Category Archives: Device Architecture

For the 20th year, a worldwide survey of semiconductor manufacturers has resulted in Plasma-Therm winning multiple awards for its systems and superior customer service.

In the annual Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by VLSIresearch, Plasma-Therm earned a total of five awards, including two “RANKED 1st” awards. Plasma-Therm earned the highest scores of all companies in two award categories, “Etch & Clean Equipment” and “Focused Suppliers of Chip Making Equipment.”

Survey participants are asked to rate semiconductor equipment suppliers in 15 categories based on supplier performance, customer service, and product performance.

“The achievement of two ‘RANKED 1st’ awards and five awards overall is very gratifying” Plasma-Therm CEO Abdul Lateef said. “While we continue to expand our product and application portfolio, we never lose our focus on providing the best service and support. We are working harder than ever to ensure success for all our customers, from small institutions and start-ups to specialty fabs and high-volume manufacturers.”

In THE BEST Suppliers of Fab Equipment, which includes specialized manufacturers like Plasma-Therm as well as the world’s largest equipment makers, Plasma-Therm ranked higher than every other company besides ASML, the world’s largest maker photolithography supplier. Plasma-Therm also was ranked higher than all other suppliers besides ASML in THE BEST Suppliers of Fab Equipment to Specialty Chip Makers.

With this year’s awards, Plasma-Therm now has received a total of 42 awards over 20 years of participation in the Customer Satisfaction Survey. VLSIresearch received feedback from more than 94 percent of the chip market in this year’s survey, which was conducted over 2-1/2 months and in five languages. Here is the full list of awards earned by Plasma-Therm in the 2018 Customer Satisfaction Survey:

• RANKED 1st in FOCUSED SUPPLIERS OF CHIP MAKINGEQUIPMENT • RANKED 1st in ETCH & CLEAN EQUIPMENT
• 10 BEST FOCUSED SUPPLIERS OF CHIP MAKING EQUIPMENT
• THE BEST SUPPLIERS OF FAB EQUIPMENT

• THE BEST SUPPLIERS OF FAB EQUIPMENT TO SPECIALTY CHIP MAKERS About Plasma-Therm

Established in 1974, Plasma-Therm is a manufacturer of advanced plasma processing equipment for specialty semiconductor markets, including advanced packaging, wireless communication, photonics, solid-state lighting, MEMS/NEMS, nanotechnology, renewable energy, data storage, photomask, and R&D. Plasma-Therm offers etch and deposition technologies and solutions for these markets.

Molex, a global manufacturer of electronic solutions, announced today the acquisition of BittWare, Inc., a global provider of computing systems featuring field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) deployed in data center compute and network packet processing applications.

“Among the foremost FPGA computing platform developers, BittWare brings an impressive breadth of board-level computing technologies, integrated systems and software expertise,” said Tim Ruff, senior vice president of Molex.

According to Mark Gilliam, president of Interconnect Systems International, a Molex company, “The acquisition expands on the capabilities of Molex and its subsidiary Nallatech to address the rising demand for FPGA-based high-performance compute and network processing solutions.”

Headquartered in Concord, NH, BittWare provides solutions based on FPGA technology from Intel (formerly Altera) and Xilinx. Many of the world’s leading companies use BittWare FPGA solutions to provide the processing power for demanding applications in compute and data center, military and aerospace, government, instrumentation and test, financial services, broadcast and video.

“FPGA-based platforms have become a strategically important driver of machine learning, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, network acceleration, IoT, and other megatrends. As a Molex subsidiary, now working with Nallatech, I believe we will have the critical mass to bring new resources, better processes, and economies of scale to our valued customers and this rapidly growing industry as a whole,” said Jeff Milrod, president and CEO of BittWare.

BittWare commercial products turn the latest FPGA device features into reliable board-level solutions, suitable for both development and deployment in integrated servers. The company serves original equipment manufacture (OEM) customers, who value the decades of engineering experience BittWare brings to designing custom solutions and manufacturing them at scale with partners such as Benchmark Electronics. BittWare products are supported with extensive tools, FPGA IP, and in-house technical support staff.

