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Product category: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Oki Electric
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 11 December 2002

Alliance to spread CMOS-on-sapphire
technology

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Oki Electric is working with Peregrine Semiconductor to design, manufacture, and market LSIs based on a UTSiR CMOS-on-sapphire technology.

Oki Electric is working with Peregrine Semiconductor to design, manufacture, and market LSIs based on a UTSiR CMOS-on-sapphire technology The partnership will combine Oki's extensive production technologies in the area of communications LSIs, including fully depleted SOI (silicon-on-insulator), with Peregrine's advanced UTSiR technology

The agreement covers various aspects from technology licensing to joint product development.

As part of the agreement, Oki will undertake production as a second source.

The two companies intend to set the direction of the personal and mobile markets by offering ultra low power consumption and high performance RF technologies based on UTSiR.

The partnership will also offer competing wireless products.

"As a pace-setter in technologies related to fully-depleted SOI-based LSI products, we must work with partners who possess the most advanced technologies, such as Peregrine", said Katsuhiko Sano, President of Silicon Solutions Company at Oki Electric.

"Oki's collaboration with Peregrine will give us the capacity to further strengthen our industry-leading SOI business operations".

"We are proud to have an industry leader such as Oki Electric Industry recognise the inherent value of UTSiR in RF systems and adopt the technology", said Jim Cable, Peregrine's President and CEO.

"We are very much looking forward to the collaborative efforts that will result from our agreement and the future process innovations we will embark upon together".

The partnership between the two companies covers broad areas, from UTSiR technology licensing to joint technology development to product marketing.

The agreement calls for the following: Oki's licensing of Peregrine's UTSiR technology; joint development of UTSiR products; Oki's role as a second source/foundry of Peregrine's UTSiR products; sales and marketing of Peregrine's products with chipsets provided by Oki; and sharing of IP (intellectual property).

UTSiR technology enables the development of high quality RF semiconductors used in a variety of applications ranging from mobile radio to cellular telephony to cable television.

The basic UTSiR patent is for a fabrication technique that allows the construction of CMOS transistors on insulating sapphire substrates and results in a high-yield, low cost, high performance RF circuits.

This feature will allow mobile radio smaller and lighter, much higher performance and much longer battery life.

Oki offers expertise in volume production with fully depleted SOI LSI technology, which is well suited to low-power-consumption LSIs.

It is currently leveraging its SOI business operations into the personal and mobile markets.

The UTSiR technology licensed from Peregrine further strengthens Oki's position in the area of high frequency technology and low power consumption SOI LSIs, which represent the core building blocks of the wireless and broadband era.

Peregrine intends to expand its high-performance UTSiR technology operation worldwide by partnering with Oki, which complements Peregrine by providing experiences in world personal and mobile markets, and experience as a leading player in communications LSIs.

The partnership includes product marketing by Oki as well as a second-source agreement that will enable Peregrine offer a consistent supply of UTSiR based products in volume to the personal and mobile markets.

Under the agreement, Oki will market chipsets which combine OKI LSI with Peregrine's UTSiR products such as RF switches and high-performance mixer and PLL (phase locked loop) components, starting in 2003.

Oki will also divert production capacity to manufacture UTSiR LSIs for Peregrine.

Based on UTSiR technology, the two companies plan to undertake joint development of wireless communications LSIs, such as RF front ends for mobile phones and GPS (global positioning system) receivers.

Product introduction is slated to begin in late 2003.

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