

9 9 9 9 9 9 9

9

p r o c e s s i n g of small parts and has a large active a r e a that s u p p o r t s substrates up to 24 in 2. The 790 Series is for t h i n film R&D, f e a t u r i n g a d v a n c e d r e a c t o r t e c h n o l o g i e s such as ICP and PECVD for t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s a n d optoelectronic devices. The BAP 800 is an industry-standard evaporation system dedicated to transparent substrates and lift-off applications. The company's CLUSTERLINE metallization cluster tool is for advanced IC production. LLS EVO is a batch sputtering system for semiconductor metallization, resistors, MCMs and sensors. The NEXTRAL 100 is a dedicated reactive ion etching system for etching wafers of up to 8-inch diameter. NEXTRAL 300 is a reactive ion etching system for etching wafers up to 4-inch diameter. NEXTRAL 860 is a dedicated high-density microwave plasma system for deprocessing in advanced failure and construction analysis. The NEXTRAL D200 consists of a hot-wall PECVD reactor based on a patented BPS Plasma Box. Low-stress and high-breakdown voltage films are deposited with no compromise in terms of film quality. T h e NEXTRAL RTP80 is b a s e d o n t h e RTP m o d u l e u s e d in t h e CLUSTERLINE. The XT80 stand-alone system is suitable for both Si R&D and production.

Alliances An a g r e e m e n t was a n n o u n c e d in J u n e 2 0 0 0 b e t w e e n Unaxis a n d the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan. The two will create a long-term partnership for the development of the data storage, display products and semiconductor industries in Taiwan. Under the terms of the agreement, Unixas will cooperate with the IDB and o t h e r c o m p a n i e s and r e s e a r c h o r g a n i z a t i o n s in Taiwan to facilitate the development of thin-film systems and R&D capabilities in Taiwan.

United Monolithic Semiconductors GmbH l~lhelm-Runge Strasse 11 D-89081 Ulm Gem~ny Tel. +49 731 505 3012

Formed in 1996, United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS) is a joint venture of Daimler Benz Aerospace, TEMIC and THOMSON-CSF (who is the major shareholder). The c o m p a n y has two facilities: Ulm (Germany) and Orsay

(France).

R&D UMS is a participant in several pan-European R&D p r o g r a m m e s as well as having its own internal process and product development programmes. The c o m p a n y published a p a p e r in 1999 regarding the d e v e l o p m e n t of an mm-wave front-end for a 76.5 GHz Collision Warning Avoidance (CW/A) car radar using the FMCW technique. This work was done as part of the ESPRIT AWARE and LOCOMOTIVE projects for automotive applications at 77 GHz. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

323

Company Profiles

In order to reach the o p t i m u m cost/performance compromise, the chipset uses three different MMIC processes: the VCO and reference chips at 38 GHz are on a 0.25/~m PHEMT (UMS' PH25 process), the 76.5 GHz transmitter circuit uses a 0.135 Izm PHEMT (PH15 process) and the receiver circuit uses a GaAs MMIC Schottky diode process.

Facilities Manufacturing takes place at UMS' 4-inch-capable facility in Ulm, Germany. Processes employed by UMS include MESFET, PHFET and HBT. UMS' PH25 PHEMT t e c h n o l o g y c o m p l i e s to E u r o p e a n S p a c e Agency requirements. Test r e p o r t e d evidence of a temperature-activated wear-out m e c h a n i s m , a very low sensitivity of PH25 on s t r o n g RF stress a n d n o sensitivity on hydrogen. Failure rate calculations are in line with the space programme requirements.

Products The majority of UMS' products are for mobile communications, although it also m a n u f a c t u r e s d e v i c e s for a u t o m o t i v e r a d a r s , military a n d s p a c e applications, radio links and traffic control. In May 1999 it a n n o u n c e d new products for its radio link family of devices, these included power amplifiers, multipliers, mixers and a 60 GHz LNA (the

Examples of UMS products include: 9

The CHA2157 --- a 55 - 60 GHz LNA for mm-wave applications. It is a low-noise, medium-power amplifier having a 4 dB noise figure, 15-dBm output power at l dB compression point and 12 dB gain for a chip size of 1.78 mm 2. A temperature sensor is implemented on-chip and the device is available in chip form. 9 The CHA5094 --- a h i g h - g a i n t h r e e - s t a g e GaAs MMIC h i g h - p o w e r amplifier. It is designed for a wide range of applications, from military to commercial communication systems. Manufactured on a 0.15 m m PMHEMT, it operates in the 36-40 GHz range and features a 28 dBm power output. 9 The EC2612 - - a 0.15 tzm gate 40 GHz, s u p e r - l o w - n o i s e PHEMT. It features noise figures of 0.8 dB and associated gain of 12 dB at 18 GHz (1.5 dB and 9.5dB at 40 GHz). 9 The C H U 3 1 3 0 - - - an 8 5 0 - 950 MHz, 3 V front-end GaAs MMIC. The transmit/receive front-end integrates an LNA, antenna switch and power amplifier. 9 The CHA2066--- a two-stage wideband MMIC LNA that is manufactured using a 0.25 ~m-gate-length HEMT process, operates in the 10-16 GHz range and features a 2 dB noise figure.

Alliances UMS and Hittite Microwave have an a g r e e m e n t ( a n n o u n c e d in J u n e 1999) w h e r e b y Hittite will a d d to t h e i r SMT BGA p a c k a g e d m m - w a v e MMIC 324


Company Profiles

p r o d u c t by utilizing selected UMS MMIC die. The new products address p o i n t - t o - p o i n t / m u l t i p o i n t , LMDS, VSAT/USAT a n d LEO/MEO satellite t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s applications and c o m p l e m e n t the c u r r e n t MMIC standard product offerings of both companies; this enables mm-wave radio designers to easily implement advanced MMIC BGA technology onto highvolume solderoreflow PCB assemblies. UMS is a m e m b e r of the I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wireless Packaging C o n s o r t i u m (IWPC), a private association linking wireless communication or system OEMs and their component suppliers or contract houses.

VG Semicon The Birches Industrial Estate Imberhorne Lane East Grinstead Sussex RH19 1XZ UK Tel: +44 1342 325011

F o u n d e d in 1984, VG S e m i c o n is a d i v i s i o n of T h e r m o I n s t r u m e n t s Corporation, which is part of the US$2.5 billion Thermo Electron Group. VG Semicon is a leading manufacturer of MBE equipment and holds ISO 9001 quality certification. At the end of 1999 the c o m p a n y a n n o u n c e d that it had received orders totalling US$15 million for its MBE e q u i p m e n t (primarily the new VG 150 GaAs system). By June 2000 it had sold in excess of 60 multiwafer MBE systems (VGIO0 and VG150) worldwide. The Vl00 and V150 MBE systems are the 'industry standard' production units for the GaAs epilayer used in the fabrication of G a ~ microwave devices. 9

~

IQE (formerly QED) of Bethlehem, PA, announced in February 2000 that they would purchase up to five VG150 MBE systems. IQE already has five VG 100s and one VG 150. In May 2000, VG Semicon announced that it had received an order in excess of US$10 million from RMFD for several VG p r o d u c t i o n MBE systems.

In 1984, the company launched the V80H, the first MBE product specifically designed for MBE on 3-inch wafers. The V80H is for pre-production and device development and has been installed at over 150 sites worldwide. VG Semicon is the only MBE company to offer a recirculating hot-air bakeout system. This e n s u r e s highly u n i f o r m stress-free c h a m b e r h e a t i n g and enhances system reliability. The company also produces the VG80 system, which has been installed in several universities for nitride research. The V80H has been continuously improved since its introduction; results are evidenced in the ultrahigh performance designs for effusion cells, including the revolutionary T h e r m o C e l l " , shutters and manipulators and a positive and s u r e s a m p l e t r a n s f e r m e c h a n i s m . A fully o p t i m i z e d d e p o s i t i o n configuration ensures highly uniform thin films on wafers up to 3-inch in d i a m e t e r . The V80H a c h i e v e s w o r l d - r e c o r d g r o w t h u n i f o r m i t y a n d


325

Company Profiles

reproducibility while still maintaining efficient usage of source materials. This reflects the optimum source geometry used in the deposition chamber. In the late 1980s VG Semicon developed the world's first 4-inch and 6-inch MBE systems, followed by the development of its multiwafer production MBE system, the VGIO0 (for high-volume production, which was introduced in 1989). The company's latest model, the V150 MBE system for GaAs, represents the state-of-the-art in multiwafer, high-throughput MBE systems and can handle multiple 6-inch wafers with excellent uniformity and reproducibility. It can also be used as a very-high-throughput 4-inch machine. The c o m p a n y counts many major c o m p a n i e s a m o n g s t its c u s t o m e r s , including Sharp, IQE, Mitsubishi Kasei, Sumitomo, Picogiga, Asahi Chemical, ROHM and Tutcore. Sharp uses its V100 system for phosphide-based lasers and DVD pickups, Tutcore (now part of Coherent) employs its VG Semicon equipment to produce M-free lasers. IQE has several VG Semicon Vl00 MBE systems. Asahi Chemical employs a VG MBE system for production of InAs deep-QW Hall sensors.

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp 741 Calle Plano Camarillo CA 93012 US& Tel: +1 805 388 3700

Vitesse Semiconductor (which was founded in 1987) is a leader in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of digital Ga/~ ICs. Its products incorporate Vitesse's H-GaAs (high-integration G a ~ ) technology, producing high-performance ICs for data communications, telecommunications and automatic test equipment (ATE) systems providers. Vitesse was the first c o m p a n y to develop VLSI GaAs gate arrays as a c o m m e r c i a l l y viable alternative to VLSI silicon. It was also the first to open a merchant wafer line dedicated to the use of 6-inch GaAs wafers. For the year-ending September 1999, it recorded net sales of US$281.5 million, an increase of 59% over 1998's figure ofUS$176.9 million. In January 1999 Vitesse announced that it had acquired all of the equity interests of Serano Systems Corp for common stock. Serano is a leader in enclosure and platform management solutions for Fibre Channel and SCSI server and storage subsystems using industry-standard protocols. Vitesse followed this by a n n o u n c i n g in May 1999 that it had agreed to acquire XaQti C o r p o r a t i o n for u s $ 6 5 m i l l i o n in c o m m o n stock. Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, XaQti, the 'Network-on-a-Chip' company, is a leading-edge supplier of active-flow processors to drive the Internet. The company in spring 2000 acquired 'fabless' semiconductor company Orologic Inc (of Morrisville, NC, USA) for approximately US$450 million in common stock. Orologic develops high-performance SOC solutions that enable data packet processing at OC-48 and OC-192 rates. Orologic's first

32,6 GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

Company Profiles

p r o d u c t was released in March 2000: PaceMaker 2.4, which integrates policing, cell/packet interworking, traffic management and a built-in wire speed AAL-5 SAR function supporting OC-48 data rates. Vitesse Semiconductor announced in June 2000 that it had completed its acquisition of SiTera Inc for US$750 million in c o m m o n stock. SiTera was founded in 1996; its products include intelligent network processing for service provider, carrier edge and large enterprise markets. In August 2000 Vitesse announced that it had acquired certain assets of the WAN product line (which designs, develops and markets products for WAN access and aggregation) of Philips S e m i c o n d u c t o r s for approximately US$30 million in cash. With this acquisition, Vitesse's products now span from T1 through to OC-192 line rates and from the optoelectronic interface through network processors and switch fabrics.

R&D Vitesse spent US$49.2 million on R&D in fiscal year 1999, as opposed to US$33 million in 1998. The company's 0.3/zm H-GaAs V process is in development. This technology provides 3.3 V interfaces and is slated for initial production in the new fabrication facility.

Facilities Vitesse has facilities in Camarillo (CA) and Colorado Springs (CO) where in November 1998 it opened the world's first 6-inch GaAs wafer fabrication facility. The company has an extensive design network in place across Europe; for instance, in 1999 it opened a new European design centre for SONET/ SDH and ATM/POS in Copenhagen, Denmark. Vitesse's US$85 million 6-inch Lamond fabrication facility (named after the company's chairman) is equipped with the latest available semiconductor


327

Company Profiles

processing equipment for volume production and testing of high-speed G a ~ ICs. It supports both current generation of Vitesse's proprietary H-GaAs technology and will be the platform for future technology development. It c o n t a i n s 10 000 ft 2 of Class 1 c l e a n r o o m space (with an o p t i o n for expansion). The facility has more than tripled Vitesse's manufacturing capability, d e e m e d necessary to c o n t i n u e to s u p p o r t the g r o w t h rate experienced for the last three years. It received ISO 9001 certification in August 1999. The Camarillo complex houses a design centre as well as a wafer fabrication facility with 6000 ft2 of Class 100 cleanroom. Vitesse uses 0.8-, 0.6- and 0.5-/~m enhancement/depletion (ED) mode H-GaAs processes for the fabrication of VLSI digital and mixed analogue/digital GaAs ICs. The company will be introducing its new H-GaAs V process for 10 Gb/s applications during the year 2000.