Philpott Ball & Werner, LLC acted as BittWare’s financial advisor. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For more information about Molex BittWare FPGA solutions, please visit www.molex.com.

Crossbar, Inc. announced an agreement with Microsemi Corporation, the largest U.S. commercial supplier of military and aerospace semiconductors, in which Microsemi will license Crossbar’s ReRAM core intellectual property. As part of the agreement, Microsemi and Crossbar will collaborate in the research, development and application of Crossbar’s proprietary ReRAM technology in next generation products from Microsemi that integrate Crossbar’s embedded ReRAM with Microsemi products manufactured at the 1x nm process node.

“We are pleased to have Microsemi in our growing list of licensees,” said George Minassian, CEO of Crossbar. “Together, we can bring unique integration of ReRAM into highly integrated, advanced node semiconductor solutions for a wide range of high-performance, low-power solutions.”

The unique nanofilament technology of Crossbar ReRAM is built upon standard CMOS processes and is fully scalable to below 10nm without impacting performance. Highly integrated semiconductor solutions with unique embedded memory architectures can be built to offer a highly secure, low-power platform with fast access times for advanced applications including edge computing, communications infrastructure, artificial intelligence, Industrial IoT and automotive.

“We are very pleased with the Crossbar license as their unique and highly scalable ReRAM technology allows us to plan power-efficient, high performance products across a multi-generation roadmap,” said Jim Aralis, Microsemi CTO. “This technology collaboration with Crossbar furthers our commitment to becoming the leading supplier of semiconductor solutions differentiated by performance, reliability, security and power while delivering truly innovative solutions.”

Among the chief complaints for smartphone, laptop and other battery-operated electronics users is that the battery life is too short and–in some cases–that the devices generate heat. Now, a group of physicists led by Deepak K. Singh, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Missouri, has developed a device material that can address both issues. The team has applied for a patent for a magnetic material that employs a unique structure–a “honeycomb” lattice that exhibits distinctive electronic properties.

The left shows the atomic force micrograph, exhibiting honeycomb structure pattern behind a magnetic device. Inset shows the schematic of current flow direction. On the right: electrical data reveals diode-type behavior of current flowing in one direction. Inset shows that the dissipative power is of the order of nano-watt in the current flowing direction, which is at least three orders of magnitude smaller than the semiconductor diode. Credit: Deepak Singh

The left shows the atomic force micrograph, exhibiting honeycomb structure pattern behind a magnetic device. Inset shows the schematic of current flow direction. On the right: electrical data reveals diode-type behavior of current flowing in one direction. Inset shows that the dissipative power is of the order of nano-watt in the current flowing direction, which is at least three orders of magnitude smaller than the semiconductor diode. Credit: Deepak Singh

“Semiconductor diodes and amplifiers, which often are made of silicon or germanium, are key elements in modern electronic devices,” said Singh, who also serves as the principal investigator of the Magnetism and Superconductivity Research Laboratory at MU. “A diode normally conducts current and voltage through the device along only one biasing direction, but when the voltage is reversed, the current stops. This switching process costs significant energy due to dissipation, or the depletion of the power source, thus affecting battery life. By substituting the semiconductor with a magnetic system, we believed we could create an energetically effective device that consumes much less power with enhanced functionalities.”

Singh’s team developed a two-dimensional, nanostructured material created by depositing a magnetic alloy, or permalloy, on the honeycomb structured template of a silicon surface. The new material conducts unidirectional current, or currents that only flow one way. The material also has significantly less dissipative power compared to a semiconducting diode, which is normally included in electronic devices.

The magnetic diode paves the way for new magnetic transistors and amplifiers that dissipate very little power, thus increasing the efficiency of the power source. This could mean that designers could increase the life of batteries by more than a hundred-fold. Less dissipative power in computer processors could also reduce the heat generated in laptop or desktop CPUs.

