Around the Circuit

Industry News

JMR Electronics Inc. , Chatsworth, CA, has formed a new division, JMR Plastic Technology . The division produced plastic molds and injection moldings previously, but now will design and manufacture custom molds and plastic parts in high volume, as well as for short-run and specialty customers.

Mobile Systems International Inc. (MSI) , Richardson, TX, has created a new division: MSI Services , for the cellular, paging and personal communications service (PCS) markets. Services the division will provide include site acquisition; general construction; project management; network, facility and civil engineering; drive testing; system optimization; and microwave relocation. The division will operate as a subsidiary of MSI.

Electron tube and power semiconductor manufacturer Richardson Electronics Ltd. has added a new office in Osaka, Japan. The office, the company's second in Japan, will sell and support Richardson's line of magnetrons, power tubes and ignitrons. Richardson expects the new office to help increase its Japanese sales by more than $500 K.

Flip Chip Technologies , Phoenix, AZ, reports that equipment is scheduled to be installed in its new 45,000-square-foot flip chip wafer bumping facility. When complete, the facility will be capable of producing more than 300,000 1.8 mm flip chips a day.

Dispense and assembly system supplier MRSI , Chelmsford, MA, has opened two new facilities, including an office in Arizona to provide sales support and service to customers on the West Coast; and a new European headquarters in the Netherlands.

In a move to increase production capability in the PCS market, Noise Com has relocated and expanded its facility to an adjacent industrial park. The company has also been granted concession for additional space within the same complex for future growth. Noise Com's new address is E. 64 Midland Ave., Paramus, NJ 07652 (201) 261-8797, fax (201) 261-8339.

Harris Corp.'s Semiconductor Sector , Melbourne, FL, and CP Clare Corp. , Lexington, MA, have teamed to market their transient-voltage surge-suppression devices and to develop new surge-suppression products. Under the agreement, Harris will also gain access to CP Clare's line of gas discharge tube products. The companies' new products will be available in the near future.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) , Palo Alto, CA, and Fluke Corp. , Everett, WA, are teaming to offer a calibration system for digital multimeters. Under the agreement, Fluke is authorized to sell HP's model 3458A digital multimeter for use in conjunction with its own model 5500A multiproduct calibrator and MET/CAL calibration software. During calibration, HP's digital multimeter provides Flukes' calibrator with increased accuracy to calibrate 5.5- and 6.5-digit digital multimeters via a procedure running in the calibration software. The software then calculates and stores correction coefficients.

RF, microwave and mm-wave semiconductor supplier M/A-COM Inc. , Lowell, MA, has announced that its products will now be available through catalogs distributed by Newark Electronics . M/A-COM's wireless products, including RF ICs, passive and control devices, antennas, cables and interconnects, will also be available to Newark's distribution centers throughout the world.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. , Sunnyvale, CA; its North American affiliate Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. ; and Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector's Imaging and Storage Division have agreed in principle to exchange Mitsubishi's embedded dynamic random access memory (DRAM) design and process technologies and M32R microprocessor technology for Motorola's ColdFireTM and 68EC000 microprocessor technologies. Under the agreement, Mitsubishi gains the rights to offer the ColdFire and 68EC000 cores as hard macros in its application-specific IC (ASIC) gate array and embedded cell libraries. Motorola gains the rights to offer embedded DRAM as a module in its FlexCore program for inclusion in customer-specific standard cell products, which may include microprocessor cores, as well as on future standard integrated microprocessors. Motorola now can also offer the M32R as a hard macro in its standard cell library.

UK-based Pronto Electronic Systems Ltd. has signed an agreement with California-based Daico allowing the companies to market their products jointly, including single-throw to 40-throw switches, digitally controlled attenuators, phase shifters, voltage-variable attenuators and threshold detectors.

QUALCOMM Inc. , San Diego, CA, and TriQuint Semiconductor , Beaverton, OR, are jointly developing RF ICs for code-division multiple access (CDMA) handsets. QUALCOMM will develop an RF receive component to provide critical radio performance required to comply with the North American IS-95 CDMA standard, and TriQuint will manufacture the components at its new high volume manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, OR.

