By Mark LaPedus
About every five years or so, a new and hot market emerges in the specialty foundry business that resembles a frenetic gold rush.

The last big gold rush occurred around 2008, when more than a dozen foundries jumped into the bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) market to capitalize on the booming power-management sector. Now, the next gold rush is centering on an emerging technology—the radio frequency (RF) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) market.

Today, IBM, STMicroelectronics and TowerJazz offer RF SOI foundry processes for the merchant market. Over time, analysts estimate that a dozen or more foundries could offer RF SOI. Altis Semiconductor and Grace Semiconductor have announced plans to enter the RF SOI fray. Two others, Lapis Semiconductor and Silanna, have put RF SOI on their foundry roadmaps. And sources indicate that GlobalFoundries, MagnaChip and TSMC are developing RF SOI or evaluating the technology.

Foundries are jumping on the RF SOI bandwagon amid a boom for select parts, particularly within the RF front-end for the latest smartphones and tablets. Typically, the RF front-end consists of power amplifiers (PAs), RF switches, tunable capacitors and filters. Generally, the PA and switch are based on gallium arsenide (GaAs), while the tunable capacitors and filters use various technologies.

RF SOI and its variant, silicon-on-sapphire (SOS), recently have made inroads for the RF switch—at the expense of GaAs. Most PAs are still based on GaAs, but the tide is slowly turning. For example, Peregrine Semiconductor is developing an SOS-based PA for a future smartphone at Apple, according to RBC Capital Markets.

Generally, RF chipmakers make GaAs-based devices in their own fabs. Chips based on RF CMOS, RF SOI and SOS generally are outsourced to the foundries. RF SOI is not a difficult technology to develop, but the real issue is that the sector could meet the same fate as BCD. As it turned out, the BCD market was not big enough to support a dozen foundries, prompting a shakeout in the arena.

In all likelihood, there is room for only a handful of RF SOI foundry players. “I would say IBM and TSMC are the only ones that have the economies of scale (in RF SOI),” said Doug Freedman, an analyst at RBC. “IBM is the leader in RF SOI right now, with TSMC trying to play catch-up. There are some other vendors like TowerJazz in the market, as well.”

From a supply/demand perspective, there is already ample RF SOI capacity to meet demand right now. “I have heard that capacity in RF SOI is adequate,” said Christopher Taylor, an analyst with Strategy Analytics. “I would have my doubts about the prospects of serious shortages barring compelling information to the contrary. Also, in light of the fact that RF SOI does not really push into the CMOS, small-node frontier, there is potentially quite a bit of capacity available from older fabs and foundries at the higher nodes.”

Rushing into RF SOI
The stakes are high, especially as RF content continues to increase in the latest mobile devices. In total, the PA market is expected to grow from $1.7 billion in 2008 to $3.8 billion by 2015, according to RBC. The multi-throw RF switch market is projected to grow from $262 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion by 2015, according to RBC. And the tunable capacitor market is expected to reach $500 million by 2016, it said.

“Driving this growth is rising handset and tablet units, which requires a greater amount of PA ICs,” RBC’s Freedman said. “Principally driving (RF switch) growth is rising radio bands. Driving (tunable capacitor) growth is the wider frequency range of bands and the need to reduce antenna size without performance trade-off.”

There is also an increase in design complexity amid a transition from 3G networks to the next-generation, 4G/LTE wireless standard. “LTE and carrier aggregation are thorny problems even in the best of situations,” said Michael Noonen, executive vice present of global sales, marketing, quality and design at GlobalFoundries. “You also want to be as Spartan as possible in the RF front-end design from a battery consumption standpoint.”

GlobalFoundries, which has been expanding its RF process offerings, is “very much interested” in RF SOI, Noonen said. “We have a lot of experience with SOI, but there are also other approaches in RF,” he said.