“Although more works need to be done to develop the end product, the device could mean that a normal 5-hour charge could increase to more than a 500-hour charge,” Singh said. “The device could also act as an ‘on/off switch’ for other periphery components such as closed-circuit cameras or radio frequency attenuators, which reduces power flowing through a device. We have applied for a U.S. patent and have begun the process of incorporating a spin-off company to help us take the device to market.”

The proposed startup company associated with this research, highlights the university’s impact on the state’s economic development efforts, including commercialization of research conducted at Mizzou, workforce development and job growth, quality of life improvements for residents, and attracting corporations and businesses to the state. Companies commercializing MU technologies have secured hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and grants to advance their commercialization efforts. In 2017, the Office of Technology Management and Industry Relations reported that 31 U.S. patents were issued to members of the MU community.

A Columbia University-led international team of researchers has developed a technique to manipulate the electrical conductivity of graphene with compression, bringing the material one step closer to being a viable semiconductor for use in today’s electronic devices.

By compressing layers of boron nitride and graphene, researchers were able to enhance the material's band gap, bringing it one step closer to being a viable semiconductor for use in today's electronic devices. Credit: Philip Krantz

By compressing layers of boron nitride and graphene, researchers were able to enhance the material’s band gap, bringing it one step closer to being a viable semiconductor for use in today’s electronic devices. Credit: Philip Krantz

“Graphene is the best electrical conductor that we know of on Earth,” said Matthew Yankowitz, a postdoctoral research scientist in Columbia’s physics department and first author on the study. “The problem is that it’s too good at conducting electricity, and we don’t know how to stop it effectively. Our work establishes for the first time a route to realizing a technologically relevant band gap in graphene without compromising its quality. Additionally, if applied to other interesting combinations of 2D materials, the technique we used may lead to new emergent phenomena, such as magnetism, superconductivity, and more.”

The study, funded by the National Science Foundation and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, appears in the May 17 issue of Nature.

The unusual electronic properties of graphene, a two-dimensional (2D) material comprised of hexagonally-bonded carbon atoms, have excited the physics community since its discovery more than a decade ago. Graphene is the strongest, thinnest material known to exist. It also happens to be a superior conductor of electricity – the unique atomic arrangement of the carbon atoms in graphene allows its electrons to easily travel at extremely high velocity without the significant chance of scattering, saving precious energy typically lost in other conductors.

But turning off the transmission of electrons through the material without altering or sacrificing the favorable qualities of graphene has proven unsuccessful to-date.

“One of the grand goals in graphene research is to figure out a way to keep all the good things about graphene but also create a band gap – an electrical on-off switch,” said Cory Dean, assistant professor of physics at Columbia University and the study’s principal investigator. He explained that past efforts to modify graphene to create such a band gap have degraded the intrinsically good properties of graphene, rendering it much less useful. One superstructure does show promise, however. When graphene is sandwiched between layers of boron nitride (BN), an atomically-thin electrical insulator, and the two materials are rotationally aligned, the BN has been shown to modify the electronic structure of the graphene, creating a band gap that allows the material to behave as a semiconductor – that is, both as an electrical conductor and an insulator. The band gap created by this layering alone, however, is not large enough to be useful in the operation of electrical transistor devices at room temperature.

In an effort to enhance this band gap, Yankowitz, Dean, and their colleagues at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the University of Seoul in Korea, and the National University of Singapore, compressed the layers of the BN-graphene structure and found that applying pressure substantially increased the size of the band gap, more effectively blocking the flow of electricity through the graphene.

“As we squeeze and apply pressure, the band gap grows,” Yankowitz said. “It’s still not a big enough gap – a strong enough switch – to be used in transistor devices at room temperature, but we have gained a fundamentally better understanding of why this band gap exists in the first place, how it can be tuned, and how we may target it in the future. Transistors are ubiquitous in our modern electronic devices, so if we can find a way to use graphene as a transistor it would have widespread applications.”

