08 Sep 2008

IQE, the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and wafer services to the semiconductor industry, is pleased to announce that it has added an extensive range of new epitaxy services for enhanced MEMS capabilities.

Engineered substrates enable the greatest degree of flexibility in both the design and manufacture of MEMS devices, allowing customers to design their products free of the limitations imposed by standard bulk silicon substrates.

IQE’s dedicated silicon facility, now offers a range of engineered substrates for the emerging MEMS markets in wafer sizes up to 200mm.

The new enhanced services are suited to technologies based on SOI or bulk silicon wafers and IQE’s advanced single wafer reactors offer excellent resistivity and thickness uniformity with tight control of doping and other critical film parameters. Abrupt transitions are possible between differently doped layers and films are free from crystal originating particles and other types of bulk silicon defects.

With 20 years experience in pioneering epitaxy services, IQE works closely with its customers to develop the ideal substrate solution. Epitaxial services for MEMS applications include thick virtual SiGe substrates, thin super-lattice structures, SiGe etch stop layers and SiGe epitaxy for applications such as IR sensors.

The new MEMS offering also includes the industry’s largest range of materials capabilities with multi-layer Si, SiGe and Ge epitaxy. Different doping levels and species within each layer can also be accommodated as can epitaxial layers on SOI.

Alistair Hoy, Sales Manager for IQE’s Silicon Products Division said:

“Tailor-made substrates that are tuned to customers’ specific requirements provide the ideal foundation for next generation MEMS products and avoids the need for compromising design processes to fit the substrates’ properties.

“Many key players are turning to engineered substrates to facilitate greater flexibility and control over their design and manufacturing processes. The use of epitaxial layers opens up an exciting new range of possibilities for the MEMS technology sector.”



Contacts:

Technical/Sales

IQE Silicon (+44 29 2083 7500)
Ali Hoy
Rob Harper
Moz Fisher
sales@iqep.com


Press
IQE plc (+44 29 2083 9400)
Chris Meadows



NOTE TO EDITORS

IQE plc is this year celebrating its twentieth anniversary as the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers with products that cover a diverse range of applications. It is able to provide a 'one stop shop' for the wafer needs of the world's leading compound semiconductor manufacturers, who in turn use these wafers to make the chips which form the key components of virtually every high technology system. IQE has particular focus on the growing global wireless sector for applications including; mobile handsets, wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, base stations, GPS and satellite communications; as well as for the optical communication sector including; optical storage (CD, DVD), laser optical mice, laser printers & photocopiers, thermal imagers, leading-edge medical products, bar-coding, high efficiency LEDs and advanced solar cells.

The manufacturers of these chips are increasingly seeking to outsource wafer production to specialist foundries such as IQE in order to reduce overall wafer costs and accelerate time to market. IQE is unique in being able to supply wafers using all of the leading crystal growth technology platforms including Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) and Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and the Group is able to leverage its global purchasing volumes to reduce the cost of raw materials.

IQE also provides bespoke R&D services to deliver customized 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. This is backed by a strategy of duplicating each key product processes over multiple sites to assure customers of security of supply as well as provide compelling customer benefits in terms of flexibility and predictability of cost, thereby significantly reducing operating risk.

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