Indeed, OEMs face a series of complex device and process choices. For years, GaAs has dominated the RF landscape. GaAs has a larger energy gap and is faster than silicon, but it is more expensive to manufacture. RF CMOS, RF SOI, SOS and silicon-germanium (SiGe) are also in the mix. The RF version of SOI combines CMOS with a highly-resistive, thick-film SOI substrate.

RF SOI is an alternative to GaAs, with equivalent insertion loss and noise isolation characteristics. RF SOI also enables OEMs to integrate various chips on the same die. Another technology, SOS, makes use of an insulating sapphire substrate. And SiGe is built with silicon transistors to create RF circuits.
Meanwhile, after years of promises, RF SOI and its variants are finally cracking the RF front-end. OEMs are moving from GaAs pHEMT to RF SOI and SOS for the RF switch, said Paul Boudre, chief operating officer at Soitec, an SOI wafer supplier. “GaAs pHEMT will not disappear, but it will remain for more specific devices,” Boudre said.

Actually, the buzz started when Apple incorporated Peregrine’s SOS-based RF switches in the iPhone 5. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and other smartphones are also using SOS-based switches, according to RBC. SOS is a proprietary technology that is only offered by Peregrine. Its SOS chips are made on a foundry basis by Lapis, MagnaChip and Silanna.

Rodd Novak, chief marketing officer of Peregrine, said SOS has better insulating properties than RF SOI. SOS also uses sapphire wafers, making it a more expensive than RF SOI. But the overall cost for SOS is declining. This is because sapphire wafers are ramping up in high-volume markets like LEDs, which will impact the cost of SOS, Novak said.

Peregrine recently rolled out a new version of SOS, based on 0.35-micron technology. “Before, we grew an epi (layer) on top of our sapphire process,” Novak said. “Now, we are taking a very clean silicon substrate and bonding that to the sapphire. That process enables better performance.”

Apple to drive SOI?
The fact that Apple and other OEMs have adopted SOS and RF SOI for the RF switch has given the technology some credence. It also has caused a stampede of foundry players looking to enter the RF SOI sweepstakes.

Now, with help from the foundries, RF chipmakers are looking to displace SOS-based switches with traditional and less-expensive RF SOI technology. “RF switches are typically based on GaAs pHEMT, SOS and SOI, with SOI gaining more and more market share away from the other and more expensive technologies,” said Marco Racanelli, senior vice president and general manager at TowerJazz.

In addition to cost, OEMs are also interested in capacity. In one effort to ensure supply, IBM recently signed a second-source foundry deal for its 0.18-micron, RF SOI process with Altis.

Besides the RF switch, the next big market for RF SOI and SOS could be the PA, with Apple emerging as the possible driving force. “We believe that Peregrine is developing a unique integrated PA solution that is targeting the next generation of Apple’s PA product needs,” said RBC’s Freedman. “(This) could add approximately $1.25 in content, assuming (Apple integrates) five to six single PAs in 3G smartphones. We note that in 4G, PA content opportunity rises to approximately $3.00 due to rising single chip PAs per device.”

In another example, Qualcomm recently rolled out the RF360, an RF front-end that includes a PA based on SOI. Today, however, the jury is still out for PAs based on RF SOI and SOS. For the PA, GaAs still has a higher power-efficiency over CMOS.

Still, the handwriting is on the wall for GaAs. “For the PA, SiGe BiCMOS has strong market share in WiFi, while GaAs HBT has strong market share in cellular. RF CMOS is relegated to the very low-end 2G/2.5G cellular space,” TowerJazz’ Racanelli said. “SOI for the PA is only in R&D and may not deliver the best performance by itself. But combined with switches and other functions, (SOI-based PAs) could become relevant as new architectures are adopted. Our view is that SiGe has the best tradeoff in performance. The cost structure is closer to CMOS/SOI. SiGe is likely to gain more ground in the future.”