Products Vitesse's proprietary H-GaAs process was designed to enable its products to be manufactured using equipment and techniques commonly used in the manufacture of silicon ICs, as well as allowing designers to use industrystandard CAD tools to design high-performance ASICs. The H-GaAs process produces GaAs ICs that operate at 2.5 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s, whereas traditional CMOS technology provides switching element ICs with data rates of 100200 Mb/s. H-GaAs MESFET processing differs from traditional GaAs processing by using a self-aligned gate method, similar to that used in MOSFET processing. The key requirement is to achieve a low source-drain resistivity whilst maintaining a high gate-drain breakdown voltage. This is done by lightly doping the source/drain region n-type, followed by a deposition and etch-back process to create a dielectric 'spacer' along the end of the gate. The spacer effectively confines the heavy N + implant to ensure that doping next to the gate edge is kept light, providing higher breakdown voltages. Because the rest of the open active areas receive the N + implant, the contact resistance is low. Vitesse's Masterslice t e c h n o l o g y e n a b l e s c u s t o m e r s to achieve the performance of a full custom circuit with the design engineering investment of a traditional gate array. In a Masterslice product, the Vitesse engineers design the analogue timing circuits and SRAM, with the customer completing the remaining logic design using gate array tools. The company has branched out into silicon manufacturing, an example of which is the February 2000 introduction of the 3.3 V, VSC7130 (a member of the Velocity family of CMOS ICs), the industry's first dual repeater/retimer, for improving signal quality and eliminating jitter transfer in duplex serial links, thereby e n s u r i n g c o m p l i a n c e to Fibre Channel and Gigabit E t h e r n e t specifications. In March 1999 the company introduced a family of 3.3 V clock multiplier and distribution Ics; the VSC6108, VSC6110 and VSC6112. This family provides 328


Comp an y Pro files

precision clocks with 18 differential ECL o u t p u t s for high-speed clock a p p l i c a t i o n s , such as c o m p u t e r clock d i s t r i b u t i o n , Rambus, telecommunications and ATE systems. The VSC6108, VSC6110 and VSC6112 deliver extremely precise clocks. Skew is very low (< 50 ps), rise times are extremely fast (150 ps 20-80%) and jitter is very small (< 4 ps rms), meeting SONET/SDH jitter requirements. Input frequencies are selectable in the range 50 - 622 MHz and o u t p u t frequencies are selectable from 100 MHz to 1.25 GHz. In J u n e 1999 Vitesse introduced the VSC205, the industry's first fully compliant wide LVD SCSI Enclosure Management Controller, and the latest generation of SCSI enclosure management. The VSC205 provides support for SCSI Enclosure Services, SCSI Accessed Fault Tolerant Enclosure and the Intelligent Platform Management Initiative that allows storage subsystem diagnostics. It is Vitesse's latest addition to its expanding line of enclosure and platform management products, developed by the Serano Systems business unit. The VSC205 provides flexibility by supporting both target and initiator modes of operation over an 8- or 16-bit SCSI bus. The company announced additions to its crosspoint switch product line in July 1999, with the availability of the VSC851 (a 32 x 32 crosspoint switch IC) and the VSC852 (a 64x64 crosspoint switch IC) both with speeds up to 1.6 Gbps. These circuits significantly reduce the cost and simplify the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of high-speed digital data-switching systems used in applications such as Gigabit Ethemet and ATM that require 1.25 Gbps rates, or HDTV that requires 1.5 Gb/s data rates. In August 1999 Vitesse introduced the VSC6424 - - a 500 Mbps, 40-bit video shift register that integrates both mux/demux functions for applications such as high-speed memory interfaces for video, medical and telecommunications. The multiple shift length configurations available with the VSC6424 include eight 5-bit, eight 4-bit, five 8-bit, four 10-bit, two 16-bit, two 20-bit, one 32bit and one 40-bit shift registers, any one of which is user configurable. The internal timing generation of the VSC6424 provides for 500 Mbps operation, and the external timing generation at a speed of 250 Mbps provides for backwards compatibility with lower speed designs than previous generations of shift registers. In the same m o n t h it introduced the latest addition to its 2.5 Gbps IC product line (the VSC8151), the industry's first fully integrated multi-rate SONET/SDH section terminator with integrated transceiver for DWDM applications. This IC provides the monitoring and modification of the section and line overhead of a SONET/SDH OC-3, OC-12 or OC-48 signal, as well as generation of the AIS-L signals, providing a complete section termination solution that is complaint to Bellcore, IEEE and ITU-T specifications. In September 1999 the company announced the VSC8115 - - a 3.3 V clock and data recovery unit that operates at OC-12/STS-12/STM-4 (622 Mbps) or OC-3/ STS-3/STM- 1 (155 Mbps) for terminal multiplexer, add/drop multiplexers, cross-connects, WDM, analogue, ATM and IP systems. This third-generation IC meets ANSI, Bellcore and ITU-T specifications for jitter performance, with the lowest power dissipation (130 mW typical) then available. Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

329

Company Profiles

October saw the introduction of Vitesse's second-generation VSC8141 and VSC8144 SONET/SDH OC-48 multi-rate transceivers that include multiplexer and demultiplexer with integrated clock generation capabilities for the physical layer. Both ICs dissipate the lowest power available in the industry, typically 1.2 W. Applications include: SONET and SDH transmission systems, optical networking equipment, DWDM, ATM networking and digital crossconnect systems. The VSC8141 also incorporates a loss of signal input and a 19.44 MHz output clock for enhanced inter-operability with optical modules. In early 2000, the c o m p a n y i n t r o d u c e d the VSC215 E n h a n c e d IPMI Baseboard Management Controller, specifically designed for IPMI applications. The VSC215 is an enhanced version of the VSC210 and offers a complete solution for controlling and monitoring functions such as power, fans, intrusion and t e m p e r a t u r e within servers, t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s switching equipment and embedded systems. Vitesse a n n o u n c e d in March 2000 that it was capable of supplying the industry's first complete 10 Gb/s line card for OC-192/STM-64 SONET/SDH transmissions, including: the VSC7990 laser driver, the VSC8171 10 Gb/s 16:1 mux with CMU, the VSC8172 1:16 demux with CDR and the VSC9116 STS-192 transport terminating transceiver. Also in March, Vitesse introduced its VSC8123, the industry's first-rate agile adaptive clock and data recovery IC for use in broadband applications with continuous frequency coverage from 10Mb/s to 2.7Gb/s. In addition, the VSC8123 will also dynamically and automatically modify its acquisition point in both voltage and phase, enabling the device to acquire data in the presence of significant symmetry distortion associated with severely degraded data 'eyes'. In May 2000 the company introduced the VSC8173 16:1 multiplexer and VSC8174 1:16 demultiplexer; a 10 Gb/s chipset for OC-192 and STM-64 a p p l i c a t i o n s with the lowest p o w e r d i s s i p a t i o n t h e n available. For t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s and DWDM a p p l i c a t i o n s , the r e d u c e d p o w e r requirements minimize heatsink, airflow and power supply requirements. Both chips operate at the standard OC-192 rate of 9.953 Gb/s and higher data rates (up to 10.66 Gb/s) to support FEC capability. The VSC8173 10 Gb/s 16:1 multiplexer with clock multiplication unit integrates a high-speed clock output to re-clock data at the laser driver. The clock output can also be used to verify jitter performance during operation, ensuring SONET compliance. The VSC8174 is the demultiplexer that incorporates the clock and data recovery functions. The low 50 mV input sensitivity of the VSC8174 decreases the overall system cost by increasing regenerator spacing by improving lowinput signal response. The sampling position of the input data stream can be adjusted in voltage and phase, allowing improved system performance. In order to simplify system design, two 622 MHz clock outputs are provided. For additional flexibility, the VSC8174 incorporates a loss of signal output alarm.

330


Company Profiles

Alliances Vitesse and Power X Ltd a n n o u n c e d in August 1999 the l a u n c h of an initiative to create a joint hardware reference platform to demonstrate the a d v a n c e d features of t h e i r respective c o m m u n i c a t i o n ICs: Power-X's T e r a C h a n n e l TM fabric IC and V i t e s s e ' s TeraPOWER-CL n e t w o r k communications processor IC. In J u n e 2000 Vitesse and IBM a n n o u n c e d an alliance for IBM's SiGe technology for optical network equipment. Vitesse will use IBM's advanced SiGe process technology for its next generation of high-integration, lowpower communications ICs. The two companies will also work together to optimize the IBM SiGe t e c h n o l o g y for a p p l i c a t i o n in h i g h - e n d optical communications equipment. Other alliances include, a licensing a g r e e m e n t with Fujitsu, which gives Fujitsu the fight to use Vitesse's FURY products (in exchange, royalties are paid to Vitesse on a percentage of sales); and a 3-year volume licence from Simplex Solutions Inc for an interconnect verification tool suite. Vitesse has an extensive network of design centres worldwide that includes commercial partnerships with other companies such as Thomson-CSF and Wolfson Microelectronics. In the former case some manufacturing u n d e r licence is undertaken but in the latter case all wafers are manufactured at Vitesse's US fabrication facilities. Vitesse also has good relationships with university design departments around the world via a multi-project wafer service.

Table 8.41 Vitesse Semiconductor Corp Financial Highlights (US$ Million). Net sales Net income Working capital Total assets

Wafer Technology Ltd 34 Maryland Road Tongwell Milton Keynes MK15 8nj UK Tek +44 1908 210 444

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

281.5 69.9 282.0 522.9

176.9 50.5 225.0 381.0

105.4 29.5 179.6 296.0

66.0 12.3 70.6 101.1

42.9 1.5 17.9 42.1

Privately owned Wafer Technology Ltd produces the widest range of III-V materials and substrates in Europe. Wafer Technology has its earliest origins in the Cambridge I n s t r u m e n t s s u b s i d i a r y Metals Research. This SI LEC GaAs s u b s t r a t e b u s i n e s s was acquired by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 1985. It was subsequently acquired by Mining & Chemical Products Ltd (MCP) and merged with its own III-V activities. In 1994, after management buyout, Wafer Technology was formed, with MCP retaining a minority stake in the company.


331

Company Profiles

MCP had originally began manufacturing G a ~ in 1957 as an extension of its high-purity gallium manufacturing operations, whereas the ICI subsidiary concentrated on the production of high-pressure LEC-grown GaAs and InP.

Facilities The company has a 32 000 ft 2 facility in Milton Keynes, UK, containing Class 10000 and Class 1000 cleanrooms. Wafer Tech holds ISO 9002 quality certification. Crystal growth facilities include high- and low-pressure Czochralski pullers, horizontal synthesis furnaces (for polycrystalline material production) and VGF furnaces. Wafering equipment includes an extensive installation of Meyer & Berger saws, precision edge rounders and laser marking equipment.

Products All Wafer Technology polished wafers are epi-ready for MBE-, MOVPE- and LPE-type processes for enhanced reproducibility. The company manufactures wafers of GaAs, GaSb, InSb, InAs, InP 'pre-puU' InP and polycrystaUine GaAs and InP. It also produces high-purity gallium and indium in sizes suitable for bulk crystal growth, LPE or MBE source materials. The company's GaAs products include: Single-crystal 2- and 3-inch GaAs ingots grown by VGF, with 4-inch under development. 9 Single crystal 2- and 3-inch G a ~ ingots produced using LEC.

9

Single-crystal InP (in 2- and 3-inch ingots) is grown by a three-stage process: 9 Polycrystalline synthesis. 9 Pre-pull growth. 9 Single-crystal growth.

Alliances Wafer Technology is also the European distributor of: SiC wafers for US-based Epitronics Corp; SIMOX wafers for Nippon Steel Corp of Japan; and highpurity gallium and indium for MCP Ltd, UK.

332


Company Profiles

8.76 Watkins-Johnson Communications Inc Watktns-Johnson Watldns-Johnson Communications is a high-technology operation specializing Communications Inc in wireless communications and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In Stanford Research Park J a n u a r y 2000 the c o m p a n y a n n o u n c e d t h a t it h a d c o m p l e t e d a 3333 Hillvtew Avenue recapitalization merger with FP-WJAcquisition Corp (a company managed by Palo Alto Fox Paine & Co, LLC). FP-WJ then merged into Watkins-Johnson, which CA 94304 consequendy became a private company. US4 Tel: +1 650 813 2272 It offers highly linear components utilizing its own GaAs technology. The company also produces thin-film substrates for microwave and mm-wave applications. Its products are mainly for wireless infrastructure, high-datarate fibre-optic backbone network and hybrid fibre coax cable equipment. Watkins-Johnson's products are manufactured for both the merchant market and captive use.

Facih'ties In 1997, Watkins-Johnson acquired Samsung Microwave Semiconductor's 4-inch fabrication facility (which was the former Harris Microwave defence fabrication facility that Samsung had converted to a commercial device facility); shortly after, Watldns-Johnson relocated all of its GaAs activities into this facility which became operational in 1998. Watkins-Johnson has ISO 9000 quality certification.

Products Watldns-Johnson manufactures: 9 9 9 9

9

Packaged GaAs MMIC amplifiers and mixers, and bare die MMICs up to 12 GHz. SMT components (including high-dynamic-range G a ~ FET mixers, diode mixers and low-phase-noise voltage-controUed oscillators) Thin-film technology on alumina substrates for microwave and mm-wave applications. Repeaters (for both indoor and outdoor applications) that cover all three major wireless protocols (CDMA, TDMA and GSM for PCS networks) and the m a j o r wireless p r o t o c o l s CDMA, TDMA and AMPS for cellular networks. A variety of frequency converters and transceivers for wireless network infrastructure.

In October 1999 the company announced its AH11 GaAs amplifier MESFET that extends the linear efficiency advantages of the AH1 to higher power levels. It can deliver over + 17 dBm of linear output power with an output IP3 g r e a t e r than 50 dBm, o p e r a t i n g from a 5 V s u p p l y in a p u s h - p u l l configuration. It also exhibits a 3.7 dB noise figure at a PldB of + 27 dBm. The A H l l is suitable for base station receivers and b r o a d b a n d wireless applications.


333

Company Profiles

In November 1999 the company introduced the AH4 linear Ga/~ amplifier, which can deliver an output IP3 of 41 dBm at 0.1 - 6.0 GHz. It also exhibits a 3.5 dB noise figure at 3.5 GHz and draws only 150 mA from a single 5 V supply. In December 1999 Watkins-Johnson introduced the AP3 and AP4 GaAs FETs, expanding its line of linear GaAs components. The AP3 and AP4 GaAs FETs are packaged in state-of-the-art 3 x 3 BGA packages and allow for higher voltage operation, which offers greater linearity. The AP3 features an output IP3 of 39 dBm and a PldB of +22 dBm at 0.1 - 6.0 GHz. The AP4 features an output IP3 of 40 dBm and a PldB of +27 dBm at 0.1 -6.0GHz. The MH1 high-dynamic-range MMIC is a passive FET mixer utilizing the 1.7 2 GHz frequency range. It realizes 30-dBm HP3 at local oscillator drive level of 17 dBm, and is suitable for use in PCs, DCS 1800 and PHS systems. The HMJ7 is a high-dynamic-range FET mixer featuring a typical third-order intercept point of 34 dBm at a local oscillator drive level of 21 dBm. The HMJ7 is suitable for CATV front-end transmission equipment. Watkins-Johnson's 515101 amplifier operates in the 2.1-2.7 GHz frequency range and features a 23 dB small signal gain, a 1.4 dB noise figure and a 20 dBm output.

WIN Semiconductors Corp No 15, Lane 3 Chien-Kuo N. Road Section 2 Taipei Taiwan Tel: +886 2 518 2733

WIN Semiconductors (Wireless, Information and Networking) is a new company start-up in Taiwan. The company has built Phase I of an advanced 6-inch fabrication facility to offer merchant foundry services producing MMICs for wireless c o m m u n i c a t i o n s applications, covering frequencies u p to 100 GHz. Process technologies employed will be HBT and PHEMT. In August 2000, WIN Semiconductors o r d e r e d a 900 Series plasma etch system from Tegal Corporation, Petaluma, CA, USA. The system will be used in the production of advanced GaAs MMICs for wireless telecommunications applications. Wafer test runs began in September 2000, with production scheduled for March 2001. WIN Semiconductors uses purchased epiwafers and intends to produce 30 000 wafers in 2001, although after the completion of Phase II (within the next 3 years), and at full capacity, the fabrication facility will be capable of 100 000 wafers/year.

334


Directory of Leading Suppliers

65 Church End, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge VB1 3LF, UK. Tel: +44 1223 245033 Fax: +44 1223 461321/410267 Contact: Paul Tolkien Semiconductor equipment manufacturer: CVD systems, high-temperature furnaces up to 3000~ crystal growth and annealing furnaces, resistance heating systems for MOVPE.

