Semiconductor today

As one of five new hubs supported by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Cardiff University is to receive funding to lead a hub that aims to capitalize on the opportunity of compound semiconductor manufacturing identified in the UK’s national semiconductor strategy...

Sheffield University spin-off Phlux Technology (which designs and manufactures 1550nm avalanche photodiode infrared sensors), Airbus Defence and Space, and The University of Sheffield have embarked on a €500,000 project to build more efficient free-space optical communications (FSOC) satellite terminals...

For its fiscal second-quarter 2024 (to 29 March) Skyworks Solutions Inc of Irvine, CA, USA (which manufactures analog and mixed-signal semiconductors) has reported revenue of $1046m, down 12.9% on $1201.5m last quarter and 9.5% on $1153.1m a year ago...

Apple effectively pioneered the micro-LED industry, thrusting it into the spotlight back in 2014 with the acquisition of micro-LED startup Luxvue. However, in February, Apple pulled the plug on its smartwatch micro-LED project despite a decade-long investment totaling $3bn, reports market analyst firm Yole Group in ‘Micro-LED Display Intellectual Property Landscape 2024’...

In booth 304 (hall 9) at Power, Control and Intelligent Motion (PCIM) Europe 2024 trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany (11–13 June), ROHM is presenting its new power semiconductor solutions, with a special focus on wide-bandgap devices...

Fabless micro-LED company Poro Technologies Ltd (a spin off from the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride at the UK’s University of Cambridge) has selected the Solstice single-wafer platform of ClassOne Technology of Kalispell, MT, USA (which manufactures electroplating and wet-chemical process systems for ≤200mm wafers) for the development and manufacture of GaN products for applications requiring silicon wafer substrates...

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA — which was founded in 2015 and develops and manufactures high-power industrial blue lasers — has received a purchase order for its BlueScan solution from Blueacre Technology of Dundalk, Ireland (which was founded in 2005 to provide contract manufacturing solutions to the medical device industry). The BL laser will be integrated by Blueacre with scan head optics to produce a versatile welding system for the manufacture of precision medical devices...

Two researchers at Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) University and Laurentian University have been awarded funding from grants administered through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance Missions program. One project studies how gallium can be mined more efficiently while the second project focuses on the extraction of critical minerals from tailings ponds...

Luminus Devices Inc of Sunnyvale, CA, USA – which designs and makes LEDs and solid-state technology (SST) light sources for illumination markets – has launched a series of 4-in-1 RGBL (red-green-blue-lime) LEDs designed for stage and architectural lighting systems that require high-output color mixing with high color-rendering index (CRI)...

At SID Display Week 2024 in San Jose (14–16 May), Mojo Vision Inc of Saratoga, CA, USA — which is developing and commercializing micro-LED display technology for consumer, enterprise and government applications — is announcing advances in display technology, including demonstrating a monolithic red, green and blue (RGB) panel with 4µm pixel pitch, representing a density of 6350 pixels per inch (ppi)...

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded BAE Systems’ FAST Labs R&D organization in Merrimack, NH, USA a $12m contract for the program THREADS (Technologies for Heat Removal in Electronics at the Device Scale)...

Opportunities for UK companies across the semiconductor industry in Taiwan are revealed in a new report by international business development consultancy Intralink, which delivers the UK–APAC Tech Growth Programme on behalf of the UK Government...

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system maker Riber S.A. of Bezons, France says that EPIR Inc of Bolingbrook, IL, USA has ordered its second MBE 32 MCT research system (just two months after delivery of the first), for delivery in 2025, to further strengthen its capacity for the development and production of advanced materials...

In exhibition stand 318 (Hall 9) at the Power, Control and Intelligent Motion (PCIM) Europe 2024 event in Nuremberg, Germany (11–13 May), 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 exhibiting what it claims is the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of GaN-based power conversion solutions...

For its fiscal third-quarter 2024 (to end-March 2023), Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA — which makes silicon carbide (SiC) materials and power semiconductor devices — has reported revenue of $200.7m, down 4% on $208.4m last quarter but up 4% on $192.6m a year ago...

The South Wales-based compound semiconductor cluster CSconnected Ltd says that Howard Rupprecht will take over as its managing director, with effect from 1 June. Rupprecht has semiconductor industry and business development experience from both the public and private sectors, and has been a director of CSconnected since January...

Marktech Optoelectronics Inc of Latham, NY, USA, a designer and manufacturer of optoelectronics components and assemblies — including UV, visible, near-infrared (NIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR) emitters, detectors, and indium phosphide (InP) epiwafers — has unveiled its new multi-chip packages with indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) photodiodes and multiple LED emitters...

Gene Sheridan, CEO & co-founder of gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA, has been named by Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) as an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Greater Los Angeles Award finalist...

For first-quarter 2024, deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany has reported revenue of €118.3m (near the top end of the €100–120m guidance range). This was down 45% on last quarter’s record €214.2m but up 53% on €77.2m a year ago (although the latter was reduced by delays in the issue of export licenses, pushing €70m worth of shipments out of the quarter)...

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 — says that the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has validated the claims of EPC’s patent ‘Compensated gate MISFET and method for fabricating the same’ (Chinese Patent No. ZL201080015425.X) for enhancement-mode GaN semiconductor devices...