Also in the RF front-end, there is a tunable capacitor, which tunes the antennae to boost efficiencies. Peregrine is selling SOS-based tunable devices. Paratek and STMicroelectronics are selling components based on barium strontium titanate (BST). And WiSpry is offering a MEMS solution.

“There are two vectors worth exploring here,” GlobalFoundries’ Noonen said. “If you can do something in CMOS, it will be done in CMOS. We will see other ways to approach the problem. Using a tunable capacitor based on MEMs, for instance, you can attack the problem from an entirely different angle.”

Indeed, in the RF front-end, there is no one-size-fits-all technology; OEMs likely will adopt several types of chips and processes. “We will also see more functionality in the RF subsystem,” Noonen said. “The idea is to bring RF into more of a mainstream technology.”

By Mark LaPedus
Gartner released its top five IT predictions for China in 2013 and beyond. In one prediction, Chinese PC maker Lenovo will become the top smartphone vendor in China by 2013. The company’s smartphone market share rose from 1.7 percent in 3Q ‘11 to 14.8% in 3Q ‘12, making it now the No. 2 smartphone brand, ahead of Apple (6.9%) and behind Samsung (16.7%).

The SOI Industry Consortium has organized a symposium that will address the world of fully-depleted SOI. The symposium will be held at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel on Dec. 10, concurrent with the IEDM 2012 Conference.

MagnaChip has expanded its foundry production for Peregrine Semiconductor’s STeP5 UltraCMOS technology, which is used for RF devices. UltraCMOS is an advanced form of silicon-on-insulator technology based on a sapphire substrate.

At the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), which is in San Francisco from Feb. 17 to 21, 2013, IBM will present a paper on a next-generation processor for its System z mainframe. The processor combines six 5.5 GHz processor cores and two memory chips in a ceramic MCM package. The processor has 2.75 billion transistors on a 598mm2 die. The 32nm chip makes use of a high-k/metal-gate scheme and SOI technology with 15 layers of metal. The chips are placed on a 102-layer MCM with two 192MB L4 cache ICs. This is said to achieve a total MCM bandwidth of 530GB/s.

Also at ISSCC, IBM will describe a 22nm SOI SRAM operating over a wide voltage range of 0.7V to 1.1V. It employs a fine granularity power-gating feature, which reduces bit cell leakage by 37% and also reduces peripheral circuit leakage by 40%.

During the event, AMD will describe a 28nm, 11-metal layer x86 processor. The so-called “Jaguar”quad-core processor runs at up to 1.85 GHz.

Oracle will take ISSCC to introduce its next-generation SPARC T5 processor in 28nm technology with 13 metal layers containing 1.5 billion transistors. The chip integrates 16 3.6 GHz cores and a shared 8MB L3 cache with a 9-port crossbar. Oracle also will demonstrate glueless scaling to 8 sockets, or 128 cores, to deliver a total of 1024 threads in a single system. Its new I/O system architecture enables over 5TB/s bandwidth.

At ISSCC, China’s Loongson Technology will demonstrate its latest 8-core microprocessor, dubbed the Godson-3B1500, based on a MIPS64 instruction set. Fabricated in a 32nm, high-k/metal-gate process with 10 layers of metal, the chip contains 1.14 billion transistors. The processor operates at 1.35 GHz.

On the memory side at ISSCC, SanDisk and Toshiba will present a 32 Gbit ReRAM test chip in a 24nm process with a diode as the selection device. Separately, TSMC will present a cycling-endurance optimization scheme for a 1-Mbit STT-MRAM in 40nm technology with a dynamic load balance circuit. And Micron will present the first ever 128-Gbit, 3-bit-per-cell NAND design using 20nm planar cell technology.

