News: Microelectronics
1 June 2022
University of Southern California’s MOSIS Service announces MoU with WIN for III-V MMIC manufacturing
The MOSIS Service of the Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles has announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate the development of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) using the process technologies of WIN Semiconductors Corp of Taoyuan City, Taiwan – the largest pure-play compound semiconductor wafer foundry. Project flows for customers to utilize the MOSIS Service to fabricate MMICs at WIN Semiconductors will be released.
The collaboration combines the MOSIS semiconductor design support and manufacturing expertise, including multi-project wafer (MPW) runs, and WIN’s manufacturing technologies for high-speed devices utilizing III-V compound semiconductors including GaAs and GaN, and prototype packaging technologies. With this collaboration, universities, research organizations and industry organizations will have access to an extensive portfolio of heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (pHEMT) and RF GaN HEMT technology platforms to develop new high-performance MMIC designs. The collaboration lays the foundation for reliable and efficient design and prototyping flows through the MPW projects with The MOSIS Service and WIN Semiconductors.
“This is a new and important capability for The MOSIS Service to provide access and support to non-silicon wafer fabrication processes with the microelectronics community,” says Craig Knoblock, executive director of Information Sciences Institute. “For the first time, the US Government, R&D laboratories, companies and academia will have access to WIN Semiconductors’ portfolio of III-V compound semiconductor processes with MOSIS’ legacy design and manufacturing service capabilities… This collaboration will significantly advance microelectronics R&D and accelerate the development of advanced GaAs and GaN MMICs,” he believes.
“WIN Semiconductors is the world leader in the pure-play compound semiconductor foundry space and offers a comprehensive portfolio of III-V technologies,” comments Lifu Chang, director of The MOSIS Service. “These III-V foundry technologies require a higher level of design-technology interplay compared to silicon technologies. Our MOSIS experience provides a platform for tightly coupled and efficient design and manufacturing flows, to support universities and design companies interested in high-performance front-end applications,” he adds.
“There are serious concerns with the access to wide varieties of semiconductor processes and design support for universities and corporations in the US, in the context of worldwide competition and wafer supply constraints,” notes Knoblock. “The MOSIS Service is positioned to contribute to the resolution. The addition of GaAs and GaN technologies is necessary, and we will push hard in this direction.”
“The collaboration between WIN Semiconductors and The MOSIS Service creates a new platform for many new users to access WIN’s market-leading compound semiconductor technologies,” says WIN’s senior VP of technology & strategic business development David Danzilio. “We are building a robust project framework with MOSIS’ team. I expect to attract and enable many customers that have been interested but need the level of technical support that MOSIS can provide.”
The WIN-MOSIS collaboration is focused on the development of new MMICs, and the technologies included in the program support amplifier designs and integrated front-ends operating from 100MHz to 175GHz. These technology platforms incorporate various integration options including multiple metal layers, logic interfaces, compact ESD protection, copper-pilar bumps and through-chip RF transitions. WIN’s proven GaAs and GaN technologies support large-scale chip manufacturing, delivering billions of MMICs annually to WIN’s customers. The collaboration will also provide access to prototype QFN packaging technologies from WIN.
