Micromachining first in SiC

News Update

I Markets & Business

Agere Systems' completes optoelectronics sell-off EMCORE C o r p o r a t i o n a n d

C o m p a n y , " said R e u b e n E

voice, data a n d video applica-

exit t h e Irwindale, California,

Agere Systems have a n n o u n c e d

Richards,Jr., P r e s i d e n t a n d

tions a n d i n t e n d to e x p a n d o u r

facility by t h e e n d o f March.

that EMCORE h a s acquired

CEO o f EMCORE Corporation.

e x i s t i n g portfolio o f digital

Agere's West Coast optoclec-

"We h a v e always b e e n

o p t o e l e c t r o n i c p r o d u c t s to

t n m i c s b u s i n e s s for $25 million

impressed with the leading

assist o u r c u s t o m e r s in deploy-

in c a s h . T h e transaction

edge t e c h n o l o g y a n d talent o f

ing fiber to t h e h o m e a n d

includes assets, p r o d u c t s , tech-

t h e f o r m e r Ortel g r o u p . A g e r e ' s

ol'fice."

"We are p l e a s e d that w e have n o w c o m p l e t e d t h e sale o f o u r o p t o e l e c t r o n i c s o p e r a t i o n s as planned," said Sohail Khan, e x e c u t i v e vice p r e s i d e n t of

nology and intellectual proper-

fiber o p t i c s p r o d u c t s i n c r e a s e

ty related to Agere's cable TV

the capacity and performance

optical c o m p o n e n t s , t e l e c o m

o f fiber-optic n e t w o r k s ,

a c c e s s and satellite c o m m u n i c a -

e n a b l i n g t h e m to h a n d l e ever-

tions operations, w h i c h h a d rev-

i n c r e a s i n g v o l u m e s o f voice,

e n u e s of approximately" $56

v i d e o a n d data c o m m u n i c a -

million in fiscal 2002.Agere's

tions for b o t h cable TV a n d

Agere's West Coast optoelcc-

West Coast o p t o e l e c t r o n i c s

t h e exit f r o m o u r o p t o e l e c t r o n -

t e l e c o m a c c e s s applications.

tronics b u s i n e s s h a s a work-

ics business, w e are focusing

This b u s i n e s s c o m p l e m e n t s

tbrce of a p p r o x i m a t e l y 230

o u r r e s o u r c e s sharply o n deliv-

o u r c u r r e n t portfolio of solu-

e m p l o y e e s . A s part o f this agree-

e r i n g a d v a n c e d c h i p s for wire-

group, located in Alhambra a n d Irwindale, California, consists primarily of t h e assets, p e r s o n -

EMCORE e s t i m a t e s this busi-

Agere's Infrastructure Systems

n e s s will h a v e r e v e n u e o f

Group. "We will w o r k closely

b e t w e e n $ 3 0 - $40 million tbr

w i t h EMCORE to e n s u r e a

t h e Fiscal Year e n d i n g

s m o o t h transition for o u r cable

S e p t e m b e r 30, 2003.

TV, s a t c o m a n d t e l e c o m a c c e s s components customers.With

tions for h i g h s p e e d data a n d

m e n t , 215 Agere e m p l o y e e s will

less n e t w o r k s , multi-service net-

telecommunications network-

join EMCORE.The b u s i n e s s will

w o r k i n g and high-density stor-

i n g s y s t e m s , a n d allows u s to

be c o n s o l i d a t e d into t h e

age applications. We believe

e x t e n d o u r l e a d e r s h i p into a

Alhambra, California, facility,

that o u r solid market position,

n e w m a r k e t a r e a . W e are c o m -

w h i c h EMCORE will n o w lease

p r o d u c t portfolio and c u s t o m e r

"We are very e x c i t e d a b o u t this

m i t t e d to h e l p i n g o u r cus-

and will bc o p e r a t e d as Ortel, a

set in e a c h o f t h e s e areas

acquisition and the growth

t o m e r s realize t h e lull p o t e n -

division o f EMCORE. As previ-

strongly positions us for g r o w t h

o p p o r t u n i t i e s it c r e a t e s for o u r

tial o f t h e "triple play" in

ously a n n o u n c e d , A g c r e will

as t h e m a r k e t recovers."

nel and o p e r a t i o n s of Ortel Corporation, w h i c h Lucent T e c h n o l o g i e s acquired in April 2000.