Unit llA, Talisman Business Centre, Bicester, Oxon OX6 0J~ UK. Tel: + 44 1869 363200 Fax: +44 1869 363201 E-marl: enquiry@aptferro Contact: Michael Glossop Supplier of equipment to advanced semiconductor manufacturers such as crystal growth equipment and components.

7 Commerce Drive, Danbury, CT 06810, USA. Tel: + 1 203 794 1100 Fax: + 1 203 792 8040 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www.atmi.com Contact: Dean Hamilton Manufacturer of epiwafers and related products.


335


6 Da-Li 1st Road, Tainan Science-Based Park, Hsin-Shi, Tainan, County 744, Taiwan. Tel: +886 8 5050999 Fax: +866 6 5051723 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.awsc.com.tw GaAs HBT wafer foundry.

1412 Fountain Grove Parkway, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, USA. Tel: + 1 707 577 1400 Fax: + 1 707 577 4090 Internet: www.agilent.com Contact: Sig Johnsen RF/microwave component manufacturer.

7201 Hamilton Boulevard, Allentown, PA 18195 1501, USA. Tel: + 1 215 481 7060 Fax: + 1 215 481 2644 Contact: Greg Muhr Producer of complete range of high-purity organometaUic source materials and gases for the III-V industry.

Kackerstrasse 15-17, 52072 Aachen, Germany. Tel: +49 24 1 89090 Fax: + 49 24 1 8909 40 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.aixtron.com Contact: Octavia Schirmer Manufacturer of MOVPE equipment for compound semiconductors.

336



PO Box 246, 809 Country Way, N. Scituate, MA 02060, USA. Tel: + 1 617 545 7176 Fax: + 1 617 545 4105 Magnetron sputtering sources, diamond film equipment.

Deposition Chemicals, 730 Battleground Road, PO Box 600, Deer Park, TX 77536, USA. Tel: + 1 281 479 8100 Fax: + 1 281 479 4517 E-maR: [email protected] Contact: Dick Pearce Materials supplier.

Via Trento 30, 20059 Vimercate, Milan, Italy. Tel: + 39 39 6864796 Fax: +39 39 6080891 Contact: Livio Basile GaAs device manufacturer.

Via Tiburtina, 00131, Rome, Italy. Tel: +39 6 4150 2111 Fax: +39 6 4150 3701 E-marl: acetronio@ aleniaradar.finmeccanica.it Contact: Antonio Cetronio GaAs device manufacturer.


337


115 Northeast Cutoff, Worcester, MA 01615, USA. Tel: + 1 508 835 5000 Fax: + 1 508 853 7861 E-mail: appsgrp@ ma.ultranet.com Contact: Allan S Kimball Design and manufacture of advanced mixed-signal ICs (including SiGe) for system-level ICs.

The Microelectronics & Technology Center, 9140 Annapolis road, Columbia, MD21045-1998, USA. Tel: + 1 410 964 4020 Fax: + 1 410 992 5813 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Bryan Allison Fully integrated VLSI microelectronics facility that includes development and manufacture of digital, analogue and power electronics devices; proprietary SOI technology.

20 Sylvan Road, PO Box 1044, Woburn, MA 01801, USA. Tel: + 1 781 935-5150 Fax: + 1 617 824 4564 Intemet: www.alphaind.com Manufacturer of GaAs discrete and MMIC semiconductor devices.

4311 Solar Way, Fremont, CA 94538, USA. Tel: + 1 510 683 5900 Fax: + 1 510 683 5901 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.axt.com Contact: Dr Theodore Young Supplier of GaAs, GaN and InP substrates.

338



2707 Black Lake Place, Philadelphia, PA 19154, USA. Tel: + 1 215 464 4000 Fax: + 1 215 464 4001 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.amplifonix.com RF components manufacturer.

35 Technology Drive, Warren, NJ 07059, USA. Tel: + 1 908 668 5000 Fax: + 1 908 668 5068 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.andigics.com Contact: Ron Rosenzweig Supplier of GaAs MMIC components, mainly for telecommunications.

2950 N.E. 84th Lane, Blaine, MN 55449, USA. Tel: + 1 612 784 4995 Fax: + 1 612 784 2038 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.apaoptics.com Contact: Mr K Olsen Manufacturer of fibre communications and optoelectronics products and the leading producer of devices based on AIGaN.

128, Chuckbuk-ri, Namyi-myun, Chongwon-kun, Chungbuk 363-810, Korea. Tel: +82 431 260 2000 Fax: +82 431 260 2500 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.apexsemi.co.kr Manufacturer of epiwafers.


339


4900 Constellation Drive, Saint Paul, MN 55127, USA. Tel: + 1 651 482 0800 Fax: + 1 651 482 0600 E-maih [email protected] Intemet: www.applied-epi.com Contact: Thomas Bird MBE equipment and accessory manufacturer.

The Imperial Tower, 1-1-1 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, Japan. Tel: +81 3 3507 2261 Fax: + 81 3 3580 3020 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www. asahi-kasei.co.jp Manufacturer of Hall Effect ICs.

35 Cabot Road, Woburn, MA 01801, USA. Tel: + 1 617 933 5560 Fax: + 1 617 933 0750 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Deborah Gustafson Manufacturer of components and systems for semiconductor, medical and CVD diamond applications. ASTeX markets its systems to producers of CVD diamond, while its microwave and RF power generators, plasma sources and ozone generators and subsystems are marketed to the world's leading semiconductor and medical capital equipment manufacturers.

2386 Vassar Drive, Boulder, Colorado, CO 80303-5763, USA. Tel: + 1 303 421 0670 Fax: + 1 303 413 1465 E-marl: [email protected] Advanced semiconductor specialist.

340



2325 Orchard Parkway, San Jose, CA 95131, USA. Tel: + 1 408 441 0311 Fax: + 1 408 436 4300 E-maih [email protected] Contact: Joel Rosenberg Manufacturer of SiGe ICs (through TEMIC Semiconductors).

71 Carolyn Boulevard, Farmingdale, New York 11735, USA. Tel: + 1 631 694 9000 Fax: + 1 631 694 9177 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.atramet.com Contact: Gary Newman Substrate manufacturer.

Bowburn South Industrial Estate, Unit 13d, Bowburn, Durham DH6 5AD, UK. Tel: +44 191 377 2476 Fax: +44 191 377 9952 E-maih [email protected] Intemet: www.bede.co.uk Contact: Dr Neil Loxley Designs and supplies equipment for high-resolution X-ray diffraction and scattering characterization of semiconductors.

7620 Executive Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344, USA. Tel: + 1 612 934 2100 Fax: + 1 612 934 2737 E-marl: [email protected] Contact: James Van Hove Manufacturer of epiwafers.


341


Bio-Rad House, Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 7TD, UK. Tel: +44 81328 2290 Fax: +44 81328 2580 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.bio-rad.com Contact: Dale Page/Steve Blight Manufacturer of semiconductor characterization equipment.

4590 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA. Tel: + 1 408 988 3500 Fax: + 1 408 988 0279 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.cel.com Contact: Jenifer Jacobs North American supplier for NEC Corp.

CasweU, Towcester, NN12 8EQ, UK. Tel: +44 1327 350581 Fax: +44 1327 356775 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.caswelltechnology, com Contact: Mike Geen Manufacturer of GaAs MMIC devices with foundry service.

3236 Scott Boulevard, Santa Clam, CA 95054, USA. Tel: + 1 408 986 5060 Fax: + 1 408 986 5095 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.celeritek.com Contact: Bill Hoppin Manufacturer of RFICs for wireless handset market.

342



301 Chesapeake Drive, Redwood City, CA 94063, USA Tel: + 1 415 369 4567 Fax: + 1 415 369 7921 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.cea.com Contract atomic analysis for GaAs and other materials.

PO Box 147, Industrial Zone, Migdal Ha'Emek 10551, Israel. Tel: +972 66448888 Fax: +972 66543570 Internet: www.cisystems.com Contact: Zui Kopolovitz CI Systems develops and markets electro-optical measurement systems for industrial and scientific markets worldwide.

Sandricka 30, 966 81 Zamovica, Slovakia. Tel: + 421 858-681-2141 Fax: +421 858-681-2125 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.cmk.sk Contact: Alex Murin Manufacturer of 2-, 3- and 4-inch semi-insulating GaAs wafers. Supplier of poly GaAs wafers for epitaxy purposes.

4311 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach, CA 92660-3095, USA. Tel: + 1 949 483 4600 Fax: + 1 949 483 6375 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.conexant.com Contact: Scott Allen G a ~ device manufacturer.

Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices 343


4600 Silicon Drive, Durham, NC 27703, USA. Tel: + 1 919 313-5300 Fax: + 1 919 313-5452 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.cree.com Developing SiC/GaN microelectronic products.

1599 N. Shoreline Boulevard, Mountain View, CA 94043-1313, USA. Tel: + 1 650 961 4311 Fax: + 1 650 961 4364 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www.crystacomm.com InP supplier.

Ostendstrage 2-14, Berlin D-12459, Germany. Tel: +49 30 695 387 0 Fax: +49 30 635 043 6 Contact: Steffan Sander Substrate supplier.

10409, S. 50th Place, Phoenix, AZ 85044-5214, USA. Tel: + 1 602 496 5123 Fax: + 1 602 496 5080 E-maih [email protected] Contact: R L Woodin Integrated R&D and manufacturing company providing high-performance aluminium nitride and diamond products to the telecommunications and electronics industries.

344



25 Fourth Street, Somerville, NJ 08876, USA. Tel: + 1 908 575 0803 Fax: + 1 908 575 0794 E-mail: [email protected], net Contact: William Bonner Single-crystal growth research.

2853 Janitell Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80906-4104, USA. Tel: + 1 719 540 0990 Fax: + 1 719 540 0994 E-mail: sleavitt@crystalspecialties, com Contact: S Leavitt Internet: www'crystalspecialties'c~ Supplier of semiconducting wafers, mainly for optoelectronics.

721 Vanalman Ave, Victoria, BC, Canada V8Z 3B6. Tel: + 1 250 479 9922 Fax: + 1 250 479 2734 Internet: www.jmcrystar.com/products.htm Contact: David Reid (Technical), Fran Steeds (Sales) Producer of Czochrolski-grown sapphire crystals.

Halbleitertechnologie GmbH, Joseph von Fraunhofer Str. 7, 52477 Alsdorf, Gemmny. Tel: +49 2404 90680 Fax: +49 2404 906868 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Mr U Fritz Specialists in LPE, developer of epi reactors and related technologies.


345


594-1, Sungbon-Ri, Daeso-Myun Eumsung-Koon, Choongchungbook-Do, 369820, Korea. Tel: +82 446 879 3294 Fax: +82 446 879 3020 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.cti.net Contact: Bong-Ae Yi Packaging and test service for GaAs MMICs.

1881 Lakeland Ave, Ronkonkona, NY 11779, USA. Tel: + 1 516 981 7081 Fax: + 1 516 981 7095 E-mail: info@ cvdequipment.com Contact: Karen Hamberg Manufacturer of custom deposition systems.

201 Washington Road, Princeton, New Jersey, NJ 08540, USA. Tel: + 1 609 734 2577 Fax: + 1 609 734 2443 E-marl: [email protected] Contact: David Zish Leading US university in semiconductor and electronics research including SOI and severe environment applications.

Tele6atu 14, Fin-20360 Turku, Finland. Tel: +358 22 382 500 Fax: +358 22 388 993 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.dca.co.uk Contact: Heini Jalkanen Designer and manufacturer of high-quality UHV deposition systems for II-Vs, GaN and II-VI MBE, metal/oxide MBE, SiGe MBE, UHV sputtering, UHV laser ablation and UHV-CVD.

346



PA24 St Andrews Road, Great Malvem WR14 3PS, UK. Tel: +44 1684 894404 Fax: +44 1684 895774 E-marl: [email protected] Contact: Dr M J Uren The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency is an agency of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), and is the principal supplier of research and technology advice to the MOD.

2642, Shelby Drive, Pearland, TX 77584, USA. Tel: + 1 713 334 7277 Fax: +1 713 334 5543 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Michael Digilov Substrate supplier.

8-2 Marunouchi, 1-Chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, Japan. Tel: +81 3 3201 1067 Fax: +81 3 3201 1098 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.dowa.co.jp/semicon/'mdex.htm Contact: Kishu Okuda Wide range of III-V source materials and substrates: Ga, In, Zn, Sb, Cu - 7N. Ge, Te, Se, Bi, Mg-6N (Mg is 6N grade).

5577 Skylane Boulevard, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, USA. Tel: + 1 707 542 4227 Fax: + 1 707 579 8599 E-mail: [email protected] Supplier of process equipment to semiconductor and related industries for dicing, cutting and shaping as used in hybrid electronics, sensors, MEMS, displays, electro-optics industries.


347


Environmental Science and Technology, 200 B.J. Tunnell Boulevard, Miami, OK 74354, USA. Tel: + 1 918 542 1801 Fax: + 1 918 542 3223 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.esat.epcorp.com Contact: David Eason Epitaxy of II-VI compounds by MBE or MOVPE. Supplier of CVD chemicals, AVT refill systems for liquids and vapourizers with controllers.

106 Waterhouse Lane, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 2QU, UK. Tel: +44 1245 493493 Fax: +44 1245 492492 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.eev.com Contact: Darren Mitcham GaAs device manufacturer.

45738 Northport Loop West, Freemont, CA 94538, USA. Tel: + 1 501 979 8999 Fax: + 1 501 979 8902 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.eiccorp.com Manufacturer of HBT MMICs.

155 Campus Plaza, Edison, NJ 08818-5812, USA. Tel: + 1 732 225 3995 Fax: + 1 732 225 3580 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.pingsite.com\ett Contact: William M Ayers On-site gas generators: arsine and phosphine point-of-use gas generators for CWD, gas source MBE and ion-implant application.

348



394 Elizabeth Avenue, Somerset, NJ 08873, USA. Tel: + 1 732 271-9090 Fax: + 1 732 271-9686 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.emcore.com Contact: Tom Miehe Manufacturer of TurboDisc deposition systems, micro- and optoelectronic components (see Company Profile, Chapter 8).

Unit 5, Chesterton Mills, French's Road, Cambridge CB4 3NP, UK. Tel: +44 1223 352244 Fax: +44 1223 452444 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.emf.co.uk Contact: Jim Dixon Source materials, epiwafers and deposition equipment manufacturer.

321 Soquel Way, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, USA. Tel: + 1 408 737 7300 Fax: + 1 408 737 6794 Internet: www.endgate.com Supplier of broadband access equipment.

Power Road, Bromborough, Wirral, Merseyside L62 3QF, UK. Tel: + 1 151 334 2774 Fax: + 1 151 334 6422 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.epichem.com Contact: Dr Lesley Smith Manufacturer and supplier of a range of speciality chemicals and gases used in the electronic, optoelectronic and glass coating industries.