Mentor Graphics announced the availability of a GENIVI 3.0 specification-compliant Linux- based Infotainment product. The solution integrates graphics, communication and multimedia middleware with libraries, system infrastructure and management components on top of Linux. http://www.mentor.com/company/news/mentor-embedded-genivi-3-compliant

TSMC recently approved capital appropriations totaling approximately $2.975 billion for the purpose of expanding advanced process capacity and the construction of a 300mm GigaFab. It also approved R&D capital appropriations and 2013 sustaining capital appropriations totaling approximately $209.5 million. In addition, it approved the subscription of approximately $42.28 million in new shares to be issued by TSMC Solid State Lighting Ltd. in 2013. And finally, it approved the subscription of approximately $21.63 million in new shares to be issued by TSMC Solar Ltd. in 2013.

Creative Technology has entered into an agreement with Intel under which Intel will license certain GPU technology and patents from ZiiLABS, a subsidiary of Creative. Intel will acquire certain engineering resources and assets related to the U.K. subsidiary of ZiiLABS. The deal is worth $50 million.

MIPS Technologies has received an unsolicited and rival proposal from CEVA to acquire all of the outstanding shares of MIPS. This follows MIPS’ proposed patent sale transaction with Bridge Crossing.

Global GDP growth is now expected to expand by an estimated 2.6% in 2012, close to the global recession threshold of 2.5% and well below the long-term average growth rate of 3.5%. However, the forecast for worldwide GDP in 2013 is 3.2% growth, according to IC Insights.

Smartphones will account for a larger share of NAND flash memory usage, as compared to feature phones, according to iSuppli.

Global demand and pricing in October for solar polysilicon fell at the highest rate seen since February, indicating that supply still exceeds demand, according to the IHS Solar Polysilicon Price Index.

By Mark LaPedus
The number of high-risk suppliers to the U.S. government, including companies that sold suspect counterfeit products to military and commercial electronics channels, soared by 63% from 2002 to 2011, according to IHS iSuppli.

Consolidation in the fab tool market continues.Brooks Automation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Crossing Automation, a rival supplier of fab automation tools. The cash purchase price is $63 million. Crossing, which bought the atmospheric automation portion of Asyst two years ago, has developed several 450mm fab automation sub-systems, such as loadports, sorters and modules.

A technologist from Micron kicked off SEMI’s 2012 Strategic Materials Conference (SMC) with a comprehensive overview of the challenges of electronic materials. At the event, VLSI Research reported on the status of directed self-assembly (DSA) technology. “AZ Electronic Materials showed good progress in DSA,” according to the research firm. “In particular, we’re really excited about DSA. The rate of progress over the last two years has sparked that feeling of déjà vu. It feels like those days of immersion’s emergence, just when it seemed like there was no answer, one emerged.”

Cadence Design Systems has announced the tapeout of a 14nm test chip featuring an ARM Cortex-M0 processor. The test chip is based on IBM‘s finFET process and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. In a blog, Richard Goering provides the “inside story” of the 14nm finFET tapeout at Cadence.

Applied Materials rolled out new PVD and PECVD technologies to enable the next era of ultra-high definition (UHD) televisions and high-pixel density screens for mobile devices. The Applied AKT-PiVot PVD and Applied AKT-PX PECVD film deposition systems provide display manufacturers with a high-performance, cost-effective path to help bring advanced materials to volume production.

Mentor Graphics announced hardware and software solutions to accelerate the verification of PCI Express Generation 3 products.

UMC posted its results and disclosed that is working on a second-source model for TSMC-like processes.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has increased its share in the German-based MEMS Foundry Itzehoe GmbH (MFI) from 25.5% to 51%. The move reflects X-FAB’s focus on MEMS manufacturing services and technologies.

MagnaChip said revenue for the third quarter of 2012 was $221.9 million, a 9.5% increase compared to $202.6 million for the second quarter of 2012, and a 10.7% increase compared to $200.4 million for the third quarter of 2011.

Apple rolled out new Mac computers that pair an SSD with a conventional HDD. Apple calls this its Fusion Drive, not to be confused with Fusion-io’s products. The SSD Guy weighs in.