Vari-L Company Inc. Denver, CO, has announced a letter of intent with the state-run Chen-Hui Co. in the People's Republic of China. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will manufacture Vari-L's products at a state-owned factory in Beijing, China for distribution to Chinese and worldwide markets. Products covered include Vari-L's voltage-controlled oscillators and phase-locked loop synthesizers. The agreement also calls for Vari-L to contribute a license of its proprietary processes along with its manufacturing, marketing and business expertise to the venture in return for a 51 percent ownership position. Chen-Hui, which will own the remaining 49 percent, will contribute the plant, equipment and labor, and will obtain all necessary government approvals, including assurances of patent and trade secret protection.

GaAs IC manufacturer TRW Inc. , Redondo Beach, CA, has installed and begun using a new piece of equipment that doubles its capacity to produce GaAs circuits. The new multiwafer, molecular beam epitaxy machine grows semiconductor material on five three-inch or three four-inch GaAs wafers simultaneously, and can be programmed to grow epitaxial material for high electron mobility transistors and heterojunction bipolar transistors. The machine is being used at TRW's Microelectronics Fabrication Center in Redondo Beach and is undergoing tests to demonstrate its readiness to produce ICs in high volume for commercial applications.

Reactel Inc. , Rockville, MD, has been certified to the ISO 9001 quality system standard.

Financial News

Northrop Grumman Corp. reports sales of $2 B for the third quarter, ended September 30, compared to $1.6 B for the same period last year. Net income was $70 M ($1.21/share), compared to $61 M ($1.25/share) for the same period last year.

Andrew Corp. reports sales of $793.6 M for the year, ended September 30, compared to $664 M last year. Net income was $70 M ($1.16/share) last year. Sales were $235.3 M for the fourth quarter, compared to $178 M for the same period last year.

Watkins-Johnson Co. reports sales of $95 M for the third quarter, ended September 27, compared to $95.6 M for the same period last year. Net income was $2.8 M (33¢/share), compared to $8.9 M (98¢/share) for the same period last year.

Glenayre Technologies Inc. reports sales of $91.6 M for the third quarter, ended September 30, compared to $88.1 M for the same period last year. Net income was $13.8 M (22¢/share), compared to $21.1 M (33¢/share) for the same period last year.

Aydin Corp. reports sales of $25.2 M for the third quarter, ended September 28, compared to $32.9 M for the same period last year. Net loss was $5.5 M ($1.07/share), compared to a net income of $774 K (15¢/share) for the same period last year.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. reports sales of $21 M for the year, ended July 31, compared to $16.5 M last year. Net income was $72 K (3¢/share), compared to a net loss of $1.5 M (58¢/share) last year.

ANADIGICS Inc. reports sales of $17 M for the third quarter, ended September 30, compared to $13.6 M for the same period last year. Net income was $1.5 M (17¢/share), compared to $2.3 M (28¢/share) for the same period last year.

Celeritek Inc. reports sales of $11.7 M for the second quarter, ended September 30, compared to $8.7 M for the same period last year. Net income was $1 M (14¢/share), compared to $420 K (8¢/share) for the same period last year.

American Technical Ceramics Corp. reports sales of $8.3 M for the first quarter, ended September 30, compared to $7.9 M for the same period last year. Net income was $335 K (9¢/share), compared to $506 K (13¢/share) for the first quarter last year.

REMEC Inc. reports sales of $7.1 M for the initial 30- day post-merger period with Magnum Microwave Corp. , ended September 29. Net income was $449 K (5¢/share) on 9.1 million shares outstanding.

General Microwave Corp. reports sales of $6 M for the second quarter, ended August 31, compared to $5.4 M for the same period last year. Net loss was $690 K (57¢/share), compared to $99 K (8¢/share) for the second quarter last year.