349


K6penicker Str. 325b, Haus 201, D-12555 Berlin, Germany. Tel: +49 3065 762544 Fax: +49 3065 762545 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.eipgap.de Contact: Dr B Kloth Supplier of substrates.

Ideon, 233 70 Lund, Sweden. Tel: +46 46 286 8980 Fax: + 46 46 286 8989 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.eqigress.se Contact: Jan-Olav Fornell Equipment for crystal growth and etching of compound semiconductors such as SiC and III-Vs. Bulk growth of SiC with sublimation and epitaxial growth of SiC with CVD.

Bwthyn Cadwen, Pen y cae Mawr, Usk, Gwent, Wales, UK. Tel: +44 1291 671002 Fax: +44 1291 671003 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Richard Kubiak EpiSoft offers computer control for solid- and gas-source deposition technologies (MBE, CWD,etc).

1450 South Rolling Road, Baltimore, MD 21227, USA. Tel: + 1 410 455 5594 Fax: + 1 410 455 5595 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.erols.com/epiwafers/ Contact: Dr Leye Aina Manufacturer of epitaxial wafers.

350



550 West Juanita Avenue, Mesa, AZ 85210, USA. Tel: + 1 623 581 3663 Fax: + 1 623 581 3415 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.epitronics.com Contact: Kathy Von Burg Epitronics (part of ATMI Inc) offers a b r o a d s p e c t r u m of c o m p o u n d semiconductor wafers and epitaxy.

2908 Scott Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA. Tel: + 1 408 970 8664 Fax: + 1 408 970 8998 E-mail: [email protected] Supplier of high performance RF and microwave semiconductor discrete devices and ICs.

BallincoUig, Cork, Ireland. Tel: +353 21 872814. Fax: +353 21 873892. E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.farran.com Supplier of components and subsystems.

Heighington Lane Business Park, Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham DL5 6J~, UK. Tel: +44 1325 301111 Fax: +44 1325 306177 Intemet: www.ffitronic.com Manufacturer of GaAs MMICs.


351


3251 Olcott Street, Santa Clara, CA 95054-3095, USA. Tel: + 1 408 562 2832 Fax: + 1 408 970 9950 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www. filtronicsolidstate.com Contact: Peter Sahjani Manufacturer of GaAs and InP microelectronic devices.

2950 Highway Drive, Trail, BC, Canada VlR 2T3. Tel: + 1 250 364 5643 Fax: + 1 250 364 5685 E-marl: [email protected] Contact: G Fines Manufacturer of specialist semiconductor crystals and substrates.

Am Junger L6we Schacht 5, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany. Tel: +49 3731 280480 Fax: +49 3731 280106 E-maih [email protected] Intemet: www.fcm-germany.com Contact: V Geidel Major supplier of SI LEC GaAs substrates.

2355 Zanker Road, San Jose, CA 95131-1138, USA. Tel: + 1 408 232 9500 Fax: + 1 408 232 9665 E-maih kgailey@ fcsi.fujitsu.com Internet: www.fcsi.fujitsu.com Contact: Karen Gailey Manufacturer of GaAs devices.

352



1000 Kamisukiahara, Showa-cho, Nakakomagun, Yamanashi 409-3883, Japan. Tel: +81 552 75 4411 Fax: +81 552 75 9461 Intemet: www.fuj itsu. co.jp/hypertext/fqd/index-e.html Contact: K Hayashi Manufacturer of GaAs devices.

C o m p o u n d Semiconductor Department, New Business Development Division, 6-1, Marunouchi 2-Chome, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 100, Japan. Tel: +81 0 3 3286-3219 Fax: +81 0 3 3286-3965 Internet: www.furukawa.co.jp Contact: H Matsushita Supplier of GaAs MOVPE wafers.

Mileparken 22, DK-2740 Skovlunde, Denmark. Tel: +45 70 10 10 62 Fax: + 45 70 10 10 63 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.giga.dk Contact: Lea Lauta Device m a n u f a c t u r e r (Intel subsidiary) for t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , datacommunications and video markets.

23155 Kashiwa Court, Torrance, CA 90505, USA. Tel: + 1 310 530 5890 Fax: + 1 310 530 7279 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.gscincorp.com Contact: Brian Dlugosch HBT and HFET foundry services for the telecommunications and high-speed network industries.


353


Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge CB4 4DJ, UK. Tel: + 11 1223 568068 Fax: +44 1223 420639 E-maih [email protected] Intemet: www.goodfellow.com Contact: Mr Aldersley Supplier of high-purity source materials.

BP No. 29, 75560 Paris, Cedex 12, France. 68, Avenue du General Michel Bizot, 75012 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 447 31072 Fax: +33 1 447 31053 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www.promecome.com Contact: Dr Elie Prudhommeaux Source materials and wafer supplier.

1675-4 Shinil-Dong, Taedok-Gu, Taejon 306-230, Korea. Tel: +8242 935 4900 Fax: +8242 935 4905 E-mail: sales @hanvac.co.kr Internet: www.hanvac.co.kr MOCVD systems for epitaxial growth of Group III nitrides for blue LEDs, etc.

Route de Geneve 42, Cheseaux 1033, Switerland. Tel: +41 21 731 9100 Fax: +41 21 731 9101 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: P Marechal Manufacturer of crystal shaping and wafering equipment.

354



2 Prosperity Road II, 1st Floor, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Tel: +886 3 577 0512 Fax: + 886 3 577 0512 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.hw.com.tw Contact: K Chsu Manufacturer of GaAs devices for wireless applications.

Chiyoda Building, 2-1-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, Japan. Tel: +81 3 5252 3686 Fax: +81 3 3213 0402 E-marl: bryan-miskin@cc'hitachi'cable'c~ Intemet: www.hitachi-cable, co.jp Contact: Bryan J Miskin Manufacturer of GaAs substrate and micro- and opto-electronic devices.

6 Kanda Surugadai, 4-chome, Chiyodaoku, Tokyo 101, Japan. Tel: +81 3 2851111 Contact: K Mita Manufacturer of devices.

PO Box 788, Alfred, NY 14802, USA. Tel: + 1 607 587 9146 Fax: + 1 607 587 8770 Contact: John Battey Manufacturer of high-temperature process materials.


355


12 Elizabeth Drive, Chelmsford, MA 01824, USA. Tel: + 1 978 250 3343 Fax: + 1 978 250 3373 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.hittite.com Contact: N Hildreth Device designer and manufacturer.

830 East Arapaho Road, Richardson, TX 75081, USA. Tel: + 1 972 234 4271 Fax: + 1 972 470 4417 Contact: J Staley Developer and manufacturer of radhard and high-temperature electronic devices.

10701 Lyndale Avenue South, Bloomington, MN 55420, USA. Tel: + 1 612 956 4741 Fax: + 1 612 956 4517 Internet: www.htc.honeyweU.com Contact: David Fulkerson Developer and manufacturer of radhard and high-temperature electronic devices.

3F, Haklim Bldg, #115-1, Nonhyun-Dong, Kangnam-Ku, Seoul, Korea. Intemet: www.hwakwang.co.kr InP LEC single-crystal, high-purity indium and other high-purity metals.

356



32 Cherry Hill Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Tel: + 1 703 563 8600 Fax: + 1 978 539 6570 E-maih [email protected] Contact: AI Alioto SOI processes and equipment.

1580 Route 52, HopeweU Junction, NY 12533-6531, USA. Tel: + 1 914 892 2450 Fax: + 1 914 892 2003 E-maih [email protected] Contact: David Fouts Contract chemical analysis of semiconductors.

101, ZA des Pradeaux Greasque, France. Tel: + 33 442 6998 72 Fax: +33 442 6998 73 E-maih [email protected] Contact: Ms Barbara Prohaczl~ Implantation of semiconductors.

Manuflex House, Evercreech Way, Walrow Industrial Estate, Highbridge, Somerset TA9 4AN, UK. Tel: +44 1278 795678 Fax: +44 1278 795677 Contact: Peter J Vernon Design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of air pollution control for the semiconductor sector, including the treatment of highly toxic gases fi'om MOCVD.


357


3050 Oakmead Village Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95051, USA. Tel: + 1 408 727 2547 Fax: + 1 408 727 1322 E-marl: [email protected] Contact: Arnold Framption Ion implantation services for production and research.

Eisenfelden 92, 84543 WinhOring, Germany. Tel: + 49 08671 73442 Fax: +49 08671 73443 Contact: JOrg Schwar Reclaiming (recycling) of GaAs and InP wafers.

Kapeldreef75, Leuven 3001, Belgium. Tel: +32 1628 1211 Fax: +32 1622 9400 Internet: www.imec.be Contact: J van Helleputte Contract R&D process development.

107 Audubon Road #5, Wakefield, MA 01880-1246, USA. Tel: 781 246 0700 Fax: 781 246 1167 E-mail: mail@ implantsciences.com Intemet: www.implantsciences, com Ion implantation products.

358



1676 Lincoln Ave, PO Box 269, Utica, NY 13503, USA. Tel: + 1 315 853 4900 Fax: +1 315 853 1000 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Claire Mikol A producer of indium and products based on indium.

Ecopolis Martigues Sud, 2, Alle6 Thomas Edison, 13500 Martigues, France. Tel: +33 442 07 0996 Fax: + 33 442 40 3109 Contact: Eric Quillien Supplier of a large range of high-purity organometaUic sources for compound semiconductors.

i.Gr., PO Box 801709, D-80000 Munich, Germany Tel: +49 89 23424497 Fax: +49 89 234 28482 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.infineon.com Semiconductor manufacturer, including GaAs devices.

00-241 Warszawa, uI Dhiga 44/50, Poland. Tel: +48 22 315 164 Fax: +48 22 315 160 Contact: Professor M A Herman Designing and manufacturing of UHV c o m p o n e n t s , especially for MBE technology and surface analysis effusion cells, manipulators, transfer systems and vacuum locks, quadrupole mass spectrometers, RHEED systems, ion guns, etc.


359


203 Wigton Gardens, Stanmore, Middlesex HA7 1BG, UK. Tel: +44 181 204 8142 Fax: +44 181 204 6142 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.isa-gs.co.uk Contact: C Kemp Manufacturer and distributor of instrumentation and components for spectroscopy.

Scheidter str.133, Saarbrucken 66123, Germany. Tel: + 49 681 301 400 72 Fax: + 49 681 938 7005 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.icsld.com Contact: Alex Weber Manufacturer of advanced epitaxial structures.

201 E. Arapaho, Suite 200, Richardson, TX 75081, USA. Tel: + 1 972 234 0068 Fax: + 1 972 234 0069 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.intelliepi.com Contact: Dr Yung Chung Kao MBE wafer supplier.

Assenovgradsko shosse, Plovdiv 4009, Bulgaria. Tel: +359 32 62 30 60 Fax: +359-32 62 30 62 E-mail: interc@ plovdiv.inetg.bg Internet: www.inetg.bg/home/interc/index.html Contact: Uriy Grigorev Supplier of materials including gallium arsenide and gallium phosphide.

360


Directory of Leading Suppliers ,

,

,

Cypress Drive, St MeUons, Cardiff, Wales CF3 0EG, UK. Tel: +44 1222 794422 Fax: +44 1222 779929 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www. epitaxial-products.com Contact: Dr Mike Scott Manufacturer of custom GaAs and InP MOCVD and MBE epiwafers.

119 Technology Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA. Tel: + 1 610 861 6930 Fax: + 1 610 861 5273 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.iqep.com Contact: James McKeown Manufacturer of SI Ga/~ MBE wafers.

921 La Mesa Drive, Portola Valley, CA 94028, USA. Tel: + 1 650 494 6851 Fax: + 1 650 858 2519 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Richard Iamb Supplier of substrates and related source materials.

3050 Oakmead village Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95051, USA. Tel: + 1 408 727 2547 Fax: + 1 408 727 1322 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.iico.com Contact: Nicki Cox Specialist ion implantation services.


361


Compound Semiconductor Marketing Dept., 10-1 Toranomon 2-Chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, Japan. Tel: +81 3 5573 6592 Fax: +81 3 5573 6779 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.j-energy.co.jp Contact: Mr Yasutake Manufacturer of InP substrates, GaAs epiwafers and opto devices, e.g. detectors.

654M Street, Suite 102, Lincoln, NE 68508, USA. Tel: + 1 402 477 7501 Fax: + 1 402 477 8214 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.jawollam.com Contact: James Hilfiker Manufacturer of spectroscopic eUipsometers.

East 15128 Euclid Avenue, Spokane, WA 99216, USA. Tel: + 1 509 924 2200 Fax: + 1 509 921 8734 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.jmei.com Contact: Jeff Edel Supplier of substrates and related source materials.

70 South Greenbush Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA. Tel: + 1 914 398 2000 Fax: + 1 914 398 2222 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.kdf.com Contact: Todd Plaisted Manufacturer of PVD and sputtering equipment.

362



Rankine Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK Tel: +44 141 330 4869 Fax: +44 141 330 3726 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www. elec. gla. ac. uk/groups/knt/KNTMBE, html Contact: Dr Simon Hicks MBE-based epitaxy services.

695 Myles Standish Boulevard, Taunton, MA 02780, USA. Tel: + 1 508 824 6696 Fax: + 1 508 822 1381 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.kopin.com Contact: Matthew Micci Manufacturer of HBT epiwafers.

Han IL Building lOth Floor, 2KA 64-5, Chung Mu-Ro, Chung-Ku, Seoul, Korea. Tel: +82 2 775 7851 Fax: +82 2 776 2522 E-marl: [email protected] Contact: J H Kim Affiliated to Epichem Ltd.

555 S. Forest Avenue, Suite 4B, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, USA. Tel: + 1 313 668 4644 Fax: + 1 313 668 4663 Manufacturer of KSA 300 family of turnkey RHEED and LEED imaging systems.



Crystal Products Division, 205 Liberty Street, Metuchen, NJ 08840, USA. Tel: + 1 908 549 9222 Fax: + 1 908 549 9897 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Steve Lemer Manufacturer of GaAs and Ge single-crystal substrates.

200 East Hanover Avenue, Morris Plains, NJ 07950, USA. Tel: + 1 201 539 5500 Fax: + 1 201 539 2210 Internet: www.airtron.com Contact: Robert Ochrym GaAs substrate supplier.

Erskine Ferry Road, Old Kilpatrick, Glasgow G60 5EU, Scotland, UK. Tel: +44 1389 875444 Fax: +44 1389 890956 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: David Humphries Manufacturer and supplier of high-precision lapping, polishing, sawing machines and technical accessories.

PO Box 5016, Unit FC, Gas Research & Technology Centre, Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leics LEll 3WS, UK. Tel: +44 1509 283069 Fax: +44 1509 283067 Internet: www.isaltd.co.uk Contact: David Sykes Surface and bulk analysis of semiconductor materials and related products using SIMS (dynamic and static), AES, XPS, LIMA and GDMS.

364



1011 Pawtucket Boulevard, PO Box 3295, Lowell, MA 01853-3295, USA. Tel: + 1 978 442 5000 Fax: + 1 978 442 5350 E-maih [email protected] Intemet: www.macom.com Contact: Judy Kronwasser RF device manufacturer.