Yankowitz added that scientists have been conducting experiments at high pressures in conventional three-dimensional materials for years, but no one had yet figured out a way to do them with 2D materials. Now, researchers will be able to test how applying various degrees of pressure changes the properties of a vast range of combinations of stacked 2D materials.

“Any emergent property that results from the combination of 2D materials should grow stronger as the materials are compressed,” Yankowitz said. “We can take any of these arbitrary structures now and squeeze them and the strength of the resulting effect is tunable. We’ve added a new experimental tool to the toolbox we use to manipulate 2D materials and that tool opens boundless possibilities for creating devices with designer properties.”

IC Insights will release its May Update to the 2018 McClean Report later this month.  This Update includes a discussion of the 1Q18 IC industry market results, an update of the 2018 capital spending forecast by company, and a look at the top-25 1Q18 semiconductor suppliers (the top-15 1Q18 semiconductor suppliers are covered in this research bulletin).

The top-15 worldwide semiconductor (IC and O-S-D—optoelectronic, sensor, and discrete) sales ranking for 1Q18 is shown in Figure 1.  It includes eight suppliers headquartered in the U.S., three in Europe, two in South Korea, and one each in Taiwan and Japan.  After announcing in early April 2018 that it had successfully moved its headquarters location from Singapore to the U.S. IC Insights now classifies Broadcom as a U.S. company.

The top-15 ranking includes one pure-play foundry (TSMC) and four fabless companies.  If TSMC were excluded from the top-15 ranking, Taiwan-based fabless supplier MediaTek ($1,696 million) would have been ranked in the 15th position.

IC Insights includes foundries in the top-15 semiconductor supplier ranking since it has always viewed the ranking as a top supplier list, not a marketshare ranking, and realizes that in some cases the semiconductor sales are double counted.  With many of our clients being vendors to the semiconductor industry (supplying equipment, chemicals, gases, etc.), excluding large IC manufacturers like the foundries would leave significant “holes” in the list of top semiconductor suppliers.  As shown in the listing, the foundries and fabless companies are identified.  In the April Update to The McClean Report, marketshare rankings of IC suppliers by product type were presented and foundries were excluded from these listings.

Overall, the top-15 list shown in Figure 1 is provided as a guideline to identify which companies are the leading semiconductor suppliers, whether they are IDMs, fabless companies, or foundries.

Figure 1

Figure 1

In total, the top-15 semiconductor companies’ sales surged by 26% in 1Q18 compared to 1Q17, six points higher than the total worldwide semiconductor industry 1Q18/1Q17 increase of 20%.  Amazingly, the Big 3 memory suppliers—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, each registered greater than 40% year-over-year growth in 1Q18. Fourteen of the top-15 companies had sales of at least $2.0 billion in 1Q18, four companies more than in 1Q17. As shown, it took just over $1.8 billion in quarterly sales just to make it into the 1Q18 top-15 semiconductor supplier list.

Intel was the number one ranked semiconductor supplier in 1Q17 but lost its lead spot to Samsung in 2Q17 as well as in the full-year 2017 ranking, a position it had held since 1993.  With the continuation of the strong surge in the DRAM and NAND flash markets over the past year, Samsung went from having 5% less total semiconductor sales than Intel in 1Q17 to having 23% more semiconductor sales than Intel in 1Q18!

It is interesting to note that memory devices represented 83% of Samsung’s semiconductor sales in 1Q18, up six points from 77% in 1Q17 and up 12 points from 71% just two years earlier in 1Q16.  Moreover, the company’s non-memory sales in 1Q18 were only $3,300 million, up 6% from 1Q17’s non-memory sales level of $3,125 million.

As would be expected, given the possible acquisitions and mergers that could occur this year (e.g., Qualcomm/NXP), as well as any memory market volatility that may develop, the top-15 ranking is likely to undergo a significant amount of upheaval over the next few years as the semiconductor industry continues along its path to maturity.

