FEATURED NEWS
Russell Ellwanger: Rebuilding Tower Semiconductor
The last person you expect to meet in Migdal HaEmek is a believing Mormon and ex-wrestler who simultaneously quotes management gurus, William Faulkner, and Alice in Wonderland, and demonstrates the wonders of his chips using pictures painted by his granddaughter. Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM) (marketed as TowerJazz) CEO Russell Ellwanger, however, is all of those things and more. He has been sitting in his Migdal HaEmek office ever since he promised then-Tower Semiconductor controlling shareholder Idan Ofer in 2005 to take a company on the edge of the abyss and lead it to revenue of over $1 billion. For his part, Ofer promised to support the company for 10 years.
Chipmaker TowerJazz sees further growth in 2017 after record 2016
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli chipmaker TowerJazz projected further growth in revenue and profit in 2017 after posting a record fourth quarter and 2016 as a whole, boosted by robust demand from existing and new customers. TowerJazz revenue grew 34 percent to a quarterly record of $340 million.
Chief Executive Russell Ellwanger said, “We see growth throughout the year,” Ellwanger told Reuters, predicting each quarter of 2017 should beat what had been achieved the year before. “I don’t see anything that prevents us from doing that.”
Much of the company’s growth is coming from existing customers in its radio frequency technology, image sensor and power management segments, but the number of new clients and partners are expanding and would benefit TowerJazz in future.
TowerJazz Rolls Out Silicon Photonics Process
Specialty foundry TowerJazz rolled out a silicon photonic (SiPho) process to complement its silicon-germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process used for manufacturing optical transceiver electronics.
“We are excited to be entering the silicon photonics foundry space in order to provide solutions to a greater portion of the optical transceiver market for our customers,” said Marco Racanelli, senior vice president and general manager TowerJazz’s RF & High Performance Analog business unit, in a statement. Silicon photonics is a promising emerging technology for the production of photonic ICs, which transfer data using laser light in less time than conventional ICs.
TowerJazz and TPSCo release enhanced up to 200V 180nm BCD on SOI Power Management Process
TowerJazz and TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Co., Ltd. TPSCo, announced the availability of a newly developed, state of the art 180nm Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) SOI power management technology platform supporting applications with up to 200V breakdown voltage. The process features an integrated Deep Trench isolation and buried Oxide which provide superior performance for a wide range of analog and power applications such as motor drivers, home and industrial appliances, battery management systems, electric vehicles, ultra-fast GaN drivers, industrial motor controllers, and many more.
TowerJazz announces 300GHz SiGe technology optimized for 400GbE
Specialty foundry TowerJazz has announced availability of H5, a 300GHz silicon germanium (SiGe) process optimized for 400Gbps optical communications (or 400GbE) which promise to quadruple the capacity of even the fastest links deployed today at 100Gbps.
Wireline data traffic is increasing dramatically, and TowerJazz is addressing this growing market through a family of customized foundry SiGe BiCMOS technologies, including its highest-performance process to date. In the H5 process, enhancements include increased device fT and Gm as well as other proprietary features to address the 400GbE product space.
“TowerJazz’s SiGe technology has enabled us to successfully deliver high-performing optical ICs across multiple market segments and applications, including 400GbE data-center interconnects,” says Dr Faouzi Chaahoub, senior director of Broadcom’s Fiber Optic Products Division.
TowerJazz Discusses Role of SiGe Technology for Communication Systems
TowerJazz participated at SEMICON China, which took place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) from March 14 – 16, 2017. TowerJazz’s Dr. Edward Preisler delivered a presentation addressing the role of SiGe technology in providing solutions for advanced wireless and wireline communication systems such as 4G and 5G handsets, IoT devices, automotive radar systems, high-speed data networks and data center communications. Their SiGe BiCMOS technology provides best-in-class solutions for the needs of its fast growing base of Chinese customers.
UCSD and TowerJazz Demonstrate Best in Class 5G Mobile T/R Chips
TowerJazz and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) demonstrated for the first time >12 Gbps from a 5G phased-array chipset operating between 28 and 31 GHz, a band planned for 5G use in several countries. This chipset shows that products can be fabricated today to meet the emerging 5G telecom standards for the next wave of worldwide mobile communications. The chipset was fabricated with TowerJazz’s high volume, SiGe BiCMOS technology, achieving record performance in the 28 GHz band and more than a 10x improvement in data rate vs. 4G LTE. The chipset meets many other technical specifications of the emerging 5G standard.
Today, peak wireless data rates for 4G LTE can be up to 1 Gbps, but are nominally lower around 100 to 300 Mbps. Here, TowerJazz has demonstrated more than 10x those speeds using the UCSD 5G next-generation mobile designs made with its high volume H3 technology. For more,
TowerJazz and Cavendish Kinetics Deliver High Volume RF MEMS with Unprecedented Reliability
40 smartphone handset design wins, including the 2016 Samsung Galaxy A8
TowerJazz announced that it is the high volume technology manufacturer for Cavendish Kinetics, the leader in radio-frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF MEMS). Together, the companies have demonstrated industry leading 100 billion cycle reliability. RF MEMS is becoming a key technology to improve smartphone antenna efficiency as LTE standards evolve and handset form factors get more aggressive.