29 November 2016

BluGlass and IQE partner

BluGlass Ltd of Silverwater, Australia – which was spun off from the III-nitride department of Macquarie University in 2005 to develop a low-temperature process using remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) to grow materials including gallium nitride (GaN) and indium gallium nitride (InGaN) on glass substrates – has entered into a formal exclusive collaboration agreement with epiwafer foundry and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK.

IQE's products are used by major global chip companies to produce high-performance components enabling a wide range of applications including for the wireless industry (such as smartphone and wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, base-stations, GPS, and satellite communications) as well as for optical communications and optical storage.

The two companies will work together to develop specific enabling technology for nitride films deposited by RPCVD on both silicon wafers and on specially engineered substrates: cREO (rare earth oxide) on silicon.

"BluGlass' world-leading RPCVD technology is highly complementary to IQE's existing technology portfolio, and the collaboration is a key step in overcoming challenges inherent to epi-growth of cutting-edge materials," comments IQE Group's vice president Dr Rodney Pelzel.

"This arrangement comes on the heels of our announcement earlier this year of successful transfer of cREO epi capability [from Translucent Inc of Palo Alto, CA, USA] to IQE's North Carolina manufacturing site. This collaborative arrangement is a key step in furthering this technology," Pelzel adds.

"We are delighted to have formed a strategic partnership with IQE, one of the world's leading compound semiconductor foundries, supplying many of today's leading semiconductor manufacturers," says BluGlass' managing director Giles Bourne. "We have chosen to work with IQE, based on the enormous market potential and impact that the applications that we will be co-developing could have on the semiconductor industry in the future," he adds. "Their diverse product portfolio makes them a very compelling partner to be working with."

See related items:

IQE transfers Translucent's cREO growth capability to North Carolina facility

IQE inks exclusive licence and option agreement to acquire Translucent's cREO technology

Tags: BluGlass RPCVD IQE Translucent GaN-on-Si templates MBE

Visit: www.iqep.com

Visit: www.bluglass.com.au