Picogiga International (PICO)
Picogiga International, who built his expertise on more than 20 years of experience in MBE of compound semiconductors, has been created in 2003 to develop and sell epiwafers and other materials for III-V compound semiconductors applications.
As a 100% subsidiary of SOITEC group, Pico has access to the Smart Cut Unibond™ proprietary technology from his mother company. This technology, which supports the Unibond™ product line of SOITEC, has been already applied and demonstrated for materials such as (but not limited to): GaAs on Si, InP on Si, Si on SiC, SiC on insulator. In addition to its knowledge and expertise in MBE epitaxy of III-V compounds semiconductors, this composite substrate capability gives Picogiga the ability to provide to its customers a global solution regarding engineered materials for III-V microelectronic devices.
Main applications of the Picogiga products are RF and microwaves devices, but thanks to the Smart Cut™ technology, Picogiga is looking at diversifying its activities in other domains like power or optoelectronics materials as epilayers structures and substrates composite solutions. Currently its products portfolio covers mainly structures for HEMT, MESFET and HBT for defence, space, wireless telecommunications and automotive markets.
Contact: Mark KENNARD
Project Managers: Robert LANGER
Universita di Padova (DEI)
The University of Padova, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione (DEI) will drive the device characterization and reliability studies. The research group at the University of Padova, DEI is active in the field of characterization, modelling, reliability physics and failure analysis of electron devices since 1982, and has been involved in the study of the reliability of GaN electronic and optoelectronic devices for four years, with co-operations with major Universities and research centres and with industrial laboratories.
Contact: Prof. Gaudenzio MENEGHESSO
Project Managers: Maria BERNINI
Alcatel Thales III-V Lab (III-V LAB)
Alcatel Thales III-V Lab is a new private non-profit organisation jointly established by Alcatel and Thales on 1st July 2004, under the French "Economic Interest Group" (GIE) status. Relying on the teams and equipment coming from "Alcatel Research and Innovation" on one hand, and from "Thales Research and Technology" on the other hand, it concentrates in a single entity the most advanced industrial research skills in the field of III-V semiconductors in Europe. The staff amounts to 100 people, most of them being highly qualified and recognised experts.
The purpose of Alcatel Thales III-V Lab is to perform research on components, from the basic studies to the transfer for industrialisation, by exploiting the synergies between the technologies developed for various markets addressed by Thales and Alcatel, such as telecom, space, defence and security. The streamlining of the research work performed within the Group, allows to strengthen the efforts above the critical mass and to increase the added value through the existing synergies.
Main research topics:
- Optical sources and detectors for telecom 10-40 Gb/s,
- Micro/nano-electronics circuits for telecom 40 Gb/s (analogue and digital),
- N+2 generation telecom components,
- High rate optical links,
- High brightness semiconductor lasers,
- Microwave components based on GaN (high yield, wide band),
- High resolution imagery,
Alcatel Thales III-V Lab facilities, located in Marcoussis and Orsay, include 4000 m of clean rooms, advanced material synthesis (MOCVD, MBE), advanced wafer processing, measuring and modelling facilities.
Contact: Christian BRYLINSKI
Project Managers: Sylvan DELAGE, Marie-Antoinette POISSON
Research Institute for Technical Physics and Material Science (MFA)
The Research Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science (MFA) is a member of the network of the research institutes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. MFA operates with a scientific staff of 100 researchers in 12 laboratories, supported by a technical and administrative staff of 50. The Hungarian prime investigator of the HYPHEN project (Dr. B. Pcz) is the vice director of the Institute, while other participants belong to the Thin Films Physics Laboratory. The laboratory involved in the present project is experienced in the analysis of thin film structures. The group is relatively large having 17 scientists (4 registered Ph.D. students), one engineer and some part time technicians.
The group runs a Philips CM 20 and a JEOL 3010 microscopes, the latter one is equipped with a Gatan Tridiem imaging filter. The group is extremely good at sample preparation for TEM for which they have six ion beam milling units together with grinders, dimplers, diamond saws, etc. Two of the ion mills are equipped with a new, low energy ion gun, which is very successful in the preparation of artefact free TEM samples.
Recently they the researchers of the group participate in the following projects: Fullmat, Innovatial, Foremost and Napilis.
Contact: Bla PCZ
Norstel (NOR)
Norstel AB is a newly created SME located in Linkping, Sweden, and was originally a subsidiary of Okmetic Oyj (Finland). Norstel has been active in SiC for close to ten years, initially together with Linkping University and later as a separate R&D company for development of SiC material. This includes both SiC epitaxy and the bulk growth using the proprietary High temperature CVD (HTCVD) technique.
The HTCVD technique for bulk growth differs from the normally used seeded sublimation technique, by using gases instead of solid source material for the growth. The advantage with this is that the purity of the gases is several orders of magnitude better than the purity of the source material used in normal sublimation growth. This is especially useful for semi insulating substrates, which is a high purity material where the SI behaviour is obtained by intrinsic defects controlled by the chosen growth conditions. With the HTCVD technique, it is also easier to introduce dopants in a controlled way during the growth.