Space Electronics Inc. reports sales of $3.9 M for the third quarter, ended September 30, compared to $797 K for the same period last year. Net income was $1 M ($5.60/share), compared to $77 K (71¢/share) for the same period last year. These results represent new company records for earnings and revenue.

Vari-L Company Inc. reports sales of $2.6 M for the first quarter, ended September 30, compared to $2.2 M for the same period last year. Net income was $192 K (5¢/share), compared to $177 K (5¢/share) for the same period last year.

QualMark Corp. reports sales of $1.5 M for the third quarter, ended September 30. Net income was $45.5 K.

Illinois Superconductor Corp. reports sales of $25 K for the third quarter, ended September 30, compared to $5 K for the same period last year. Net loss was $3.2 M (70¢/share), compared to a net loss of $1.9 M (54¢/share) for the same period last year. Ortel Corp., Alhambra, CA, has invested $2.4 M in Photon Technology, Shenzhen, China, a distributor of Ortel's linear fiber-optic products. Photon plans to use the funds to expand its manufacturing operations.

X-ray lithography company Suss Advanced Lithography Inc. (SAL) , Waterbury Center, VT, has received an equity investment from Korea-based DI Corp. The investment coincides with Mitsubishi Electric Corp.'s recent plan to produce 256 Mbit DRAM using X-ray lithography instead of 193 nm DUV lithography.

Contracts

Ericsson Microwave Systems has received a $10 M contract from Swedish telephone operator Telia for its new Mini-Link E series digital microwave radio links for voice and data transmission from 7 GHz to 38 GHz. The Mini-Link series is built to facilitate future upgrades, and a new patented design has doubled the maximum traffic capacity compared to earlier versions.

Lockheed Martin company Sanders , Nashua, NH, has received a $5.4 M subcontract from Rockwell International Corp. to provide an integrated defensive electronic countermeasures RF subsystem for the US Air Force B-1B defensive system upgrade program. The system will provide an onboard technique generator connected to a towed decoy that will transmit jamming signals to divert RF missiles, increasing the survivability of B-1B aircraft against advanced missile threats. Under the subcontract, Sanders will provide a nine-month design study in preparation for the program engineering and manufacturing development phase. Ninety-five aircraft are expected to be developed.

Melville, NY-based Comtech Telecommunications Corp.'s Arizona subsidiary, Comtech Communications Corp. (CCC) , has received a $1.7 M contract from the People's Republic of China. Terms of the contract specify CCC to deliver C-band frequency up- and downconverters for use in a satellite earth station expansion program under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. In related news, Comtech Telecommunications' Power Systems Technology (PST) , a division of its Comtech Microwave Products Corp. subsidiary, has received a $900 K contract from Scientific Atlanta for computer-controlled solid-state high power amplifiers for use in multiple gateway satellite communications earth stations supplied to ORBCOMM for worldwide satellite messaging and data transmission. The contract calls for Comtech PST to deliver 10 VHF ultra-linear, solid-state, feedforward, high power amplifier subsystems for use in the ORBCOMM multichannel low earth-orbit two-way satellite communications global-locating and data-retrieval system. Two amplifiers a month are scheduled to be delivered beginning in April.

Cadence Design Systems Inc.'s Alta Group , Sunnyvale, CA, has completed a $1.35 M sale of its system-level design tools to Hyundai Electronics America (HEA), a subsidiary of Hyundai Electronics Co. Ltd. During the four-and-a-half-year contract, Alta will provide HEA and its US subsidiaries with a corporate agreement for Alta's SPW® and HDSTM software and maintenance. The company reports the contract is one of the largest single purchases of SPW and HDS.

Radiation-hardened microelectronic supplier Space Electronics Inc. , San Diego, CA, has been selected for a $600 K National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research and development award under the Small Business Innovative Research program. The contract is for Space Electronics' RAD-COATTM technology, which provides advanced-design commercial off-the-shelf microelectronics at a lower cost and a shorter lead time. The new process applies a radiation-protective conformal coating over monolithic components, multichip modules or chip-on-board packaging. NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia will oversee the project through flight testing in space.