100 Chelmsford Street, Lowell, MA 01851, USA. Tel: + 1 978 656 2630 Fax: + 1 978 656 2800 E-maih kobar@ tycoelectronics.com Intemet: www. macom-gaaswafers.com Contact: Richard Koba, Technical Sales Manager SI GaAs and InP substrate supplier.

106 Waterhouse Lane, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 2QU, UK. Tel: +44 1245 493493 Fax: +44 1245 492492 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.marconitech.com See EEV Ltd entry.

5869 Beacon Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217, USA. Tel: +1 412 421 3103 Fax: + 1 412 421 1826 Contact: J Spieckerman Substrate supplier.


365


Semiconductor Group, 1-1 Saiwai-cho, Takatsuki-shi, Osaka 569-1193, Japan. Tel: +81 726 82 5521 Fax: +81 726 82 3093 Intemet: www.panasonic.com Manufacturer of GaAs devices.

14 Science Park Drive #04-03, Singapore Science Park, Singapore 118226. Tel: +65 7735211 Fax: +65 7735068 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.mbetech.com Contact: L G Yeap Manufacturer of GaAs epiwafer electronic structures, including HEMT, PHEMT, MESFET and HBT.

44060 Old Warm Springs Boulevard, Fremont, CA 94538, USA. Tel: + 1 510 770 2350 Fax: + 1 510 659 9692 E-mail: info@menloindustries, com Internet: www.menloindustries.com GaAs device manufacturer.

58 rue R. Salengro, 94126 Fontenay sous Bois, Cedex, France. Tel: +33 1 4394 4700 Fax: +33 1 4876 5576 Contact: F de Vaulgrenant Supplier of high-purity source materials.

366



Metals Research Semiconductors Ltd Newton Hall, Newton, Cambridge CB2 5PE, UK. Tel: +44 1223 872822 Fax: +44 1223 872983 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: D Rumsby Supplier of e q u i p m e n t for research and p r o d u c t i o n of III-V and II-VI semiconductors.

75 Technology Drive, Lowell, MA 01851, USA. Tel: + 1 978 442 5600 Fax: + 1 978 937 3748 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www. microsemi.com/corporate/products/rfics Contact: Dr Michael Kim Manufacturer of RFICs (formerly HBT business of Infinesse Corp).

4268 Solar Way, Freemont, CA 94538, USA. Tel: + 1 510 651 6700 Fax: + 1 510 651 2208 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.mwtinc.com Contact: William Wilson G a ~ FET manufacturer.

Optoelectronic & Microwave Devices Laboratory, Kita-Itami Works, 4-1 Mizuhara, Itami City, Hyogo 664, Japan. Tel: +81 727 84 7384 Fax: +81 727 80 2694 Contact: Dr Yasuo Mitsui Manufacturer of FETs and MMICs.


367

Directory of Leading Supph'ers

1050 East Arques Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, USA. Tel: + 1 408 730 5900 Fax: + 1 408 732 9382 Internet: www.mitsubishichips, com GaAs FETs and MMICs.

2100 East Elliot Road, Tempe, AZ 85284, USA. Tel: + 1 480 413 3840 Fax: + 1 480 413 7986 E-marl: rtn 180@ E-mail.sps.mot.com Internet: motorola.com/wireless-semi Contact: Bob Benzer Manufacturer of GaAs devices for mobile communications.

6200 Eubank Boulevard, N.E. #415, Albuquerque, NM 87111-7313, USA. Tel: + 1 505 294 5761 Fax: + 1 505 294 5772 Contact: Roger Waldock Manufactures, re-manufactures and markets a complete range of crystal fabrication equipment.

5327 Jacuzzi Street, Bldg 3G, Richmond, CA 94804, USA. Tel: + 1 510 525 3070 Fax: + 1 510 525 4728 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.mticrystal.com Contact: Dr A P B Sinha Substrate manufacturer and distributor.

368



300 Atrium Drive, Second Floor, Somerset NJ 08873-4105, USA. Tel: + 1 732 537 3700 Fax: + 1 732 805 9177 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www.multilink.cc Supplier of G a ~ MMICs.

Nagaokakyo-Shi, Kyoto 617, Japan. Tel: +81 77 586 8541 Fax: +81 77 587 6782 E-mail. [email protected] Internet: www.murata.co.jp Contact: Hiroshi Iwatsubo Manufacturer of MMICs for WLAN and Bluetooth applications.

9-1, Seiran, 2-Chome, Otsu, Shiga 520, Japan. Tel: +81 775 37 7690 Fax: +81 775 37 7699 E-maih [email protected] Int~met: www.nec.co.jp Contact: Dr Hideaki Kouzu GaAs device manufacturer.

Compound Semiconductor Device Division, 3-1 Wakamiya, Morinosato, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa 243-01, Japan. Tel: + 81 462 40 4051 Fax: +81 462 50 2488 Contact: Tohru Takada Broad range of standard logic ICs.


369


3-10, Nihonbashi Yokoyama-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8456, Japan. Tel: +81 3 5642 8222 Fax: +81 3 5642 8220 Intemet: www.njr.co.jp Manufacturer of microwave components and GaAs FETs.

125 N. Price Road, Chandler, AZ 85224, USA. Tel: + 1 602 732 9857 Fax: + 1 602 822 0779 E-marl: [email protected] American subsidiary of Japan Energy. Supplier of high-purity materials and epiwafers.

1-16-7, Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, Japan. Tel: +81 3 3581 8484 Fax: +81 3 3581 8249/9954 Contact: Atushi Kuroda MOVPE systems designed and built to order; gases, sources, equipment, MOVPE, etc.

Advanced Technology Research Laboratories, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229, Japan. Tel: + 81 427 68 6174 Fax: +81 427 68 5973 Specialist maker of SOI wafers and related materials.

370



Korkeakoulunkatu 1, Tampere 33720, Finland. Tel: +358 3365 2994 Fax: + 358 3365 2995 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: w w w . n o r d i c e p i ~ c o m Contact: Petteri Uusimaa Merchant epiwafer supplier.

PO Box 3511 Station C, Ottawa, Canada ON K1Y 4H7. Tel: + 1 613 763 3584 Fax: + 1 613 763 6729 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.nortel.com Contact: Gary Tomkins Almost exclusively captive device manufacturer.

1350 Beulah Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15235-5080, USA. Tel: + 1 412 256 2807 Fax: + 1 412 256 1310 E-marl: [email protected] Contact: H w Jones Specialist high-performance semiconductor ICs for military and aerospace applications.

678 N. Glenville Drive, Richardson TX 75081, USA. Tel: + 1 214 664 0550 Fax: + 1 214 664 1288 Contact: Lauri Hudgins-Boudreaux Substrate supplier, including: silicon, quartz, glass, GaAs, GaP and other III-Vs.


371


12030 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 300, Reston, Virginia, VA 22091, USA. Tel: + 1 703 476 2222 Fax: + 1 703 476 2221 Specialist supplier of advanced electronic materials.

916 Main Street, Acton, MA 01720, USA. Tel: + 1 978 929 9458 Fax: + 1 978 929 9459 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.novotechinc.com Contact: Hassan Mechiche Speciality metals supplier.

3-1, Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-01, Japan. Tel: + 81 462 50 3344 Fax: +81 462 47 8431 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.ntt-at.co.jp Contact: Gako Araki Producer of GaAs MOVPE and MBE epiwafers.

550-1 Higashiasakawa-cho, Hachioji, Tokyo 193, Japan. Tel: + 81 426 63 1111 Fax: +81 426 66 7213 Internet: www.okisemi.com GaAs device manufacturer.

372. GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

Directory of Leading Supp/iers

785 N. Mary Avenue, Sunnyvale, California 94086-2909, USA. Tel: + 1 408 720 1900 Fax: + 1 408 720 1918 Internet: www.okisemi.com GaAs device manufacturer.

Makituvantie 2, Vantaa 01510, Finland. Tel: +358 950 2800 Fax: +358 950 280 500 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Annikki Vuola Manufacturer of silicon and silicon carbide wafers.

22 Avenue Descartes, BP 11, 94453 Limeil-Brevannes Cedex, France. Tel: + 33 1 45106731 Fax: +33 1 45106953 E-marl: [email protected] Intemet: www.ommic.fr Device manufacturer (formerly LEP-Philips Microwave).

2015 West Chestnut Street, Alhambra, CA91803-1542, USA. Tel: + 1 626 281 3636 Fax: + 1 626 281 8231 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.ortel.com Manufacturer of RF signal and fibre-optic transmission products.



Crawley Mill, Witney, Oxon OX8 5TJ, UK. Tel: +44 1993 773575 Fax: +44 1993 702326 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.oaresearch.co.uk Contact: Christian Bradley Manufacturer of scientific instruments for thin-film research.

North End, Yatton, Avon BS19 4AP, UK Tel: + 44 1934 87 6444 Fax: +44 1934 83 4918 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.oxinst.co.uk Contact: Bedwyr Humphries Oxford Plasma Technology, part of the O x f o r d I n s t r u m e n t s G r o u p , manufactures plasma and ion beam etch and deposition equipment.

270 Polaris Avenue, Mountatin View, CA 94043, USA. Tel: + 1 650 938 6550 Fax: + 1 650 938 6551 Intemet: www.p 1.diamond.corn Contact: Dr M Pinneo, President Manufacturer of CWD diamond films.

2844 Mar Vista Drive, Suite 101, Aptos, CA 95003, USA. Tel: +1 831 419 5119 Fax: + 1 831 684 2494 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.pacwireless.com Contact: Scott Parsons GaAs MMIC manufacturer.

374



450 Chelmsford Street, Lowell, MA 01851, USA. Tel: + 1 508 934 0854 Fax: + 1 508 934 073 Contact: Steven Korkin Supplier of R&D services, specialized equipment and high-purity electronicgrade materials.

6175 Nancy Ridge Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA. Tel: + 1 619 455 0660 Fax: + 1 619 455 0770 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: William R Peavey Manufacturer of ICs based on core technology ultra-thin-silicon CMOS, an SOI technology whereby ICs are fabricated in a thin layer of silicon on an insulating dielectric substrate, such as sapphire.

Lelyweg 1, 7602 EA Almelo, The Netherlands. Tel: + 31 546 534444 Fax: + 31 546 534598 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.philips.com/axr Contact: Astrid Hofland Supplier of systems for characterization of Ga~.

Place Marcel Rebuffat, Parc de ViUejust, 91971 Courtaboeuf 7 Cedex, France. Tel: +33 1 69 31 61 O0 Fax: +33 1 6 9 3 1 6 1 7 8 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.picogiga.com Contact: L T Nuyen Merchant vendor of GaAs and InP MBE wafers.


375


Route des Michels, F-13790 Peynier, France. Tel: +33 442 29 19 79 Fax: +33 442 29 19 70 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.picopolish.com Contact: Gerard Gilles Production of reclaimed GaAs wafers.

850 North Dorothy Drive, Suite 504, Richardson, TX 75081, USA. Tel: + 1 214 680 1811 Fax: + 1 214 680 1539 Contact: Bill Dillon Producer of ECR-enhanced etch and CVD reactors for a wide range of process applications.

1601 S. Slate Street, Decatur, TX 76234, USA. Tel: + 1 817 627 2121 Fax: + 1 817 627 7516 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.poco.com Contact: James Duran Manufacturer of speciality graphite and silicon carbide products for the semiconductor industry.

826 Roosevelt Road, Rockford, IL 61109, USA. Tel: + 1 815 398 1788 Fax: + 1 815 398 1810 Supplier of chemicals.

376



1F, No. 54, Park Avenue II, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Tel: +886 3 577 3727 Fax: +886 3 577 3706 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.procomp.com.tw Contact: Charly Lee GaAs microwave epiwafer supplier.

Hauert 18, Technologiepark, D-44227 Dortmund, Germany. Tel: +49 231 97 50 000 Fax: + 49 231 9750005 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Dr Alan Bullock Manufacturer of sophisticated pattern generators for ultrahigh-resolution lithography applications.

5, B.Tolmachevskij per., Moscow 109017, Russia. Tel: +7 095 239 9681 Fax: +7 095 956 4944 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: ramet.ad.ru/III-V.htm Producer of a wide range of III-V materials.

362 Lowell Street, Andover, MA 01810, USA. Tel: + 1 978 684 8538 Fax: + 1 978 470 9452 E-mail: david_w_laks @me. raytheon.com Intemet: www. raytheon.com/micro Contact: David Iaks Manufacturer of G a ~ devices.


377


PO Box 4796, Wayne, NJ 07474-4796, USA. Tel: + 1 201 575 4245 Fax: + 1 201 575 6460 Contact: Melvin J Hollander Supplier of speciality metals, alloys, ceramics, intermetallics, thin-film deposition materials, custom fabrications and 'one off' components.

7625 Thomdike road, Greensboro, NC 27409, USA. Tel: + 1 336 664 1233 Fax: + 1 336 664 0454 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.rfmd.com Contact: M Coady Manufacturer of HBT MMICs.

133 Boulevard National, Rueil Malmaison 92305, France. Tel: +33 147 089 250 Fax: +33 147 083 239 Contact: Michel Picault Manufacturer of R&D and multiwafer production MBE systems.

Carrington House 130 Regent Street, London WIR 6BR, UK. Tel: +44 171 439 4390 Fax: + 44 171 434 0896 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: J w Brendel Manufacturer of a wide range of crystalline materials and related products.

3"/8



21 Saiin Mizosaki-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8585, Japan. Tel: +81 75 311 2121 Fax: +81 75 315 0172 Intemet: www.rohm.co.jp Contact: J Hikita Manufacturer of G a ~ devices.

North Andover, MA, USA. Tel: + 1 978 557 1700 Fax: + 1 978 557 1701 Internet: www. metalorganics.com Manufacturer of high-purity source materials.

Afdeling Consumentenbelagen, Antwoordnummer 500, 5600 VB Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Tel: + 31 40 2732305 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.philips.com Manufacturer of G a ~ devices.

12090, Schepkin, Moscow 22, Russia. Tel: +7 095 284 8298 Fax: + 7 095 284 8148 Contact: Dr Victor Yu Taygankov, General Director Software, hardware, DI water, inspection equipment, photoresist application, power supplies, circuit design, market studies, publications, failure analysis and vision systems.


379


250, 2-ga, Taepyung-ro, Chung-gu, Seoul 100-742, Korea. Tel: +82 2 727 7692 Fax: +82 2 727 7826 Intemet: www.samsung.co.kr Manufacturer of FETs and ICs for RF and wireless applications.

Microwave, Space & Mission Electronics, 65 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, NH 03061-0868, USA. Tel: + 1 603 885 7550 Fax: + 1 603 885 6061 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.sanders.com Contact: Philip M Smith MMIC fabrication and custom design services.