The first SiC wafer from Norstel was shipped to costumers at the end of year 2000. The products now include SI, n+ and p+ wafers with a 2" diameter. 3" R&D wafers have been demonstrated 2004.
Contact: Niklas HENELIUS
Institute of Electron Technology (IET)
The Institute of Electron Technology, established in 1966, is a major Polish research centre with the primary focus on semiconductor micro- and nanotechnology. IET currently employs over 250 researchers and staff involved in basic and applied research in the area of microelectronics, semiconductor optoelectronics and micromechanics as well as characterisation of semiconductor materials and structures. IET is also involved in educational and training activities for Polish and foreign Ph.D. students and engineers.
The project will be carried out in the Department of Semiconductors Processing for Photonics. The department has a broad experience in the process technologies and device architectures for optoelectronics and electronics. Relevant experience includes processing of III-V devices involving nanostructures (RCLED, HEMTs, and HBVs), development of ohmic contacts on p-type GaN, technology of transparent conducting oxides including p-type ZnO films, development of sulphur passivation method for GaSb-based IR detectors. The Department is a part of the Centre of Excellence-Centre of Physics and Technology of Photonic Nanostructures (CEPHONA) at IET. Moreover, the Department is teamed with the Low Temperature Physics Lab at the Institute of Physics of Polish Academy of Sciences (IFPAN) and is a part of the Centre of Excellence-Centre of Physics and Technology of Low-Dimensional Structures (CELDIS) at IFPAN.
Contact: Eliana KAMINSKA
Project Managers: Eliana KAMINSKA, Ania PIOTROWSKA
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (IEMN)
The IEMN is a joint research unit (supported by the university of Lille and CNRS), which has an acknowledged expertise in device design, fabrication and characterisation of heterostructure field effect transistors for low noise and power applications. It is an important player in Europe and co-operates with many European laboratories such as CRHEA, IRCOM, CEA-LETI, FBH, IAF and industries (Thales, Philips, Alcatel, DaimlerChrysler, MCL, UMS…). In the field of microwave device fabrication, more than 14 engineers and technicians are working in the 1000 m2 of technological facilities of IEMN. The technology is based on a 2" line with state of the art e-beam lithography. State of the art devices have been fabricated such as metamorphic AlInAs/GaInAs HEMTs, GaInP/GaInAs/GaAs HEMTs and AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.
IEMN has a long and large experience in the field of device characterisation and microwave measurements. Wafer probing up to 220 GHz is possible with 30 kHz - 220 GHz network analysers associated with wafer probing. Noise measurements can be performed from megahertz up to 60 GHz and 94 GHz using a noise analyser with appropriate mixers and calibrated noise sources. Power characterisation is available from 2 to 18 GHz and 26 to 40 GHz with load pull set-ups. At 60 GHz and 94 GHz power measurements are performed with mechanical tuners. We have also a pulsed measurement system from dc to 20 GHz and are investigating linearity on large signal devices. IEMN is also recognised for modelling of microwave and millimetre wave devices, including pioneering and recognised in 2D hydrodynamic model of HEMT and full 2D Monte Carlo models.
Contact: Jean-Claude DE JAEGER
United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS)
United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS) is an independent joint venture of Thales (previously Thomson-CSF) and EADS GmbH (previously Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace). UMS designs, manufactures and markets monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) based on state of the art GaAs MESFET, P-HEMT or HBT processes for various applications in the field of wireless communications (point-to-point, radio links, wireless local loop and broadband access systems), traffic and automotive (automatic tolling systems, collision avoidance radar), defence and space. In particular, UMS has acquired a solid reputation of European leader for defence applications in offering full MMIC solutions from S to W bands for Phased Array Radar, Electronic Warfare, Military Communications, SMART Munitions, EM Seekers…
UMS activities are shared between two subsidiaries and production facilities. The frond-end GaAs wafer processing is performed in a modern 4" clean room in UMS GmbH in Ulm, Germany, while the MMIC design and testing, wafer back face processing, dicing, packaging and reliability testing, are performed in UMS SAS, in Orsay, France. More than 10 automatic RF test stations, including high volume handler/testers allow the measurement of components up to 100GHz. UMS logistic and quality systems enables delivering customers with high quality, reproducible and reliable MMICs in high volume.
UMS production MMIC technology portfolio includes a family of P-HEMT processes, with gate lengths of 0.25m and 0.15m and with variants dedicated for small signal, low-noise (PH25, PH15) and high power circuits (PPH25, PPH15), between 1 to 100GHz. UMS has also recently released a reliable GaInP/GaAs HBT process for power applications up to Ku-band and low-phase noise oscillator circuits. A variant for digital or mixed signal is also under development.
Most of these MMIC processes are also offered in foundry mode; they are described in design books, providing the designers with complete sets of design rules, passive and active device libraries and linear and non-linear models, compatible with most of the commercial MMIC design and simulation tools.
Contact: Klaus BEILENHOFF
Project Managers: James THORPE