San Diego, California, July 28, 2008 — Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, a leading supplier of high-performance RF CMOS and mixed-signal communications ICs and Rubicon Technology, a leading manufacturer of sapphire substrates and other advanced technology materials, today announced that Rubicon has begun initial production of 8” sapphire wafers for supply to Peregrine for its UltraCMOS™ Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) semiconductor processing.
“Rubicon aggressively ramped 6-inch sapphire substrates to support our high-volume production requirements throughout 2007 and the first half of 2008,” stated Jim Cable, Peregrine’s CEO. “Last year we nearly tripled our unit volume with key design wins in the rapidly growing wireless marketplace in some of the world’s most demanding RF applications. As we migrate to 8-inch wafers and smaller geometries, our customers will benefit from unprecedented product performance and cost-effectiveness,” he added.
Today’s news reflects the growing demand for Peregrine’s UltraCMOS SOS RFICs. Peregrine has brought to market a variety of innovative products throughout the recent years – devices which deliver performance objectives set by market leaders with highly stringent RF design requirements. These companies include global cellular powerhouses, navigation/communications experts, as well as CATV/DTV leaders. Peregrine’s UltraCMOS devices are becoming increasingly critical in high-performance RF designs. Continued enhancements to the fundamental design technology, such as the HaRP™ technology innovation, combined with the perfectly insulating sapphire substrate, results in extremely linear FET with exceptional RF performance. The ability to integrate high-performance RF, analog, digital, passive elements and nonvolatile memory on a single, standard CMOS IC sets UltraCMOS devices apart from compound semiconductor and other mixed-signal processes.
“Peregrine has achieved a leadership position in the RFIC industry with its patented silicon-on-sapphire technology,” said Raja Parvez, President and CEO of Rubicon Technology. “We are excited to partner with Peregrine as they gain market share with their disruptive UltraCMOS-based products. Rubicon has leveraged its unique crystal growth technology platform to rapidly develop very high quality 200mm sapphire wafers that represent the next generation substrates for SOS RFIC technology,” he concluded.
About UltraCMOS™ Technology
UltraCMOS™ mixed-signal process technology is a proprietary, patented variation of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology on a sapphire substrate providing with high yields and competitive costs. It combines the RF, mixed- signal, and digital capabilities of any other CMOS process, yet tolerates the high power required for high- performance wireless applications. The Company’s revolutionary HaRP™ technology enables dramatic improvements in harmonic results, linearity and overall RF performance; specifications required by the 3GPP standards body for GSM/WCDMA applications which are unmatched in the industry. In particular, long-awaited accomplishments in Intermodulation Distortion (IMD) handling are now available monolithically to multi-band front- end module and handset manufacturers. These significant performance advantages exist over competing processes such as GaAs, SiGe, BiCMOS and bulk silicon CMOS in applications where RF performance, low power and integration are paramount.
About Peregrine Semiconductor
Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets high-performance communications RF ICs for the wireless infrastructure and mobile wireless; broadband CATV/DTV; communications infrastructure; and aerospace markets. Manufactured on the Company’s proprietary UltraCMOS™ mixed-signal process technology, Peregrine products are uniquely poised to meet the needs of a global RF design community in high- growth applications such as WCDMA, EDGE and GSM digital cellular, broadband, DTV, DVR and rad-hard space and defense programs. The Company, headquartered in San Diego, California, maintains global sales support and manufacturing operations and a worldwide technical distribution network. Additional information is available on the web at psemi.com.
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