5-5 Keihan Hondori 2-chome, Moriguchi City, Osaka 570-8677, Japan. Tel: +81 6 991 1181 Fax: + 81 6 991 6566 Internet: www.sanyo.co.jp Microelectronic component manufacturer, including G a ~ FETs.

PO Box 36, Kings Langley WD4 8GA, UK. Tel: +44 1923 400100 Fax: +44 1923 268458 E-maih [email protected] Contact: Eric Don SemiMetrics offers instrumentation for III-V or II-VI characterization, including depth profiling by CV or electrochemical m e t h o d s and wafer mapping.

380


Directory of Leading Suppfiers

SENTECH Instruments GmbH Rudower Chaussee 6, D-12489 Berlin, Germany. Tel: +49 030 6392 5220 Fax: +49 030 6392 5522 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.sentech.de Contact: Dr Helmut Witek SENTECH develops manufactures and sells thin-film measurement systems such as research-, spectroscopic- and in situ ellipsometers.

35041 Marburg, Annablickweg 12, Germany. Tel: +49 6421 68 24 26 Fax: +49 6421 68 24 27 E-marl: saltmann@psl 515.chemie.uni-marburg.de Internet: staff-www.uni-marburg.del--sgs Contact: Dr Arnd Grafting Metal organic c o m p o u n d s for MOCVD, MOVPE, MOMBE and CBE applications.

22-22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545, Japan. Tel: +81 6 621 1221 Fax: +81 6117 725300 Intemet: www.sharp.co.jp Manufacturer of microelectronic components, including GaAs FETs.

4111 North East 112th Avenue, Vancouver, WA 98682-6776, USA. Tel: + 1 360 883 7000 Fax: + 1 360 254 6973 Intemet: www.sehamerica.com Manufacturer of semiconductor wafers.


381


951 Mariners Island Boulevard, Suite 680, San Mateo, CA 94404, USA. Tel: + 1 415 345 1338 Fax: + 1 415 345 5403 E-marl: 74211. [email protected] Contact: Bettye Garrett Supplier of GaAs epiwafers and substrates.

13-9 Shiba Diamon 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, Japan. Tel: + 81 3 5470 3503 Fax: +81 3 3435 1034 Contact: Mr Y Kano Manufacturer of GaAs epiwafers and substrates.

501 Pearl Drive, PO Box 8, St Peters, MO 63376-0008, USA. Tel: + 1 314 279 5500 Fax: + 1 314 279 5158 Intemet: www.memc.com/sibond, htm MEMC and IBM founded SiBond to produce SOI bonded wafers.

Heinrich-Herz-Plaz 2, D-92275 Eschenfelden, Germany. Tel: +49 96 65 91 370 Fax: +49 96 65 91 3790 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.sicrystal.de Contact: Dr Robert Eckstein ([email protected]) Christian Diehl ([email protected]) Supplier of SiC wafers.

382


Directory' of Leading Suppliers

2680 Queensview Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2B 8J9. Tel: + 1 613 820 9244 Fax: + 1 613 820 4933 E-marl: [email protected] intemet: www.sige.com Contact: Andy Fraser Supplies a silicon-germanium epitaxy service and process development service.

4701 Patrick Henry Drive #1, Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA. Tel: + 1 408 567 1000 Fax: + 1 408 496 6080 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.silvaco.com C o m m e r c i a l d e v e l o p e r of CAD s o f t w a r e for the d e v e l o p m e n t of semiconductor processes and the optimization of IC device designs.

227 Berwick Avenue, Slough Trading Estate, Slough, Berkshire SL1 4QT, UK. Tel: +44 1753 571356 Fax: +44 1753 536617 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.sintec-keramik.de Contact: David Forrest. Manufacturer and developer of CVD materials.

4 Carters Lane, Kiln Farm, Milton Keynes MKll 3ER, UK. Tel: + 44 1908 564889 Fax: + 44 1908 568354 Contact: Dr David Bernard Sales and service of deposition systems for MBE, PLD, UHV sputtering and MOCVD reactors, including multiwafer substrate heating and rotation manipulators.


383


Parc Technologique des Fontaines, 38190 Bemin, France. Tel: +33 476 927500 Fax: +33 4 6 927501 E-maih [email protected] Intemet: www.soitec.com Contact: Andr~ Auberton-Herv~ Manufacturer of SOI wafers.

30 Two Bridges Road, Fairfield, NJ 07004, USA. Tel: + 1 201 882 7900 Fax: + 1 201 882 7967 E-maih [email protected] Contact: Nancy McGrath Solkatronic Chemicals is the largest basic producer of arsine, hydrogen selenide and silicon tetrafluoride.

4-14-1 Asahi-cho, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa 243, Japan. Tel: + 81 462 30 5111 Fax: +81 462 30 5160 Contact: M Takahashi Manufacturer of GaAs micro- and optoelectronic devices.

One Patriots Park, Bedford, MA 01730-2396, USA. Tel: + 1 617 275 6000 Fax: + 1 617 275 7470 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.spirecorp.com Contact: Kenneth Murphy III-Vs materials supplier.

:384 Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices


726 Palomar Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, USA. Tel: + 1 408 616 5400 Fax: + 1 408 739 0970 E-mail: danj@ stanfordmicro.com Internet: www. standfordmicro.com Contact: Dan Jensen RFIC manufacturer for telecommunications market.

22660 Executive Drive, Suite 101, Sterling, VA 20166, USA. Tel: + 1 703 8347535 Fax: + 1 703 8347537 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.sterling-semiconductor.com Contact: Jim LeMunyon Manufacturer of SiC wafers.

750 South 32nd Street, Washougal, WA 98671, USA. Tel: + 1 360 835 2001 Fax: + 1 360 835 9848 Manufacturer of SOS epiwafers (formerly Union Carbide Crystal Products).

Electronic Materials Division, 27-1 Shinkawa 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 1048260, Japan. Tel: +81 3 5543 5816 Fax: + 81 35543 5934 E-mail: gaas@ sumitomoelectricusa.com Internet: www.sumitomo35.com Contact: A Kid Substrates: GaAs, InP, InSb, InAs and GaSb (single crystal and polycrystal); epiwafers: chloride VPE, LEP, MBE and OMVPE.


385


1-6-1, Suehiro-cho, Ohme-shi, Tokyo, 198-8601, Japan. Tel: +81 428 31 1106 Fax: +81 428 31 1392 E-marl: Takashi_Hasegawa@ el. smm. co.jp Contact: Takashi Hasegawa Manufacturer of GaAs substrates.

8775-M, Center Park Drive, #160, Columbia, MD 21045, USA. Tel: + 1 410 772 0078 Fax: + 1 410 772 0079 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.superepi.com Epiwafer manufacturer.

Imperial Park, Newport NPIO 8UJ, UK. Tel: +44 1633 652400 Fax: +44 1633 652405 E-maih [email protected] Intemet: www.stsystems.com Contact: Dr J Bhardwaj Manufacturer of etch and deposition equipment.

7620 Executive Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344, USA. Tel: + 1 612 934 2100 Fax: + 1 612 934 2737 E-marl: [email protected] Manufacturer of deposition and process monitoring equipment for III-V MBE and UHV/CVD Si-Ge materials research.

386



1333 Gateway Drive, Suite 1017, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA. Tel: + 1 407 728 8889 Fax: + 1 407 728 9587 Supplier of a range of specialist semiconductor devices for military/aerospace industries.

401 Camp Craft road, Austin, TX 78746, USA. Tel: + 1 512 306 1100 Fax: + 1 512 306 1122 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.spec.com Contact: Keith Jamison Develops and m a r k e t s a range of t e c h n o l o g i e s for GaAs and s e n s o r applications.

8660 Dakota Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA. Tel: + 1 301 897 3229 Fax: + 1 301 208 8342 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: K Vassilevski TDI is pursuing the development of bulk crystals, epitaxial structures and devices over a range of materials with applications in short-wavelength optoelectronics and high-power semiconductor electronics.

Plasma und Ionenstrahlsysteme, Dieselstrasse 22a, D-85551 Kircheim near Munich, Germany Tel: +49 89 905030 Fax: + 49 89 90490323 E-mail: 106271.2247 @compuserve.corn Contact: Gerhard Liebel Supplier of plasma and ion beam systems for semiconductor applications.


387


2201 S. McDowell Boulevard, Petaluma, CA 94954-6903, USA. Tel: + 1 707 763 5600 Fax: + 1 707 765 9311 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.tegal.com Contact: J McKibben Manufacturer of plasma etch systems.

Microwave Components, 1274 Terra Bella Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Tel: + 1 650 962-6944 Fax: + 1 650 962-6845 E-marl: [email protected] Internet: www.teledynemicrowave.com Ga/Ls device manufacturer.

Buckingway Business Park, Cambridge CB4 5UG, UK. Tel: +44 1223 519444 Fax: +44 1223 519888 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.thomasswan.co.uk Contact: Neil Gerrard Now a member of the AIXTRON Group; Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment manufactures MOVPE equipment.

No. 1. Yan Feng Road, Hexi Dist., 300220 Tianjin, P.R. China. Tel: +86 22 28348859 Fax: +86 22 28343026 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Wei Haiyan Research into, and production of, ingot GaAs materials.

388



1411 West River Road North, Minneapolis, MN 55411, USA. Tel: + 1 612 341 2795 Fax: + 1 612 341 2799 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.dcprecision.com Contact: Gina Davis Manufacturer of epiwafers, MMICs and modules.

1-1 Shibaura 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, Japan. Tel: +81 3 3457 4511 Fax: + 81 3 3502 3979 Intemet: www.toshiba.com Manufacturer of GaAs components.

3350 Scott Boulevard #8, Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA. Tel: + 1 408 727 5501 Fax: + 1 408 988 6385 E-marl: scott.brown@tfikon, corn Contact: Scott Brown Supplier of plasma processing equipment.

Ringland Way,Newport, South Wales NP18 2TA, UK. Tel: +44 1633 414000 Fax: +44 1633 414141 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.trikon.com Contact: Becky Moras Plasma processing equipment manufacturer.


389


2300 NE Brookwood Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124, USA. Tel: + 1 503 615 9000 Fax: + 1 503 615 8900 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.triquint.com Contact: David Pye Manufacturer of GaAs ICs.

One Space Park, Redondo Beach, CA 90278, USA. Tel: + 1 310 814 5749 Fax: + 1 310 812 7011 E-maih [email protected] Intemet: www.trw.com Contact: Jack Pritchett Manufacturer of electronic devices.

PO Box 48, Korkeakoulunkatu 1, FIN-33721 Tampere, Finland. Tel: +358 31 318 4556 Fax: + 358 31 318 4544 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Dr Harry Asonen Tutcore (a division of Coherent Inc) specializes in epi growth and processing of optoelectronic devices such as laser diodes, photodetectors and solar cells.

10050 16th St. North, St Petersburg, FL 33716, USA. Tel: + 1 813 577 4999 Fax: + 1 813 577 7035 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www.plasmatherm.com Contact: Graham Muir Supplier of GaAs dielectric deposition and etching systems.

390



Electro-Optic Materials, Watertorenstraat 33, B-2250 Olen, Belgium. Tel: +32 14 24 55 97 Fax: +32 14 24 55 34 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.um.be Contact: Marleen Vandenbergh Substrate supplier.

9F, No. 10 Li-Hsin Road, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Tel: +886 3 567 8000 Fax: +886 3 567 8753 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.uec.com.tw Manufacturer of epiwafers and custom epilayers.

Wilhelm-Runge-Strasse 11, D-89081 Ulm, Germany. Tel. + 49 731/5 05-3012 Fax. +49 731/5 05-3005 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.ums-gaas.com Contact: Jean-Marie Houillon Manufacturer of devices for mobile communications.

55 Tall Oaks Drive, Suite 704, Weymouth, MA 02190, USA. Tel: + 1 800 713 9375 Fax: + 1 888 832 0340 E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Chris Baker Wafer manufacturer.


391


15 Sutton road, Box 837, Webster, MA, USA. Tel/Fax: + 1 508 943 9430 Manufacturer of digital Hall-effect ICs such as p r o g r a m m a b l e linear Halleffect sensors over the automotive temperature range of-40~ to 150~

325 East Elliot Road, Chandler, AZ 85225, USA. Tel: + 1 480 539 2540 Fax: + 1 480 539 2547 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.usmonolithics.com Designer of low-noise GaAs MMICs and MCMs.

63 Power Road, Westford, MA 01886, USA. Tel: + 1 978 692 1971 Fax: + 1 978 692 9549 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.customdicing.com Precision dicing services for both R&D efforts as well as high-volume contract dicing requirements.

The Birches Industrial Estate, Imberhome Lane, East Grinstead, Sussex RH19 lXZ, UK. Tel: + 44 1342 325011 Fax: +44 1342 315800 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.vgsemicon.com Contact: Dr James Thompson Manufacturer of MBE equipment.

392

GalliumArsenide Electronic Materials and Oevices


No.76 Kung-Erh Road, Wu-Lin Village, Lung-Tan, 325 Taoyuan, Taiwan. Tel: +886 3 4706568 Fax: +886 3 4706567 E-maih vpec@ms 18.hinet.net Contact: Dr Kuo-Hsiung Chang HBT epiwafer supplier for telecommunications.

741 CaUe Piano, Camarillo, CA 93012, USA. Tel: + 1 805 388 3700 Fax: + 1 805 445 2289 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www.vitesse.com Contact: Sheryi Lenarz GaAs device manufacturer.

34 Maryland Road, Tongwell, Milton Keynes MK15 8HJ, UK. Tel: +44 1908 210 444 Fax: +44 1908 210 443 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www.wafertech.com Contact: Karen Lamb Manufactuer of InP, GaAs, InAs, GaSb, InSb, GaP and zinc-germanium diphosphide substrates.

Stanford Research Park, 3333 HiUview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Tel: + 1 650 813 2272 Fax: + 1 650 813 2447 E-maih [email protected] Internet: www.wj.com Contact: David Boylan GaAs device manufacturer.


393


44191 Plymouth Oaks Boulevard Suite 100, Plymouth, MI 48170, USA. Tel: + 1 313 454 0020 Fax: + 1 313 454 0026 E-mail: [email protected] Intemet: www.wavemat.com Contact: Sharon Zitnik Designer and manufacturer of proprietary microwave equipment for advanced material processing.

No. 15, Lane 3, Chien-Kuo N. Road, Section 2, Taipei, Taiwan. Tel: + 886 2 518 2733 Fax: + 886 2 517 8742 Intemet: winsemiconductors.com 6-inch GaAs foundry.

Zuiddijk 4, NLo5705 CS Helmond, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 4920 48345 Fax: +31 4920 34135 Contact: W Gevers A division of Intech Technology; Xycarb manufactures ceramic products for process equipment for CVD.