Microwave & Video Systems Inc. (MVS) has received a contract for its PIN diode switches used in 5 GHz commercial radios. The initial contract services 300 radios, with options for an additional 1500 units over the next two years. All manufacturing and circuit integration will be performed at the company's Danbury, CT facility.

Personnel

James D. Benham has been promoted to president of Litton Industries Inc.'s Electron Devices division in San Carlos, CA. Previously, Benham was division VP of business development and marketing.

Karl Suss America Inc., Waterbury Center, VT, has appointed Peter Szafir president. Prior to accepting this position, Szafir was GM.

Battery Engineering Inc., Hyde Park, MA, has appointed Ian D. Irving VP, operations. Irving has 28 years of experience in the battery industry and has worked with several types of battery chemistries.

COMSAT Corp., Bethesda, MD, has named John V. Evans chief technical officer. Formerly, Evans was president of COMSAT Laboratories.

Ken Biggs has been appointed GM of F&K Devoltec Inc. Prior to joining the company, Biggs was a manager at West Bond.

Bruce L. Baker has been appointed VP, sales and corporate development at Renaissance Electronics Corp., Boxborough, MA. Baker has held various management positions with several New England-based companies for more than 30 years.

Jay-El/DMT, Carson, CA, has announced two new employees, including Julie Williams , product-line sales manager, and Tad Ogasawara , switch product manager. Williams has nine years of experience in sales/marketing at Dow Key, and Ogasawara has 25 years of switch experience, including previous employment at Dow Key and DMT.

Allen Telecom Canada, a division of Cleveland-based Allen Telecom Group (ATG), has named Gary Spedaliere sales engineer. Formerly, Spedaliere was an engineering manager at Midland International Corp. (previously Simmonds Communications Ltd.).

DuPont Photomasks Inc. (DPI), Round Rock, TX, has announced several personnel appointments, including Michel Tissier , engineering director of its European operations; Gilbert V. Shelden , director of engineering for DPI and its three North American facilities in Round Rock, TX, Santa Clara, CA and Kokomo, ID, and technology transfer between DPI sites worldwide; and Randal W. Chance , manufacturing technology consultant to the Round Rock production facility. Most recently, Tissier was the manager of IBM France Photomask Unit, Shelden headed photomask development for SEMATECH in Texas, and Chance worked for Texas Instruments and Mostek.

Digital Microwave Corp. (DMC) has announced several personnel appointments at its new German affiliate, including Ramon Lumnitz , manager; Corinne-Annette Schmidt , managerial assistant for marketing communications; and Gunther Jugl , service and training manager. Formerly, Lumnitz was a re-gional sales manager at Schlumberger Technologies (now Wavetek Germany); Schmidt was managerial assistant at the Italian GEPCO in Berlin; and Jugl worked in testing, service and support at Schlumberger Technologies.

Allan Hass has joined Palomar Products Inc., Carlsbad, CA, as project manager. Prior to joining the company, Hass was technical manager of Alcoa Electronic Packaging's Equipment Development Group.

Space Electronics Inc., San Diego, CA, has appointed Stuart Shanken product manager and Christian Blanch materials manager. Most recently, Shanken was director of product management and operations. Blanch has 15 years of ex-perience in high volume procurement and cost reduction.

Eric Bergles has joined California Eastern Laboratories as market research analyst. Formerly, Bergles held similar positions at Strategies Unlimited, Memory Devices Corp. and Frost & Sullivan Market Intelligence.

Ken R. Lawler has been appointed sales manager at WACOM Products Inc., Waco, TX. Formerly, Lawler was VP of Unipage Inc.

Happy T. Holden has joined Merix Corp., Forest Grove, OR, as strategic technology director. Previously, Holden was senior technical contributor in Hewlett-Packard's printed circuit organization.

Sargon Assurian has been appointed director and chief engineer of ES Microwave, an affiliate of Reactel Inc., Rockville, MD. Formerly, Assurian was president of Eastern Multiplex Inc.

