Semiconductor today

VueReal Inc of Waterloo, ON, Canada, a pioneer of MicroSolid Printing technology, and emissive display manufacturer RiTdisplay Corp (a subsidiary of RITEK group of Hsin Chu Industrial Park, Taiwan) have announced a strategic partnership to enable OEMs and vendors to access micro-LED displays that are said to combine unique features, high performance, low power consumption, and high transparency...

Both molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) reactors operate in cleanroom environments and use the same set of metrology tools for wafer characterization. Solid-source MBE uses high-purity, elemental precursors heated in effusion cells to create a molecular beam to enable deposition (with liquid nitrogen used for cooling). In contrast, MOCVD is a chemical vapor process, using ultra-pure, gaseous sources to enable deposition, and requires toxic gas handing and abatement. Both techniques can produce identical epitaxy in some material systems, such as arsenides. The choice of one technique over the other for particular materials, processes, and markets is discussed...

Gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor of Torrance, CA, USA has released its 4.5kW AI data-center power supply reference design, with optimized GaNSafe and Gen-3 ‘Fast’ (G3F) SiC power components. The optimized design enables what is claimed to be the world’s highest power density with 137W/in3 and over 97% efficiency...

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA — which was founded in 2015 and develops and manufactures high-power industrial blue lasers — has announced a marketing agreement with NexGenAI Solutions Group Inc, a provider of AI-driven marketing solutions (offering analytics and automation tools). The agreement aims to enhance NUBURU’s marketing efforts, leveraging advanced artificial intelligence and various proprietary marketing tools to drive commercial growth and market penetration...

Teledyne e2v HiRel Electronics of Milpitas, CA, USA (part of the Teledyne Defense Electronics Group that provides solutions, sub-systems and components to the space, transportation, defense and industrial markets) has announced the availability of two enhanced plastic (EP) VHF to S‑band low-noise amplifiers, models TDLNA2050EP and TDLNA0430EP, which are suitable for demanding high reliability applications where low noise figure, minimal power consumption and small package footprint are critical. Developed on a 250nm enhancement/depletion (E/D)-mode pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (pHEMT) process, the LNAs are available in an 8-pin dual-flat no-lead (DFN) 2mm x 2mm x 0.75mm plastic surface-mount package...

In power electronics, conventional silicon devices are being replaced by more powerful wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors with superior physical and electrical properties. Silicon carbide (SiC) has already established itself on an industrial scale, but devices based on gallium nitride (GaN) are also on the rise. However, it is already foreseeable that, in the future, even WBG device properties will be surpassed by ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors like aluminium nitride (AlN)...

The US Department of Commerce has signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) to provide GlobalWafers America LLC and MEMC LLC (subsidiaries of GlobalWafers Co Ltd of Hsinchu, Taiwan, the world’s third largest supplier of semiconductor wafers) up to $400m in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to help onshore critical semiconductor wafer production...

The joint venture Letiel LLC has been formed, owned 51% by Russian microelectronics company PJSC Element and 49% by St Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI (ETU LETI), according to data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE), reports Moscow-based news agency Interfax. The JV is headed by Element’s technology development director Konstantin Okunev...

For first-half 2024, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system maker Riber S.A. of Bezons, France has reported revenue of €13.7m, up 13% on €12.2m in first-half 2023...

Halo Industries Inc of Santa Clara, CA, USA has raised up to $80m in an over-subscribed Series B funding round led by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT) and joined by 8VC and SAIC...

In a pre-close trading update for first-half 2024, epiwafer and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK says that it expects revenue to be at least £65m, in line with management expectations. This represents a year-on-year increase of at least 25% from first-half 2023’s £52m and half-on-half growth of about 3% from second-half 2023...

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA — which was founded in 2015 and develops and manufactures high-power industrial blue lasers — has again revised the date for implementation of its 1-for-40 reverse stock split, this time from 10 July to 23 July. This follows an initial postponement from 1 July...

Intelligent power and sensing technology firm onsemi of Scottsdale, AZ, USA has signed a multi-year deal with Volkswagen Group to be the primary supplier of a complete power box solution as part of its next-generation traction inverter for its Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). The solution features silicon carbide-based technologies in an integrated module that can scale across all power levels – from high-power to low-power traction inverters to be compatible for all vehicle categories...

Sivers Semiconductors AB of Kista, Sweden (which supplies integrated chips and photonics modules for communications and sensor solutions) appointed Dr Vickram Vathulya as president & CEO, succeeding Anders Storm from 19 August...

After the UK and Switzerland governments signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022 to harness collective strengths of the two countries, followed recently by a first joint funding call, 26 projects to enhance UK and Swiss collaborations and capabilities in emerging fields of technology have been selected to receive total funding of £7.8m from Innovate UK (which provides funding and support for business innovation as part of UK Research and Innovation) and CHF9.1m from the Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse...

Innovate UK (which provides funding and support for business innovation as part of UK Research and Innovation) has granted £1.1m to epiwafer and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK, the Universities of Cardiff and Lancaster, and project coordinator Quinas Technology Ltd (which was spun off from Lancaster University in early 2023)...

Guerrilla RF Inc (GRF) of Greensboro, NC, USA — which develops and manufactures radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for wireless applications — has announced the formal release of the GRF5112, a highly linear, broadband gallium arsenide (GaAs) pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (pHEMT) power amplifier that delivers what is claimed to be excellent compression performance over large fractional bandwidths of up to 40%. Its broad, single-tuned responses enable multi-carrier base stations to simultaneously transmit across two or more cellular bands using a single RF lineup...

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) module maker First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA has announced its ownership of patents related to the manufacturing of Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) crystalline-silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic solar cells...

Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany that its CoolSiC 2000V modules have been selected by Daihen Corp of Tokyo, Japan for its unit-type power conditioners for grid storage batteries...

In the face of escalating climate crises and a dramatic rise in global energy demands, governments and industries are committing to ambitious climate goals aimed at mitigating environmental impact and securing a sustainable future. Key to these efforts is the transition to electrification to reduce carbon emissions and embrace renewable energy resources...