News

11 May 2009

 

TriQuint’s Texas 4” GaAs fab accredited by DoD as ‘Trusted Foundry’

RF product maker TriQuint Semiconductor Inc of Hillsboro, OR, USA has been accredited by the US Department of Defense (DoD) as a Category 1A ‘Trusted Foundry’ for its 100mm (4-inch) gallium arsenide facilities in Richardson, TX, USA. Accreditation expands TriQuint’s GaAs circuit fabrication capabilities by including classified programs; a Category 1A designation is the highest awarded by the DoD.

Accreditation certifies that TriQuint processes meet stringent product control and secure handling standards during all stages of circuit fabrication. The firm says that it also creates an avenue for increased high-security monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) business, according to Dr Gailon Brehm, TriQuint’s director of defense & aerospace product marketing.

“TriQuint’s foundry has become one of a very elite group of trusted manufacturers that can fabricate both classified and unclassified circuits for critical DoD programs,” says Brehm. “This creates an opportunity for new business at TriQuint with government programs that only work with ‘trusted’ foundries,” he adds. “Accreditation builds on our heritage as a leading provider of high-power, high-frequency devices for defense and aerospace systems.”

Accreditation through the Trusted Access Program Office (TAPO) and the DoD’s Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) requires the following of a stringent policies and procedures regarding ‘chain of custody’ during manufacturing. These processes and TriQuint’s ability to fully satisfy the requirements are safeguards against supply chain interruption, modification or tampering with devices as well as unauthorized reverse engineering, says the firm.

TriQuint’s 150mm commercial wafer fabrication takes place at its headquarters in Hillsboro, OR. The 100mm GaAs wafer fabrication plant in Texas also serves commercial customers. The firm is recognized by market research firm Strategy Analytics as the world’s largest commercial GaAs foundry manufacturer.

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Visit: www.triquint.com/foundry