ARM Holdings’ long-awaited entry into the 64-bit processor arena could propel the intellectual-property (IP) chip giant into new markets. ARM’s move also drew mixed reviews from analysts, especially regarding the announcement from one of its new licensees-Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

VLSI Research released its new outlook for 2013. The semiconductor equipment market is expected to reach $43.4 billion in 2013, down 4.4% from 2012. VLSI Research’s fab tool forecast calls for minus 14.3% in 2012.

According to NPD DisplaySearch, spending on manufacturing equipment for FPDs is forecast to rise 121% from $3.8 billion in 2012 to $8.3 billion in 2013.

After a strong surge in 2010 from the 2009 downturn and solid growth in 2011, the market for optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discrete semiconductors (O-S-D) lost most of its momentum in 2012, says IC Insights.

With Motorola (Google), RIM and Nokia posting operating losses during the third quarter of 2012, Canaccord Genuity technology analyst Michael Walkley estimated that Apple’s 59% of operating profits and Samsung’s 47%, combined to take 106% of all smartphone profits. He said, “Given the current competitive dynamics, we believe Apple and Samsung will maintain dominant value share during Q4/12 with share gains for Apple versus Samsung expected in Q4/12.” Walkley estimated that in 2013, AAPL will sell 193.9 million smartphones, while Samsung will sell 303.6 million, combining for more than 50% of market share. As a reference point, his next highest estimate of smartphone sales was with Huawei, at 47.9 million sales.

By Mark LaPedus
Applied Materials introduced its Centura Avatar high aspect ratio etch system, capable of handling the carbon-based mask materials used to define the vertical openings in 3D NAND.

Soitec said that its Altatech subsidiary has installed a CVD system in CEA-Leti. The research organization will use it to develop phase-change memory devices and high-k metal gates for the sub-20nm node.

United Microelectronics Corp. has licensed IBM’s technology to expedite the development of the foundry’s next generation 20nm CMOS process with FinFET  transistors. This agreement between UMC and IBM is only inclusive of IBM’s 20nm CMOS and FinFET. UMC’s internally developed 20nm planar process will be aligned to IBM’s design rules and process/device targets, while UMC’s FinFET will be offered as a low-power technology enhancement option for mobile computing and communication products.

Intel announced its seventh Intel Science Technology Center (ISTC). Part of a $100 million effort to propel new R&D centers, ISTC will focus on social computing. In one of its vast array of research projects, Intel and others provided details about the development of a smart automotive headlight for seeing through rain and snow.

As expected, Micron Technology and Elpida Memory announced that the parties have signed a definitive sponsor agreement for Micron to acquire and support Elpida. The deal is worth 200 billion Yen ($2.5 billion).  In a related transaction, Micron also announced a separate agreement with Powerchip, a Taiwanese corporation, and certain of its affiliates to acquire the Powerchip group’s 24 percent share of Rexchip. That deal is worth approximately $334 million.

VLSI Research released its upbeat outlook for 2013. The semiconductor equipment market is expected to reach $56 billion in 2013, up 10.1% from 2012. VLSI Research also raised its fab tool forecast in 2012, from minus 7.2% to minus 4%.

In addition, VLSI Research said the worldwide IC market is projected to hit $283.4 billion in 2013, up 9.7% from 2012. VLSI Research also lowered its IC outlook in 2012, from 4% growth down to 2.3%. “Chipmakers are becoming more tenuous about the second half, resulting in limited visibility for equipment suppliers,” according to the research firm. “However, the skittishness has little to do with the chip market, where the overall fundamentals remain relatively healthy; it’s driven by a deteriorating macroeconomic picture. Fears are that the chip industry could be running on borrowed time given the high correlation between it and the macro economy.”

Pricing in the DRAM market has become less volatile since the February bankruptcy of Elpida Memory according to IHS iSuppli.