By Lung Chu

Lung ChuThe growth of China’s semiconductor industry outstripped sector expansion in many other regions in 2017 thanks in part to heavy government investments and supportive state policies. But China’s chip industry also struggled under the weight of overheated investment, inconsistent project quality, insufficient investment in research and development, a poor ability to innovate, and barriers to international cooperation. To overcome these headwinds to growth, China must identify global trends in the development of global semiconductor industry and better understand the forces it needs to mobilize to further expand its own semiconductor sector.

AI and 5G fuel global semiconductor industry growth

In 2017, global semiconductor industry revenue reached a seven-year peak, expanding 22 percent to nearly USD 420 billion, and entered a new growth phase with artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and other new technologies leading the surge with greater market segmentation, diversification and decentralization. The emergence of smart automobiles, smart cities, smart medicine, AR/VR and other new markets headed the list of new applications. In the next three to five years, semiconductor industry growth is expected to remain stable, with no marked declines. In 2018, the growth rate is expected to fall to between 5 percent and 8 percent, with the expansion more comprehensive and balanced.

The memory market, in particular, will find it hard to match its 2017 blistering growth rate. The market’s expected growth of 10 percent to 20 percent will be chiefly driven by DRAM and 3D NAND Flash. In 2019, NAND growth will continue but DRAM shipments could decline.

Emphasis on both innovation and investment key to sustainable growth of Chinese IC

Under the China government’s Guidelines to Promote National IC Industry Development, designed to provide key policy guidance and capital support for the development of China’s IC industry, the Chinese semiconductor industry is seeing particularly rapid growth that is expected to be a key contributor to continuing global industry expansion. In IC design, HiSilicon and Unigroup Spreadtrum & RDA ranked among the top 10 in the world. In wafer fabrication, Chinese IC manufacturing accounted for 13 percent to 15 percent of global market capacity despite SMIC and Huahong Group lagging international competition in advanced processing. In packaging and testing – China’s strongest segment – JCET, NFME and Huatian Technology also ranked in the global top 10.

The Guidelines to Promote National IC Industry Development has fueled a boom in capital investments. However, investments must go well beyond fab construction to add new capacity for China’s semiconductor industry to flourish. A strategy for sustainable, long-term chip industry growth must focus more on technology innovation while continuing heavy capital investments, though it takes time for innovation to lead to higher capacity demand and GPD growth and more jobs.

Despite large investments by the 02 Special Project in semiconductor equipment and materials, China trails other regions of the world in advanced technologies. Global spending on semiconductor equipment reached a record-breaking USD 56 billion in 2017, with Korea a major driver. In 2017, Samsung alone invested USD 25 billion in semiconductor equipment, followed by TSMC (USD 10.8 billion), Intel (USD 11.5 billion), Hynix (USD 8.5 billion), Micron (USD 0.5 billion), SMIC (USD 2.3 billion) and YMTC (USD 2 billion). In 2018, Samsung’s equipment spending is expected to drop slightly, to USD 24 billion, while investments by Intel and TSMC will be remain roughly equal.

China’s equipment spending will continue to grow in 2018, with SMIC and YMTC maintaining investment levels similar to last year’s and other China semiconductor manufacturers starting to ramp up investments. In 2018, China is expected to surpass Taiwan in equipment spending to claim the number two position after Korea.

SIIP China dedicated to international connection and cooperation

The huge investments in China’s semiconductor industry need to be supported by robust business strategies, greater international cooperation, deeper expertise in advanced technologies, and more skilled workers. China lags the global industry in all of these areas. The rapid rise of China’s semiconductor industry has raised concerns among many countries over China’s growing influence, with some, most notably the United States, going so far as to implement containment measures. Other regions including Japan, Korea and Taiwan followed suit.

The continued growth of China’s semiconductor industry hinges on technological innovation enabled by international cooperation, as well as strong international communication to allay concerns and misunderstandings over the rising prominence of China’s chip sector. China must overcome these obstacles. One partial solution is for China to convince the rest of the world that its need a thriving semiconductor industry if only to meet enormous demand for electronics products within its own borders.

