November 1, 2011 — Micrel Inc. (Nasdaq:MCRL) has begun manufacturing micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) at its San Jose, CA wafer foundry operations. Micrel started production with a "major MEMS manufacturer representing a significant percentage of the existing foundry capacity." The IC maker is also developing production processes for several MEMS startups.
Micrel is one of the few 6" wafer fabs in the US offering MEMS manufacturing capability.
Micrel invested several million dollars in the MEMS fab ramp. Its San Jose site can now perform 3D front-to-back wafer alignment and has added a deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) tool to precisely etch very deep trenches, through silicon vias (TSV), and large cavities.
Micrel has acheived full production for its primary MEMS customer, said Guy Gandenberger, vice president, worldwide operations and foundry business unit for Micrel. Additional capacity is now reserved for other MEMS customers, and Micrel is capable of expanding the MEMS foundry space if necessary.
Micrel’s Wafer Fab Division offers foundry services to commercial and military IC designers, among other customers. The wafer fab equipment can be used for short runs or volume production. The facility has been certified to ISO14001:1996, the International Environmental Management System Standard.
Micrel Inc. is a global manufacturer of ICs for the analog, Ethernet and high bandwidth markets. Web: http://www.micrel.com.