394


Appendices

This section provides an alphabetical listing of commonly used acronyms. A

A/D ADC ADSL ADTV AGC AGM AI.E AIGaAs AIN AI20~ AM AMLCD AMPS AMRAAM APD ARPA ASIC ASP ASSP ATE ATM AWACS AWDM

Analogue to Digital Analogue-to-digital Converter Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line Advanced Definition Television Airborne Early Warning Automatic Gain Control Air to Ground Munition Atomic Layer Epitaxy Aluminium--Gallium Arsenide Aluminium Nitride Aluminium Oxide (alumina or sapphire) Amplitude Modulation Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display Advanced Mobile Phone System Advanced Medium Range Air-to-air Missile Avalanche Photodiode Advanced Research Project Agency Application-specific Integrated Circuit Average Selling Price Application-specific Standard Product Automatic Test Equipment Asynchronous Transfer Mode Airborne Warning and Control System Analogue Wavelength Division Multiplexing

B

BESOI BGA BiCMOS BIST BMC

Bond and Etch Back Silicon-on-insulator Ball Grid Array Bipolar/Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Built-in Self Test Baseboard Management Controller


395

Appendices

BMDO bps BPSK BST BVRAAM C CAAGR CAD CAM CARS CATV CBE CCS CDMA CDR CIM CLEC CML CMOS CMP CMT CMU COB codec CPU CSIC CSR CWD CW

Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Bits Per Second Binary Phase-shift Keying Barium-Strontium Titanate Beyond Visual Range Air-to-air Missile Compound Average Annual Growth Rate Computer-aided Design Computer-aided Manufacturing Collision Avoidance Radar System Cable Television Chemical Beam Epitaxy Close Coupled Showerhead Code-division Multiple Access Clock and Data Recovery Computer Integrated Manufacturing Competitive Local Exchange Carrier Current Mode Logic Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Chemical Mechanical Polishing Cadmium-Mercury Telluride Clock Multiplication Unit Chip On Board Compression/Decompression Central Processing Unit Cathode Ray Tube Customer-specific Integrated Circuit Cell Switch Router Chemical Vapour Deposition Continuous Wave

D

DAB DAC DARPA DBR DBS DCS 1800 DECT DELTF Demux

Digital Audio Broadcasting Digital-to-analogue Converter Defence Advanced Research Project Agency Distributed Bragg Reflector Direct Broadcast Satellite Digital Communication Services at 1.8 GHz Digital-enhanced Cordless Telephone Double Electron Layer Tunnelling Transistor Demultiplexer DERA Defence Electronics Research Agency DH-PHEMT Double Hetero Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor Direct I ~ e d Countermeasures DIRCM Differential Phase Shift Keying DPSK Double Quadrature Phase Shift Keying DQPSK Dynamic Random Access Memory DRAM Double-sided (floppy disk) DS Digital Still Camera DSC Digital Signal Processing DSP DIN Deep Ultraviolet DVB Digital Video Broadcasting

396


Appendices

DVC DVD DWDM

Digital Video Compression Digital Video Disk Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing

E

ECM EDFA EDMR ELOG EMC EPD ESPRC ESPRI ETC EW

Electronic Countermeasures Erbium-doped Fibre Amplifier Electrically Detected Magnetic Resonance Epitaxial Layer Overgrowth Electromagnetic Compatibility Etch Pit Density European Science Project Research Council European Strategic Programme for R&D in Information Technology Electronic Toll Collection System Electronic Warfare

F

FAP FBL FBW FCSS FDD FDMA FEC FED FeN FET FFT FGL FIB FM FON FSK FITC F'I+IH FWA G 3G GaAIAs GaAs GaAsP GaInAsP GaN GaP GMR GND GNOS GPS GRINSCH GSM GSMBE

Fibre Array Package Fly By Light Fly By Wire Fibre Channel Storage Systems Frequency Division Duplex Frequency-division Multiple Access Forward Error Correction Field Emissive Display Iron Nitride Field Effect Transistor Fast Fourier Transforms Fibre Grating Laser Focused Ion Beam Frequency Modulation Fibre-optic Nodes Frequency Shift Keying Fibre-to-the-curb Fibre-to-the-home Fixed Wireless Access Third-generation Gallium Aluminium Arsenide Gallium Arsenide Gallium Arsenide-Phosphide Gallium Indium Arsenide Phosphide Gallium Nitride Gallium Phosphide Giant Magnetoresistive Ground (voltage level) GaN-on-sapphire Global Positioning Satellite Graded Index Semiconductor Confinement H e t e r o s t r u ~ Global Systems for Mobile (communications) Gas Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy

H

HARM

High-speed Anti-radar Missile Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

397

Appendices

HBLED HBT HDTV HEMT HFET HJBT HJFET HPDL HVPE HWE

High Brightness Light-emitting Diode Heterostructure Bipolar Transistor High-definition Television High Electron Mobility Transistor Heterostructure Field Effect Transistor Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor Heterojunction Field Effect Transistor High-power Diode Laser Hydride Vapour Phase Epitaxy Hot Wall Epitaxy

I

IC ICP ICP-RIE Idq IF IIQ ILM IMOS InAs InGaP InN InP InSb IP IPA IRI.ED IPMI ISDN ISM J JBOD JEDEC JEIDA JFET JIT JPEG L IAN LCD LCOS LD LDSD LE4 LEC LED LEP LER LLTV IMDS LNA LP 398

Integrated Circuit Inductively Coupled Plasma Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching Idle Drain Current Intermediate Frequency In-phase/Quadrature Phase Isolated Laser Modules Integrated Micro-optical Systems Indium Arsenide Indium-Gallium Phosphide Indium Nitride Indium Phosphide Indium Antimonide Intellectual Property Integrated Power Amplifier Infrared Light-emitting Diode Intelligent Platform Management Interface Integrated Service Digital Network In Situ Monitoring Just a Bunch of Disks Joint Electron Device Engineering Council Japan Electronic Industry Development Association Junction Field Effect Transistor Just in Time Joint Photographic Experts Group Local-area Network Liquid Crystal Display Liquid Crystal on Silicon Laser Diode Low Dimensional Structures and Devices Low Energy Electron-enhanced Etching Liquid-encapsulated Czochralski Light-emitting Diode Light-emitting Polymer Lissajous Electron Plasma Low Light Television Local Multipoint Distribution Services Low-noise Amplifier Low Pressure


Appendices

LPE Liquid Phase Epitaxy LP-MOVPE Low-pressure Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy LT Low Temperature M MBE

Mbit Mbps MCIC MCM MCM-C MCM-D MCP MCT MD MESFET MFC MFMIS MIDI MIPS MISFET MI.ID MMIC mm-wave M ~

MODE MODEM MOSFET MOVPE MPEG MPU MQW MR MSM MSS MTBF MVDS

Molecular Beam Epitaxy Megabit Megabits (of data) per Second Multichip Integrated Circuit Multichip Module Multichip Module Ceramic Multichip Module Dielectric Multichip Package Mercury--Cadmium Telluride (see CMT) Mini Disk Metal Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor Mass Flow Controller Metal Ferroelectric Metal Insulator Semiconductor Musical Instrument Digital Interface Million Instructions Per Second Metal Insulator Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor Mode-locked Laser Diode Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit Millimetre Wave Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition Micro-optical Devices Modulator (and) Demodulator Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (see OMVPE) Motion Picture Experts Group Microprocessor Unit Multiple Quantum Wells Magnetoresistive Metal-Semiconductor-Metal Modulated Semiconductor Structure Mean Time Between Failures Multipoint Video Distribution Systems

N

NH3 NIC NRE NTSC NV NVM O OC ODMR ODP OEIC OEM OFA OI OLED

Ammonia Network Interface Cards Non-recurring Engineering National Television System Committee Non-volatile (sustains content without power connection) Non-volatile Memory Optocoupler Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance Ozone Depletion Potential Optoelectronic Integrated Circuit Original Equipment Manufacturer Optical Fibre Amplifier Opto-isolator Organic Light-emitting Diode Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices

399

Appendices

OMVPE OpAmp OPIC OPO OQPSK OR OSA OSL

OrganometaUic Vapour Phase Epitaxy Operational Amplifier Optical Chip Optical Parametric Oscillator Offset Quadrature Phase-shift Keying Logic term (output is high if at least one input is high) Optical Subassembly Organic Semiconductor Laser (diode)

P

PAE PA-MBE PAR PC PCB PCN PCS PD PDA PDP PEC PE-MBE PERM PGA PHEMT PHS PHY PIC PIN PM-HJFET PNP POF Poly-Si PPI PPR PV PVD PZT Q QAM

QCL QPSK

Qw QWIP

Power-added Efiiciency Plasma-assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy Phased Array Radar Photocathode Printed Circuit Board Personal Communication Network Personal Communication Service Photodiode Personal Digital Assistant Plasma Display Panel Photoelectrochemical (etching) Plasma-excited Molecular Beam Epitaxy Pre-embossed Rigid Magnetic (disk) Pin Grid Array Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor Plated Heat Sink Physical Layer Photonic Integrated Circuit Positive-Intrinsic-Negative (transistor) Pseudomorphic Heterojunction Field Effect Transistor Positive-Neutral-Positive (transistor) Plastic Optical Fibre Polysilicon Precise Pixel Interpolation Point-to-point Radio Photovoltaic (i.e. solar cell) Physical Vapour Deposition Lead-Zirconium titanate Quadrature Amplitude Modulation Quantum Cascade Laser Quadrature Phase-shift Keying Quantum Well Quantum Well Infixed Photodetectors

R

RAID RAM RCLED RF RFIC RFID RGI RIBE 400

Redundant Array of Independent Disks Random Access Memory Resonant-cavity Light-emitting Diode Radiofrequency Radiofrequency Integrated Circuit Radiofrequency Identification Rigid Graphite Insulation Reactive Ion Beam Etching


Appendices

RIE ROM RoW S

Reactive Ion Etching Read-only Memory Rest of the World

SAM SAW SC SCC SCH SDH SHG SI SIA SiC SiGe Si3N4 SLMQW SMD SMF SMIF SMP SMR SMT SO SOA SOC SOD SOI SOIC SONET SOP SOS SP4T SPDT T TarO5 TBA TBP "IDD TDMA

Surface-to-air Missile Surface Acoustic Wave Semiconducting Smart Cruise Control Separate Confinement Heterostructure Synchronous Digital Hierarchy Second Harmonic Generation Semi-insulating Semiconductor Industry Association Silicon Carbide Silicon Germanium Silicon Nitride Strained Layer Multiple Quantum Well Surface Mount Device Single Mode Fibre Standard Mechanical Interface Sequential Multiple Processor Semiconductor Magnetoresistive Surface Mount Technology Small Outline Semiconductor Optical Amplifier System On a Chip Silicon-on-diamond Silicon-on-insulator Small-oudine Integrated Circuit Synchronous Optical Network Small-outline Package Silicon-on-sapphire Single-pole Four-throw Single-pole Double-throw

TEG TFT TIA TNG TNI U UHB-LED UI~I V u

Tantalum Pentoxide Tertiary Butyl Arsine Tertiary Butyl Phosphine Time-division Duplex Time-division Multiple Access Thermoelectric Cooled Triethyl Gallium Thin-film Transistor Trans-impedance Amplifier Trimethyl Gallium Trimethyl Indium Travelling-wave Tube Ultrahigh-brightness Light-emitting Diode Ultra-large-scale Integrated Circuit Vacuum Cassette Handlers Gallium Arsenide Electronic Materials and Devices 401

Appendices

VCO VCSEL VCZ VESA VFD VGF VLD VLSI VPE VSAT VSWR

Voltage-controlled Oscillator Vertical Cavity Surface-emitting Laser Vapour-pressure-controlled Czochralski Video Electronics Standards Association Vacuum Fluorescent Display Vertical Gradient Freeze Visible Laser Diode Very-large-scale Integration Vapour Phase Epitaxy Very-small-aperture Terminal Voltage Standing Wave Ratio

W

WAN WDM W/h WIAN WLL Z ZnO ZnS ZnSe

Wide-area Network Wavelength Division Mukiplex Wafers per Hour Wireless Local Area Network Wireless Local Loop Zinc Oxide Zinc Sulphide Zinc Selenide

Recent mergers or acquisitions that have taken place include: Alpha Industries announced that it would acquire Network Device Inc, Sunnyvale, CA, USA, for approximately US$140 million in common stock. Network Device is a provider of advanced GaAs IC design for wireless applications, particularly HBT. Atmel acquired Thomson-CSF's semiconductor operation, Thomson-CSF Semiconducteurs Specifique (TCS), of Saint-Egreve, France, for an undisclosed amount. TCS specializes in a variety of ICs, including chargecoupled devices (CCDs), RFICs, ASICs and SiGe devices. BAE Systems North America (a s u b s i d i a r y of BAE Systems Plc, Farnborough, UK) acquired Lockheed Martin's Aerospace Electronics Systems business (including Sanders) for US$1.67 billion in cash. In April 2000 Conexant Systems acquired Philsar Semiconductor Inc (Ottawa, Canada), a privately held developer of RF semiconductor solutions for p e r s o n a l wireless connectivity, including e m e r g i n g standards such as Bluetooth and RF components for third-generation digital cellular handsets. Philsar will become part of Conexant's Wireless Communications Division. C o n e x a n t a c q u i r e d Microcosm C o m m u n i c a t i o n s , Bristol, UK, a manufacturer of optical networking components, for approximately US$128 million in stock.

402


Appendices

Conexant Systems acquired Oak Technology Ltd, also of Bristol, UK (the wireless b r o a d b a n d b u s i n e s s unit of Oak T e c h n o l o g y Inc), for approximately US$25 million in a cash and stock transaction. Oak T e c h n o l o g y Ltd is a l e a d i n g d e v e l o p e r of b r o a d b a n d wireless communications technology for digital terrestrial TV applications. Filtronic Plc bought Fujitsu's closed Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham, UK, DRAM plant and converted it to p r o d u c e GaAs devices for mobile communications. In March 2000 Intel Corp entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GIGA A/S of Copenhagen, Denmark, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately US$1.25 billion. GIGA is a leading supplier of OC-48 (2.5 Gb/s) and OC-192 (10 Gb/s) products to telecommunications and data communications customers, with applications based on IP, ATM, DWDM and SONET/SDH transmission standards. GIGA will become a subsidiary of Intel, in the Network Communications Group. Microsemi Corp acquired the HBT RFIC business of Califomian company Infinesse Corp in March 2000, renaming it Micro Wave Sys. Motorola acquired a majority interest in short-range connectivity specialist Digianswer for an undisclosed amount. In March 2000, TRW announced the merger of its TRW Milliwave Inc subsidiary (a plant for high-volume automated manufacture of transceiver modules) with Endgate Corp, a leading provider of 'first mile' broadband engines for powering e-business gateways. The merger creates a new company, Endwave Corp, that is expected to become a leading supplier of b r o a d b a n d access e q u i p m e n t , including specialized antennas, transceivers and outdoor units. Vitesse in summer 1999 acquired XaQti Corporation for US$65 million in common stock. XaQti Corp is a leading-edge supplier of active-flow processors to drive the Internet, and will enable Vitesse to offer a complete Layer 3 Switch solution. Vitesse acquired 'fabless' semiconductor company Orologic Inc (of Morrisville, NC, USA) for approximately US$450 million in common stock. Orologic develops high-performance SOC solutions that enable data packet processing at OC-48 and OC-192 rates. Vitesse Semiconductor announced in June 2000 that it had completed its acquisition of SiTera Inc for US$750 million in common stock. SiTera was founded in 1996; its products include intelligent network processing for service provider, carrier edge and large enterprise markets. In August 2000 Vitesse announced that it had acquired certain assets of the WAN product line of Philips Semiconductors for approximately US$30 million in cash.


