April 16, 2012 – Marketwire — IC and MEMS maker Micrel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRL) received a 98% performance rating for its services and materials to a leading global micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) designer and manufacturer in in a report covering Q4 2011.

Micrel mass produces MEMS sensors for the customer, which supplies sensors and sensor-based systems powered by MEMS devices. The customer, which was not named in Micrel’s release, is ranked among the top 20 global MEMS device makers.

Rating metrics are based on returns (30%), on-time delivery (30%), quality (20%) and quality events (20%).

Micrel has received 2 scorecards (the first was 97%) from the customer since expanding its San Jose, CA, MEMS 6” wafer and foundry operations in November 2011. Micrel is aiming for 100% on its customer scorecards, but is “pleased with our performance out of the gate on MEMS,” said Guy Gandenberger, VP, worldwide operations and foundry business unit for Micrel, who noted the improvement from their last scorecard.

Micrel invested several million dollars in capital for the MEMS fab ramp up, initiating 3D front-to-back wafer alignment capability and acquiring a state-of-the-art deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) tool to fab very deep trenches, through silicon vias (TSV), and large cavities required in MEMS designs.

The fab gives Micrel “greater control and flexibility over every element of the manufacturing process,” enables highly customizable services for CMOS and MEMS device customers, and reduces the number of vendors in a customer process, added Ray Zinn, president and CEO of Micrel. Micrel’s Wafer Fab Division facility is certified to ISO14001:1996, the International Environmental Management System Standard.

Micrel Inc. is a global IC manufacturer for analog, Ethernet and high bandwidth markets. Internet: http://www.micrel.com.

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