Semiconductor today

As part of the US CHIPS and Science Act, the US Department of Commerce has announced $1.5bn in planned direct funding for New York-headquartered GlobalFoundries (GF), which is celebrating 15 year of operations and is the only US-based pure-play foundry with a global manufacturing footprint including facilities in the USA, Europe and Singapore. The investment aims to enable GF to expand and create new manufacturing capacity and capabilities to securely produce more chips for automotive, IoT, aerospace, defense and other vital markets...

Dowa Electronic Materials Co Ltd of Tokyo, Japan has developed and released a high-efficiency short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) LED chip series with what is claimed to be record luminous efficiency in the peak wavelength range 1200–1900nm...

In booth #1045 at the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference & Exposition (APEC 2024) in Long Beach, CA, USA (25–29 February), Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA — which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits for power management applications — is highlighting what it claims is the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of GaN-based power conversion solutions. With a focus on efficiency, reliability and performance, EPC says that its GaN-based products offer advantages for applications such as DC-DC converters, motor drives, and renewable energy...

SemiQ Inc of Lake Forest, CA, USA — which designs, develops and manufactures silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors and 150mm SiC epitaxial wafers for high-frequency, high-temperature and high-efficiency power semiconductor devices — has unveiled the latest addition to its QSiC family. The QSiC 1200V SiC MOSFET modules in full-bridge configurations deliver near-zero switching loss, significantly improving efficiency, reducing heat dissipation, and allowing the use of smaller heat-sinks...

For fourth-quarter 2023, epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA has reported revenue of $173.9m, down 2% on $177.4m last quarter but up 13% on $153.8m a year ago. It is also near the top of the guidance range (which had been raised in mid-January from $155–175m to $165–175m), driven by growth in semiconductor applications...

BluGlass Ltd of Silverwater, Australia — which develops and manufactures gallium nitride (GaN) blue laser diodes based on its proprietary low-temperature, low-hydrogen remote-plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) technology — has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on its GaN distributed feedback (DFB) lasers being used by US-based advanced defence and dual-use photonics company Applied Energetics Inc in its advanced systems development for next-generation military and commercial applications...

In a series of events during 2024, beginning with the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference & Exposition (APEC 2024) and ‘GaNFast Blast!’ celebration in Long Beach, CA, USA from 26 February, gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA is marking 10 years of innovation and growth in a broad range of fast-growing markets, from ultra-fast mobile charging to artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, renewable energy and EVs...

At the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference & Exposition (APEC 2024) in Long Beach, CA, USA (25–29 February), Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany has detailed its plans to highlight what it claims is the industry’s broadest range of power electronic devices – spanning silicon, silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) materials – including wide-bandgap solutions offering the highest efficiency and power density...

Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA — which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits for power management applications — has announced the availability of several reference designs that feature EPC GaN FETs and Analog Devices Inc (ADI) controllers...

EPC Space LLC of Haverhill, MA, USA (which provides high-reliability radiation-hardened enhancement-mode gallium nitride power management solutions for space and other harsh environments) has launched a 50V, 6A rad-hard GaN power stage IC designed for space applications. The EPC7011L7SH is a single-chip driver plus eGaN FET half-bridge power stage IC in a compact aluminium nitride ceramic surface-mount technology package. Integration is implemented using EPC’s proprietary GaN IC technology. Input logic interface, level shifting, bootstrap charging and gate drive buffer circuits along with eGaN output FETs configured as a half-bridge are integrated within a monolithic chip with high-speed switching capability of 2+MHz...

Alongside a UK Government Department for Business & Trade mission at the SEMICON Korea event in Seoul (31 January – 2 February), as part of the Government-funded UK–APAC Tech Growth Programme seven British tech companies had 51 introductory business development meetings with South Korean corporations, resulting in several now being engaged in commercial negotiations with potential Korean customers and partners...

A new independent impact evaluation report spanning 2018–2023 undertaken by UK-based full-service research and evaluation agency Harlow Consulting on behalf of Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult finds that CSA Catapult has made significant achievements since its inception in 2018, despite facing many challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic...

BluGlass Ltd of Silverwater, Australia — which develops and manufactures gallium nitride (GaN) blue laser diodes based on its proprietary low-temperature, low-hydrogen remote-plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) technology — has received $4.3m in commitments from institutional and sophisticated investors via a share placement at an issue price of $0.037 per share...

Chip and integrated module supplier Sivers Semiconductors AB of Kista, Sweden says that its subsidiary Sivers Semiconductors Inc has appointed Dr Bami Bastani as US executive chairman, and that he has also been nominated as the chairman of the board of directors of Sivers Semiconductors AB...

The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) says that at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC 2024) in San Diego, CA, USA (24-28 March) a record 47 member companies are showcasing the interoperable solutions that are addressing the unprecedented demand for next-generation data-center networking, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) and disaggregation applications...

For its fiscal second-quarter 2024 (to 30 December 2023), Lumentum Holdings Inc of San Jose, CA, USA has reported revenue of $366.8m, down 27.5% on $506m a year ago but up 15.5% on $317.6m last quarter, and above the midpoint of the $350–380m guidance. However, $59.5m of this came from a partial quarter (about eight weeks) of revenue after the acquisition on 7 November of Cloud Light Technology Ltd of Hong Kong (which designs and makes optical transceiver modules for automotive sensors and data-center interconnect applications), mostly from very strong shipments of 800G transceivers for artificial intelligence (AI) platforms...

For its fiscal third-quarter 2024 (to 30 December 2023), Qorvo Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA (which provides core technologies and RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure and defense applications) has reported revenue of $1073.9m, down 2.7% on $1103.5m last quarter but up 44.5% on $743.3m a year ago. This exceeds the high point of the guidance range (of $1bn, plus or minus $25m) by $49m. “Revenue continues to benefit from significant content gains at our largest customer,” says chief financial officer Grant Brown...

Soctera of Ithaca, NY USA (a developer of thermally optimized III-nitride millimeter-wave power amplifiers) has demonstrated high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) exhibiting a peak surface temperature rise of just 59°C while dissipating 10.4W/mm. Typical gallium nitride (GaN) HEMTs reach the standard operating temperature limit of 225°C when dissipating about 5W/mm...

ESK-SIC GmbH of Frechen near Cologne, Germany (which manufactures high-performance materials for industrial applications) and Kyocera (which manufactures technical ceramics and semiconductor technologies) have entered into a strategic partnership to develop solutions for the sustainable production of silicon carbide (SiC) and associated end-products...

Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA says that it is showcasing its broad spectrum (low to high power) gallium nitride (GaN) power conversion solutions in booth 1813 at the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2024) in Long Beach, CA, USA (25–29 February), at which it is a Silver Partner...