Electro-Radiation Inc. (ERI), Fairfield, NJ, has hired two new employees, including Anthony J. Rubinich as business unit manager of ERI's Government System Division's newly formed communication and navigation product team; and Julia A. Miezejeski as business unit manger of ERI's Technical Services Division. Rubinich has more than 12 years experience in the aerospace industry and Miezejeski has more than 15 years experience in the telecommunication, publishing and consulting industries.

Rep Appointments

Inmet Corp. , Ann Arbor, MI, has announced two rep appointments, including The Alger Group Inc. , Prescott, AZ, to cover Arizona; and K-Tech Sales , San Jose, CA, to cover northern California. The companies will market Inmet's line of fixed attenuators, adapters, DC blocks, cable equalizers, power dividers, resistors and terminations for wireless and microwave applications.

Remote intelligent communications (RIC) technology developer Micron Communications Inc. , Boise, ID, has hired the French company Rep'Tronic S.A. to sell and distribute its MicroStampTM RIC and AmbitTM Global Positioning System products in France.

Prodelin Corp. , Conover, NC, has appointed Spectrum Elektrotechnik GmbH, Munich , Germany, to cover Europe. Spectrum will market Prodelin's antennas for use in two-way aperture terminal and receive-only applications, and its RF components and special-purpose antennas for NASA and defense contractors.

The Telecom Component Products Group of Stanford Telecom Inc. , Sunnyvale, CA, has hired Dynasty Components Inc. , Kanata, Ontario, Canada, to cover Canada. The company will represent Telecom Component's line of digital communications products, including ASICs, integrated board-level assemblies and subsystems for community antenna television-based Internet access, very small aperture terminal and spread spectrum wireless applications.

Coaxial attenuator and termination manufacturer Weinschel Associates , Gaithersburg, MD, has announced several rep appointments, including Anritsu Wiltron , Karlslunde, Denmark, to cover Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden; L-TEQ Ltd. , Frimley, UK, to cover the UK; Sierra Technical Group , Tempe, AZ, to cover Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah; Spectrum Sales Inc. , Syosset, NY, to cover New York City, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut and northern New Jersey; and Step Electronics Inc. , Beijing, People's Republic of China, to cover China.

New Market Entries

ComNav Engineering Inc. is a new company formed by Marty Geesaman, president, and Scott Burgess, VP, to manufacture microwave filters for wireless communication and navigation systems. Geesaman and Burgess developed the technology used to produce ComNav's filters while they were employed at Control Devices Inc. ComNav is located at 987 Riverside St., Portland, ME 04103 (207) 797-4588, fax (207) 797-8155, e-mail: MartyGeese@aol.com.

Silverstone Telecom Ltd. is a new company formed to design and manufacture microwave products that operate over the 1.4 to 60 GHz range. As part of the Silverstone Group , the company is affiliated with Silverstone Electronics and Silverstone Broadcast . Silverstone Telecom is located at Brookfield Dr., Aintree, Liverpool, L9 7AJ, UK +44 (0) 151 523 4011, fax +44 (0) 151 523 8899.

New Web Sites

Communications & Power Industries' Satcom Division (formerly Varian Microwave Equipment Products ), Santa Clara, CA, has developed a new Web site to provide data sheets and photographs, a listing of sales and service offices, ad reprints, press releases and articles about the company, and links to other satellite communication-related sites. The address is http://www.cpii.com/satcom/.

Thin-film circuit device manufacturer Diablo Industries , Minden, NV, has designed a new Web site to provide information about the company's products, capabilities, new products/services and Partners in Solutions program. The site can be accessed at http://www.ditf.com.

Diode switch, limiter, thru-reflect-line, switch filter, attenuator, magnetron and control assembly manufacturer Herley-MDI , Woburn, MA, has developed a new Web site to outline its products and capabilities. The address is http://www.herleymdi.com.

ITS Corp. , McMurray, PA, a subsidiary of ADC Telecommunications Inc. , has designed a new Web site to provide company news, products and technical information to help select products, complete project designs and obtain current industry-related information. The site can be accessed at http://www.itscorp.com.