As the largest international semiconductor industry association, SEMI enjoys a unique ability to strengthen the connection between China’s semiconductor sector and its international counterparts. SEMI is well-known for its vital support of the traditional semiconductor equipment and materials markets, but SEMI’s work also spans IC design, manufacturing, packaging and testing. What’s more, SEMI has expanded into innovative market vertical applications such as AI, smart manufacturing, smart transportation and smart automotive as it aims to bring together supply chains across these growth areas.

For its part, SEMI China remains dedicated to improving communications and cooperation between the Chinese and global semiconductor industries. SEMI China will also continue to encourage deeper collaboration among individual enterprises and government institutions in the interest of industry growth while making full use of SEMI’s international, professional and localization platform to promote the development of China’s semiconductor industry.

Last year, we established SEMI Innovation Investment Platform (SIIP) China to help grow China’s pool of skilled workers, promote advanced technology, generate industry capital, and expand China’s semiconductor industry while developing stronger connections with chip sectors in other regions. SIIP China is focused on the following:

  • Promoting sustainable development of the Chinese semiconductor industry
  • Establishing stronger connections to help take advantage of global technology and investment opportunities
  • Providing a platform for open communications between the Chinese and global semiconductor industries
  • Promoting greater coordination between China and its global partners
  • Helping newly enterprises secure funds for expansion

Encouraging greater cooperation with foreign semiconductor manufacturers in the interest of openness and mutual benefit will be the best way for China to overcome obstacles to the development of its semiconductor industry. Meanwhile, China will continue to strive to merge into the global semiconductor industry and become a key partner.

SEMICON China has witnessed the development of Chinese semiconductor industry

SEMICON China-1

SEMICON China marked its 30th anniversary this year. Over the past three decades, China’s semiconductor industry has seen remarkable growth. This year’s SEMICON China was the largest ever. SEMICON China and FPD China 2018 numbered 3,628 booths, covered 74,000 square meters of exhibition space and attracted 1,116 exhibitors from 21 countries and regions and 91,252 professional attendees from 58 countries and regions.

Most of China’s top device makers and global leading packaging houses, together with their equipment and materials suppliers, exhibited at SEMICON China and FPD China 2018, representing the global IC manufacturing ecosystem. The number of SEMICON China and FPD China 2018 visitors jumped 32.3 percent from last year, with representation by professionals from the design, manufacturing, assembly and test, equipment and materials sectors.

Lung Chu is President of SEMI China.

Originally published on the SEMI blog.

ON Semiconductor Corporation announced the expansion of their manufacturing facility in Rochester, New York. The site develops and manufactures image sensor devices for commercial, industrial and professional imaging applications, including machine vision, surveillance, traffic monitoring, medical and scientific imaging, and photography.

ON Semiconductor is a global company with manufacturing facilities around the world – the end-to-end manufacturing strategy at the Rochester location enables success in these specialized markets. Located on a 4.2-acre site with over 260,000 square feet of building space, the expanded facility supports all four disciplines of the semiconductor business, wafer fab, wafer probe, assembly, and test and packaging operations for specialized high-performance CCD and CMOS image sensors.

“Not only is the screen on your smart phone or TV likely inspected with image sensors manufactured at the Lake Avenue site, but image sensors manufactured at this facility are also on the surface of Mars, orbiting Jupiter and the Moon, and used in commercial satellites that monitor the Earth’s surface,” said Michael Miller, general manager and director of operations at ON Semiconductor. “This expansion would have not been possible without the support and grant from Empire State Development and their willingness to partner with us. We owe them a debt of gratitude, thank you Governor Cuomo.”

“Manufacturing is a core competency for ON Semiconductor and the majority of ON Semiconductor’s manufacturing operations are done internally through the company’s industry leading cost structure,” said Bill Schromm, executive vice president and chief operating officer. “This expansion is important to our company, as it significantly increases our assembly capacity at the ON Semiconductor Rochester location.”