If ASML can get EUV to work in production, the company could hit the jackpot. An EUV tool is expected to run $125 million each. C.J. Muse, an analyst with Barclays, said: “We believe the true EUV tool demand ramp will occur in the 2014/2015 timeframe. This should coincide with DRAM transitioning to 20nm and foundry to 14nm. Based on the layer requirements, we see foundry and DRAM as the major drivers of EUV tool demand in 2015. In our base case for 2015, we are assuming (about) 18 EUV tools will go to foundries, (about) 8 to DRAM, (about) 4 to Intel, and none to NAND (though ramping in 2016), for total 2015 shipments of 30-36 EUV tools.”

Maxim announced a $200 million investment to upgrade its U.S. wafer fabs in Beaverton, Ore.; Dallas and San Antonio, Texas; and San Jose, Calif. The investment will be used for 200mm upgrades. The analog chip maker maintains a 300mm foundry deal with Powerchip.

MagnaChip now offers a new 0.18-micron bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process. This new process features operability at 60 volts and will support additional voltage ranges (12 to 60 volts) for applications that include DC-DC converters, power-over-Ethernet, LED drivers, audio amps and power management ICs for the mobile and consumer markets.

TowerJazz said its 0.18-micron BCD process has been qualified to meet the certification requirements of the AECQ100 standard as defined by the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC).

Gaas Labs, a private investment fund, acquired Nitronex, a supplier of gallium nitride (GaN) RF chips.

Ultratech has acquired the rights to a collection of patents from IBM. These include fundamental patents in packaging such as C4 bumping, BGA, lead-free solders and 3D packaging.

By Mark LaPedus
Mentor Graphics announced that GlobalFoundries Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) will use Mentor’s SmartFill technology from its Calibre YieldEnhancer line for 20nm manufacturing. In addition, Mentor recently posted its results and raised its guidance for fiscal year 2013.

At next week’s Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco, GlobalFoundries plans to demonstrate a design flow for its 28nm technology. The flow provides support for advanced analog and mixed-signal designs. In addition, GlobalFoundries has selected Synopsys‘ Yield Explorer solution as part of its Yield Management System (YMS) for faster yield ramp in production.

The Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) released the OPDK v1.0 standard as approved by the Open Process Design Kit Coalition. The OPDK v1.0 standard includes the schematic symbol standard and the design parameter and callback specification.

Three silicon foundries, including LFoundry, MagnaChip and TSMC, are expanding their embedded memory intellectual-property (IP) offerings in an effort to reach into new and emerging markets.

Taiwan’s Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), the world’s largest semiconductor packaging and test company, has opened its phase 3 manufacturing facility in Weihai, Shangdong province, China. The new building is part of ASE’s expansion plans to increase its manufacturing capacity for discrete packaging and test.

Barclays Capital raised its forecast for FormFactor, as the struggling probe-card maker upgraded its own guidance for the quarter. “We continue to expect FormFactor’s cash burn to end in 2H ‘12, though (we) don’t anticipate GAAP profitability through 2013,” said C.J. Muse, an analyst with Barclays.

VLSI Research maintained its semiconductor equipment forecast, which calls for the industry to fall by 7.2% in 2012 over 2011. But business is getting better. Fab equipment makers “are now seeing a strong momentum in order activity carrying over into the second half of the year. This will offset some of the weakness seen in the NAND space where end demand has fallen short of expectations, prompting NAND manufacturers to postpone some capacity additions,” according to VLSI Research.

By Mark LaPedus

The specialty foundry vendors are expanding their wings by rolling out new processes. MagnaChip, TowerJazz, Silterra and X-Fab have separately expanded their foundry portfolios.

Germany’s X-Fab Silicon Foundries has announced XH018 HT – a new module that adds high-temperature capability to its XH018 process technology family. It is said to be the industry’s first 0.18-micron platform with high temperature (HT), high voltage (HV) and non-volatile memory (NVM) capability.

X-Fab also added 13 new primitive devices with this extension, including multiple HV transistors with enhanced Ron performance, symmetrical HV transistors and new electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection structures.

