13 December 2007

IQE is pleased to announce that its epitaxial materials have been fabricated by Intel Corporation to produce high performance enhancement-mode In0.7Ga0.3As quantum well field effect transistors (QWFETs) on Si substrates for next generation high-speed, ultra-low power digital logic applications.

At yesterday’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in Washington, DC, co authors Dmitri Loubychev, Joel Fastenau and Amy Liu of IQE and Mantu Hudait, Gilbert Dewey, Suman Datta, Jack Kavalieros, Ravi Pillarisetty, Marko Radosavljevic, Titash Rakshit and Robert Chau of Intel demonstrated the integration of InGaAs-based QWFET structures with Si substrates using a novel, thin composite metamorphic buffer. These epiwafers were produced at IQE’s Pennsylvania facility using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

The continued physical scaling of mainstream Si CMOS technology following Moore’s Law has resulted in unprecedented increase in performance requirements of modern-day microprocessors. However, this increased performance is at the cost of increased power consumption. III-V compound semiconductor-based quantum-well (QW) transistors provide a promising device option for achieving high performance and low power consumption in next generation microprocessor applications and the integration with Si transistors on a single chip provides the optimal solution.

Steve Gergar, General Manager of IQE’s Pennsylvania operation commented, "IQE is very pleased to have contributed the epitaxial materials upon which Intel has achieved these exciting results. We have worked closely with researchers at Dr. Robert Chau’s Novel Devices Group at Intel to develop these InGaAs-QWFET-on-Si structures. These results affirm IQE’s strength in advanced epitaxial material growths, beyond the typical high quality traditional III-V materials we have in high-volume production. They also confirm our commitment to the R&D community, and we look forward to continued successful collaborations with Intel and other research groups in the years to come."

For further details, please refer to paper S23.5 presented by Dr. Mantu Hudait at IEDM2007 and related paper published in IEEE Electronic Device Letters vol. 28 (8), page 685.


Contacts:

IQE plc
+44 (0)29 2083 9400
Drew Nelson
Phil Rasmussen
Chris Meadows

College Hill
+44 (0)20 7457 2020
Adrian Duffield
Jon Davies

Noble and Company
+ 44 (0) 20 7763 2200
John Llewellyn-Lloyd
Sam Reynolds


NOTE TO EDITORS

IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers with products that cover a diverse range of applications, supported by an innovative outsourced foundry services portfolio that allows the Group to provide a 'one stop shop' for the wafer needs of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers.

IQE uses advanced crystal growth technology (epitaxy) to manufacture and supply bespoke semiconductor wafers ('epi-wafers') to the major chip manufacturing companies, who then use these wafers to make the chips which form the key components of virtually all high technology systems. IQE is unique in being able to supply wafers using all of the leading crystal growth technology platforms.

IQE's products are found in many leading-edge consumer, communication, computing and industrial applications, including a complete range of wafer products for the wireless industry, such as mobile handsets and wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, base stations, GPS, and satellite communications; optical communications, optical storage (CD, DVD), laser optical mouse, laser printers & photocopiers, thermal imagers, leading-edge medical products, barcode, high efficiency LEDs and a variety of advanced silicon based systems.

The manufacturers of these chips are increasingly seeking to source wafers from specialist foundries such as IQE in order to reduce overall wafer costs and accelerate time to market.

IQE also provides bespoke R&D services to deliver customised materials for specific applications and offers specialist technical staff to manufacture to specification either at its own facilities or on the customer's own sites. The Group is also able to leverage its global purchasing volumes to reduce the cost of raw materials. In this way IQE's supply services, provide compelling benefits in terms of flexibility and predictability of cost, thereby significantly reducing operating risk.

IQE operates six manufacturing facilities located in Cardiff (two) and Milton Keynes in the UK; in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Somerset, New Jersey in the USA; and Singapore. The Group also has 11 sales offices located in major economic centres worldwide.