“Rochester is known for its innovations in digital imaging, including the design and development of state-of-the art image sensors over the past decades. Assembly and test has always been a key part of the equation, and as the resolution and complexity of the sensors continues to increase, these operations have become critical,” said Herb Erhardt, general manager, Industrial Solutions Division. “The increased level of capability and capacity enabled by this expansion is our answer to meeting these critical market needs, and the fact that we are doing it here in Rochester speaks to the capabilities of the teams we build here.”

The expansion is due in part to partnerships with local and state officials, including the Mayor and County Executive, Governor’s office and state officials, as well as members of Congress, all recognizing the opportunity to grow the local economy and leverage the unique advantages that Rochester can bring.

Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bob Duffy said, “Rochester Chamber congratulates member ON Semiconductor on the opening of its new assembly and test operation. With its global customer base, ON Semiconductor is a terrific example of the Rochester and Finger Lakes region’s emerging high-tech economy. Rochester Chamber stands ready to assist ON Semiconductor in any way that it can to help the company along on its path of growth and prosperity.”

“High-tech companies like ON Semiconductor recognize the highly skilled workforce that can be tapped into in the Finger Lakes,” said Howard Zemsky, president, CEO and commissioner at Empire State Development. “ON Semiconductor’s Eastman Business Park expansion is yet another great addition to the innovation ecosystem being established in the region.”

“Businesses like ON Semiconductor are bolstering the reputation of Rochester as a target area for high-tech investment,” said Lieutenant Governor of New York Kathy Hochul. “There is an enthusiasm throughout the City and the region that is contagious. Our economic investments have built new buildings and provided new job opportunities for residents of the Finger Lakes region. Most importantly, the Finger Lakes Forward strategy has brought back hope. I thank ON Semiconductor for their investment and continuing to believe in the Rochester community.”

The site celebrated the grand opening of the ON Semiconductor Assembly and Test facility with a ribbon-cutting, Wednesday May 9, 2018 at 11 a.m. WHAM-TV news anchor Ginny Ryan presided as the master of ceremonies for the event. Special guests included: Lt Governor Kathy Hochul, Howard Zemsky, president and CEO of Empire State Development, Robert Duffy, president and CEO of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, Rochester City Mayor Lovely Warren, Vincent Esposito, Regional Director – Finger Lakes – Rochester Region Empire State Development and Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo.

ON Semiconductor is focused on energy efficient innovations in an effort to reduce global energy use. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of over 80,000 energy efficient power management, analog, sensors, logic, timing, connectivity, discrete, SoC and custom devices utilized in, computing, consumer, industrial, medical and military/aerospace applications. The company operates a network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and design centers which are located in key markets throughout North America, Europe and in the Asia Pacific region.

Adesto Technologies, a provider of innovative application-specific semiconductors for the IoT era, announced it has acquired Dublin-based S3 Semiconductors, a global supplier of mixed-signal and RF application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and an extensive library of design IP. The transaction is valued at approximately $35 million, with an additional earn-out provision based on certain milestones to the end of calendar year 2019.

Highlights of expected benefits of the transaction include:

  • Expands Adesto’s portfolio of products and technologies with analog, mixed-signal, and RF solutions and IP
  • Accelerates revenue and customer growth in communications and industrial IoT with immediate cross-selling opportunities and nominal customer overlap
  • Increases dollar content potential for IoT edge nodes
  • S3 Semiconductors is a highly-valued design partner of Arm Holdings
  • Adds high-value embedded systems expertise and mixed-signal engineering team
  • Immediately accretive to gross margin and adjusted EBITDA

“Building on our leadership position in IoT memories, today we take a meaningful step in becoming a supplier of a broad range of innovative semiconductor products and solutions for the IoT markets,” said Narbeh Derhacobian, CEO of Adesto. “S3 Semiconductors has a proven track record of designing and delivering differentiated ASIC products, and an extensive IP portfolio developed by a talented team of design engineers over many years. Through this acquisition, we are significantly expanding our customer base and SAM with a broader product portfolio and comprehensive systems expertise to deliver a complete solution to our customers.”