Micromachining first in SiC FLX Micro, a m i c r o s y s t e m s

s u b s t r a t e to take a d v a n t a g e o f

advantage of the decades of

solution provider, h a s c o m p l e t -

e c o n o m y o f scale. This way,

processing experience gained

e d its inaugural MUSIC sM run.

e a c h u s e r p u r c h a s e s only a

by t h e IC industry, silicon is

MUSIC, a multi-user MEMS pro-

p o r t i o n of t h e w a f e r ' s real

n o t n e c e s s a r i l y t h e best materi-

t o t y p i n g service, is t h e first a n d

estate, allowing d e s i g n s f r o m

al f r o m a p e r f o r m a n c e stand-

only surface m i c r o m a c h i n i n g

different u s e r s to b e fabricated

point. In fact, for f u t u r e MEMS

p r o c e s s that utilizes silicon car-

simultaneously.

devices, m a n y p o t e n t i a l appli-

hide (SIC) structural layers. Silicon carbide p o s s e s s e s excellent m e c h a n i c a l , c h e m i c a l a n d t h e r m a l properties, w h i c h allow it to e x t e n d microsysterns t e c h n o l o g y to a w i d e range o f a p p l i c a t i o n s a n d operating e n v i r o n m e n t s . T h e MUSIC p r o c e s s , w h i c h is offered exclusively by FLX Micro, p r o v i d e s low-cost a c c e s s to MEMS p r o t o t y p i n g u s i n g this s u p e r i o r material. M! ISiC c o m b i n e s m u l t i p l e c h i p d e s i g n s o n t o a singlc large-area

III-Vs REVIEW ~

Walt Merrill, Executive Director of the Glennan M i c r o s y s t e m s Initiative, a nonprofit o r g a n i s a t i o o n c h a r g e d with commercializing m i c r o s y s t e m s for h a r s h envir o n m e n t s a n d a s t r o n g supp o r t e r o f t h e MUSIC p r o c e s s ,

c a t i o n s m a y n o t b e practical

Skyworks endows university chair Sl~yworks Solutions, Inc. has e n d o w e d an a c a d e m i c chair at t h e University of California, San Diego's (~ ICSD)Jacobs School of Engineering. T h e e n d o w m e n t creates oppor-

b e c a u s e t h e p r o p e r t i e s of t h e

tunities lot s t u d e n t s a n d faculty,

materials c u r r e n t l y u s e d arc

to w o r k coUaboratively w i t h

n o t s u i t a b l e . T h i s limitation is

St~.'works e n g i n e e r s to d e v e l o p

especially t r u e for d e v i c e s that

new semiconductor technology

r e q u i r e a finer m e c h a n i c a l

It also e n h a n c e s t h e c o m p a n y ' s

s t r u c t u r e or n e e d to b e u s e d in

a c c e s s to university-generated

harsh environments."

intellectual p r o p e r t y a n d t e c h n i cal research.

stated,"MUSiC b r i n g s t h e supe-

T h e inaugural MUSIC r u n con-

rior p r o p e r t i e s o f silicon car-

tained d e s i g n s from 13 interna-

T h e inaugural recipient of t h e

bide to t h e rapidly e x p a n d i n g

tional c u s t o m e r s across a vari-

chair is a w a r d - w i n n i n g profes-

field o f MEMS. W h i l e today's

ety of industries - ranging from

sor Peter Asbeck, a p i o n e e r in

c o m m e r c i a l l y available MEMS-

a u t o m o t i v e to biomedical a n d

t h e field of h i g h - s p e e d integrat-

b a s e d p r o d u c t s are built o n sil-

to c o n s u m e r p r o d u c t s a n d

e d circuits u s i n g a d v a n c e d

i c o n w a f e r s in o r d e r to take

communications.

materials.

M)VA~'~(:Lr~ 5~:M~(O~t)fJ( [ 0 ~ r~A~:I~AZt~EVOL ~6 - NO 1 - JAN/FEB 2003