403

Appendices

This section highlights the major agreements that have taken place during the last 2 years. Agilent/IBM Agreement for design kit for Hewlett-Packard's ADS software to work with IBM's SiGe technology.

Alpha Industries/Ericsson Agreement to develop MCMs for digital wireless telephone standards.

Alpha Industries/Infinesse Corp/Network Device Alliance for the d e v e l o p m e n t and m a n u f a c t u r e of HBTs for wireless applications. ANADIGICS/Global Communications Semiconductor Inc Alliance to develop HBT technology. ANADIGICSfFEMIC Alliance to share information regarding SiGe process technology and RFIC design.

AtmeL~otorola Atmel licenced Motorola's 0.35-mm RF BiCMOS technology; both companies will manufacture RFICs for wireless applications. Atmel/QUALCOMM Atmel produces BiCMOS RFICs for QUALCOMM's sixth-generation CDMA chipsets. Atmel/RFMD See RFMD. Avnet Electronics/EiC Corp Agreement for GaAs HBT c o m p o n e n t s for wireless and infrastructure applications. AWSC/Conexant Systems See Conexant Systems.

Conexant Systems/AWSC Conexant has a guaranteed 30 000 HBT wafer starts/year capacity at AWSC's fabrication facility in Taiwan. Conexant Systems/l'SMC See TSMC.

Dowa Mining/Furukawa Electric/Hitachi Cable/Japan Energy/ Mitsubishi/Shin-Etsu Handotai/Showa Denko/Sumitomo Electric Industries/Sumitomo Metal Mining See Hitachi Cable. 404


Appendices

EiC Corp/Avnet Electronics See Avnet Electronics. EMCO~otorola See Motorola. EMCORF_JSumitomo Electric Industries Agreement to jointly develop and produce InGaP epitaxial wafers for use as HBT devices. Endwave Corp/TRW Supply agreement guaranteeing Endwave access to TRW GaAs i i I C s .

Ericsson/Alpha Industries See Alpha Industries. Ericsson Mobile Communications/RFMD See RFMD. Ericsson/Motorola/Nokia See Motorola.

Furukawa Electric/Hitachi Cable/Japan Energy/Mitsubishi/Shin-Etsu Handotai/Showa Denko/Sumitomo Electric Industries/Sumitomo Metal Mining/Dowa Mining See Hitachi Cable. Global Communications Semiconductor Inc/ANADIGICS See ANADIGICS. Global Communications Semiconductor Inc/Stanford Microdevices Foundry agreement whereby GCS supplies SMDI with a high-volume 4-inch InGaP/GaAs HBT wafer supply.

Hitachi Cable/Japan Energy/Mitsubishi/Shin-Etsu Handotai/Showa D e n k o / S u m i t o m o Electric Wndustries/Sumitomo Metal Mining/Dowa Mining/Furukawa Electric Nine Japanese manufacturers who participate in 'Round-Robin' measurement testing. Hitachi Semiconductor/QILALCOMM Extended existing licensing ar,ceement for third-generation CDMA and multicarrier products. Hittite MicrowaveA]MS Agreement to use Hittite's selected UMS MMIC die for Hittite SMT BGA ramwave MMICs. Hughes Network Systems/Teledyne See Teledyne.


Appendices

IBM/Agilent See Agilent. IBM/RFMD See RFMD. IBMNitesse See Vitesse. Inf'messe Corp/Network Device/Alpha Industries See Alpha Industries. Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics/Motorola Alliance to develop SiGe technology. IntelA~itsubishi Joint development agreement for third-generation cellular chipset. Japan Energy/Mitsubishi/Shin-Etsu Handotat/Showa Denko/Sumttomo Electric I n d u s t r i e s / S u m i t o m o Metal Mintng/Dowa Mining/Furukawa Electric/Hitachi Cable See Hitachi Cable. M/A-COM/Sanders Agreement whereby M/A-COM has access to capacity at Sander's fabrication facility. M/A-COM/EEMIC Agreement to jointly design and m a n u f a c t u r e SiGe p r o d u c t s for telecommunications applications. Matsushita Electronic Components/Philsar Semiconductor/Mitel Semiconductor See Mitel Semiconductor. Matsushita/QUALCOMM Alliance to develop triple-mode wireless modules. Matsushita/Sierra Wireless SRL See Sierra Wireless SRL. Mitel S e m i c o n d u c t o r / M a t s u s h i t a E l e c t r o n i c Components/Philsar Semiconductor Joint development agreement for 'Bluetooth'-compliant wireless modules. MitsubishiBntel See Intel.

Mitsubishi/Shin-Etsu Handotai/Showa Denko/Sumitomo Electric Industries/Sumitomo Metal Mining/Dowa Mining~urukawa Electric/ Hitachi Cable/Japan Energy See Hitachi Cable. 406


Appendices

Motorola/Atmel See Atmel. Motorola/F~CORE Motorola will be supplied with two EMCORE T~urboDisc systems, its epitaxial PHEMT process technology and agreement for epiwafers. Motorola/F~csson/Nokia To form a joint effort to develop an industry framework for secure mobile electronic transactions. MotorolaAnnovations for High Performance Microelectronics See Innovations for High Performance Microele~nics. Motorola/Omnirel Agreement whereby Motorola supplies GaAs Schottky wafers to Omnirel. Multilink Technology/TRW Strategic agreement: TRW fabricates Multilink's proprietary designs using TRW G a ~ and InP wafer technology. Network Device/Alpha Industries/Inflnesse Corp See Alpha Industries. Nokia/Motorola/Fa-icsson See Motorola. Nokia Networks/l~W See TRW. Omnirel~otorola See Motorola.

Philsar Semiconductor/Mitel Semiconductor/Matsushita Electronic Components See Mitel Semiconductor. QUALCOMM/Atmel See Atmel. QUALCOMM/Hitachi Semiconductor See Hitachi Semiconductor. QUALCOMM~atsushita See Matsushita. QUALCOMM/RFMD Alliance for advanced power amplifiers for CDMA applications. RFMD/Atmel Agreement to jointly provide reference designs based on the IEEE802. l l b , 11 Mb/s wireless LAN standard.


407

Appendices

RFMD/Ericsson Mobile Communications Agreement to design specific solutions for Ericsson's third-generation terminal platforms, including wireless CDMA. RFMD/IBM Jointly development agreement for RFICs for next-generation cell phones, based on IBM's SiGe process technology. RFM /QUALCOMM See QUALCOMM. RFMD/rRW RFMD expands current licence to include use of the TRW AIGaAs HBT process. RFMD/UbiNetics Ltd Agreement to jointly develop RF components for third-generation wireless mobile terminals. Sanders/M/A-COM See M/A-COM. Shin-Etsu H a n d o t a i / S h o w a D e n k o / S u m i t o m o Electric I n d u s t r i e s / Sumitomo Metal Mining/Dowa Mini"~g/Furukawa Electric/Hitachi Cable/ Japan Energy/Mitsubishi See Hitachi Cable. Showa Denko/Sumitomo Electric Industries/Sumitomo Metal Mining/ D o w a M i n i n g / F u r u k a w a E l e c t r i c / H i t a c h i Cable/Japan Energy/ Mitsubishi/Shin-Etsu Handotai See Hitachi Cable. Sierra Wireless SRI2Matsushita Joint development and supply agreement: Matsushita will manufacture products for Sierra Wireless for CDMA applications.

SpaceBridge Networks/rRW Partnership to develop broadband wireless access products. Stanford Microdevices/Global Communications Semiconductor Inc See Global Communications Semiconductor Inc. Sumitomo Electric Industries/EMCORE See EMCORE. Sumitomo Electric Industries/Sumitomo Metal Mining/Dowa Mining/ Furukawa Electric/Hitachi C a b l e / J a p a n Energy/Mitsubishi/Shin-Etsu Handotai/Showa Denko See Hitachi Cable.

408


Appendices

Sumitomo Metal Mining/Sumitomo Electric Industries/Dowa Mining/ Furukawa Electric/Hitachi Cable/Japan Energy/Mitsubishi/Shin-Etsu Handotai/Showa Denko See Hitachi Cable.

Teledyne/Hughes Network Systems Hughes signed a multi-year agreement for Teledyne's Ku-band G a ~ MMIC power amplifiers. TEMIC/ANADIGICS See ANADIGICS. TEMIC/M/A-COM See M/A-COM.

TRW/Endwave Corp See Endwave Corp. TRW/Multilink Technology See Multilink Technology. TRW/Nolda Networks Agreement for design and development of third-generation base station products for mobile networks. TRW/RFMD See RFMD.

TRW/SpaceBridge Networks See SpaceBridge Networks. TRW/Wireless Inc Partnership to develop and sell high-speed wireless Internet-access equipment, including TRW's SpitFire wireless access technology.

TSMC/Conexant Systems Agreement that guarantees Conexant capacity at TSMC's fabrication facility. UbiNetics Ltd/RFMD See RFMD. UMS/Ilittite Microwave See Hittite Microwave. Vitesse/IBM Agreement for IBM's SiGe technology for optical network equipment. Wireless Inc/TRW See TRW.


409

Appendices

10.4 Exchange Rates against the US Dollar

(Annual Average) .

410

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Country

Currency

Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada China Denmark European Community Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Malaysia Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Philippines Portugal Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Kingdom Vietnam

Australian Dollar Schilling Franc Real Canadian Dollar Yuan Krone

A$ Sch BF R$ C$ Yn DKr

Euro ECU Markka Fmk Franc FFr Deutsche Mark DM Drachma Dr Hong Kong Dollar Hk$ Rupee Rup Rupiah Rp Irish Pound Is Shekel Shk Lira Lira Yen u Ringgit Rt Peso Ps Guilder Gd New Zealand Dollar NZ$ Krone NKr Philippine Peso Peso Escudo Esc Riyal SR Singapore Dollar S$ Rand Rd Won Wn Peseta Pts Krona Swkr Franc SFr Taiwan Dollar NT$ Baht Bt Turkish Lira TL Pound Sterling s

Dong


Dg

1997

1998

1999

1.34 12.20 35.8 1.08 1.38 8.29 6.60

1.59 12.38 36.3 1.16 1.48 8.28 6.70

1.55 12.92 37.87 1.81 1.48 8.28 6.98

0.88 5.19 5.84 1.73 273.1 7.74 36.3 2909.0 0.66 3.45 1703.0 121.0 2.81 7.91 1.95 1.51 7.07 29.5 175.3 3.74 1.48 4.61 951 146.4 7.63 1.45 28.7 31.4 151865.0 0.61 11817

0.89 5.34 5.90 1.76 295.5 7.75 41.3 10014.0 0.70 3.8O 1736.0 130.9 3.92 9.14 1.98 1.86 7.55 40.9 180.1 3.74 1.67 5.53 1401.0 149.4 7.95 1.45 33.46 41.4 260724.0 0.60 13279.0

0.94 5.58 6.16 1.84 305.7 7.76 43.0 7817.5 0.74 4.14 1817.0 133.74 3.80 9.54 2.07 1.89 7.80 39.1 188.2 3.75 1.69 6.11 1188.0 156.2 8.26 1.50 32.2 37.8 420146.0 0.62 13940


Printed in the United Kingdom by Lightning Source UK Ltd. 118405UK00002B/3-4

IIUJUVU! !!l!lJll IIU!

Gallium Arsenide, Electronics Materials and Devices. A Strategic Study of Markets, Technologies and Companies Worldwide 1999-2004

Properties of Gallium Arsenide

Gallium Arsenide Ic Applications Handbook

Gallium Arsenide IC Applications Handbook (Volume 1)

Dielectric Materials and Devices

Vacuum Electronics: Components and Devices

VLSI Fabrication Principles: Silicon and Gallium Arsenide, 2nd Edition

Germanium-Based Technologies: From Materials to Devices

Gallium Nitride Electronics (Springer Series in Materials Science)

Spintronics: Materials, Applications, and Devices

Principles of electronic materials and devices

GaN and ZnO-based Materials and Devices

Electrochemistry of Semiconductors and Electronics: Processes and Devices

Electrochemistry of semiconductors and electronics: processes and devices

Smart Materials and New Technologies

Renewable Energy: A Global Review of Technologies, Policies and Markets

Integrated Nanophotonic Devices (Micro and Nano Technologies)

Strength of Materials (Materials Science and Technologies Series)

Micro and Nano Mechanical Testing of Materials and Devices

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurement Techniques

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurement Techniques

Gallium

Organic Electronics: Materials, Manufacturing, and Applications

Microwave Electronics: Measurement and Materials Characterisation

Defects in Microelectronic Materials and Devices

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurment Techniques

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurement Techniques

Nitride Semiconductors: Handbook on Materials and Devices

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurement Techniques

Entrepreneurial Strategies: New Technologies in Emerging Markets (Strategic Management Society)

Valuation of Companies in Emerging Markets

Gallium Arsenide, Electronics Materials and Devices. A Strategic Study of Markets, Technologies and Companies Worldwide 1999-2004

Properties of Gallium Arsenide

Gallium Arsenide Ic Applications Handbook

Gallium Arsenide IC Applications Handbook (Volume 1)

Dielectric Materials and Devices

Vacuum Electronics: Components and Devices

VLSI Fabrication Principles: Silicon and Gallium Arsenide, 2nd Edition

Germanium-Based Technologies: From Materials to Devices

Gallium Nitride Electronics (Springer Series in Materials Science)

Spintronics: Materials, Applications, and Devices

Principles of electronic materials and devices

GaN and ZnO-based Materials and Devices

Electrochemistry of Semiconductors and Electronics: Processes and Devices

Electrochemistry of semiconductors and electronics: processes and devices

Smart Materials and New Technologies

Renewable Energy: A Global Review of Technologies, Policies and Markets

Integrated Nanophotonic Devices (Micro and Nano Technologies)

Strength of Materials (Materials Science and Technologies Series)

Micro and Nano Mechanical Testing of Materials and Devices

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurement Techniques

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurement Techniques

Gallium

Organic Electronics: Materials, Manufacturing, and Applications

Microwave Electronics: Measurement and Materials Characterisation

Defects in Microelectronic Materials and Devices

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurment Techniques

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurement Techniques

Nitride Semiconductors: Handbook on Materials and Devices

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Measurement Techniques

Entrepreneurial Strategies: New Technologies in Emerging Markets (Strategic Management Society)

Valuation of Companies in Emerging Markets

Recommend Documents