The high-temperature extension and its new devices are ideal for use in automotive applications such as control devices inside combustion engine compartments or electric engine housings. They are suited for automotive applications with operating voltages up to 45V.

The XH018 high-temperature process module extends the operation temperature range of the integrated circuits (ICs) to +175°C and requires no additional mask layers. The XH018 HT extension is available now for tape-ins; customers can start their designs and submit their prototypes for production. The combination of embedded Flash IP blocks, TrimOTP, and NVRAM compiler and high-temperature capability up to 175 degrees will become available next quarter.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp. now offers a 0.13-micron triple gate oxide CMOS process that will support wide voltage ranges for mobile device applications. This process features one additional layer of gate oxide, introducing 1.8V CMOS into a standard 1.2/3.3V CMOS array on 0.13-micron technology.

Using a modular characteristic for IC design provides added flexibility by allowing the selection of either 1.2/3.3V or 1.2/1.8/3.3V CMOS processes without the need for design reverification. The triple gate oxide process for 1.2/1.8/3.3V also allows for a reduction in chip size.

Another foundry vendor, Malaysian-based wafer foundry Silterra Malaysia, recently announced the release of 130nm CMOS logic technology with aluminum backend interconnection. Dubbed CL130AL, this technology is targeting mainstream, high-volume consumer electronics applications such as touch controllers, flash memory card controller, USB controller and others.

The technology offers single poly up to six layers of aluminum metallization, borderless contacts and via with USG inter-metal dielectric.

In addition, Silterra is partnering with ARM to license ARM’s Artisan physical IP design libraries, including standard cells and memory compilers. The CL130AL process is currently available for prototyping and the design flows have been validated in Synopsys and Mentor platforms.

And not to be outdone, Israel’s TowerJazz recently announced its TS11IS hybrid CMOS image sensor (CIS) process offering, a combination of a 0.11- and 0.16-micron platform. The process is targeted for applications in high end photography, machine vision, 3D imaging and security sensors. The new hybrid CIS process platform will be offered for prototyping for select customers in Q3 2012, and for production towards the end of 2012.

Chang-Sik Choi, a former executive vice president of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., has been named president and CEO at Dongbu HiTek, a South Korean foundry vendor.

Chan-Hee Lee, former executive vice president of MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp., has been named president in charge of Dongbu HiTek’s foundry business.

John Yong-In Park, who was the president and CEO for Dongbu HiTek, will become in charge of a new business unit at the company. The name of new operation is the “Brand business unit.”

Over the past decade, Dongbu HiTek has emerged as one of the world’s top specialty foundry vendors. With the additions of Choi and Lee to its executive team, the Korean firm said it “aims to capture new profitable growth opportunities to more fully leverage its specialized and widely respected expertise in analog and mixed-signal technologies.”

South Korea’s MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp. has taken two steps to expand its business.

In the first move, MagnaChip — the logic and foundry spinoff of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. — has begun ramping up its 0.35-micron mixed-signal foundry process for MEMS accelerometer applications. The company also provides a range of analog and mixed-signal foundry processes.

In the second move, the company has expanded its standard products business. It completed the acquisition of Dawin Electronics Co. Ltd., a privately-held semiconductor company that designs and manufactures insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), fast recovery diodes (FRDs) and MOSFET modules.

Dawin Electronics is headquartered in Incheon, South Korea. Sang Park, MagnaChip’s chairman and CEO, said: “The acquisition of Dawin Electronics expands MagnaChip’s offering of power solutions products to the commercial and industrial markets.”

According to market research firm IHS iSuppli, the total IGBT market in 2011 was estimated to be $4.1 billion and is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 10 percent from 2011 to 2015. IGBTs are used in a broad range of medium- to high-power commercial and industrial applications and in many consumer appliances such as variable speed refrigerators, air-conditioners and stereo systems.