Dermot Barry, vice president and general manager of S3 Semiconductors, commented, “Over the years, S3 Semiconductors has built a first-class team that is focused on creating complex, high-quality custom products. Joining forces with Adesto gives us access to a broader sales channel with a diversified group of top-tier customers who will benefit from our ability to deliver highly optimized ASICs with unrivaled cost economies. Moreover, the combined company is well-positioned to gain increasing traction in IoT to drive toward the next phase of innovation and growth.”

S3 Semiconductors will become a business unit of Adesto and will continue to operate under its current operating model across existing global sites, including its four design centers in Dublin, Cork, Prague and Lisbon.

Adesto financed the transaction with existing cash and a new credit facility in the amount of $35 million. Concurrent with the close of the new credit facility, Adesto terminated its former credit facility with Western Alliance Bank, which included paying off an outstanding term loan with a principal amount owed of $12 million.

ROTH Capital is serving as financial advisor and placement agent to Adesto, and Menalto Advisors is serving as financial advisor to S3 Group.

 

TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader, and Newsight Imaging, today announced production of Newsight’s advanced CMOS image sensor (CIS) chips and camera modules, customized for very high volume LiDAR and machine vision markets, combining sensors, digital algorithms and pixel array on the same chip. Newsight’s CIS chips are used in ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) and autonomous vehicles as well as in drones and robotics.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a detection system which works on the principle of radar, but uses light from a laser, is considered a must have for autonomous driving due to its high resolution at long distances, and market growth is expected to be exponential once L4/L5 autonomous vehicles become mainstream. IHS estimates the automotive LiDAR semiconductor market will reach $1.8 billion by 2026, with 37% CAGR (2018-2026). By utilizing TowerJazz’s advanced 180nm technology, featuring a wide range of customizable pixel architectures and technologies, Newsight is well-positioned to address the vast opportunities in the automotive market as well as in the security, defense, medical, industrial, and consumer markets.

Newsight’s innovative image sensor chips are ideal for high volume, competitive applications requiring cost effectiveness, low power consumption, high performance, and analog and digital integration. The NSI3000 sensor family, currently in mass production at TowerJazz’s Migdal Haemek, Israel facility, offers extremely high sensitivity pixels, enabling the replacement of expensive CCD (charge-coupled device) sensors in many applications and is designed for programmable high frame rate speeds, allowing better analysis and reaction to events.

In addition, Newsight’s innovative NSI5000, currently in development with TowerJazz at its fab in Israel, is an integrated LiDAR solution for long-range applications and includes a top DSP (digital signal processor) controller which enables complex calculations for depth and machine vision. NSI5000 is used in cutting-edge 3D pulsed based LiDARs for automotive applications and is based on Newsight’s eTOF (enhanced time-of-flight), which bridges the gap between short-distance iTOF (indirect time-of-flight) and the long distance automotive requirement, by extending the dynamic range while retaining high accuracy.

“We chose TowerJazz for its advanced pixel technology, specially customized for our CMOS image sensor chips addressing very high volume markets. Together with our technology, we were able to demonstrate a 4X better sensitivity to our customers. TowerJazz’s CIS offering is proven in the industry and we are pleased to manufacture locally in Israel with a leader in the global analog foundry space,” said Eli Assoolin, Chief Executive Officer, Newsight Imaging.

“With our high-end pixel offering, tailored to specific product and application needs, we are able to provide advanced technology used for high dynamic range CMOS sensors and solutions for the growing LiDAR and automotive markets. We are very happy to work closely with Newsight Imaging to provide market leading solutions and achieve quick time to market. They have shown to be an extremely fast-moving customer and we have a lot of confidence in their success,” said Dr. Avi Strum, TowerJazz Sr. Vice President and GM, CMOS Image Sensor Business Unit.